Far East Cynic

Today is the 9th year that I have known and been with the S.O.-although it certainly does not seem like it has been that long. Four years ago, I wrote the post that follows-and I still find it’s a good recounting of the joys and frustrations of living with her. Probably the big difference now is the extra added burden of living in a place I really have no affection for-and yearn daily to be away from- among people who have ideas that are as foreign to me now as the back side of the moon. Twas once their not so orderly vision of what made a great place to live made sense to me-but having been to the far corners of this globe and back, they do  no longer.  More aggravating, to me at least, is how easily she has adapted to the mind numbing boredom that is life here in Shopping Mall USA. Where once she was part of the excitement factor-she is potentially transitioning to being another anchor at my feet.

That said-each new year provides new hope, and in the grand scheme of things, she has made a pretty good roommate, if perhaps some of the passion has diminished with age. Certainly things could be a heck of a lot worse. So accordingly this rendition of the life we live together still rings plausibly true:

It is 5 days till Christmas! Accordingly I hereby declare a ban on politics and the war for at least till after that. Beer and babes, however, will always be available. After all what goes better with Christmas than that?

Also, I’ll be out of touch for about 3 days. The S.O. and I are going away for a couple of days and celebrating an anniversary of sorts. Hotel, nice dinner, walking in the city, wine, and…….especially and………… (at least I hope so-if not I’m going to demand an 84,000 yen refund from Saikaya!). I’m not taking my laptop, so it will be the equivalent of going cold Turkey for a computer addict like me.

The S.O. and I have been together for over 4 years. Like all relationships we have had our ups and downs-to tell the truth I never expected to be here now, with her, when all this started. I still wonder each day whether next year will still find us together or not. Not for mean reasons, but more because of ambivalence on both our parts. Allow me to explain a little bit…………

When I met the S.O. I had been in Japan for just over a year. A year later we were living in the same place-with all of the attendant fal de rol. The year before we met had been a watershed for me in my life. Coming from the US and the hell that is a sexless marriage, it was astonishing to see that all turn around in just a few short weeks. That year I probably got laid more than I did the entire time I was married to the shrew. I had come to Tokyo and immediately knew that Asia was the place for me! Spike noted this some time ago and I blogged about it saying that I fully understood the sensation:

“As much of an outsider as I was, there was something there, I felt like I belonged there. I was an alien and at home at the same time. “

It was awesome. I felt like I had gone to heaven. I’d been to Bangkok for a couple of manhood “reaffirmation” tours where I had literally gone nuts in Patpong and at the Eden Club. I’d traveled around Japan and the region to Singapore, Hong Kong, Taipei. I had a Chinese girl on the string in Kyushu ( a doctor no less!), a couple up here in Tokyo and a Thai girl who worked as a make-up artist at the Navy exchange. ( She is the subject of a whole other post…..lets just say that memories of sex with her will be in my “old man ” memories!). The hard part was keeping them from finding out about each other. I was gearing up for a trip to Jakarta to see what they had to offer me down there.

So why, I’ve asked myself over and over again, would I go and complicate my life with a serious relationship with obligations (financial and otherwise) when things were just hunky-dory without one. I’ve yet to give myself a good answer. I had been down this path before and I knew it led no where good. Unlike many people, I have no problem with living by myself.

When I met the S.O. I had no other aspirations except to make her another notch on my bed post. She was beautiful to look at ( she still is!) and interesting to talk to. Then again, all women are when you first meet them. Its new, they smell nice, you are captivated by the way her skirt drapes over her thighs-or fascinated with the way her blouse comes to a point that shows her cleavage. It’s as you get to know them that the challenge of staying engaged kicks in.

Yet, there was something about her, something that was just more than a little different from the Shibuya Girls I had met and bed. For one thing she was my age (more or less…), she’d worked for all of her adult life, she had a good job and she had her own car, apartment and goals. She knew how to talk about many things, because she was just a very smart and witty lady. Unlike her American sisters though, she was not pushy about that fact. So suffice it to say I was curious. When she gave me her e-mail and phone number, I did what you should never do, and immediately e-mailed her when I got home and called her the very next day asking for a date.

And so it began. I was still traveling, but at the same time calling her and asking her out-a lot. She was in the process of moving to a new apartment. I rented a van and helped her move. The whole time I was thinking in terms of a clock ticking within my head. Soon I would have to move on-or she would-especially when she learned that if she wanted to take this to its ultimate extreme, there was no way I was ever going to have any children again. For sure that would tear it. If not that, then fact that I was chained down with economic slavery from my divorce would do the trick.

Except it didn’t. And to this day I am not sure why. I think deep down inside of her she want[ed]s a child. ( Skippy-san present day note-time and the advance of age have forever closed that option). If so, she needs to seek a new man-I’m not equipped physically or emotionally to do that. I’ve been very up front about that-its in my walk out the door criteria-but to date she seems to deal with it ok.

I’m always afraid that means that she is just settling for me- out of fear of growing old alone. I talked to her about that more than a couple of times. I am who I am -and with my life experience I’m not going to change. I’m a party boy and proud of it. I’ll be one as long as I live.

She said she was a party girl. She may have been, but she is most definitely not one now. I always tease her that she is guilty of false advertising. We are so very different in so many ways. We are alike in one way though-we are both selfish.

Which is perhaps why we seem to be comfortable together. I know I am comfortable -to date. We’ll see what the out years hold; I’m not going to plan that far ahead. After having jumped off the cliff once, walking away holds none of the terrifying fear it used to.

But not yet. Truth be told, I just could not bring myself to do that. To her-or to myself. I must be an idiot or a useless romantic. Does not mean that may be out there in the future one day-but for today its not. I still believe that I am the only one responsible for my happiness. The idea that out there somewhere, is one special woman who will do that for you is sheer nonsense. Living with her has not changed my thinking on that subject. I might think differently if I did not like women and sex so much. ( as in I like it a LOT!).

If she senses my qualified regard for her, it is counterbalanced by what I know is her qualified regard for me. The stuff of sonnets, our relationship is not. We do say, “I love you” to each other. It seems the right thing and more romantic than the more accurate statement of our relationship with each other: “You’ll do.”

Still, my worst day with the S.O. has been far better than my best day with the ex, so that must be progress of a sort. Plus, she has brought a lot of structure to a very disorganized life. She has got me focused on some goals besides a girl’s ankles up in the air, and gotten me focused on saving money. She’s actually taught me a lot on that score. We do, however, maintain complete and separate finances though. I will never ever, ever, share money with a woman again!

So pop the champagne! I’ve got the silly cards, and I know I’m going to get dragged into the shop to buy her the jewelry of her choice tomorrow. What the future holds-hell, I have no idea-but for today and the next few days we will savor the present. Come to think of it that’s just about all anybody can do.

And if it does not work out? She can keep the furniture so long as I can keep my computer and the car! See what a nice guy I am?

“Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.” – Unknown”We all want to fall in love. Why? Because that experience makes us feel completely alive. Where every sense is heightened, every emotion is magnified, our everyday reality is shattered and we are flying into the heavens. It may only last a moment, and hour, an afternoon. But that doesn’t diminish its value. Because we are left with memories that we treasure for the rest of our lives.”
- Unknown

Skippy-san

Its taken me a while to work up to writing this post. It concerns the soon to be Congressman from Florida’s 22nd Congressional district-Rep ( elect) Allen West. Criticizing a someone anointed as a conservative saint is a dangerous undertaking these days. But I figure I can do it because : a) I was senior to him for all of his military career and b) the facts are on my side.

To hear some people tell it-Allen West is the nation’s black version of Dwight D. Eisenhower-all ready to ride down Pennsylvania Avenue on a white horse and claim his rightful place as the new savior of America. You’ll forgive me if I don’t jump on that particular band wagon just yet.

I think I can safely say what Allen West is the second incarnation of though: he is the 21′st century version of B-1 Bob Dornan. As I dug through the record, such as it was- I noticed more than a couple of similarities. But more on that later.

Allen West’s military career was, for the most part, that of your average fast track Army officer’s. He went into the Army, became a field artillery officer and did most of the things one would expect an officer rising through the ranks to do.  However in 2003, his Army career took a little detour. Because he broke the rules:

While serving in Taji, Iraq on August 20, 2003, West was in charge of an interrogation of a civilian Iraqi police officer who was suspected of having pertinent information regarding attacks on American soldiers in the area. Interrogators had learned that the detainee had information about a planned ambush. When the interrogators were unable to extract the information from the detainee, West was asked to assist with the interrogation. When the detainee continued to withhold information, West was accused of firing his pistol past the detainee’s head, frightening the detainee into revealing the requested information. According to West’s sworn statement, the detainee informed West that:

“ [The attack] was to occur Friday morning in Saba al Boor vicinity of the police station by positioned snipers supposedly being brought in from Fallujah. [The detainee] was to ID my vehicle and myself for these rooftop firers. We took this information and the following day established flask CPs and used AH-64s overhead. There was no attack and no further attacks have emanated from the town since the apprehension of [the detainee] and his named associates. ”

At least one man was apprehended as a result of the information obtained through the detainee’sinterrogation. His home was searched, but no plans for attacks on Americans or weapons were found. West testified that he did not know whether “any corroboration” of a plot was ever found, adding: “At the time I had to base my decision on the intelligence I received. It’s possible that I was wrong about [the detainee,] Mr. Hamoodi.”

West, who at the time was just short of having 22 years of service, was charged with violating articles 128 (assault) and 134 (general article) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. West was processed through an Article 32 hearing in November 2003, where he admitted wrongdoing, was fined $5,000 . He then submitted his retirement paperwork and was allowed to retire with full benefits in the summer of 2004.

West reported the incident to his immediate superior who took no action. The commander of the 4th Infantry Division however, when it was brought to his attention through a letter from a soldier in his unit-was not so forgiving. You may have heard of Odierno-he was Petreaus’ right hand man in Iraq and succeeded him after Petreaus moved on up to CENTCOM.

The incident turned West into a cause celebre’ among conservative activists-West received the support of members of Congress and many veterans groups. After his retirement he dropped off of the radar screen. He moved to Florida and taught high school for a year. Just a year-after which he more than likely quadrupled his $38,000 per year school teacher’s salary by going to Afghanistan as an advisor working for MPRI.

So much for the nobility of helping America’s disadvantaged youth. Following his return to the US, he became just another contractor among many, UNTIL,  he was either persuaded or volunteered to run against Ron Klein in 2008.

That was the year I first heard of him- partially as a result of some of the more outrageous things he said. However that race was fairly well eclipsed by the Presidential race-and he was just another right wing hack who got trounced at the polls.

Not so a couple of years later. In the intervening two years the Tea Party had come to the fore and they decided to anoint Allen West as their poster child. Narrowly avoiding court martial was no longer something to down play-it became something to campaign on. Conservative bloggers played up his candidacy and made him out to be a saint and a crusader all rolled into one.

As he cruised to victory ( interestingly winning by the same percentage he lost by two years earlier) I became interested in trying to fathom what the truth was about the guy. And I soon discovered it:

He’s an opportunist. And he knows how to play his audience.

Now to take that position is a dangerous proposition and it sets off a great number of folks-but the more I dig about this guy the more troubling he is.

And its not totally because of his incident in Iraq-although that should trigger any number of alarm bells. His supporters paint him as a hero deserving of great admiration for his commitment to his subordinates. I’m not so sure.

I ask myself this question and you should too: How many battalion commanders served in Iraq and didn’t get an Article 15 and get forced to retire? A lot. I remain convinced that the Army did not persecute him, but they recognized the slippery slope they would be heading down if his actions went unnoticed. He is neither a hero nor is he a villain. To court martial him would probably have been going too far-but to let him walk away scot free would have been to beget a whole host of even worse incidents. Or does no one remember a little thing called Abu Graib?

But what’s more than a little troubling is the way West has capitalized on it and made an industry out of playing up to his tea party audience. West in his run up to the election, and afterwards, has portrayed himself as a so called expert on Islam. This video has been making the rounds in conservative blog cirles even though it is at best an example of some pretty flawed logic. One would think Lex would know better:

Now lets follow his logic carefully-because what the good Congressman elect is saying is that all Muslims must be judged by all the words in the Koran. Therefore all Muslims are a threat to civilization. That’s like saying that because Leviticus advocates stoning someone, or Exodus advocates selling one’s daughter into slavery-all Christians are to be opposed on that basis.  Its like saying because Fred Phelps calls himself a Christian we should oppose all Christians. Now, most reasonable people know that’s not right-nor is it fair to the literally millions of Christians who act with compassion and decency.

West can rattle off a list of military battles. Well so can I. I can also point out that he has his history more than a little wrong:

Charles Martel fought because he was asked to by the elderly Duke Odo of Aquitane. Charles Martel was not fighting “the Muslim army,” as there was no such thing. He was fighting a very specific force — the Ummayad– which was an imperial force, not an outfit of missionaries. (The reigning religious zealot of the era, in fact, was Martel’s own grandson, Charlemagne.) Charles Martel fought all his life, usually against other Christians and on one occasion against Duke Odo himself. In the Battle of Tours, he was, very simply, a defender of certain regions of Europe from a conquering imperial power. He was hardly a saint: A military leader with shifting political allegiances, he was in the habit of installing puppet kings in regions his armies had conquered, paying fealty to them in public, and  privately wielding almost dictatorial control over their lands. He was, by any modern classification, a tyrant. (And consider: If there had been a Charles Martel 800 years earlier, fending off foreigners with strange beliefs, the Roman Empire might never have rescued Europe from barbarism. Western Civilization wouldn’t exist, and Allen West wouldn’t have anything to defend.) Martel is hardly a useful conscript for West’s War on Terror.

Want to continue?

In the Battle of Vienna, Europeans permanently drove back the Ottoman Empire. This was good for the preservation of Christendom, whatever that means, but it was hardly a victory against Islamic fundamentalism. It wasn’t even a victory against Muslims per se — at least, not Muslims as we presently think of them. The Muslims banging on Vienna’s gates were mostly from Transylvania, Moldovea, and Crimea — hardly modern battlefields in the War on Terror. Citing Vienna as an excuse for increased aggression in the prosecution of America’s wars is a bit like Palestine using Christian aggression during the Crusades to justify war on the Catholics of Argentina. Pure silliness. Anyway, the Battle of Vienna was prosecuted by the Ottoman Empire on political, not religious, grounds. It was a grab for valuable real estate and for control of the Danube. At the same time as the Austrians were busy defending themselves from the Ottomans, France’s King Louis XIV — the Sun King — was using the Ottoman distraction to scoop up Austrian land while nobody was looking, just as the Ottomans would have if they could. Should we suppose Allen West hates the French too? (Don’t answer that.)

All of which leads back to Allen West’s historical mentor, B-1 Bob Dornan. Bob Dornan came from three different Congressional Districts in California. Dornan moved whenever he thought the odds were against him. Thus he left West Los Angeles andmoved to Orange County-a world that is similar to the district that West will represent. At least Dornan had some historical connection to California. West had no connection to Florida until he retired. ( I’m sure the lack of a state income tax had nothing to do with his decision!).

Bob Dornan understood Tip O’Neill’s old adage-all politics are local.Meaning that you only have to scare the bejesus out of 300,000 people in a district that is primarily white-and wealthy. That’s not hard to do-especially when you can play both the military and the victim card ( twice!). But in return for that-you gain a national platform to scare a lot more people and win a national audience……..

What’s trickier though is getting the voters to overlook some of the other pesky details like the 11,000 dollars in tax liens you racked up since retirement from the armed forces.

But hey-he’s liked by Saint Sarah so all is forgiven right?

Allen West is a Tea Partiers tea partier. He’s allied himself with some really bad folks and is using them to further his own political career. He’s made a deal with devil from what I can see. In a normal world he would be regarded as a crank and a extremist-regardless of his skin color. In today’s topsy turvy political world, he gets to channel the ignorance of a millions and create a climate of fear and loathing.

So at the end of the day-I felt compelled to speak out about this guy. There are plenty of military retirees who could do an outstanding job in Congress. But Allen West is not one of them. Reasonable people have to see through the hype and oppose this guy. I will lead the charge-follow me!

An oldie but goody-is your Christmas shopping done?

One of the things I have always marveled about, when it comes to the hymn Silent Night, is how many languages it has been translated into. In the spirit of Christmas, here is a cure little video of the song translated into Nihongo:

And of course the fact that Christmas is coming this week-also means that Santa Claus is coming. To bring presents to some real sweet hearts. Santa Babes:

Just for my teabagger friends-here are some of your Nihonjin friends wishing you a Merry Christmas.
( And no I cannot verify that the anime characters are over 18!):

Merry Christmas to all and to all an Omedetou Kurisumasu!

I miss Japan!

Here are 32 ways to drive them up the wall.

My personal favorite:

Well,  DADT has been repealed.  As I noted previously this was inevitable, if  not now, then at sometime in the future. So can we please now tell Andrew Sullivan to STFU about it?

The fact that I have to resignedly accept this development-does not mean that I like it. I just recognize it for what it is,  the end of a line of destructive changes to the military that began back in 1992-or even before in 1976. The military is going to be called to do more and more and is going to find itself less and less prepared to do it effectively. Don’t kid yourself, the “Star Trek” vision of the military does not exist and its not going to exist anytime soon. This law change is going to full of unintended consequences-and someone is going to have show me how gays and lesbians are not going to become another protected species in the services.

Eventually there will be a norm that will be unofficially established of what will and what will not be accepted. Until we get there though-there are going to be some spectacular headlines on the pages of your Navy times.

And you are kidding yourself if you think the activism is over-this was never about gays being free to be “who they really are”. This is about cold hard cash-and receiving military benefits for partners and partners of partners. Nothing in the change in the law creates that-and until gay marriage becomes universally accepted -or domestic partnerships are recognized by the military-the 800 pound gorilla is going to remain in the room.

There are also going to be a whole host of other unintended consequences as they work through this. As I pointed out earlier-the current group of folks is probably better equipped to deal with this than folks from my age group are. But still its more than a little frustrating to realize that a guy will get cashiered for having meaningless sex with a Wanchai “sales professional” but a some guy who dresses up like Dorothy and wears Ruby Red slippers and a dress all weekend will get put on the fast track to success.

Guess it all comes down to this-I’m glad I served when I did. It was a lot more fun.

”I don’t remember ever seeing grown-ups behave less seriously.”

There was no need for this offense to come, but woe all the same to those by whom it came, and woe above all to those who whitewashed and rationalized it.-Christopher Hitchens.

Its been a weird week. I’ve been wanting to get around to posting this series of posts-but between conducting I-tunes and You Tube University 101 courses for the S.O. ( I think she can now be officially classified as untrainable when it comes to doing anything but posting to Facebook), and succumbing to early evening assaults from the rack monster-I’ve gotten zero writing done.

One other factor is at play. I have been reading, trying to make some sense of the bout of lunacy that seems to have infected the American political discourse of the past few years, and as Hitchens notes, is poisoning our collective national blood stream. For the last 2 and 1/2 weeks, I have been immersed in reading six books more or less in tandem. I’ve been using them for a springboard for examining what I believe are two facts that go hand in hand in explaining tea party foolishness: 1) The world is fundamentally changing in such a way that the US is becoming just one of the dogs-not the top dog.  Which leads to 2)that the tea party and for that matter,  a good number of Americans,  can’t accept that fact.

I started with this book to gain some perspective on what actually happened on that day in 1773 and contrasting it to what the Tea Partiers say happened. The book is called The Whites of Their Eyes , The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History.

Its a pretty good rundown of fact vs fiction-and more importantly it helps debunk some of the idol worship when it comes to the Founding Fathers. I was particularly happy to see her examine Thomas Paine in totality.

Another book-that makes for a natural follow on is The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama by William Bunch. Now the title may turn off some tea party fans-but he is actually pretty fair to both sides and his narrative is very factual. He treats his subjects with fairness-even when the logic of their ideas is totally lost to him and to any reasonable reader. Truth in advertising- he has written for Media Matters and is a Philadelphia journalist, but you should not let that stop you, the facts are still the facts and are easily verifiable through his notes. One theme that emerges-and will run through some of the other books is how the ideas might never have taken hold-but for the deliberate nurturing of some very skilled manipulators; the worst of which seems to be Glenn Beck.

Speaking of Glenn Beck, I took the time to read Dana Milbank’s book: Glenn Beck and the Tea-bagging of America. Milbank, as many of you know,  writes for the Washington Post and comments for MSNBC- so its pretty obvious he is not a Beck fan.Nonetheless it is a pretty good itemizing of Becks history, especially his back ground in morning radio and his voyage into the world of recovering and mentally corrupting ideas of AA. I’m of the personal opinion that people don’t understand well enough how total acceptance of Mr. Wilson’s philosophy can lead you down a really screwed up path-and it certainly has in Beck’s case.

Shifting gears-I have three books that are about the future and document the changes coming to the world stage. These changes are culmination of some key decisions and events that began in the 15 years after World War II, and are bearing both good and bad fruit. Much as we would like to change the direction of these changes-they are going to happen. Whether we want them or not.

So I started with this book: Why the West Rules … for Now by Ian Morris. Looking at the past, Morris argues that the presence of abundant coal (i.e. cheap energy) and high wages in Britain provided an incentive to innovate, develop, and adopt labor-saving, high energy devices that were the driving forces of expansion of the British Empire and subsequently the American one. He also examines the key role advantages of geography played and how those advantages may be diminished in the current and future world we live in.

It is an interesting idea-and debunks some of the ideas about the idea of British or American exceptionalism. Given similar advantages perhaps another civilization might have beat the world to the punch. Its food for thought-and better reading than you will see most neoconservatives recommend.

The next book comes back to the present and is the chronicle of how we lost our way and became enamored with  more or less permanent war in the current “War on Terror” . Washington Rules, by Andrew Bacevich is the book. The book is a provocative challenge that he,  and I,  and a whole host of others who came into the military in the late 70′s were taught throughout our careers.

Bacevich argues rather persuasively that repeated acceptance of the idea that the US had a “moral responsibility” to intervene in the affairs of other sovereign nations has lead the US to a path of “insolvency and perpetual war.” Furthermore Bacevich points out that blind acceptance of these bad ideas is not limited to one party-both political parties have rogered up to them with disastrous results. Essentially this book is the outgrowth of Bacevich’s military career and the self-education that led him to doubt the “facts” that he had been taught over time. That point rings a bell with me-because my own journey of 29 years in the Navy led me to reject most of the “conservative” tenets that I thought were cast in stone. Like Bacevich I was fortunate enough to have been allowed considerable time out of this country and could learn that there are other ways to do business.  Bacevich writes in a readable style-and his points jump from the page. Number one of which is that, for whatever good we are doing in hell holes like Afghanistan and Iraq, the opportunity cost to our own status and economy is simply not worth it. As a result, the attitude of American superiority has led us to pass on opportunities for periods of unprecedented peace, instead of getting into conflicts again and again.  I think it is important because all those folks whining about the debt-need to remember how we got that debt. As I have said before-the effects of the war(s) are a lot more than we realize.

Finally, I am just beginning to examine this book: The World in 2050-Four Forces Shaping Civilizations Northern Future, by Laurence C. Smith.  I’m not far into it-but it seems to have an interesting premise: What will a world look like where population is nine billion, sea level  has risen by a foot and atmospheric temperature is up by several degrees, and globalization continues apace?  If current political rhetoric -is any indicator, we are not ready to hear the answer. Two of his principal tenets-climate change and insufficient natural resources to meet demand-are firmly rejected by a lot of tri corner hat wearing citizenry.

The point of this effort is not to say that all six of these authors are presenting the definitive truth or have all the answers. However without at least some exploration and accumulation of facts, one is left to cede the field to the overwrought emotionalism of Sarah Palin and her Facebook freaks.  I rather not stoop to that level thank you very much-so I think it’s time to stick my head back into the books to finish them. Unlike Saint Sarah-I firmly reject the proposition of American exceptionalism and think that it has done more harm than good.  This homework assignment is reinforcing for me why I am right.

But falling asleep on the couch at 8:30 makes for light blogging. TGIF!

WWJD ?

The party of no will be happy to tell you-and before any one goes high and right on the idea that it is sacrilegious-recognize it for the satire of the views of our tri-corner hat wearing friends that it is.  They have already said plenty of equally silly things about mere mortals…………

And makes a career decision……………

Because sometimes when I do click the link-I feel like this:

I have been conducting FACEBOOK repair on the S.O’s I- phone tonight. Have also had to hold remedial I tunes training. This has killed my carefully prepared posting.

This is going to keep her at the computer and me away from it……………

Thank God for the I-pad.

This is a bit of FACEBOOK snark that means ” Too long did not read”

It is meant to show disdain for an opposing point of view.

In reality it translates into -” I’m too lazy to read the entirety of what you said, but I still want to say something. ”

And THAT sums up the state of blogging and Facebook,Twitter,or any other social media today. Stupid is as Stupid does.

From the comment stream over at Balloon-Juice. Sad , but a very correct characterization of the disaster that would be Saint Sarah as President:

If you thought Nixon’s enemies list was impressive, wait till Palin is President. It’ll be a whole stimulus program in itself – database administrators, programmers, advanced technologies, hit teams, etc. Something for everyone.

And the weather is bearing down on the probable place my plane is coming from. This ought to be interesting.

Time for a beer!

Here is a trivia question for you though :

Why do pigs have more fun during sex than humans?

Place your answer in the comments.

My “porn star” moment with the TSA this morning. I went throughout the scanner -to tell you the truth I just don’t get what the big deal is. The most depressing thing was that the girl behind the screen did not seem overly impressed with my manhood.

Maybe next time I will ask for a groping instead.

Now on to more important matters-using the I-Pad while on the road.

I had wanted to get the I-Pad because the way our IT works, I end up having to take two laptops with me if I want to do any personal things while on the road. I have to take my work computer for work-but our IT policies are so draconian that go to any of the places I like to go read, made the second laptop a necessity for my personal business.

So this week I just took the I-pad and the work laptop with me. It worked out fair enough-but there are some downsides to the I-pad as well as a lot of good things.

My set up is the full monty-I got the 3G 64GB model-because I want to take the I-Pad with me as “notebook” of sorts. Yes there are plenty of wifi spots-but not always. In that regard the device worked great. It was kind of neat to be able to eat my lunch, prop up the U-pad and surf the web while eat. A good way to catch up on your reading.

I like the display-but some of Apple’s ways of getting around take some getting used to-especially the way it does your history of visited web sites. For blogging it appears Word Press does not work as well as it should-for one thing it is hard to copy and paste HTML code with this thing.

I bought an additional key board and I am glad I did. For typing long e-mails or blog posts I am finding the key board to be easier to type off of-although the visual keypad is not too bad to use-just have to be gentle with your fingers.

Battery life is good-and it is really cool to read a book from the Kindle app and listen to music from your I-pod.

Things I don’t like. Apple’s aversion to flash embedded video is a big detractor. I don’t like that at all-you go to a web site and when you click the play button the video just goes black.

I am also not a fan of the case-mainly because to use the keyboard dock I have to remove the device from the case. The commenter who suggested the bluetooth keyboard brought up and option I did not consider. That said the keyboard dock stands the device up nicely while typing. I think I will look for a better case. I also need a film to put over the screen. I hate seeing the fingerprints on the screen when the device is dark.

The other thing I am not a fan of is the e-mail application. I miss Outlook.

So what’s the bottom line? Its a great augment to a laptop while on the road, but it is not a total replacement. It’s size and portability really make it a handy thing to have-especially while you are in transit.

All in all a great toy-now if the S.O. would just give me that “other” present I dream of…………..