Disturbed and Pathetic

The PUMA-obsessed blogstalkers are burning me in effigy (again) because I hurt their tender feelings (again.)  There is something seriously wrong with those people.  I don’t understand their motives or intentions, and their actions and rhetoric indicate mental or emotional imbalance.  In other words, they “have issues”

As I have frequently stated and the blogstalkers themselves have noted I was previously a welcome commentor at Balloon Juice for nearly two years – from 2006 until several months after the Kool-aid epidemic of 2008 began.  When the Democratic primaries started I became the target of unrelenting attacks because I supported and defended Hillary Clinton and refused to support Barack Obama.  I also had endure constant lies and recycled right-wing memes attacking Hillary Clinton.  I finally left Balloon Juice and after a brief stop at Corrente I eventually found my way here where  Riverdaughter was kind enough to grant me posting privileges.

I freely admit that I am a semi-civilized guy with a raunchy and politically incorrect sense of humor and that I’ve said things from time to time that were inappropriate.  I’ve also made comments that were rude, sarcastic, offensive and/or insulting.  With Google and the obsessive focus of a blogstalker you can find some of them.  Although I’m not proud of every individual thing I have said over the past 3+ years when taken as a whole I am not ashamed.

There is a good reason I am called a “very petulant clown” and I wear that title with pride.  I hate it when I accidentally offend someone’s tender feelings because it’s much more fun to do it intentionally.But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m a flaming liberal and that when it really matters my heart’s in the right place.  It also doesn’t disprove anything I have ever said or will say about Obama or any of his cult followers.

The blogstalkers have once again dug up a few old comments of mine, and even though I honestly don’t recollect making some of them I accept responsibility.  If you read them in the context of the threads in which they appeared it is obvious that they were meant and taken as jokes.

I will point out that my humor was aimed at a less genteel and refined audience than we have here.   It’s kind of like the difference between a comedian appearing on network television and in a nightclub.

If anyone thinks that makes me a hypocrite or a non-feminist then they can go ahead and think that but I’m not going to apologize or stop blogging because of it.  I’m not sure what the blogstalkers hoped to accomplish, my sense of humor has never been a secret and anyone likely to get offended by it left this place a long time ago.

It didn’t workwhen they tried it before  so they keep trying and hope for a different result, thus demonstrating the definition of insanity.  Every time they try to “expose” me it just boosts traffic here and adds to my reputation.  They really should dig harder, I’m sure I’ve said worse things than the stuff they found.

Now PUMA’s Sort Of A Car

That’s the new GM/Segway prototype vehicle, the PUMA or, Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility…thingy.  Whatever this hybrid vehicle eventually grows up to be, if anything, it’s battery operated and zips along at 35 mph.  Obviously, this is part of almost-bankrupt General Motor’s attempt to “green up” and be part of Team Obama’s overarching and presently over-reaching program to drag reluctant Americans kicking and screaming away from our love of gas guzzling mini-tanks capable of doing righteous battle with buses and trucks on city streets in comfort.  For those loath to sacrifice safety for ecology, the PUMA, a sort of windshield covered Hoveround, is supposed to be able to sense danger, Will Robinson, and…magically disappear, or something.  Popular Mechanics explains it this way:

The collision avoidance tech is probably the most speculative aspect of the P.U.M.A. project. GM has long been working on vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology that should allow vehicles to communicate with each other using short-to-medium-range wireless transponders that use GPS and vehicle on-board telemetry data to avoid collisions. The idea is that if two vehicles can exchange speed, direction and position data, then one of them could make a decision to brake in an emergency situation to avoid an accident—even if that meant overriding the driver.

Tuesday: Springtime for the NYTimes and Big Lies

It’s been really cold in NJ this spring.  Yep, I know it’s still early but I wore the liner of my trenchcoat yesterday and could see my breath in the chilly rain.  I’m thoroughly sick of it.  If you in the midwest are holding onto the zephyrs, please let them go already.  I feel like I’ll never be warm again.

In the meantime, the NYTimes have two interesting articles up today.  Surprise!  We feel good about the economy since Obama took office. Well, no one *I* know feels good about it but they probably didn’t get polled.  But for the rest of the country who live on some mythical Disneyesque Main Street, it is the triumph of hope over inexperience.

Americans have grown more optimistic about the economy and the direction of the country in the 11 weeks since President Obama was inaugurated, suggesting that he is enjoying some success in his critical task of rebuilding the nation’s confidence, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

These sometimes turbulent weeks — marked by new initiatives by Mr. Obama, attacks by Republicans and more than a few missteps by the White House — do not appear to have hurt the president. Americans said they approved of Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy, foreign policy, Iraq and Afghanistan; fully two-thirds said they approved of his overall job performance.

I find his job performance clearly lacking in tangible results, especially when it comes to the economy.  But the propaganda campaign is in full swing and many of my colleagues and friends feel absolutely powerless against the wealthy elite who run our companies and steal our money. (Wait a second. Wasn’t it the NYTimes that helped get us into the Iraq War in the first place? Hmmm…) I suppose the public is feeling that Obama will make them use plenty of lube and make it less painful than it was under the GOP.  Actually, I still sense a great deal of anger over this perceived powerlessness but the anger is directed at the finance industry than the administration right now.  That will change and we will do our best to speed things along.

The other article is all about the newly unemployed who are persisting in their old routines.  It’s a matter of pride, which psychologists suggest could be a good thing.  People who are laid off have lost some of their sense of identity when they lose their jobs.  So, they refuse to give in:

The Wall Street type in suspenders, with his bulging briefcase; the woman in pearls, thumbing her BlackBerry; the builder in his work boots and tool belt — they could all be headed for the same coffee shop, or bar, for the day.

“I have a new client, a laid-off lawyer, who’s commuting in every day — to his Starbucks,” said Robert C. Chope, a professor of counseling at San Francisco State University and president of the employment division of the American Counseling Association. “He gets dressed up, meets with colleagues, networks; he calls it his Western White House. I have encouraged him to keep his routine.”

No doubt, they are equally confident in Obama’s ability to revive the economy.

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