I can't believe it's not a democracy!

Wow. Less than a year ago I was thanking everyone

for coming and visit and getting my page views to 100,000.  Today, well, I just hit 200,000.  Thanks you guys.  I know I haven't been blogging as steadily, but I think we all have had our fill of daily soul draining stories on what passes for politics in this country.  Sure, I'll do the occasional political post now, but it is occasional.  But throw a story about a preacher caught exposing himself or a politician snagged trying to pay an undercover cop $20 for the opportunity to blow him....I am so there.  

So thanks again.  Ironically, I will thank you and disappear for a few days.  Halloween is Saturday and I'd rather not experience my block as an open air urinal again, so I am leaving tomorrow night for S. Jersey.  I have more ship memorabilia to catalog and I may join my sister-in-law in ferrying the girls around for free candy on Saturday. 

Hope you all have a fabulous Halloween.  

Predictable:

Alan Grayson calls a whore a whore-- Beltway whores freak out & defend Enron lobbyist working at the Fed. Naturally, democrats are piling on and trying to distance themselves from one of the truly progressive, strong true democratic voices in DC. I hope that Grayson gets soundly reelected and the sheep who are trying to paint him as a crazy man find themselves out of a job. Long and short, Grayson was right when he pointed out that Linda Robertson, a former Enron lobbyist and current Fed lobbyist, had "a long and well-known career as a "K Street whore." Sadly, Grayson felt compelled to apologize for using a term "seen as disrespectful of women."

I'm a woman and I don't see "whore" as disrespectful to women. Case in point: Jeff Gannon. I rest my case.

Thanks to John for the link.

More of this, please:

Thousands protest bailout bonuses at Chicago bank meeting.

Matt Taibbi offers up an interesting idea for 2012:

Elizabeth Warren for President. Why the hell not? Obama is too thick with Wall Street et al., and if we don't get someone in who gives a shit about those of us who aren't greedy fucking thieves, well then we are looking at leaving the next generation a life of servitude. Yeah, I really think it's that bad.

Thanks to John for the link.

Sorry for not posting, but I've spent the weekend

walking around the city. I had a nice long walk to the East Village and back on Saturday (Fran: passed your former employer's headquarters on my way).   Sunday I met up with my friend Jim and his two talented, bright and beautiful daughters for a walk on the High Line. It's really impressive. Beautiful work. That's what you get when New York City elitists contribute money to maintain the elevated train tracks and make it into a first rate public park. A must see when you come to the City. We left the High Line to go to the Chelsea Market which was PACKED (note to self: do not go to the Chelsea Market on a weekend again). Then a nice walk back home.  All told, I had to have done at least 7 miles. Not a marathon, but it was nice to see the city on my feet.

Tomorrow I go back to the salt mines and posting should pick up. Hope you all had a lovely and relaxing weekend.

If this is true (i.e., it actually happens), more please:

U.S. slashes pay at bailed-out firms. Sadly, all that talent will no doubt leave their bailed out firms to work for, um, banks in China? Let's hope that the bullshit meme that the bailed-out firms need to pay the top assholes big money to keep these talented fucks can be disproved now. Where the fuck are they going to go?

One day you're banging some broad in a free high-end apartment overlooking Ground Zero and the world is your oyster. But then things go seriously wrong:

Bernard Kerik Is Sent to Jail. Yes, karma caught up to sleazy Bernie Kerik. Seems that a federal judge revoked his bail in a criminal case charging him with conspiracy and fraud charges. It seems that the judge, Stephen C. Robinson, felt that Kerik couldn't be trusted to honor a consent order prohibitng him from revealing confidential information. And the reason Judge Robinson thought that Kerik was not trustworthy? Um, because Kerik sent an e-mail to the head of his defense fund that included confidential information. Ouch. And before he revoked the bail, Judge Robinson said that Kerik was a “toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance, and I fear that combination leads him to believe his ends justify his means.”

Bernie always thought he was above the law. And why not? His bestest buddy was Rudy Giuliani, then mayor of New York, and Giuliani loved him so much that he made this thug Police Commissioner, named The Tombs, a famous lower Manhattan jail, after him, and suggested Bernie to the Chimp to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Sweet. But now the law has finally caught up and Rudy isn't exactly sitting by his side in the court room, the Bernard B. Kerik Complex has been renamed and Bernie is looking a long prison sentence.

Wow, karma really is a bitch.

And an aside: When I went to jury duty some years back, I walked under the Bernard B. Kerik Complex sign and thought "I wonder how long it will be before that sign comes down." Whoa, I'm a prophet.

Thanks to John for the link.

I'm back.

I had a really relaxing week off.  The weather was horrible, so my time was spent reading, watching good and bad tv, eating and resting.  Just perfect.  And I've started to catalog some ship memorabilia my uncle left me over 20 years ago (yeah, I took my time, but now the deck plans and brochures, etc., are over 50 years old and, presumably, more valuable).  So, anyone know anything about selling ocean liner memorabilia?  I have to do some research.  No one piece is worth a lot, but my uncle saved everything, and the deck plans, etc. are n the original envelopes.  Let's just say I only made it through one box.  It's a start. 

Hope you all had a lovely week and weekend.  

Light posting ahead:

I am on vacation this week.  Ok, not on vacation, but not at work.  I hate the term "staycation," so let's not use that.  And, in any event, I will be headed south...to southern New Jersey to spend some time watching some bad tv (not much), reading, doing some things I have put off (like catalog some ship memorabilia my uncle left me 20 years ago...yeah, I've dragged my feet), eat and make merry.  Then it will be back to the salt mines.  Isn't it amazing how quickly time passes when you have some time off?  

So enjoy the week and visit the folks on my blogrolls to your left (aren't we all to the left?).  

Finally:

California Honors Slain Gay Activist, Harvey Milk. I should note that the AP headline read: Schwarzenegger creates day honoring Harvey Milk. Um, no. He just signed the fucking bill. Yes that's good, but he didn't put in the effort to pass this act. Quite the opposite. As the New York Times notes Schwarzenegger's signing was "a surprise reversal of his veto of the same bill last year." He's not a fucking hero. If credit goes to any politician, it should be State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who wrote the bill. Just saying.