Opinions in the Shorts: Vol. 141

On Politics
Does anyone have problems with the following: Two married (to each other) members of Congress, one represents a California district and the other a Florida district.

One way to bankrupt Social Security is to refuse to fund it. Thanks Moe.

If Mitt Romney wins the election and Democrats control one side of Capitol Hill, will the Democrats become obstructionists? You betcha.

If Mitt Romney wins and the Republicans control both Capitol Hill chambers, who will control the agenda: the president or Congress? Is there any doubt!

American Enterprise Institute scholar Norman Ornstein, states, “When you look at the data, including voting records, and using the football field analogy, the Democrats have moved left, to probably their own 25 yard line. President Obama’s probably around the 40, and the Republicans have moved behind their own goal post.”

Regarding this week’s post about my view of partisanship and gridlock, here is an interesting follow-up article from the Washington Post. Thank you Tim.

I heard Gov. Romney’s education speech this week. It was just another example of how education is a every-four-years issue. Here’s the text.

On Headlines from The Onion
Baseball Player Asks Manager Where Bats Come From
Computer Hacker Denied Access to Social Life
Irishman Blows Pot of Gold on Whiskey
Pushy Hermit Crab Girlfriend Wants to Move In
Alien Still hasn’t Gotten Around to Listening to whole Voyager Golden Record
Dying Chevron Executive Excited to Become Oil One Day

Interesting Reads
A post with seven bad lawyer ads
Impressive solar eclipse images from space
Myths about Independent Voters
The speaking level of politicians through the Ages
Blame for Polorization

On Potpourri
From my spam files, this week I received a Viagra comment on my About page stating “Wonderful post.” Is there something I don’t know?

Friday (May 25th) is National Wine Day in the U.S. Being that I have international readers, I declare it International Wine Day. So, Cheers, Salute, L’Chaim, Salud, A tes amours, Cin cin, Opa, Serefe, Skål, Slainte, Santé, Na zdorov’ya, Kippis, Proost, Sagliginiza, Terviseks, Afya, and many more – Well, I hope I got these right, and feel free to add more in the comments.

Congratulations to football star Donald Driver and his professional dance partner Peta Murgatroyd (Australia) for winning Season 13 of Dancing with the Stars. As a faithful watcher of the show this cast was not only one of the best, it was very likeable.

Early this week marked the one-year anniversary of the devastating tornado striking Joplin, Missouri. I think it was great that President Obama spoke at their high school graduation. Meanwhile, here is an interesting post written shortly after the tornado by a person from Joplin.

No cartoon for tomorrow – but there will be a post as we in the U.S. head into our official start of summer – the three-day Memorial Day weekend; which also means the next Monday Morning Entertainment will be a Tuesday edition.

To send you into the week, below is some new music and original video from a reader here – Lynn (Composer in the Garden). If you enjoy this, go to her site to see if it is still available at no cost.

Have a safe weekend everyone. In the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Read Full Post »

On 59

Why a tribute to 59? Well, sometime in February I turned 59, so that’s a good enough reason for me. For tributes to other numbers, see Category > Numbers in the sidebar or click here.  Meanwhile, here’s more about fifty nine than you ever wanted to know.

In Language

Fifty nine is the same as padesát devět, vijftig negen, cinquante neuf, cinquanta nove, femtio nio, LIX, and more.

In Mathematics

• Fifty-nine is the 17th smallest prime number and an Eisenstein prime
• Since 15! + 1 is divisible by 59 but 59 is not one more than a multiple of 15, 59 is a Pillai prime (who would have guessed this)
• Divisible by 1 and 59
• Square root equals 7.68114574786861, but 59 squared is 3,481

In Science

• The atomic number of praseodymium, whose neutrally charged atom contains 59 protons and 59 electrons
• Messier object M59, a magnitude 11.5 galaxy in the constellation Virgo
• 59 Sagittarii is a giant bright star in the constellation Sagittarius
• The New General Catalogue object NGC 59, a magnitude 12.4 spiral galaxy in the constellation Cetus
• The Saros 59 for solar eclipse series lasted 1280.1 years (from June 1031 BC to July 249 AD) and contained 72 solar eclipses
• The Saros 39 for lunar eclipse series lasted 1298.1 years (from March 729 BC to May 569 AD) and contained 73 lunar eclipses
• 59 degrees C = 138 degrees F; but 59 degrees F = 15 degrees C

In Entertainment

• Beethoven’s Opus 59 consists of the three so-called Razumovsky Quartets
• 59, an album by Puffy AmiYumi
• The 1960s song The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) was popularized by Simon & Garfunkel and Harpers Bizarre
• The 59 Sound, an album by The Gaslight Anthem, includes thia song of the same name
• 59 by the 1990s
• 59 is a song by djTAKA from beatmania IIDX 2nd Style and Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX
•  59th Emmy Awards (2007) with ABC getting the most nominations
•  59th Academy Awards (1987) with winners including Platoon, Paul Newman, and Marlee Matlin

In Sports

• No retired 59s in the professional football, basketball, baseball, and hockey
• Car 59 has only raced in 18 NASCAR races – never winning, never finishing in the top 10, and only finishing the race 4 times
• Satchel Paige became the oldest major league baseball player at age 59
• 59 is a the lowest golf score in a single round on the PGA Tour, achieved by Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Paul Goydos, andStuart Appleby and on the LPGA Tour by Annika Sörenstam

In Geography

• The designation of Interstate 59, a freeway that runs from Louisiana to Georgia
• The designation of US-59, a highway between Minnesota and Texas
• The Queensboro Bridge in New York City is also known as the 59th Street Bridge (Feelin’ Groovy)
• Central Park South is on 59th Street in New York City
• 59th Street Manhattan
• 59th Street Manhattan forms the border between Midtown Manhattan and Uptown Manhattan. It bisects Columbus Circle and forms the southern boundary of Central Park between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West, plus it has this subway stop.
• 59th Parallel South does not intersect any land
• 59th Meridian East is also known as the Herman Cain Meridian because it goes through Uzibeki-beki-beki-bekistan

In Travel

• 59 miles is 94.951296 km, or better explained as 471.999 furlongs or 3,738,240 inches
• San Diego offers a 59-mile scenic drive
• Don’t want to drive, here’s a 59-mile paddle in Missouri
• Oh – you want to peddle? Here’s an account of a blogger’s 59-mile mountain bike trek
• In the UK, the bingo slang for 59 is ‘The Brighton Line’, after the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway

In Business

• 59 Diner in Houston
• Art of 59 – Handcrafted pedals from Luxemburg
• Marina 59 Boatel is a fleet of abandoned boats renovated by artists in Rockaway, NY
• Art Room 59, a gallery and gift shop in Fife, UK
• 59Fifty is a line of New Era hats
• 59 Productions (a media production company in the UK)
• Five Nine, an amateur radio magazine published in Japan

In 59 AD

• Started on Monday
• Nero (aka Mr. Nice Guy) ordered his mother, Agrippina the Younger, killed. Since she survived the planned shipwreck, Nero ordered her executed and then ruled her death as suicide

In 59 BC

• Caesar makes the Acta Diurna (Daily News) the world’s first public daily newspaper, which contains details of official decrees and appointments; births, deaths, and marriages. Even sport results—the outcome of the gladiatorial contests and chariot races at the capital – but no odds on upcoming gladiator matches by Jimmy the Greek
• Caesar marries Calpurnia in Rome
• Modern Florence, founded.
• Pharaoh Ptolemy XIV of Egypt born
• Prince He of Changyi, former Emperor of the Han Dynasty of China, died

Miscellaneous

• The last minute in a given hour, and the last second in a given minute
• Approximately the number of days in two lunar months
• The number on a button commonly worn by feminist activists in the 1970s; this was based on the claim that a woman earned 59 cents to an equally qualified man’s dollar
• In amateur radio, a perfect voice signal report
• Art Project 59′s ’59 Seconds Video Festival’[2] at 59 Franklin Street, showed 59 videos to 59 different audiences, each 59 seconds long and incorporating the number 59
• The number of the French department Nord
• John Swartzwelder wrote “59″ episodes of The Simpsons cartoon series
• The TI-59 was a programmable calculator
• Television channel 59 broadcast from Indianapolis, IN and Ghent, WV.
• The 59th Congress served in 1905-1907 during the fifth and sixth years of the Theodore Roosevelt administration

Read Full Post »

On Satire Bits: Vol. 17

With yesterday’s heavy post on U.S. politics (my apologies to non-U.S. readers) and another night of golf struggles, nothing like a dose of satire to re-ignite the engines to propel us to the weekend. Please, please – a round of applause to The Onion for their contributions of satire. Any favorites from the list below?

Woman Sets Record for Longest Time Spent Talking about Oneself

Nearest Credible Role Model for Teen 350 Miles Away

Sweating, Shaking Man Never Going to Spend a Little Time with His Thoughts Again

Ascending Soul Already Misses Possessions

Apartment Returns to Pre-Hour Guest Level of Tension

Majority of Instances of People Getting Lives Back on Track Occur Immediately after Visit to Buffalo Wild Wings

Man in Headlock Just Wanted to Party

Study Shows 70% of High Fives Unwarranted

New Poultry-Stripe Gum Hardly Takes like Goose after Chewing for One Minute

Getting Grandma into Family Reunion T-shirt a 3-Person Job

Pope Lays-off 20 Cardinals

Read Full Post »

On the Gridlock

The time being collegial is past, it’s time for confrontation … One need not choose between being a good conservative Republican and a statesman who gets things done for the country by reaching across the aisle. – Richard Murdock, Republican-nominated candidate for the U.S. Senate, Indiana

Today, those words stand tall in the Republican Party. To me, it’s just another example (of many) of the party-first atmosphere dominating the U.S. political scene. Recent years has brought forth many loud-and-cranky to force out what the very conservative voices proclaim as a RINO – Republican in Name Only.

Through lost primaries, retirements, and decision not to seek re-election, Republican moderates are fading away. As RINO hunters have successfully poached their own party, let us not forget the same thing has been happening on the other side of the aisle.

Many moderate Democrats came to Washington in the late 1990s – and they too are vanishing as DINO hunting season has successfully reduced their numbers. Many, known as Blue Dog Democrats, were a version of Democrats who would stray from the left of their party on a variety of matters, yet today are nothing more than a whimper.

The truth is, the Democratic left despises these moderates as much as the Republican right despises theirs – and since 2006, and much to the elation of the party faithful, this group, seen as partisan traitors to the party’s ideology, is vanishing.

Some moderates in both parties exist, but with so few, with whom are they going to establish common ground? With whom are they going to seek compromise? With whom are they going to find solutions for the good of the whole?

Although the voters of Indiana have not yet elected Richard Murdock (and may not do so), his words are symbolic of the majority of our elected officials for they represent their party. As the weakened, elected political center continues toward extinction in both parties while the partisans cheer with good riddance the departures of Snowe, Lieberman, Luger, Nelson, and others, let the parties not forget that the spectrum from Republican moderates through independent moderates to Democratic moderates is where one finds most Americans. Yes, the largest voting bloc with the least representation – yet, the ones who will decide the outcome – the ones who each party caters for their vote so the winning party can declare an inaccurate policy mandate.

Barring an unforeseen circumstance, election 2012 will not settle differences or bring solutions – just more partisan divide. No matter who wins the president election, I hope that the same party does not control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives – for if it does, an ideological overreach will be the order. Yes, I’ll take gridlock instead of overreach – and then in time, the moderates will return in one form or another to lead the majority of Americans. The real question is, how much time?

Resources for Learning More

• William Galston
• Party Distribution Graphs
• John Avlon
• Real Clear Politics
• The Moderate Voice
• Michael Barone

Read Full Post »

On a Monday Race

Wow! A challenging weekend for me – but first, how was yours? You had to have some fun doing something that you enjoy!

A mulch delivery greeted me early Friday morning, then occupied much of Friday and Saturday – and a small bit of Sunday. Let’s see: 10 cubic yards = 7.6 cubic meters; 0r for the bag buyers, about 135 bags. We also danced Friday and Saturday nights, but we stopped when my legs started feeling very heavy. Sunday afternoon we went into the city to see the new riverfront park (photo gallery) and nibble at an Asian fest – which means we walked about 1.5-2 miles.

The second event of horse racing’s triple crown was this weekend, which set up I’ll Take Another’s bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed (1978, and ridden by a Cincinnati area jockey). Belmont Stakes is in two weeks, which has been the Waterloo for many in their Triple Crown bid.

For your Monday Morning Entertainment, enjoy the call of this funny, classic race … and you don’t have to be a racing fan to enjoy this one. Have a good week!

Read Full Post »