Man's Best Friend Comes In Many Guises

The title for the picture is "Which animal doesn't belong?"  Right!  The one in the lower left hand corner.  That's a Ferret masquerading as a Toy Poodle.  How anyone could be fooled is beyond me but for a time in Argentina there was a thriving business selling these little guys. They aren't alone, however, in trying to fool some of the people all of the time.

It seems China must have a shortage of zoo animals because they're clipping and dying various breeds to look like wild animals.  It just goes to show you not every one sees things the same way!  Politicians take note.

But I don't want to go political today.  The world is too much of a mess and we all need a respite so revisionist dogdom will be my subject.

The handsome fellow at in the upper left box is a Lion.  Seriously. King of the beasts don't you know!  My what a long nose you have, and furry body and small feet!  Even the Chinese viewing this Tibetan Mastiff weren't fooled though.  You see, he barked.

In the upper right we have the Chinese version of a tiger - floppy ears and all.  I guess everyone has to suffer dog days in the summer!

And the lower right.  An adorable Panda. He is, really.  So is the dog breed with the black tongues that he seems to resemble.  Some of us know them as Chow Chows. Perhaps since they are both native to China they're interchangeable.

It's kind of nice though to be able to look at some of the absurdities of the world and get a smile out of them.  It beats banning rodeo clowns for life for a distasteful joke which is in and of itself an absurdity. Or having to read one more story about Anthony Weiner or the mayor of San Diego.  Or listening to rush Limbaugh tell us he could never moderate a political debate because he's too famous and it would detract from the subject and people at hand.  We're surrounded by absurdities.

But today, I'll take furry absurdities who probably went along with all the snipping and clipping in good spirits.  Oh, yeah, the handsome devil on the right is the late, great Bacchus.  A Saint Bernard.  Now he was a dog!

NAACP And Everyone Else Concerned, Lighten Up!

They're masks, people.  Just masks!  To try to make a raunchy spoof  by a rodeo clown into something racist and inciting violence is just plain ridiculous!

I wager the people complaining the loudest have never been to a rodeo.  Have I?  Yes.  Being married to a Montanan and having lived in the rural west it comes with the territory.  I even have relatives who participate.

So some found the clown's joke offensive.  Just as many thought it funny. And it was mild when compared to some of the rhetoric to come out of Congress about said President and each other.

Rodeo is a rough and tumble sport.  Political correctness is the last thing on their minds as is siccing a bull on the President or anyone else.  That's the whole purpose of the clowns in the first place - to distract a dangerous beastie should it be needed.

So NAACP please.  You don't have to make everything racist. You do nothing but drive the wedge deeper when you call upon the DOJ and Secret Service to "investigate" this young man. Go to the rodeo, mix with the crowds.  Listen to the chat.  You'll find it anything but politically correct but hardly incendiary.  What's incendiary is the attention you draw to what you judge to be unacceptable humor.

If everyone who has taken a shot at the President is investigated that's all the DOJ and SS would be doing! Congress would be doing even less than it is now. It would wipe out late night comedy shows. FOX pundits would be out of work.

Halloween is not too far off.  You might want to see which masks are the most popular this year.  I'll wager on Barack and Hillary.  Nixon has been good for years.  I also read that some costume shops couldn't give away McCain.

Is everyone who wears a mask to be accused of mocking the person he's hiding behind?  If so, so what?  But to be considered a possible perpetrator of violence?  To be investigated?  Please!

If you want the rest of the country to get over what you consider undue prejudice against colored people, which of course, the President is one, then get over yourselves.  Most of us don't apply race and violence to everything that happens in the course of our day - unless someone like you brings it to mind.  It's fine when warranted.  Just make sure it is. Otherwise you really do look like clowns.

The Case Against Massive Legislation

I've long been an advocate of tackling large tasks piece meal.  The reason is that often the big picture is just too overwhelming  and it either never gets done or the end is sloppy at best.

Such is the case with Obamacare.  We first had thousands of pages in one bill, way too much for those who were to vote on it to read.  So they didn't.  The staff relegated to the task weren't necessarily knowledgeable about the intentions and implications of the content to give an accurate briefing to their Congress people.  Thus the infamous enjoiner from Nancy Pelosi that it needed to be passed so we could know what's in it.

Forget partisanship, the bill was a disaster in the making from the get go. Little more need be said when the very implementation of the basics are being delayed right and left because the mechanics aren't ready.  Pair that with the waivers being sought you're losing funding before it even gets out the door not to mention being unfair by playing favorites especially when it comes to Congress themselves and their staff.

Add the President to the mix with his unlawful awarding of waivers and delaying implementation of certain aspects over others, it's not a pretty picture of executive arrogance and constitutional malfeasance. He does not have the right to change or refuse to obey written and passed law on his own volition.  Yet he does and there is no recourse.  That is a slap in the face to the very essence of how our government is designed to work.

Beware immigration reform.  The same pattern is emerging.

So what will happen.  Being a pessimist by nature when it comes to government I expect two things.  Immigration reform will never happen even with the Gang of Eight working together.

Two,  heaalth care reform, once implemented, will bear little resemblance to the law as passed.  That can be good and bad.  It's bad under any circumstance if it's done by presidential dictate.

I suspect, however, what's happening is a clumsy effort to bring about a one payer system.  National Health Care.  Do you think we have an economic crisis now? You haven't seen anything yet!  It's the details you know, those devilish details. Your witnessing what happens when they're ignored or not even considered.

Secretary Sebelius says the current goings on aren't bait and switch.  We'll see.

News And Entertainment - One And The Same?

I've been watching the hullabaloo on FOX over who will lose their time slot when Megan Kelly moves to prime time the first of September.

Even though Greta Van Susteren has the weakest ratings she appears to have the better agent because she is expected to hold at 10 o'clock.  Sean Hannity is slated for change.  I'm guessing a non-prime slot and a whole lot more money, but who knows.  None of them are worth watching unless your are interested in a 'conservative' rehash of the day's news plus too much fluff like the video of the day.  Never-the-less the speculating has been fun.

I had come to believe the line between news and entertainment couldn't get more blurred but oh, how wrong I was.  Remember the commercial where Alec Baldwin tells an airline passenger not to worry with him at the controls because he had played a pilot?  Well, now he's going to play pundit and where else but msnbc?  I love it!

If I want whiny or righteous indignation I watch FOX.  If I want anger and nastiness I watch msnbc.  If I want to watch line straddling I watch CNN. It really doesn't make much difference since the slant is predetermined and never wavers.

I read Baldwin's rants on the Huff Post occasionally and of course we're always reminded of his Irish temper whenever a photographer happens to get too close.  I expect his demeanor will carry over to his new gig.  After all he's played it before.

Now, where to go for news?  Maybe I'll bookmark the Washington Post now that Jeff Bezos has bought it. I understand he's a hard nose of a boss and obviously a successful businessman.  My curiosity is piqued as to how he's going to turn an obsolete though storied rag into a money making venture.  Maybe rags to riches will have new meaning. Besides I prefer print media.

The fun and speculation has about run its course with the FOX escapade except for the final details.  Now I can begin trying to think of who else msnbc might recruit to become the 12th angry man.  Maybe it will be Bill Clinton.  He'll be pretty upset if the Hillary bio pic gets trashed and no one can do angry better than he.  I can just imagine his red face now.

There's something about those Irish pundits.  Matthews, O'Donnell, Hannity, O'Reilly and now Baldwin.  Gosh, I wish they were all on the same network. Then I wouldn't have to watch any of them!

McCain And Graham - Past Their Prime

What happens when politicians have outlasted their usefulness?  They meddle.

Jimmy Carter is the champion of meddling even today but two Republicans are running a close second.  How can two be second?  Because you never seem to see one without the other.

Lindsey Graham, the oh so pious yet vague Senator from South Carolina, will at least have to face some challengers in 2014.  Failed presidential candidate and self anointed maverick McCain will be around for awhile yet.  I'm thinking if Graham goes, though, maybe McCain won't be able to find another willing partner.  I've always wondered that if these two are as right about things as they tell us they are, why more of their ilk haven't jumped on their bandwagon.

The administration has them pegged.  They can be used, rolled, whatever you want to call it as long as the reward is face time on camera.  Sometimes it works for them, sometimes not.

I'd say McCain and Graham's recent trip to Egypt to let them know what they must do to retain our favor might not sit well with the Egyptians and might do the administration more harm than good.  They went with the administration's 'blessing' but not at it's request.

Imagine the chutzpah involved in suggesting the release of Morsi and some of their political prisoners might be negotiated in return for concessions from the interim government.  They aren't even part of the administration, thank you very much.  We have a Secretary of State to handle such matters.  And making a joke about what is or isn't a coup.  Talk about abusing political correctness on a grand scale in another country! Let it go, John.  It's right up there with 'bomb, bomb Iran' on your top ten bad joke list.

So the Egyptians have now officially been warned by our twin mavericks that their aid money might be in jeopardy if they don't admit to our terminology then apologize for it and do the bidding of these two. Wow. Never mind what the Egyptian people want. Why are they there again?

I don't think the Egyptians are concerned.  The Saudis have offered them far more in aid than we have.  They have successfully made the administration look weak for having these two appear to be roving ambassadors even though it's another self appointed title.

It's bad enough when the administration makes blunders.  They don't need the help of two from the Republican side making it worse.  So what's the end result of this exercise in narcissism?  I can't believe I've extended the term beyond  the presidential persona, but I have.  In spades.  So, we have a failed trip at tax payer expense and the contempt of the Egyptian people and their interim government for having interfered where it wasn't needed or wanted.

And you wonder why the world looks at us as inept, weak and inconsequential.