MUSIC OF THE DAY: Walter Trout, Marie’s Mood

Rating: S (Serious)

Post-Inauguration Beverage of the Day: Lemonade,

Apparently the gentleman known as “The King of Pop,” one Mr. Michael Jackson, passed away the other day; there is some continuing speculation about the cause of his untimely death (I believe he was only 50 years old), but notwithstanding the speculation, it seems appropriate to hope that Mr. Jackson rests in peace.

Not being a fan of “pop” music, I cannot say that I ever found Mr. Jackson’s music to be something I enjoyed or listened to (but, as the old saw goes, there is no accounting for taste) and his videos seemed profoundly and deeply narcissistic and therefore, to me at least, they were tasteless and vulgar. His contribution to American culture was, so far as I could tell, minimal and mostly degrading; his overt weirdness seemed to ensure his status as some kind of pop-culture icon, but for whom and why I cannot begin to guess. If his life was painful and strange and his family was dysfunctional or perverse, Mr. Jackson apparently did nothing to alter or ameliorate his situation other than to amass, and dissipate, a financial fortune, all while botching any and all human interactions (at least according to the post-mortem reports about his life). This is sad.

I guess, finally, I would say that if you believe in the power of prayer, it might be a good thing to pray for Mr. Jackson; it might have been a better thing had we prayed for him while he was here. . . .

AJ
TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.

Music of the Day: Los Straitjackets, Della Street

RATING: S (Serious)

Post-Inauguration Beverage of the Day: A Cold Powerful Something-or-Other of Your Choice

It must have been the headline about the new, harsher UN sanctions against North Korea that got me started—now almost everything’s funny!

Actually, that’s not really true, but I did pick up the last copy of P.J. O’Rourke’s new book at our local chain bookstore over the weekend and there’s a laugh, or a grin, or a guffaw, on every page. WARNING: Do not eat or drink while reading O’Rourke’s new book, the title of which is, (get ready): Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-bending, Celebrating America the Way It’s Supposed to Be—With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn. The subtitle alone is worth the price of the book.

As I have noted here previously, the laughs have been few and far between of late, but that has been remedied by the aforementioned howler dispensed by the United Nations and now P.J.’s new book, which in and of its own-self caused me to laugh until I cried.

Do you love cars? If so, you absolutely must read this book; have you ever wanted to own, say, an old pristine Austin-Healy 3000 convertible? If so, you must read this book. Have you ever wanted to go on an extended crazy-man (or crazy-woman) road trip to, say, Las Vegas or Point Arena or Gettysburg or Rolla? If so, you must read this book. Lots of car stories, lots of lies and exaggerations (at least I hope they’re exaggerations), lots of craziness followed by middle-age and parenting, and a smattering of some pretty biting Republican-style humor thrown in just for the hell of it (I guess). I’ve read every single P.J. O’Rourke book and this is something of a mixture of the best of them—from Holidays in Hell to Republican Party Reptile to Give War a Chance to Eat the Rich to Peace Kills and everything before and after. The book is available, as they say, at finer bookstores, although not locally—Dr. Phil and BG may borrow the book from AJ’s Lending Library now that I’ve finished it.

I also snagged the lone copy of Harry Stein’s new book entitled I Can’t Believe I’m Sitting Next to a Republican: A Survival Guide for Conservatives Marooned Among the Angry, Smug, and Terminally Self-Righteous. This, too, shall soon be part of AJ’s Lending Library—but hey, what the hell is up with only one copy of these books by conservative writers on the shelves of our local chain bookstore? Anyway, I’m about halfway through Stein’s book and it’s funny, too, in a sardonic and all-too-real way; I read his earlier political book, How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace), and so far, I think this newest thing is better. I’ll let you have a more fulsome report when I’ve finished reading it.

With that, best to all of AJ’s readers—may you find something to make you laugh, too. And many thanks to the folks who made recent comments here—it’s always nice to know that this stuff isn’t just going out into the ether. . . .

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.

Music of the Day: Peter White, Bueno Funk

RATING: S (Serious)

Post-Inauguration Beverage of the Day: Oh hell, pick something strong, people!

As noted in my last extremely brief posting, I have been unable to write in the blog for some time due to three happy events and one unhappy event. Two of our kids graduated from university, a third got married, and Dear Old Mom passed away at the end of May. May was a real emotional roller coaster for me and everyone else in the family. What we’re all doing now is adjusting or coping or grieving or some combination of the three, so for me, at least, there hasn’t been a whole of humor, of late, in my tiny existence.

Until yesterday.

While wolfing my lunch (a turkey sandwich) at the slaughterhouse, I had the computer on and was perusing the news and found this gem on the Drudge Report: U.N. Security Council Imposes New Sanctions on North Korea. This was a story from the L.A. Times, which is not known for doing funny pieces, but here was hilarity profound enough that I nearly choked to death on my sandwich. The big, bad, scary United Nations Security Council “voted unanimously today [Friday] for new sanctions against North Korea,” the story said, in order to “register its displeasure at the Pyongyang government’s recent nuclear and missile tests.”

Please note the difference between the headline that claimed the U.N. Security Council “imposed” sanctions and the reality as described in the story, which indicated only that the sanctions had been voted upon unanimously—the story reveals that nothing had been “imposed” on North Korea at all, just that the big, bad, scary Security Council had voted and that it had shown “firm opposition” to the actions of the now-nuclear nut-jobs in North Korea.

I’m sure the plucky North Koreans noted the “markedly stronger” sanctions, the UN’s “firm opposition,” and the UN’s “displeasure” and, accordingly, halted their nuclear weapons program long enough for a good group laugh (typically not permitted in dour North Korea), and then got back to work building more bombs (which, last time I checked, were not meant for “peaceful purposes,” the excuse that all totalitarians use for acquiring nuclear technology, including that other plucky group of loony totalitarians, the Iranians). Please note that last week our ridiculous president said the Iranians had the “right” to nuclear technology for “peaceful purposes”—when the first Iranian nuke is detonated over Tel Aviv our ridiculous president might be forced to re-think his notion about the “rights” of mad-dog leaders in piss-ant backwaters to pursue policies that facilitate genocide (which is openly avowed by the Iranian leadership). Sadly, for Mr. Obama, at that point he will not be able to blame his predecessor, Mr. Bush, and will therefore be forced to have his brain trust come up with some other excuse that the credulous will swallow.

As for me, I appreciated the L.A. Times story for its laughable absurdity and I guffawed my way through lunch. These days, I have to take the humor where I can find it. . . .

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND

Apologies to all loyal AJ readers--family, friends, colleagues, well-wishers, fellow conservatives, Republicans, veterans, and all others who have visited this space.

The highs and lows I have experienced of late have precluded any "thought" related to politics, national security, books, this ridiculous man who is our president, or anything else that hasn't reached the level of life and death.

I'll explain, later.

Thanks again for checking on my blog.

AJ

Music of the Day: AC/DC, Highway to Hell

RATING: SSW (Somewhat Serious with Occasional Flashes of Wit)

Post-Inauguration Beverage of the Day: Simply Limeade and Milagro Tequila

Let me see if I can accurately describe the circumstances under which this is being written: I’m sitting in a blue folding camp chair in the Great Room of the Ranch. Parked next to me on the big ol’ octagonal rug is a huge dog crate presently occupied by sweet Maylie, still recovering from her recent knee surgery. She has the following items in the crate with her: an AirDog donut-shaped squeaker, a giant chocolate-flavored Nyla Bone that looks like the femur of a T-Rex, a brand new Kong chew toy (complete with some kind of edible morsel in the middle), an eviscerated green dog-like chew toy of some kind (it has no appendages left and the head has been chewed off, too), and a blue “indestructible” ring with four squeakers in it (see the picture of Maylie in my gallery—same chew toy, different color). A little while ago her crate was littered with dozens of pieces of cardboard that she had torn up—we’re letting her chew on cardboard because she’s bored spitless. She’s been confined to the crate since her surgery nearly three weeks ago and she gets in these manic/restless moods now and then in spite of the sedative that we’ve been giving her twice a day (doctor’s orders!). In about nine days we’ll be able to begin short walks with her; MLB took her to the vet on Monday and he said her recovery was coming along quite nicely, but we still have to be very careful with her for another six weeks or so before we can resume “normal” activity with her.

She has handled this with remarkable aplomb—she is, after all, an eight month old puppy with boundless energy—and we’re thankful for her grace and very good behavior. She hasn’t gotten morose either, which was always a possibility—her good nature comes through each day and, believe me, if we didn’t keep her confined she would be over-doing it almost immediately. She’s ready to get outta’ the crate and start enjoying puppy-life again.

So, you might ask, is she putting weight on her back leg yet? Yes and no. She still favors it when walking, but we’ve begun to notice that she’s using all four legs more frequently, which is a good sign—but that means we have to remain diligent with keeping her activity level low. This is hard for a young puppy to do, but she’s doing it; we’ve struggled, too, mostly on an emotional level, but I think we’re past the really hard part of the recovery. Honestly, I think this was harder on me emotionally than on MLB, although she was probably less likely than me to start sobbing while watching Maylie mope about on sedatives and pain-killers. Hey, I’ve got other stuff pulling my emotional strings, so it wasn’t just Maylie’s difficulty that was turning me into something of a basket case. I’m not “better” but I’m handling things differently now; what happens tomorrow, and how I react to what happens tomorrow, remains to be seen. . . .

That’s all for tonight; it is time to become CROMaG (which, if you do not recall, is Canine Recycled Organic Matter Gatherer), so I’ve got to get the plastic bag and the rubber glove and start gathering.

I’ll be thinking of Nancy Pelosi the whole time. . . .

AJ

TO LIVE IN FREEDOM’S LIGHT IS THE RIGHT OF MANKIND.