Halloween 2008 notes

El Día de los Muertos, 2008. Dada, Thursday, up on the roof, honoring the dead.

Joke of the Day: A headline on the computer this morning comes from the 'Queen of glittering generalities' herself: It reads, "Palin says Obama infomercial short on specifics." (This from someone who wouldn't know a specific if it snuck up behind her and slapped her up side the head.)

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Another Halloween in which we honor the dead by OD'ing our kids on high fructose corn-syrup laced goodies.

I think I prefer the Mexican version, El Día de los Muertos, where food is served up to the departed on little altars, the irony being, high fructose corn syrup - which poses no health dangers to the deceased - is mostly absent from their treats. It's the living whose health gets endangered with the HFCS junk.

Another nice thing about El Día de los Muertos is it can be celebrated for more than one day (from October 28 to November 4) which, if you think about it, seems better. In that they are now dead forever, dead for eternity, I think it's nice more than one chintzy day can be devoted to their memories.

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There's a story in this morning's paper about a man who committed suicide yesterday by jumping to his death onto the freeway from atop the "Spaghetti Bowl." That's the interchange between U.S. 54 and Interstate 10 here in the city. Personally, I think it's a shame how thousands of motorists were inconvenienced, delayed, as two lanes of the interstate rush hour traffic were closed down for a couple of hours, but then good high places in the city that don't overlook the streets and highways of commerce are hard to find, I suppose.

The victim was a 52 year old male. He left a note. While it's entire contents weren't revealed, we do know from a person at the scene it said in part, "Obama take care of my family." Not to mention he's going to miss this year's El Día de los Muertos celebrations. Or is he?

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Yesterday I watched the movie Body of War about "Tomas Young ... a gung-ho soldier (who) returned home paralyzed, struggling to deal with his phisical limitations and his changing feelings about the war."

This was an excellent flick I wish everyone could see, especially high school kids before signing a recruiter's military contract, not that it might change many minds of immortal adolescents. With a plot that was real-life, it left me with watery eyes a number of times.

I was extremely moved by this young man's story and the way he chose to manifest his post Iraq experience most positively despite his extreme limitations and struggles. And while injuries and fatalities in Iraq have declined in recent months, this movie will remain very pertinent, it appears, as our role in Afghanistan increases under whichever president we elect, just as its relevance for all future wars will be retained.

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Finally, I received the following e-mail from a relative in Oregon re early voting.

I voted early as well.  Maybe, I thought that if I voted early
the election would just end that much sooner, and this nightmare
could all be over. ... I went back and forth about if I were going
to vote for one of them or not, but in the end I just couldn't
bring myself to vote that way.  I am just counting down the days
that this will be all over.  Although I know that it won't be over,
it will just be the beginning of another 4 years.

I guess all I can do is just hope that it ends up being better than
the last 8 years, but that isn't really saying a whole lot.  But,
even though I didn't vote for a popular candidate, I rest in knowing
that I voted for who I thought would have been the best, and that I
did not have any part in voting for what could be another ugly chapter
in our nation's history.

Wow. This is someone who, as a baby, I held in my lap and fed Cheezits to (against "Mom's" wishes). I guess there's something to be said for genetics maybe.

Every absurdity has champions who will defend it.

Wednesday was Celebrate-Felons-Day in Alaska as Senator Ted Stevens returned to Anchorage to resume his reelection campaign.

After being convicted on all seven counts of lying about receiving illegal gifts, hundreds of Alaskans turned out to welcome home their "Last Frontier" maverick.

Here, a father is shown hoisting his daughter atop his shoulders for a better view of their returning hero/crook. From her reaction, it appears she is a quick study with great future gubernatorial potential.

(Photo by Al Grillo/Associated Press)

Obama Undertakes Presidential Internship To Ease Concerns About His Lack Of Experience

Faces of the New America, 2009

The New America, 2009

Out of work, out of a home, living out of a car, pictures of families such as these will become more and more common in the year ahead. I suspect a number of those experiencing such difficulties will vote for McCain next week because they fear if Obama gets elected it will mean higher taxes; and, of course, Obama will redistribute their wealth.

Note to Americans

Every NFL coach has a red flag to challenge a bad play call by officials.

NOTE TO AMERICA: You have exactly one week to locate,
wash up, iron out and cram into your hip pockets that red flag
of challenge. Next Wednesday you may need to use it or lose it.

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"Fake democracy, fake patriotism" Dada quits!

"This would be a lot easier if it was a dictatorship, just as long as I'm the dictator"

George Bush, December 18, 2000

Oh how we laughed, when this we first read
But it's no damn joke, the nation's now dead
~ Dada

"I’m not saying this is the perfect answer. If I were dictator, which
I always aspire to be, I would write it a little bit differently."
John McCain, October 1, 2008

This seems as good a time as any to suspend this blog. "Dada" was originally created to look at serious events unfolding that impact most of us and spice them with a hint of skepticism, a pinch of humor. But theres no longer anything funny about what's happened to this country.

Tina Fey makes us laugh at Sarah Palin, but Sarah Palin is no laughing matter. Sarah Palin is deadly serious!

And the America we knew is dead. We allowed it to die. Naomi Wolf, in the following, most important video I've seen since the emergence of video, offers us a wee bit of hope at the end. But honestly? I know of no man or woman in the country today with the balls to do as she suggests.



Here then is that video. It's 27 minutes in length. I don't care if people watch only a minute a day (although we may not have the luxury of taking that much time to finish it). You could slide over to about the 4:20 mark, cutting its length to about 23 minutes. But know the coup has occurred and time is of the essence.

Debating the campaign is now futile. The powers that be will give us the outcome they intend us to have, the outcome we deserve. Look for a very exciting few weeks until the election.

I'll still be lurking in the blogs, but after nearly three and one half years, Dada bids all "Goodbye and good luck."

Bail us out or face martial law!

Just to reiterate my penultimate blog here in case you missed "Need a bailout?.... " from Saturday, 10/4, representative Brad Sherman from California revealed how some reps in the house were threatened with martial law in the U.S. if they didn't vote for the bailout!

I guess we've all just become so accustomed and complacent to the Bush/Cheney modus operandi of employing terror to achieve their agenda's goals we think nothing of their blackmailing nervous Nellies into going along, right?

Of course, while terrorizing us all, we must remember the Bush administration is keeping us all safe from terror, right?

This week's t-shirt Dada most covets

~ image courtesy of KMGH

Denver police often issue T-shirts to commemorate big events. This one celebrating the 2008 Democratic National Convention this past summer in the Mile High City is something I find extremely desirous as testament to America in the 21st Century.

Need a bailout? Just use a very bleak threat.

(NOTE: While sensitive to the ladies who may read this, Mrs. Dada has made me even
more so. Hence, I apologize should any be offended by the analogy I've chosen to employ.)

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I am so pissed at the state of the nation after Friday's passage of the bailout bill. The only way our government makes any sense to me anymore is if, and only if, I think of the White House, and K & Wall Streets as Pimps, the senate and the house (of ill repute) as a majority of whores a majority of time and they see us, the American taxpayers, as their Johns who they're been ordered to screw for all we're worth.

It's a joke to watch John McCain's latest campaign ads saying he's going to save us all from the economic rubble heap the U.S. has become as a result of his support for the very policies that detonated us into this shambled mess. But McCain and Barack Obama are sisters out of the same "house" working the same corner on opposite sides of the street from each other on this bailout deal.

Dada finds it difficult to see the entire Washington and Wall Street scene as nothing but a useless drunken orgy of incompetence, greed and malfeasance for which we all are expected to foot the bill.



While representative Brad Sherman has another excellent You Tube video delineating the demerits of the 'new and improved' bailout, what was added, and then rushed to the white house for immediate signing into law Friday, I'll spare you that here. This one will do just fine.

I know many of us don't have 4 minutes plus to spare for the longer version. But if you can spare 49 seconds for the real meat of what he said on the floor of the house of ill repute's representatives, it's time well spent. It's indicative of just how lost this nation has become if, rather than doing their god damned jobs, members of our whore congress can be threatened to lie down and pass a bill that will likely speed up the death of the nation rather than revive it.

Finally, let me just say again (and again, and again -- so sick am I of repeating myself), it's obvious congress fears something far more other than the people they represent, i.e., the holders of the ultimate power to whom they are accountable and should fear. Instead, the fear they have is trickling down from above rather than flowing up from 'we the people' down below. But then, when have we the people ever given congress much cause for fear?

Reading a response somewhere on the Web to Rick Sherman's You Tube video, "Oh, another conspiracy theory. But why are they always right?" I found myself nodding in approval.

I hate days that peak early, then crash later.

L to R - "a ball of light," the Dadas, with "Tom and Brenda"

You can chose your friends, but you can only have one mother. ~ Max Shulman

While my "only one mother" has been gone almost 21 years now, I'm still choosing friends (and sometimes vice versa). So Thursday, Mrs. Dada and I ventured north to the High Desert Brewing Company in Las Cruces, NM, for a little pre-debate distraction. It was a rendezvous suggested several weeks earlier by a ball of light, occasional commenter here at Dada's and other blogs. We'd never met, but a ball of light said he was going to be in the area for a couple of days while on a chile run and had e-mailed me asking if I'd be interested in sharing a repast over some excellent ale/s at the High Desert.

I thought if this was a cover by some covert governmental security agency to rendition me off to endless darkness in an underground dungeon in Syria, a ball of light had chosen the perfect bait to land Dada. I accepted his invitation. But to have witnesses of my demise, I suggested a ball of light might also enjoy meeting those balladeers, Tom and Brenda, who so aptly captured Sarah Palin in their clever Redneck from Wasilla You Tube several weeks ago. A ball of light agreed.

We decided to meet at precisely 3:17. This would allow us plenty of time before the nightcap to a perfect day, the vice presidential "debate." We enjoyed making a new friend and reuniting with old ones for the next 2 and 1/2 hours. We touched on a wide range of topics, none in any great depth. We discussed Sarah, the impending debate, religion, synchronicity, the mysticism of the world of the quanta, super colliders, predictive linguistics and what it might portend for us all later this month and, yes, where the hell everyone's been for the past half century plus.

Too soon it was time to go. It had been a pleasant afternoon. Mrs. Dada and I made the hour drive home just in time to watch the debate with Editor Sam. I don't remember how far into it I got before shutting down the tube. (Mrs. Dada saw it through to the end with Sam.) But it was after being asked a question and Palin stood there silent for a couple of moments, I suspected she was wired, i.e., she was waiting for her "feed" to tell her how to respond. But I guess the realization there was no pit -- there would be no mud-wrestling this night -- I shut it off.

Unlike the afternoon, the evening was a huge disappointment. I concluded that once more the old saying, "There are more horses asses than horses," still rings true.

Finally, a Wall Street bailout Dada can support.

Call your House representative. Suggest it!

"Hello. My name is America and I am an addict."

(NOTE: CAUTION - Before watching the enclosed video, it is recommended you read the warning first. Failure to do so could change the Fates, affecting the entire history of the world. ~Dada)

As many Americans are eagerly anticipating tonight's "debate" between Sarah and whatshisname, I thought I'd post Tina Fey's latest Sarah skit from Saturday Night Live.


THE WARNING:

While it's fun to find humor in someone else's ignorance of current world dynamics as a manifestation of history and the interplay and interdependence between nations, the consequences that can and do result from such innocence in situations demanding background and knowledge can be costly and extremely dangerous.

One of the finest examples of such is the self-destructive behavior that results from the policies of the United States. That is, how better to alienate yourself from the world's league of nations than to go around sticking bases and missiles up the nose of your former Cold War partner? Or chastising other nation's human rights violations who finance your own and your international hubris? Or making "allies" of countries by violating their borders and blowing the shit out of their citizens? Or trying to overthrow governments that think they have a right to their own oil you so desperately need?

So I realize the danger involved in posting this video before November 4th. That's because I suspect Americans harbor self-destructive behaviors grown from their addiction to international lustings for power and their risky apathy of how they are satisfied.

A video glamorizing former beauty queen and mother Sarah Palin as a dimwit with her stereotypical dysfunctional All-American family appeals to many on a lower consciousness level. They can relate. And, no, "She couldn't be all that dumb really, could she?" they reassure themselves. A little naive maybe but, hey, that makes her cute.

And making "cute" of Sarah, may temp many Americans about to plunge the voting needle into the election punch card, or finger the computer screen for Obama on November 4th to stop, to hesitate a second and remember this video and how much Sarah Palin is just like them. And at the very critical point give into their latent temptation to come out of the closet and violate with ballot pins or their own pointy fingers their common sense, their desire to get better, to make sober their America and rejoin the global community as a good neighbor instead of bullying rogue their addiction to power has made them.

That is the peril of this entertaining and funny video. After all, it's not easy to stand at the head of the room and say to all nations, "Hello. My name is America and I am an addict."

Watching this video won't make our confession any easier, but let us hope Americans have the strength to handle it on November 4th.

Last Hurrah! to the Old World, welcome to the new one! (In theatres, homes, supermarkets and gas tanks later this month?)

Happy October all! This is my favorite month because of the change of seasons. Summer is on its way out the door, bags in hand like a guest who's overstayed their welcome, scurrying toward the taxi waiting curbside to hustle it off to the airport. The already cooler nights are hinting at the foliage that will soon be shouting in crescendo their encore of riotous color before fading and falling to expose the bleakness of the cold, naked limbs of winter.

Making this autumn extra exciting is that oft anticipated quadrennial event - a presidential election. And what makes this one better than the last is the fact that, even if republicans manage to steal yet another one, we're going to have a new face in the White House come January! (Okay, maybe I should have said an old face. Or even better, a different face.)

But putting a damper on all of the excitement in the air are some very bleak outlooks for the nation. There's the economic meltdown as I've noted here before, the Bush--Paulson threat of serious consequences if we don't give 'em what they want by saying something like, "You don't even wanna know how screwed you'll be!"

And at the risk of sounding conspiratorial, maybe the story in the Army Times of the return of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team from Iraq to perform a new, special type duty takes on extra significance in light of the what's happening with the republican's and democrat's stink reeking economy.

Trained in war torn Iraq "The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent ... months patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys."

"Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.

"They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive...attack." (Ooh, an *extra, special* October surprise? ~Dada)

They'll be learning new skills and using some of those "they acquired in the war zone and more than likely will not be shot at while doing any of it."

This taken with the dire predictions of predictive linguistics over on Urban Survival for a totally "life as we know it altering event" on or around October 7th could have significant consequences for us all.

Conspiratorial? I don't know, maybe. But let's wait for a week or two before getting all "Pooh, pooh!" about it. In the meantime, I'm going to the bank tomorrow for a couple hundred bucks to at least get me through a week or two (as recommended on Urban Survival) during the possible credit card meltdown.

Then I'm heading up to the High Desert Brewing Company to rendezvous with a couple of electronic friends in what may be "The Last Party of the Century" for me for awhile.