his is a picture of my grandson, Jack.
The scary thing about this is that it was taken before the Batman movie with The Joker in it came out.
Even scarier is that this pcture wasn't taken during Halloween.

What ... happened.? Last fall, I was out on the streets, campaigning for Barack Obama like I never have before for a presidential candidate--because I never before had campaigned at all for a presidential candidate. After a Bush regime that threatened to end democracy because the Decider decided he could, Obama was more than the better candidate, he was the person who could bring our freedoms back to the U.S.

So it was a bit disconcerting when Obama did straighten out the gay thing Clinton introduced to the military. It was a real piss-off when Obama didn't shut down Gitmo on the get-go. It was infuriating when Obama started pumping more resources into Afghanistan. But I could somehow live with all that because, you know, Barack might have his reasons. But now, this wimpy, nampy-pamby attitude he's taken about our health care system is ... well, it's from an alternate universe, where the President Obama is not the same President Obama we elected.

The President's lack of leadership is rivaled only by George W. Bush--who, despite a majority opposition in Congress, managed to get things down while he focused his attention of his golf swing and clearing brush. Obama had a ringing victory that could only be seen as a mandate to carry out his policies. And health care was the most far-reaching, overdue policy. Thank goodness he was in a position to make insurance reform through committees and Congress like a farm boy being taken behind the shed for a whuppin’.

But no. He's been giving away parts of health care reform like they were petals on a flower and he was dancing about a May pole. Every time the Republicans whine about the poor insurance companies being unable to compete or how out taxes will pay to kill unborn children, Obama hands them a cookie like he would a blubbering child.

It doesn't matter what concessions the Repubs get, they're still not going to vote for health care and insurance reform. Why? Because they are selfish, ignorant, greedy lackeys of the medical and insurance companies, who stand to lose a bundle if we adopt a health system as efficient, affordable, and, yes, as good as the rest of the world has.

And Obama lets them get away with it? He lets the conservatives stomp all over him like flamenco dancers performing a human sacrifice? Why? Because Obama doesn’t' want to be a scary Negro.

The president could twist the arms of Congress the way Lyndon Johnson did. He could easily make bad guys of the Congress the way Truman did. He could, like FDR, mount the bully pulpit and use his extraordinary speaking skills to rally the same people who joined to support him during the election and to pub a moral whammy on anyone who opposes a system that would save lives and money.

But he doesn't. And the only reason is that taking an aggressive stand -- to act like the "angry black man" talented fools like Rush Limbaugh accuse him of being -- might inflame the fears that smolder in the souls of those folks you see screaming the nonsensical at town hall meetings, Don't be fooled that they are screaming because they oppose changes in health care and how we pay for it. They could care less. They're there because they don't like seeing a black man in the White House. (After all this country didn't build a Black House. It's a White House, goddamit.)

One woman at a town hall was practically sobbing as she burbled, "I want our country back!" Country back? From whom? Who took your country and where do you think they're hiding it? What the woman really wants to say is that she wants to take the country back from the Negroes, and put it back into the hands of decent, god-fearing, hard-working white people who don't wear their pants below their assess and don't listen to music with no discernable melody.

And Obama is fucking letting them get away with it. More thank he wants to achieve the precious goals he campaigned for, Obama doesn't want the first black presidency to be one that causes a race riot--a white race riot. To Obama that is the way his presidency would fail because it carries the possibility that a second black man will not be elected for another 150 years.

Well, Mr. Obama, screw that! What you fear most is more likely to happen if you show you cannot lead. That is the most important job a president has. And if you continue to throw away your powers of leadership in the names of compromise and bipartisanship, race won't matter in future presidencies because you will have taught us all that opportunity for blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities is no longer one of our country's ideals.

Now, I'm not saying that if a couple wants to have a Hello Kitty  theme for their wedding that they shouldn't be allowed to.
After all, someone let Michael Jackson get married dressed up like a toy soldier, and we all know how well that turned out.  All I am saying is that they probably shouldn't be allowed to reproduce.

--Ron White

How much do you have to want something that you're willing to frighten old people, keep dying children from getting help, and can sit by while thousands of families collapse in financial ruins you could have prevented?

The answer is you have to want something as bad as the Republicans want to get back into power. Because that's exactly what they're doing by spreading rumors that the universal health care plan is really a plot to kill old people because, you know, they're such a drag on the economy--not to mention being bores at parties.

When I first heard this, I couldn't believe it wasn't a joke--something the Democrats would say about Republicans, all in good jest because it's so obviooulsy untrue.  But no! The Republicans are actually spreading this lie. And some people are either being taken in by the lie or claiming to believe it to give it more credibility;.

When last night I saw news video of the Republican latest tactic--people shouting down a cabinet member and U.S. senator who were trying to explain the health plan. The idea is to make it seem that there is a grass-roots movement against the health plan. But it's all as  phony as a wrestling match between Georgeous George and Ivan the Terrible, These "demonstrations" are organized by the same people who brought you the recent tea parties -- you know, the ones that were about as exciting as a real tea social. And masterminding it all is Dick Armey, whose name really says it all.

This is all not a joke. Because of what these people are doing, real old people are going to die before their time--along with real children, and real young adults, people  who either can't afford health insurance or whom the insurance companies refuse to cover because it might cut into profits.

How sick, in the mental sense, and how greedy and how power hungry must          some one be to block a plan that would same lives and pull the United States out of third-world status? 

I don't know. I can't really imagine what such people are like inside their mouldering souls. I just can't imagine.

-- Ron White

A San Antonio woman this week chopped off her young infant's head. Then she ate his brains along with a toe or two and  stabbed herself a few times.  She didn't die. i know depression, anxiety, bad hormones, and shoddy nerves can cause all sorts of odd behavior, but what could have been going through this woman's head? I can't imagine. On second thought, I don't want to imagine it.

I got this error message recently: The thing is, it's not really any more cryptic than most other error messages.

I can’t complain. But sometimes I still do.– Joe Walsh, Life’s Been Good to Me

 

When I think about people getting killed all over the world for the simple act of saying the wrong thing while standing in the middle of a street, I’ve got no right to bitch. Still, misery is relative. All those world events are terrible...really terrible.

But I’m in fuckin’ Texas, where the temperature is on a run of 100+ degree highs soaked so heavily in humidity that it feels like 115F. The flowers in our front yard are turning brown from the heat despite by illicit waterings, committed at 1 a.m. in hopes of evading the drought police that enforce restrictions on watering.

My doctors have told me to lose weight, or else. (The Mafia should hire doctors to do their threats. Hearing you’re going to die is always scarier from a doctor than from a goon.) So I’ve been told to lay off pies. Instead, I’m learning to distinguish the subtle differences among Bibb lettuce, romaine, arugula, endive, and some leaves identified only as "Field Greens" or "Miso."

Last week our car caught fire at the exact same time that the carburetor, battery, and a bunch of seals (not the marine animal) expired. Our dog ran into something–cat, bush, furniture– and wound up with a small crater in the center of his cornea that quickly turned into a big crater in the center of his cornea. Surgery cost $1, 750–twice as much as the car repairs.

Our son came for a visit, and the air-conditioning in the house promptly broke down. The part needed to fix the A/C wasn’t in stock and we’ll have to wait until next week. Three fish in our aquarium died. (We had a mass burial at sea–one flush.) I got food poisoning from my favorite restaurant. I lost my wallet in a movie theater. And right now I can feel a migraine coming on.

I thing I’m going to eat a slice of chocolate pie. Followed by a piece of peach pie. A la mode.

With all the political and economic turmoil of late, I've received a lot of email from people wanting guidance to improving both their political relations and their profits. When it comes to politicians, they want to be smart consumers. The question most often asked is:

Hey, Ron! Which is the rest route to go in seeking to subvert the law to get a better deal on my government contracts, taxes, and regulatory waivers? Should I rent, lease or just outright buy my representative in Congress?"

All types of payments have their place and their advantages, which is why I like to advise using all of them, under the right circumstances.

RENT: Renting a member of Congress is perfect for getting that one-time favor, court ruling, or any other non-recurring event. You pay an amount agreed upon between you and the politician; the politician puts the whammy on whatever threatens your interests, and buries the cash in the azaleas.

LEASE: The proper situation to lease a congressperson is when you need support for a long-term project or when you need to hire several Congress persons. The typical lease runs from six months to two years, during which you'll be expected to make several payments through the laundering process the politician prefers--campaign contribution, library donation, PAC, or free home construction.

BUY: You should buy a politician when the issue is so important that it threatens your growing profits, multi-billion government contracts, even the continued existence of your company. At this level ante up big because the stakes are big. Take the recent vote by the Senate to kill a cap on credit card interest. What percentage of the people who voted for the senators do you think would like to see the cap pass?  How about...100 percent?

Thank goodness that senators, instead of voting the desires of their constituents, vote the cash of their contributors.  In the interest cap vote, a lot of the senators who chose to preserve the right of credit card companies to charge interest rates that would get a usurer stoned in the old days--a lot of those senators were Democrats. You know, the defenders of the little guy, the sworn enemy of run-away capacious corporations.

It just goes to show that the United States has one of the finest political pay-off systems in the world. Be sure to show your gratitude. And make it out to "Cash"

 

 

A great thing about the Internet is how it puts you in contact with people and organizations around the world. Within seconds you can send a message to the CEO of the company that's screwing you around or the tech support people who can get you working again. The only trouble is, they don't want to hear from you.

I've noticed a nasty trend at Web sites to hide postal addresses and email address, phone numbers, and even the real names of people who publish under noms de Web--names like Maxthon Guy.  This is particularly true when it comes to tech support.

At a lot of organizations, time spent on a phone is considered a major expense. Solution: Eliminate incoming phone calls.

Web sites have taken that a step further by hiding email addresses. Some will accept email, but only if you send it via a special form on the site that requires you to fill out more information about yourself than you would ever learn about them. Sometimes the sheer length of information they ask before I can email them is so overwhelming, I just forget about it. Which, of course, is exactly what they were hoping I'd do.

After all, business can be so much more profitable if they don't have to spend their valuable time dealing with those pesky customers.

Happily for us, however, they can't get away with it--at least not entirely.  The U.S. goverment--the same one that some people like to complain is too big and does too much--comes to the rescue with  its Web site Consumer Action Handbook (http://www.consumeraction.gov/corpormain.shtml), which includes a huge listing of companies, their postal addresses, email addresses, and best of all, phone numbers.

If you need more detailed information--such as names and sometimes photos of top executives--do a search at The Consumerist.  The site is not exhaustive, but the information is often invaluable when you're really pissed off.  It is particularly helpful for some of  the worst offenders of consumer satisfaction, such as DirecTV and eBay and PayPal.

For tech support, check out the manufacturers lists at JR and Comp-U-Plus. I'm sure these companies, both retailers, are posting the tech support information, including phone numbers, because they're hoping you call the manufacturers instead of them the next time you have a question or complaint.  But who cares about motivations?  It's results we want, and these lists give you the ammunition to get results.

For the record you can email me at ron@maxthon.com. or ron@ronwhite.com. My phone number?  You got to be  kidding.

(A version of this blog entry  appears in the Maxthon Blog.)

 

 

That last entry--the one about sex and a headache--I really sort of regret because it relies on a cliche. It's true of almost any joke about wives, girl friends, mothers-in-law, and lawyers. And usually they're insincere, sort of "I love my wife, but, oh, you joke." And it reminds me of Ray Bradbury.

At one time I had no author I liked better than Ray Bradbury.  Dandelion Wine is still a book of poetic prose that's never been topped, and The Martian Chronicles; and The Illustrated Man are so imaginative and evoke so many emotions that they are eerie.  When I was much younger, I wrote Bradbury a note, and he answered , in his own handwriting, giving encouragement and advice to someone wanting to be one-tenth the writer he was.

Then, a while back, I saw Bradbury on some TV talk show.  His entire conversation was rife with misogynsm, and Bradbury was laughing mightily at all his own sexist jokes. He was the kind of conservative that would make Sean Hannity proud. I don't think he even realized he was talking like a prick--or if he did, he didn't care.  A man I'd admired, whose fingers were golden, had feet of Silly Putty.