Big Freakin’ Surprise

This morning Republicans are like moths to a flame as they make themselves available to any camera and microphone they can find so they can criticize the President’s speech last night.

Mr. President I admire your trying to win over some Republicans as you attempt to make the changes we need in this country on healthcare and other issues, but at this point it just isn’t gonna happen. You could bring Jesus Christ in to endorse your plans and the Republicans would not only say no, they would also criticize the length of His hair. When a party’s only goal is to try to make you fail, there is no hope they will support anything you do. Your best hope is to try to do the almost impossible. You do have to try to herd the cats in your own party.

What would you like to hear from the President tonight?

Does it really matter what he says because we all know the talking heads with spin whatever he says to fit their positive or negative agenda. Hell, they are already criticizing it even before he has spoken a single word.

President Obama’s Disappointment?

Sometimes I think President Obama came into office over estimating the intelligence of the American people and under estimating the lack of humanitarianism in Washington DC. I wonder if he thought that a country that prides itself in being a “Christian Nation”, might actually be willing to work together to see that all its people would have the health care they need.

Could he have foreseen such things as the “Tea Party” crowd? Could he have foreseen people showing up at protests blissfully brandishing loaded weapons? Could he have foreseen people in congress actually arguing against improving the healthcare system we have now?

I’m guessing he is as disappointed in us as some are in him, as he begins his second year in office.

Curses and Blessings

For the past two days my computer has been in the shop. No matter how much security you put on your computer, there is someone somewhere developing a way to bypass or hijack it. According to the tech at the shop these folks seem to be winning the game these days.

The good news was that I missed all the hype and rant over the Massachusetts special election via the internet. I saw more than I needed to see on TV.

Sometimes I don’t know if computers are curses or blessings but I do know that not having one at hand for a couple of days had its advantages.

Well, someone had to read it

I finished reading “Game Change” today. I enjoyed the hell out of reading that book. I know some have said it is “gossipy” and unfounded, but I have yet to hear anyone deny any of its content. That says something because if the people in the story didn’t do or say what is portrayed there, I believe they would sure as hell be letting everyone know.

It’s funny, we all lived through that nightmarish time of Obama and Clinton, McCain and Palin, but to look back on it now and find out what was going on behind the scenes is like reading the book after you have already lived in the movie.

To Unimaginable

I like you have been seeing the heartbreaking pictures coming from Haiti. The situation there has gone from being horrible daily to now being unimaginable for some time to come. It certainly puts a lot of things in perspective doesn’t it?

What is Breaking News these Days?

I must not be a good American because I don’t care when Jay Leno’s show is on. I also don’t care which baseball players used steroids or when. Nor do I care that one of the judges of American Idol is leaving the show.

Even though CNN felt each of the topics was “Breaking News”, to me they are neither important nor interesting in the big picture. “Breaking News” just isn’t what it used to be. Today “Breaking News” just means something, anything has happened.

The Balloon Resurrection

Saturday morning it was about 45 degrees when we went grocery shopping. When we got to the market I discovered they had balloons with the logo of each of the NFL teams that were playing Saturday and Sunday. When I spotted the Dallas Cowboys balloon all filled with helium I knew it was going home with me.

We finished our shopping, checked out with our groceries and headed for our car. As I tucked the balloon in the car, my spirits fell. It felt as though about a third of the helium had escaped. I went ahead and put it in the car feeling sure the prized balloon had a leak somewhere. Not a good omen if your team balloon goes flat before the big game.

When we drove into our garage I got out and opened the rear door of the car only to find a happy surprise. The balloon was again fully inflated to it’s maximum size.

Then I realized what had happened. Bringing the balloon out into the cold air caused the helium (gas) to compress and this compression allowed the balloon to appear to have lost some of it’s contents and size, but as soon as it was in the warm car, it came back to life.

Who knew that something so simple as buying a helium filled balloon and taking it out into cold air could teach such a science lesson? I sure didn’t.

One week old year

This brand new year is now one week old. So far, down here in south Florida it has been cold and a couple of nights below the freezing mark. In fact, there is a slight chance we may see some snow flurries tomorrow night. We haven’t seen that down this far south since 1977.

Other than the cold weather I would give this first week of 2010 an A+. Things are rolling pretty smoothly in our lives. Hopefully it has been the same for you.

Why Now?

Sometimes I wish my thinking processes would take a break but that seldom happens. So I’ve been thinking about the CIA agents who were killed in Afghanistan by a suicide bomber double agent.

According to reporting on Morning Joe, these people were the top CIA agents in the quest to find Osama bin Laden. Seems to me there had to be some reason for al Qaeda to decide to relinquish one of their obviously important spies at this time. I wonder if the CIA was getting close to finding Osama and in fact so close that al Qaeda felt they had to do something fast before Osama’s location was disclosed. This is the only thing that seems to make sense.

Panties Off?

We all remember after the shoe bomber was caught trying to light his sneakers on fire that began the exercise of each of us having to remove our shoes for inspection before we could board a plane. Now that the underwear guy was caught trying to set his underpants on fire, is it possible that TSA will now require us to remove our underwear for inspection before we can board a plane? Ladies, better save your laciest and prettiest for the flight.

New Year’s Day and Beyond

My mother used to say that whatever you did on New Year’s Day, that was what you would be doing the rest of the year.

If my mother was correct, the Pop household will be vegging out and eating all year long. We truly were total sloths on New Year’s Day. But this weekend we de-Christmas-ified our house. The tree is down and all the decorations are put neatly away by Mr. Pop. He’s way more sane and calm doing that sort of thing than I am and I’m happy about that.

It was such a great holiday without stress and worry. Some Christmases I have been glad to see them go, but this one I hope I never forget. It was about as close as possible to being perfect. The only downside was that I discovered the heavenly taste of Lindt, Lindor Truffles. The milk chocolate ones with the smooth filing are an orgasm for the taste buds.