One Week Later

 

Here we are one week after the presidential election. One week since I woke up to a happy face painted on the Sun, rainbows in the sky and Unicorns frolicking in the meadow. There has been a lot of news since then. Many stories about Obama and the transition. Not much about McCain. Too much about Palin.

As far as Palin goes, while I found it frighteningly amusing that she couldn't name the countries in North America (even though she lives in one of them and can see another one from her house - if she turns her back on Russia) or that she thought Africa was a country not a continent I do have to say...enough already. We really need to let her go back to Alaska and fade away. The attacks and criticism will only serve to keep her in front of the cameras and shore up her base of supporters ensuring that we'll have to deal with her again in four years if not sooner. Leave her alone and let her go home wagging her tail behind her.

Just a couple thoughts about some of the stories I've read covering Obama.

I'm not sure what to think about Rahm Emmanuel personally but to paraphrase Leon Panetta, he may very well be the right son of a bitch for the job. I think the position of white house chief of staff is a difficult one and Emmanuel could be a very effective Edward Hyde to Obama's Henry Jekyll (in a good way). We'll see.

There was a behind the scenes story about Obama prepping for a debate where he was expressing irritation over stupid questions. He commented about how he HAD to answer and how he'd LIKE to answer. I like knowing that he throws the F-bomb around. And that he can be irritated by stupid. Two things I have in common with the next president.

Another article, Writers Welcome a Literary President-elect reinforced for me that we did the right thing last week. Nobel and Pulitzer prize winning authors are excited to finally have a "...writer-president — and I don't mean a published author, but someone who knows the full value of the carefully chosen word..." The final quote sums it up for me, "...the larger issue is cultural. There's a trickle down from the top in the way art exists inside and outside of the culture as a whole. Here in the USA, you could feel in the Bush years how little regard there was for it. People who disliked art, literature, dance, fine arts, they had a lot of cover for this antipathy. There's reason to believe that we are in for a much better period." Oh wouldn't that be nice. I hope someday soon I can stop ranting about the laser-like focus on teaching only Math, Science and Standardized Testing in this country.

I don't know if this is important but I thought it was kinda cool. The Obama Family Secret Service Code Names have been announced. Listen up people...Renegade is on the move. I repeat, Renegade is on the move.

Ahh, Days Off

Okay, I'm a slug. And I'm an employee of the US government. I suppose some would say I was being redundant. In any case, yesterday was a federal holiday and I had the day off. The majority of our federal holidays are on Mondays. In fact when they first went to that system I remember my dad being pissed off because he was born on Washington's Birthday and he like getting his birthday off on the actual day.

The federal government also utilizes something called Alternate Work Schedules which allow more flexibility to its employees. There are several variations but the one I work is called a 5-4-9 schedule. In a two week pay period I work eight 9-hour days, one eight hour day and I get one day off. My day off is a Monday so I get every other Monday off. That in and of itself is very nice. It gets better however when we have a federal holiday on a Monday that I'm supposed to have off - like yesterday. In that case, the Monday is still my day off AND I get Tuesday as the holiday and no matter how you add that up it's a FOUR DAY WEEKEND.

My point in tell you this? Well:

Four day weekend + Me being a slug = slacking on the old blog

Get it? Fact is, I just got out of bed so like it or not this is it.

Hey Buddy, You Got a Permit For Dat Reincarnation?

Okay. I don't know how I missed this Newsweek story from over a month ago. China in what has to be one of its most bizarre moves, has decreed that Buddhist Monks in Tibet are forbidden to reincarnate without government permission. I ain't makin' this up folks. Here's the link to the article By Matthew Philips. The State Administration for Religious Affairs ( I don't know about you but the term "State Administration for Religious Affairs" sends shivers up my spine) says that the law is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation." Well those Tibetan Buddhists have nothing to worry about. We all know that once the government institutionalizes a program, well, it's just gonna run like a top. Smooth as silk. If you do have a complaint you'll just have to go to the Hypnotic Regression department (take the escalator down, deeper and deeper into a state of total relaxation).

Of course regulating reincarnation has nothing to do with their real intentions. As the article points out, it's their latest strong arm tactic to do what they've been trying for 50 years. To cut off influence from the Dalai Lama (who's been in exile in India for 48 years) and squash the Buddhist order in Tibet. The plan is to set up a puppet Lama (not THAT kind of Llama) of their choosing who has been legally and officially reincarnated - in Tibet. One who has properly disembarked from his metaphysical plane. One who had his spiritual passport properly stamped. One who will do what they tell him.

China, China, China. Ancient and glorious culture. So much potential, and now that the world knows the lead in the toys was ALL the fault of Mattel's design flaws and that you're completely innocent, maybe you can focus on living up to it.

I just hope that someone in Washington hasn't read this and realized that reincarnation can be used by illegal immigrants to get past that wall they want to build. DHS will be all over that. And you thought the lines at airport security were long.