My computer’s back from the shop, and what a pleasure it is to work on it again. Yesterday I typed a post on the other computer at Donna’s desk, where everything is six inches lower. I couldn’t get through a single sentence without making multiple typos. It didn’t help that she has her keyboard on one of those slide-out shelves underneath the desk, or that she uses Internet Explorer instead of Firefox, or that her PC wouldn’t read the Outlook address file I tried to import.
I was able to peck out a few Facebook updates and short email messages on the iPad, but tablets have a long way to go before they’ll replace full-up desktop PCs. There are a lot of things you can’t do on an iPad. While the iPad may be good for surfing (as long as you don’t try to run Flash files, which are everywhere on the internet), it’s not much use when it comes to doing. Don’t get me wrong … I like my iPad and use it a lot, but I’m in no hurry to upgrade to the newest version.
I’m frying catfish tonight and trying to think what might go well with it. Sautéed spinach and dirty rice? Yup, sounds good to me. Donna and Polly are working at the gun shop today, so grocery shopping is my job.
A few thoughts on current events:
The Blunt Amendment, as I understand it, would allow employers, under the guise of “religious freedom,” to limit the level and kind of medical coverage available to their employees. Clearly one effect of the Blunt Amendment would be to undermine the Affordable Care Act, but I think its sponsors have a deeper purpose. In the past I’ve joked that some Republicans would welcome a return to slavery. I’m not sure you can joke about that these days. The Blunt Amendment (and don’t think for a minute Republicans won’t keep reintroducing it) is a giant step down that road because it would bring back feudalism, where our betters will determine what’s good for us.
Sandra Fluke has been much in the news of late. What I’ll remember, ten years from now, will be the initial confusion over her last name. The correct pronunciation seems to be “fluck,” which is not at all how most English speakers would say it. But people are allowed, after all, to tell us how their own names are pronounced. Look at Speaker of the House John Boehner. He says it’s “bay-ner,” not “boner,” and with the “oe” in there I guess he’s right … but even if he spelled it Bohner, he’d still get to pronounce it Bayner.
So what’s up with El Rushbo’s attack on Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating? Rachel Maddow asked that question two nights ago during an interview with Tracie. Rachel and Tracie pretended to be bewildered by Limbaugh’s animosity. Oh, come on. Limbaugh attacked her for the same reason everyone on the right attacked Barbara Ehrenreich over her book Nickel and Dimed. He sees Tracie’s book as anti-American (in this case, “American” equals “cheap food of dubious nutritional value”), and he sees Tracie, who, like Barbara, went undercover to gather material for her book, as a dangerous radical and quite possibly a commie. Rachel and Tracie, you know that. Why pretend you don’t?
Did you know the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service has been airing Rush Limbaugh’s show to American forces overseas since 1993? Did you know pressure from Republican congressmen led AFRTS to begin broadcasting the show in the first place? Did you know that similar pressure, this time from Democratic congressmen in 2004, did not result in AFRTS picking up Howard Stern (even though, at the time, Stern was far more popular than Limbaugh)? The history of Limbaugh, AFRTS, and Limbaugh’s Republican sponsors in Congress indicates that Rush will, when all is said and done, continue to openly advocate resistance and rebellion against President Obama to American troops. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying to convince AFRTS to grow a spine and pull the plug.
Hmm … the more I look at that greasy bag of fries, the more appropriate today’s thumbnail photo seems. Of course if I shared my homie Rush’s sense of humor, I’d have gone looking for photos of Oxycontin and Viagra.
© 2012, Paul Woodford. All rights reserved.
