http://gadlaw.blogspot.com/
Trying to use Blogger which, with the little add on in my Firefox browser allows me to comment on articles and news items more directly. Check it out gadlaw's blog

Gilbert's Party Barn
Watching the election these days is like trying to watch a ping pong match. The ball is spinning back and forth faster than I can keep track of it and I'm pretty sure it'll just get faster at least until the election on Novembe 2nd. Watching the polls, listening to the commentators in their shark like frenzy and somehow trying to gather enough information to see how things are really going. It's a given that the media will do what it always does in elections of this magnitude - they'll spin it and twist it and make it seem like it's a neck and neck, too close to call event that we must all tune into every minute of every day in order to catch that nuance, that slight change of direction that will give us what we all want - a clue as to what will happen before it happens. Ford and Carter, Carter and Reagan, Reagan and Mondale - all of them were reported as being neck and neck, too close to call as the date of the election came up. In reality it was rarely the case and there followed the usual reports of self reflection wondering 'how did we get it so wrong?' If it's the same here then (and there is no reason to think that it isn't) just going by that historical behavior of the media I'd say Bush wins going away.

The news and the way the news is slanted these days reminds me of way back in the day listening with fascination the shortwave radio broadcasts of Radio Moscow. I'd listen to the Radio Moscow news reports and hear things that were directly opposite to the news I would hear through the news sources I had come to know. Walter Cronkite and the others seemed to be impartial and honest and being no idiot I would gauge the various news reports and commentary and opinions I would get from the differrent sides. I knew the political situation and the death struggle that was going on in the world and I knew it was completely serious. It gave me a critical eye and ear when listening to the news. I knew for a fact that some people giving me the news weren't being truthful and honest and had their own agendas. This training has given me a cynical viewpoint that is backed up with the sad reality of the state of our ability to get news.

I watch CBS and the New York Times trying to run a gotcha against Bush the day before the election. I see 'news' people lining up on each side to scream at each other and to us that this is true or that is true. I hear people on the same side of an argument saying the exact same thing - spouting 'talking points' rather than giving their honest thought out opinions and thoughts. It's all yelling and shouting and nothing gets discussed and examined. Think in soundbites, make your decisions based on who loves America more than the other and remember that your opinion is based on hearing the ten second sentences on the matter that have been drilled at you time after time again. Whoever has the best soundbite or commercial wins. Not who is best, who has the best plan or ideas to help make things better. It's all crap.

William Shatner's Album- Has Been
Now Playing: William Shatner's Album- Has Been
Topic: Music
Listening to the William Shatner Album. It's freaking great. I mean really. Songs like 80's and 90's alternative music, garage rock with lyrics you can understand. Not a bad song in the bunch. The song 'Common People' reminds me of a alt song where the fellow sings about the women in his life- sings/talks like this song. (I'll be driven nuts until I can remember that song and get a copy of it) And like that badly described song, this one resounds with words of truth. 'That's Me Trying' is a father talking to an estranged daughter, trying to connect but not being apologetic for his life. His reply to the sometimes vicious humor at his expense is 'Has Been' - where he says to his critics that at least he's had a life where critics are basically those without a life of their own who get their joy from belittling others. True words. 'I Can't Get Behind That'- a shouting beat poet type of rant against the crap of life. It's all great. The small heartbreaking song 'What Have You Done' which I think is about him finding a drowned member of his family is too hard to listen to again. But it's real. And the song 'Real' is an answer to his Star Trek fame where he says thank you for the love and while a part of him is Captain Kirk, he's a real person and can't save the world as his character has. A warm song, a great album.

Imminent Terrorist Attack-
Topic: Politics
As the date for the election comes closer like many people I forsee there being a big terrorist attack on US soil.You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the islamic fascists responsible for terror attacks on the US and on US allies and interests would dearly love to create as big and spectacular an attack as was the World Trade Center attack. And barring the logically eventual nuclear attack on New York/New Jersey the possibilities of a large attack on soft targets with a minimum of terror volunteers is fairly high. Perhaps they cannot mount an air attack again although there are always those disquieting reports of people easily getting through airport security with fake bombs and knives and such. Understandable what with the zealous disarming of grandmoms of their cross stitch needles, crochet needles and everybody else of their inch long swiss army knives and toenail clippers. But the attack through airplanes might be stopped simply because of the sheer horrific difficulties in simply getting on a plane. Airplane travel is made safer by the very fact of it's difficulty and painfulness.

So that leaves the various soft targets to be thought of. There is one US Senator, Mark Dayton of Minnesota who has closed his office in D.C. on the fear that there will be an attack on the Capitol between now and the election. He made this decision after Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee recently briefed lawmakers on a "top-secret intelligence report on our national security," which was presumably enough of a scare that Senator Dayton thought it prudent to keep him, his family, staff and constituents safe by keeping them out of the Capitol. Well, it was Trumans Presidency when some Puerto Rican Terrorists got into the Congress but that isn't likely.

What could be the soft targets in D.C.? Humm, this sounds more like someone rolling up with a bug truck bomb somewhere in the area. Perhaps a number of them at once which is a al Qaeda speciality. They can't get near the White House, Capital, Senate, House or Supreme Court with such trucks. Perhaps smaller car bombs at a number of polling places at once. This would create a good deal of confusion and nobody would know if there were more to come. If they had ten people, less than there were in the World Trade attack, one to each Polling place in New York, D.C. San Fransisco, Denver, Chicago and so on and boom- horrific and massive confusion and terror on the day that we would be out voting. Very low tech, big bang for the buck. Problems with that include getting bomb materials- I doubt that it's that easy getting fertilizer these days, perhaps it's easier getting the materials in Canada and that would still put most of the logical targets in range. Other problems being that there would be quite a number of people out there just waiting to get caught for something. Hard to judge that. Still, ten guys with machine guns in different polling places at the same time would be possible. Bad for the terrorists- easier to get intelligence from the bodies, you can bet that US Special Forces would be going up those chains in a minute. (people, places etc)

Schools? Well. Polling places are often at schools so it seems like they would pick school polling places or large elementary schools. The Chechens showed how relatively easy it is to secure a building full of children. I'd be worried about that being possible. Elementary Schools have everything terrorists could want, easily controlled people, something that we all care about and something easy for them to get to.

Military bases in the area, Andrews AFB, Fort Meade, Quantico, Naval Academy and so on. No, these cowards are better at attacking unarmed people, women and children and wouldn't come close to anybody who could defend themselves. They can't get a big enough bomb down in the Metro to cause any harm. Crystal City Mall, well it would have a lot people in it but they would have hard time sealing that Mall up with their hostages if they went that route.

It's all very sobering to think about, I hope the authorities are thinking about it and doing something about it.

Absentee Ballot Land
Topic: Politics
Jeb was kind enough to send me a request for my absentee ballot. I care, I don't care. I waver back and forth. I'm interested in the whole sport of politics and usually enjoy watching the battle. There is always plenty to be mad about, someone did something wrong, enough to remember and enough to sway me this way or that. Ahhh, listening to the lies being spewed back and forth, lies with straight faces, distortions and spins and you know neither one deserves a vote. I suspect that neither one of them will get many votes. People will go out and vote against the other guy. Sad really.

Nothing Special
Now Playing: Basia - Best Of
The older I get the less I know. The further you go out in the scheme of things, the less important things are. My Broncos, the Denver Broncos, are 4 and 1. Not very important in the scheme of things. Just a football team from a place I used to live at. Still and all, it provides a small sense of satisfaction when I listen to them on the radio and they win the day. All good. Listening to A Prairie Home Companion every Saturday, or most every Saturday is another not very important, important bit of my life. I can remember back to living in Japan and listening to that radio show while I would be busy in the kitchen chopping vegetables for dinner. I reflect back on that while chopping vegatables for dinner today, far from Japan. Nothing all that special or important, but a few of the bits of life that connect me to the past and to the future.

Problems at Site-www.gadlaw.com
Been getting emails that people cannot view the images on my site. I've tried to connect via FTP and have been unable to. I'm checking into the problem and will get it fixed as soon as I am able to.

A Few Pretty Photos Taken
Now Playing: Gone Fishing- Chris Rea -NIN -Closer
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Here are a few photos I've taken in the last week. A few hours to steal away and you can find treasures everywhere or anywhere. It just depends on your desire to find those things you usually step right over and ignor. Had a discussion with a fellow a few weeks ago where he mentioned that everywhere he left some natural weather disaster followed. And that natural disasters did not happen until after he had gone. He seemed quite satisfied with himself. Alas, I didn't have the heart to tell him that such was the actual case with me. I remember living in Japan with the tv on and watching the big earthquake happen just as the Giants and A's were starting the World Series game, right where I used to live. I remember,- ah boring stuff. You can see where I used to live by following the track of Ivan the Terrible. If you're like Bill you can even see it up close. Such is the nature of random chance.

La de da.
All quiet on the western front. Allergies, colds and various aches but quiet. :-)

Tick Tock- There Goes The Clock
Now Playing: Not A Thing
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Well, in case there are a few people who drop by here to see what words of wisdom I have to impart I thought I should drop in to say that I will be away from the computer for a few weeks and so it would be fruitless to see if there is anything of note written here. By all means, if you are like some folks who have something interesting to write and wish to contribute to the body of knowledge on my site, whether it be to the death penalty discussion, the buddist information or even something like Bozena's page information then do send me the emails and I'll get to them as soon as I can. I've recently incorporated some information from a Mr. Cain who has some biological and scientific information about the mechanism of the death penalty as administered via the electric chair. His information is on the page having to do with death by electric chair. I'm happy to use reasoned arguments and discussion points whenever they present themselves. The information is just that - information and information wants to be shared. Points of view can be discussed but without a common basis of information then our discussions and our views cannot have the value they should have. I think I just said that if you have something to contribute then I'd be happy to put it on the site. I do appreciate the feedback I get so please do email me with your thoughts. Again, I'll be away, but checking my email at gilbert@gadlaw.com . Thanks for visiting and I hope you found my site interesting and worth your time. :-)

Dancing- Breakdancing Transformers
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Breakdancing Transformers

Nuf said.

A bottle of wine, some bread and some cheeze
Now Playing: Cowboy Junkies
Topic: Mysteries of Life
This would be an evening of wine, cheeze and a crust of bread. As it happens, I opened a bottle of Turning Leaf, White Zinfindel, a half of loaf of Homestlye Italian Bread and a hunk of cheeze. Very good all in all, I recommend starting the wine first, then ease into the bread and cheeze. I always feel bad about the zinfindel, I know I should have a bottle of Merlot but I really have never acquired a good taste for that red wine. I've tasted it, happily sipped away at it to make others happy but it takes a big effort to drink it willingly and it's an effort I have no reason to engage in sadly enough. I remember drinking it, enjoying the company but not the wine. Of course, the wine is now a memory of the person and so, it's a sad drink indeed and one I don't have the strength to indulge in.

Interestingly enough, as I mentally prepare myself to let various doctors prod and poke me for a variety of ills I find myself more accepting, or perhaps more tired and unwilling to fight kicking and screaming, of the uncoming dance with the docs. Does this hurt? Does that hurt? We'll have to biopsy this or that. You don't really need any medication to calm you while we prepare to put really large needles in you do you? I hate having to fight for something simple like a xanex or codine or something to keep the welling feeling of terror at bay. But then I've become quite loud and insistent in my desires and efforts to keep from getting railroaded or run roughshot over. I'm not sure what 'roughshot' really is but I believe it's appropriate in the context of the sentence. Fighting for good medical care is not one of my favorite battles but I guess I'll battle away as necessary.

Speaking of medical, a friend of mine is returning from having a medical procedure (read surgery) , returning from where his parents lived. The surgery was successful in that he's not dead and is returning home. I was driving down one of the main cross streets of town and pulled out my little cell phone upon noticing the messages I had. I drove along, called up my voice mail and listened. One of them I called back and lo and behold, thanks to the magic of cell phones I found that she was traveling down the opposite side of the same road. She was stopping for a bit to feed her kids at McDonalds's and I happened to be passing just there and so we met for lunch. To bring the story together, she was going to the house of the friend returning from his surgery and was going to put up a 'welcome home' banner. I like the fellow very much and was one of those who visited him in the hospital when he originally went in to get seen and ended up a week. So I'm not one of those noncaring folks. However, the young lady, a optimistic, hopeful and full of life person was the only one to think of providing a banner of welcome for old dude. Well, people like that, things like that remind me of how far I have to come in my desires and efforts to be a compassionate person. An effort for me is for others a natural reaction and a natural state of being.

Daily Journey-Cat Sprayed
Now Playing: Daily Show
Topic: Mysteries of Life
Took the cat to the vet the other day. I tried to slyly sneak up on the cat and smoothly pick her up and put her in the carrier. Of course it didn't happen that way. It ended up being a half hour chase which saw me 'sprayed' by the cat, poor thing, totally in fear of the whole adventure. She screamed as if I was killing her when I did finally corner her. I mean really screamed like a person. Her/he had a tramatic experience being picked up one day and put in the carrier and taken to the vet followed by the whole 'ball whacking' thing. Since then she/he has been a ball of suspicion whenever anyone picker her/he up and tries to put her/he in the travel box. One of those understandable things actually. :-) Still haven't got the smell all the way off though and you know, I don't even really like that cat.

Only did fifteen miles this last evening. But, I did it in a higher gear up from where I was before (oohhh- all the way up to 11th gear) and boy did my thighs lock up. Ouch. My neighbors have seen me biking every evening and I imagine I've inspired a few of them to come on out. I think it was six of them from one family and I passed them up at least four times. Getting dangerous out there.

Political Funny Stuff
The funniest campaign button I've heard about -

A picture of George Bush. The words - Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing it's idiot.

Funniest flash video- called 'This Land' which takes an equal slap at George Bush and at John Kerry. You can find it at www.atom.com right here. This Land Flash Video

Democratic Convention
Topic: Politics
Politics is interesting, fascinating in fact. But still it's hard to watch the Democratic Convention for the same reasons it will be hard to watch the Republican Convention. There is no drama as to who the nominee will be. There is no real newsworthy, interesting activity happening. The commentators provide more smoke than clarity, the people interviewed speak from whatever agreed upon 'talking points' they are given and so listening to one is the same as listening to any of them. It's a horror, a insipid exercise in the end of democracy. Which of course is really no different from what it was in the past, just a different type of nondemocratic activity. In the past, political conventions were run by 'bosses' who came together from their own private fiefdoms to battle each other and decide who we would have for candidates. The old anchors and commentators fondly harken back to the days when there was excitement at the conventions, when the kingmakers did their backroom wheeling and dealing and democracy was like a colorful madonna carried out once in a while for every one to marvel at. No excitement, the decision as to the candidates was made a year ago by the money people who put their money behind whoever. We get to choose from those few and think we have some sort of choice. Money makes the choice before you get a chance. The complaint that you will always hear is the one where we ask where are the candidates we would like to vote for? Sorry, those people were selected out a long time ago.

Having said that, I still do watch. I wanted to see what Hillary would say about having been dissed by the Kerry people. I wanted to see how well she hid her bitterness at not getting the vice presidental nomination. It's all right behind the eyes and interesting to watch. The possibility of her achieving her ambitions is fading and you can see it in her face. She knows that If Kerry wins then John Edwards will get the backing of the money people in 2012. She knows that if Kerry loses then the biggest player in the 2008 elections will be John Edwards. Either way she is screwed. But she knows that Kerry will probably win against Bush and you can see it in her crestfallen, gloomy face. Politics is so very interesting when you have some idea of the backstory.