Update Re Puter Problems

I've barely got my computer operational. It's pissing me off that after all the recovery attempts, I now have stuff on here that is so unnecessary. For example, I partition my hard drive into C, D and E. E has my music, D has my secondary programs, and C of course, has my main programs. But the recovery process doubled and tripled the C, D and E drives, such that it is messing up the hard drive. So, I've decided rather than erase this shit and download my 2009 old hard drive, I will just buy a new one. Besides, I always replace the hard drives every two to three years anyway, so ... what is the point of erasing everything on this already two year old hard drive, right? Just erase it, keep it as an extra hard drive for my Santa's Elves project, and just buy a NEW one and install the data from my old 2009 hard drive. Yeah, that's the ticket!!!!

I also realized that I use a music site called DivShare where I upload music to the site where I can then imbed the songs and put them on my blog. About 1/2 of the songs that I "would" have lost based on what I uploaded since 2009 are already on the DivShare site, so I really won't even lose that many songs. Plus, like I already mentioned, I'm only going to lose about seven or eight months of pictures I took on my cell phone. I can live with that.

Ahhhhh, enjoying a rum and diet coke, feeling less stressed!

Ha Ha Ha -- Even Matt Damon Won't Talk To Obama!

There's a lot of talk about Matt Damon running for president. Not since Reagan have we had an actor take a serious run for the top spot.

It appears, however, that the White House has begun to notice Damon's comments over the past few weeks concerning his disappointment with this administration. So much so, that Obama, who is pretty much spineless when it comes to opposition, actually took a cheap shot at Damon at a recent speech.

First, Damon's statement on the Piers Morgan show:

Damon, during a March interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, said he was “disappointed” with Obama’s presidency for a number of reasons, including this one:

“He’s doubled down on a lot of things, going back to education ... the idea that we’re testing kids and we’re tying teachers salaries to how kids are performing on tests, that kind of mechanized thinking has nothing to do with higher order. We’re training them, not teaching them.”

Then the President's comeback:

Last Saturday night, Obama, who targeted a number of his critics in his speech, said this in mocking response to Damon’s “disappointed” remark:

“I’ve even let down my key core constituency: movie stars. Just the other day, Matt Damon -- I love Matt Damon, love the guy -- Matt Damon said he was disappointed in my performance. Well, Matt, I just saw ‘The Adjustment Bureau’ so...right back atcha, buddy.”

That's really supposed to be funny? We are hemorrhaging financially in this country, fighting several announced and unannounced wars, inflation abounds, recession is HERE, people are homeless and jobless, and the Prez wants to open up sludge oil pipelines from Canada to Texas (not tipping his hand there, is he?), but he's got time to take a shot at an actor.

Talk about really losing your base constituency, and not being afraid to show you don't give a shit.

It turns out that people in the Obama administration made several attempts to reach actor Matt Damon just before he spoke at last month’s Save Our Schools rally in Washington D.C., blasting education policies that focus on high-stakes standardized tests.

According to two people familiar with the efforts, the administration tried to arrange a meeting with Damon and government officials, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, before the July 30 march. The sources declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

In fact, Duncan was willing to meet Damon at the airport when he flew into the Washington region and talk to him on the drive into the city, according to the sources. Damon declined all of the requests.

Damon in 2012! H/T to Valerie Strauss here and here.

Ah, Football Season

Wow, it's 117 outside in Phoenix for the Chargers vs. Cardinals game? I'm sweating just thinking about this!

"Some teams can't score fast. The Chargers can." (quoting one of the announcers) And if you were watching the game, they came back fast and ended up with the win. Arizona led pretty much the entire game. However, second stringers came on strong and Billy Volek tossed a 14-yard touchdown pass to Bryan Walters with only 3 seconds to play.

That's my Chargers!

PA School District Using Sheep To Trim School Property!

I know budget cuts to school districts are no laughing matter, but one has to chuckle a bit at this school district's unique way to deal with it.

In Carlisle, Pennsylvania, those cuts meant putting an end to traditional means of cutting grass at two local schools. Instead of lawnmowers, the schools are using sheep:

Rather than spend money on cutting grass, the Carlisle School District has brought in 7 Romney sheep to tend the fields. “They’ve done a good job so far,” says Superintendent John Friend.

The sheep come free of charge, since they belong to the principal of the middle school. Friend estimates that they will save the district about $15,000 this year in mowing costs.

H/T to Think Progress.

Obama Administration Now Attempting To Run Interference With AG's And Investigations Of Bank Fraud, Etc.

Why am I not surprised? Why are many Democrats in America not surprised? Why are the American PEOPLE not surprised?

Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, has come under increasing pressure from the Obama administration to drop his opposition to a wide-ranging state settlement with banks over dubious foreclosure practices, according to people briefed on discussions about the deal.

In recent weeks, Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and high-level Justice Department officials have been waging an intensifying campaign to try to persuade the attorney general to support the settlement, said the people briefed on the talks.

Mr. Schneiderman and top prosecutors in some other states have objected to the proposed settlement with major banks, saying it would restrict their ability to investigate and prosecute wrongdoing in a variety of areas, including the bundling of loans in mortgage securities.

Well, DUH! If you haven't figured out by now that Obama is propped up by the financial industry (and the oil industry, and big pharma, etc.), and watches out for THEIR interests over the interests of the American people, then you simply have had your fingers in your ears and yelling out loud so as to NOT know these things about the president YOU elected to change things.

This is disturbing to me, because I first read about Mr. Schneiderman's efforts to stop the settlement of a paltry $20 billion because such settlement includes a bar against further investigations into the banking industry's other notorious practices. Uncovering wrong doing is supposed to be an AG's responsibility, and the fact that the president of the United States is taking an active role in curtailing such investigations, continues to strike me as proof positive Obama and the banks have their hands in each others' pockets.

I cannot tell you how many cases my office has where we are representing clients who have had their homes foreclosed upon, and the documents produced by the banks and lending institutions are all signed by a handful of these robo-signers! Seriously! We just "google" some of the notaries and other signers and the list of those that are under current investigation is remarkable. One such signer, who also signed off on many documents on a couple of our cases, said in a deposition (which is available on the internet) that she signed about 180,000 of these documents every month, never read them, and just did what the banks and lending institutions told her to do. One day she was an officer of Chase Bank, the next day she was an officer of Countrywide, etc. She was signing and or notarizing documents transferring title (generally AFTER the fact and not BEFORE the fact) where banks would then use these documents to prove they held the underlying loan on the property, hence they were entitled to foreclose. Many of these properties, as you have undoubtedly read time and time again, were never delinquent in the payment of the loans by the borrowers ... the "industry" as it were, simply was (and still is) stealing homes, many of them with equity and not "upside down" as the term is generally used when the value of the property is less than the mortgage attached to the property. Millions of people have lost their homes due to this unsavory practice, and the small settlement offered by the banking industry does not come even close to bringing satisfaction to those millions who have lost their homes. But all the president seems to care about is, once again, not prosecuting the bad guys, whether it is banks, Wall Street, or the Bush Administration.

I love this quote from the article, which concerns an argument Mr. Schneiderman had with Kathryn S. Wylde, a "member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who represents the public."

Characterizing her conversation with Mr. Schneiderman that day as “not unpleasant,” Ms. Wylde said in an interview on Thursday that she had told the attorney general “it is of concern to the industry that instead of trying to facilitate resolving these issues, you seem to be throwing a wrench into it. Wall Street is our Main Street — love ’em or hate ’em. They are important and we have to make sure we are doing everything we can to support them unless they are doing something indefensible.”[my emphasis]

But Ms. Wylde, they ARE doing indefensible things, and HAVE been doing said indefensible things for quite some time now.

I shudder as I continue to watch this president devolve into a greedy politician.

Living In L.A., And Proof Of It Too!

As you can see by the picture, Zaire's name is carved out on the sidewalk next to my apartment. He put his signature there a few years ago, and I like this picture I took of him while he was here for a few days. This is where he belongs, right next to his name!

I have some other really fun pictures I will post later. Having him here with me for a couple of days was awesome. It's funny when he's not being stared down by DBD, how freely the youngster let's fly with what's real for him. Lot's of interesting things came out of his mouth. Veeeeerrrrryyyyy, very interesting (don't make me finish this off with the "Laugh In" follow up line - but "stupid")!

Zaire's been back in Chicago for about three days now, and DBD still won't let him answer his new cell phone or use his new computer that I provided (and for which there is independent internet that I am paying for monthly). Wonder what the "new" excuse will be this time around? Oh well, sooner or later, DBD is going to be forced to have to allow Zaire to communicate with our FAMILY, and not be controlled. At least I am keeping my text messages to the cell phone saved and my SMS messages to his Skype account saved, so that I can prove that I called him and texted him and left Skype open every fucking day. Court will be a bitch for one particular party, and even if we don't totally prevail (but I am rather confident that in the end, we will), DBD will be dragged over the coals by Hiz Honor, Da Judge! Can't wait to hear the excuses when that time comes.

Been Out ... User Error - Don't Hit Delete, Damn It!

I am making up T-shirts that say "User Error" and under that is the computer "delete" key.

I deleted all of my hard drive. Don't ask me yet. The T-shirt says it all.

Thank god I've never upgraded a puter because I got a virus. I have all of my hard drives since 1996. Last one is 2009, so all I am losing is, at most, two years worth of data. After four solid days of utilizing recovery data programs, nothing is coming back, except corrupted files. Hell, I play Sinatra, and Lady Gaga comes up! So, losing two years (and really in some cases only 11 months) of data, I can live with that. But, I have to wipe out my entire hard drive, re-install Windows, and then copy my 2009 old drive to this computer.

I hope my grandson respects the fact he has my laptop with 4g wifi, at the expense of my stupid deleting of my own files (for five hours, no less ... someone really slap me, or buy my T-shirts!)

After Monday, or Tuesday, I should have stuff up and ready. I had a wonderful time with my grandson, and plenty of pictures of just he and I together. We went to see "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes" and trust me, go see this movie. I NEVER go to movies. I always wait for the DVD, and even then, I sometimes wait and buy the rental used ones when they go on sale at 4/$20! Ha ha. I would pay money a second time to see this movie.

Having Fun In Carlsbad With Grandson!

Mercedes and Zaire at beach.


Partial family portrait.


Zaire and the "boys."


Some of us hanging out at Kel's house.


Ok, Grandma in the pool LOL!


Grandma and Zaire in pool!


Mercedes and Zaire in pool.


Picture of plumeria tree Kel has in her back yard!

Video of family at pool in Carlsbad.



Zaire skateboarding.



Zaire in Gia's home recording studio listening to a demo.



We all had a great time. I would take a picture of my lobster colored self, but I am already scaring people on the street, I am so red from all that sun and no sunscreen!!!!!

Enjoy!

The Death Of A Nation (Sorry To Steal The Title)

Said more poignantly than I could ever put words to paper. From Ilyse Hogue’s thoughts in The Nation, H/T (unfortunately) from C&L:

Some may say that this is business as usual in Washington and that getting frustrated at party bosses is as old as our democracy, so why am I making so much of this now? Well, for a couple of reasons. We are coming off a decade of unprecedented organizing opportunity. With the emergence of online engagement and social media, Americans were beginning to feel as though they had a way to strategically participate in the conversations in Washington that shape their lives. This president was the first one elected using broad engagement strategies, and his election changed the national psyche by demonstrating to millions of Americans that their political participation could pay off and democracy could work. The disappointment about the debt deal is especially acute against the backdrop of the record levels of political participation, enthusiasm and hope generated during the 2008 election.

In between, we had the 2010 Citizens United decision, which rebuilt those gates around the capitol that the online revolution had supposedly crashed. Corporate cash, already omnipresent in lobbying, dominated the airwaves; and thirty-second ads, played over and over once again, drowned out the millions of organized voices crying for change. That led to the 2010 election of radical candidates representing a tiny minority of Americans who were more concerned about the federal deficit than they were about joblessness and the overall economy.

The debt deal’s final resolution to what essentially amounted to a hostage crisis by that minority represents a complete unmooring of official decision-making from the will of the American people. The last few weeks could be the final straw that leads to a collapse of confidence not just in this government but in the American project of self-governance. When citizens don’t participate, democracy is in peril. At a time of so much great need in our country, sending the message that citizen involvement is futile is dangerous not just to the substance of one debate but to the core principles that allow us to call ourselves a democracy. Are we really prepared to risk that?

Apparently, we Americans are prepared to risk that, because our country is headed down the toilet, financially, politically and socially. The very core of our Constitution is being assaulted and not just by the nut jobs on the "right," but also by our very own supposed defenders of said Constitution, the Democratic party.

The signs are abundant. Verizon workers striking because the company wants them to pay more into their pensions and make less in their wages, this despite the fact that the corporate stockholders and higher ups have made unprecedented gains in their wages and earnings and dividends. Jobless people are told not to apply for new jobs that open up, as corporations and businesses are now seeking only people willing to move FROM a job TO a job, totally ignoring our unemployment crisis. Our spineless president and his echo chamber of political advisers who have so blurred the line between what used to be definitive Democratic and Republican ideals, coupled with the upsurge in stupid people having been elected to Congress by corporate money giddy over the fact they have puppets doing their dirty deeds under the guise of "representation" of a constituency, has resulted in a more resigned and depressed America. Etc.

The writing is clearly on the wall. 2012 will be interesting insofar as elections are concerned. This will be the turning point, where Americans who do vote find out that their vote (1) either was changed electronically by the corporate controlled voting process or (2) that the candidate they voted for was/is just a stupid person backed by a boatload of overseas money as well as local and national corporate controlled money with specialized agendas (and ones that do not help out the actual voter, but in reality, continue to disenfranchise the voters).

People, we will see bread lines. We will see an upsweep in homelessness, and not just by individuals, but whole families. We will end up looking a lot more like refugees in this country, than ordinary citizens of the once great democracy that America stood for.

Hope. It left the building. Obama and the Democrats shoved a desk in front of the door, bought ear plugs, and are not listening. The Republicans have put wood in front of the door and are pouring lighting fluid on it. The tea baggers have the lighter. It's just a matter of time.

Hiroshima, 66 Years Ago

During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945 and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.