Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Felis 2


Tired of dwelling on the negative energy of this campaign I decided to post a pen and ink drawing of the skeleton of a cat. I made this well before the loss of my pal, but I would be lying if I said that she didn't influence it. I came across a discarded, laminated poster of various skeletons and was, obviously, drawn to the cat. On a trip to Chicago with Father T. O'Malley a number of years ago I spent some time in the Contemporary Art Museum. They had a black t-shirt with a similar cat skeleton in white that displayed the museum's name below the cat, or on the back, "I don't quite remembah." At the time I didn't want to spend the 25 or 30 bucks they were asking. Funny how you remember such things. I should have bought the damn shirt.
Anyway, the lettering is Dwarvish runes again. They spell out CAT, 2008, and FELIS BEFRIENDUS (borrowed from Jethro Tull's "Hunt By Numbers" from the 2000 release j-tull.com.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Food for thought

It has been stated here in previous blogs that this poster is dissatisfied with National Public Radio. A loyal member for the better part of 10 years I always thought they really did "consider all things," that is, of course, until they crowned Senator Obama king several months ago. In an attempt to find a more varied source for political news I began to search the am dial. A local station carries News/Talk and features the "Ed Schultz Show - The Progressive Voice of the Nation." This was too good to be true. I thought the only left-wing shows on the air were featured on the doomed Air America satellite network.

Well, it has been a couple weeks since I first heard Ed. One of the first things I heard the man say was that he and we should support whoever the Democratic nominee turns out to be. He claimed that either candidate would be worlds better than George W. Bush. I was on board at that point. The next day he was crucifying Hillary.

Today he is screaming about the wasted time discussing that Obama, only this week, started wearing a lapel pin. He pointed out that Hillary hasn't been wearing one either. As for shady dealings with business associates in Illinois being used to tear down senator Obama, what about the backroom dealings with Wal-Mart the Clintons have been in on? Remember that whole Reverend Wright thing? It was not Obama's place to question the pastor or even to leave during a fiery, racist, anti-American sermon. He is a member of "the church" not a member of the reverend. Hillary admitted that the whole thing about the sniper in Bosnia was a lie. She is a no good liar.

The sad thing is that my defenses are weakening.

My original thought on this whole campaign thing was that we need to leave the Clintons in the past and move on with our lives. The republicans would only grid-lock anything they did just like the last time and what good would that do? Maybe it was time for a change. As the election unfolded and Edwards and Obama began dumping on Hillary the way Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity would I started to become defensive. Let's stick it to everyone and go with the Clintons! That has held up for a long time. I voted for her in my state's recent primary and I stand by that vote. Having said that, I am beginning to face up to her flaws. I am finding out that I may have been wrong, and everyone else might have been right. You read that correctly. I am admitting that I may very well be not only wrong, but DAMN WRONG! I am going to have to (figuratively) crawl back to a number of friends, colleagues, and family members and admit that Hillary may not be presidential nor ready to take office.

I thought the Democratic party was wrong for jumping on the Obama band-wagon. I realize now that they have the party's best interests in mind and that there is a good reason that he is their man.

The Democrats are correct.





No matter who gets the nomination...







I could no longer vote for Hillary Clinton in November.







There is only one thing left to do.















Vote for Senator McCain.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Thank you, Mr. Obama

"there has been a small political flare-up because I said something that everybody knows is true which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter"

That was very well put. Thank you. It is about time that we get these issues out in the open and start discussing openly the "something(s) that everybody knows is true." I guess my question would be, why now? Now that you have clearly said the wrong thing and alienated even more voters. Do you remember just a month or so back when someone else said "something that everyone know is true"? Of course I am referring to Geraldine Ferraro. You, your campaign and the entire "Drive-by Media" (as Rush likes to call it) crucified her as a no good racist. The question that was never answered at the time was this: was she wrong? I would argue no. I would argue that EVERYONE knows that you would not have come so far in this race if your heritage was the same as that of Mr. Edwards, or Mr. Kucinich or anyone else who has not been able to draw out the African American vote the way you have. So, why were you not out there defending the truth as expressed by Ms. Ferraro?

I can tell you why. Because as Mrs. Clinton has suggested, you are an elitist. You can sling the mud and say anything you like but if anyone else tries to throw it back your way they are seen as unethical or racist. You use these terms at your whim and no one else can play both sides of the fence the way you do (except possibly your friend from Massachusetts the despicable hell-bound loser, John Kerry). You know, Barack, I would love to sit down at a bar and buy you a beer. I know this great little place in small-town Pennsylvania, filled with "bitter" patrons. Their selection of beer-on-tap is no less than 20 varieties, and they even stock your own personalized brew:

ARROGANT BASTARD ALE


Post Script: Now that I got all that off my chest I will say this. I honestly hope that you take your pledged delegates, your super delegates, and all your other band-wagon jumping delegates to the convention and then on to the general election. With Mrs. Clinton out of the way, I will LOVE to work AGAINST you in supporting a McCain victory in November.

Reconcile the party?

Kiss my ass.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Shamelessly pilfered from another blog

It is clearly time for Hillary to admit defeat. This new wave of hope is just too overwhelming for any one woman to withstand. She needs to not only move out of his way but really should start throwing out rosebuds before his beautiful little feet. Obama has arrived! This is what the people clearly want. Forget all those big populous states that she won by large margins. We are in the midst of a movement! This needs to be done. It is only right.

Now, the only problem I see in the near future is this: How do we get John McCain to do the same thing? Obviously those record numbers have not turned out to support him. Is he not standing in the way of history himself? Why is all the pressure on her? If Hillary can bow out gracefully by next week at this time we could save Pennsylvania and all those other states the trouble of running their elections. So, that gets us to the end of April. Then, if McCain would be kind enough to step aside by, let's say, May 15th the Republicans could save all the money and time they would have put into their June convention, we wouldn't need a democrat convention in August and GODDAMN!! THIS time around we would have our winner by election night in November! No more swing states to worry about and screw the Supreme Court! Michelle could start nudging Laura out the door right after the X-mas festivities and they could hit the ground rolling.

That's CHANGE!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

That's Dwarvish for "Gravy"


It was just coincidence that it should fall on April 1st. It certainly was not foolish. In fact every day for the last 8 and a half years had led up to my 5:00 appointment yesterday. There was supposed to be another person going with me but she backed out. To be honest it was probably better that way. It was not really an experience for sharing.

Two weeks after my final day with Ms.Musgrave I received her ashes. Enclosed was a small manilla envelope containing snippets of her black fur and another envelope with a card that had her paw print stamped on it. I immediately took it home and sat down at the art table to come up with the design you see above. I did have to tool with it awhile before getting it just right. It would fit like a puzzle piece between two other tattoos I already had on my left leg.

So, with the envelope of fur in one pocket and $40.00 in another (the arrangements had been made) I met up with Chad for our 5th collaboration. Another tattoo artist asked about the design. While I was nowhere near embarassed, I did recognize that it was probably not the most macho of reasons. However, after my explanation he sympathized and showed me two massive dog paw prints on his arms for lost pets. I know that the lovely and talented Alicia Moore PINK has an homage to her dog on her forearm reading "Sir Corky Moore" and his dates too, so, I guess I am in good company.