Train crash video

This video was recorded by some kids who were skateboarding nearby the wreck. I found the commentary amusing. Not at all annoying.



Can anyone on the video tell me if the train crashed? I think I missed that bit.

41 Senators will always fuck things up

I'm still shocked and amazed that the Senate voted against the compromise bill to expand background checks for gun purchasing. Basically the message here is "fuck you, America; we know better than 90% of you!"

This bill was such a minor approach to the gun problem that everyone pretty much figured it would sail through the Senate almost unopposed. But 46 total asshole senators decided that their opinion on background checks is more important than simple common sense. Including four Democrats who deserve to be defeated in their next election: Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Four Republicans courageously went against their party and voted their conscience: Susan Collins, R-Maine, Mark Kirk, R-Ill., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania. And of course, our fine Connecticut senators, Dick Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, voted for the bill. Kudos to them and everyone who voted in favor of the bill.


But the decision came down to fear. This is an example of how powerful the NRA lobby is. They can make senators so fearful of getting defeated in their next election that they'll completely go against what their constituents want.

The NRA is a toxic organization that wants to put weapons in every person's hand, regardless of their mental stability or criminal history. They the biggest impediment to ensuring our safety, and they are clearly concerned ONLY with the interests of gun manufacturers.

A majority isn't enough to get a bill passed in the Senate these days. All it takes is 41 assholes to fuck everything up.

And they had 46, with the significant help of those cowardly Democrats.

This is a Tweet I made shortly after the vote. I think it will change some minds if implemented:

Here's what to do: Every senator should be forced to view police photos of the Newtown massacre before the next vote on gun safety laws.

An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention And Children's Safety

So, I'm pleased to say this is a good thing.

Full disclosure: I'm a licensed handgun owner. I possess a valid Connecticut State permit to carry handguns (although I never do, unless I'm going to a shooting range or a gun shop) and I enjoy the protections that the Second Amendment provides for me. I enjoy going to a range occasionally and putting holes in a paper target. This is one way that I have fun.

I don't see this new law changing that right in any way.

The State Senate today voted on and approved a bill that will ban certain types of guns and magazines, and control ammunition purchasing.

From the Hartford Courant:

Approval of the bill came at 6:38 p.m. by a 26-10 vote – with two of 22 Democrats and eight of 14 Republicans opposed. The measure was sent to the House, where approval was expected early Thursday. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says he will sign the bipartisan bill once both legislative chambers approve it.

"This is a new and historic model for the country on an issue that has typically been the most controversial and divisive. We in Connecticut are breaking new ground today," Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said near the end of the six-hour debate.

Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, whose district includes Newtown, said that since the mass killings, "I've been working, as have others … to see what we can do to heal that community — if we can do anything. What we can do to make Connecticut safer? … I'm proud that we've done that."

To hear these words out loud reflects what most of the state's citizens think is a move forward. Our leaders are breaking new ground in the effort to bring some sense to what our forefathers intended when they created our nation.

The State House will likely vote on this bill tomorrow (Thursday) and Governor Malloy has promised to sign it.

When this happens, our state will lead the nation in finally bringing some sanity to the debate about which kind of weapons are allowed to be owned legally. Keeping in mind that the 2nd Amendment was created during a time when there were absolutely NO repeating weapons, and a school massacre by a lone gunman would have necessitated a period of 30 to 60 seconds between each shot when the shooter had to pause to reload his black powder gun.

I wonder how many of those children would be alive today had the Newtown killer not had automatic weapons and 30-shot clips available during his rampage.

Sunday Night Music Club XXXI

31...

(...fucken Romans, with their stupid non-decimal numbering system...)

Yes, it's time for yet another Sunday Night Music Club installment. This week, it's The Church and their 1988 song "Under the Milky Way".

This song has long been sort of in the background of my consciousness, ever since it received fairly substantial airplay in the late 80s/early 90s. The melody and lyrics evokes in me images of everyday life unfolding under a canopy of nighttime stars. It's one of those songs that just seems to flow seamlessly from beginning to end, and all too soon is over.

The Wikipedia page for this song describes how the haunting instrumental break that sounds much like bagpipes is actually "composed with an EBow on a Fender Jazzmaster, and recorded on a Synclavier..."

Huh. Interesting. The shit you can learn on the internet, right?

Anyway, my fondness for the song grew exponentially when it was used to great effect in the 2001 film "Donnie Darko", which is firmly in my Top 100 list of favorite films.

Someday I'll actually have to put together that list. It'll be a fun project for a theoretical time when I have nothing else pressing for a week or so.

Is is wrong that I find this amusing?

(click to enlarge, if you want)

I am a big Bill Clinton fan.

Sure, there's a few things he did that I'm not crazy about...

Like repealing Glass–Steagall, which precipitated the gigantic economic upheaval we've been forced to deal with for the last half decade...

Yeah, that kinda sucked.

But still, Clinton was the original rock-star president, and I prefer to think of him as a larger than life action hero sort of guy.

So some creatively insane wacko came up with this pitch-perfect tribute to Big Dog, my favorite past president! Even arch-conservative Stephen Colbert would be pleased by this.

...and you can even buy prints, too!

(I love the alligator with the nuke button strapped to it!)

Rubio 2016 not likely

I don't know if the HTML strikeout command will translate on the title bar, but I'll chance it.

A lot of people will say that Marco Rubio's sweaty, nervous, thirsty performance during last night's State of the Union Rebuttal may damage his 2016 Presidential aspirations.

But that wasn't the worst thing he did this week.



Earlier, Rubio was one of 22 Republican senators who voted AGAINST reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. It seems that the GOP still hasn't learned anything from their devastating losses in 2012, and they stubbornly insist on continuing their "War On Women".

Here's a clue GOP: Refusing to protect women from violence is NOT the way to endear yourself to half of the voting population. Or even most of the other half of sane, fair, and compassionate male voters.

My guess is that halfway through his rebuttal, Rubio suddenly realized that millions of women were probably watching his performance.

No wonder he was so nervous!

Blizzard's over

Uh, yeah. And I wasn't even close with my predictions.

That's the National Weather Service amount. I guess we got lucky being this close to the water, which helped feed more moisture into Charlotte/Nemo/whatever it's called.

At least the snow blower held out until after we carved a path to the street. Then the drive belt broke! I've ordered a replacement from Sears, but it'll be about 10 days before it gets here.

Plus, we helped our neighbors next door and across the street. Good deeds seldom go unpunished, but we do them anyway.

Blizzard's here

But it's nighttime, so I can't take any pictures. We already had about 10" so far (11PMish), and they're still threatening us with 24-30".

But that's the weather forecasters, and we all know how hysterical they can be. We'll see how much we get.

Probably 24-30".

In the meantime...

...a baby penguin getting tickled!

Blizzard coming?

It's only 12 or so hours away.

We'll see if anyone is smiling this time tomorrow night!

ROFL

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAA!

(Some shit I found on Amazon today. LOLZ!)

1-20-17?

Hillary Clinton?

Sure, why not?

I sincerely hope the GOP continues to put up the same caliber of candidates as they did last year. Keep holding them Tea Party rallies, boys...they really show the nation just how extreme your party has become!

And don't forget, there's still lots of good ol' conservative reasons to continue your "War on Women"! It worked out so well the last time.

The only way the Republicans can possibly win in four years is if they become more like (get ready) the DEMOCRATS!

1-20-13

Time for the GOPers to tear off all those lame bumper stickers. Four more years!

Hee hee hee!

(I took this photo three days ago)

Congrats to our newest senator

Welcome to the Senate, Chris Murphy!

TODAY IS THE BIG DAY!

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) officially retired from the Senate today.

Well, that sure took long enough!

I'm so freakin' happy to see Chris Murphy step up to take over the seat. Now I feel that we'll have an elected official who will honestly serve the citizens of our state, and who will make decisions about national policy that doesn't reflect the will of powerful lobbyists and foreign governments.

Were things just a little different back in 2006, today we'd be celebrating the start of Ned Lamont's second term as our senior senator. Lamont accomplished something that was thought impossible back then; beating a long time incumbent in his own party's primary and driving him from the Democratic party.

Of course, history conspired with state Republicans to keep Lieberman on for a fourth term. The GOP turned out in droves to vote for a man they saw as a true ally and friend of their causes. How else do you explain that Republican candidate Al Schlesinger only received 10% of the popular vote, when just six years earlier a future convicted child molester got about a third of the popular vote?

I actually voted for Giordano in 2000, only because I was so fucking pissed at Lieberman for selfishly running for VP and Senate simultaneously. Which, if Gore had won and all things remained equal, would have given the Republicans control of the 50-50 Senate because Gov. Roland had the authority to appoint a Republican to Lieberman's vacant seat. Lieberman was hedging his bet, and that's part of the reason he flipped so quickly on the contested 2000 election. He was holding onto national office while positioning for a 2004 bid himself.

My errant vote at the time was because I didn't know that you could choose to simply not vote for one or more offices when you pull the levers (remember those?). So in protest, though I voted for Gore-Lieberman for President and VP, I also dumbly cast a Republican vote for a guy who currently is serving hard prison time for child rape.

I'm not especially proud of that fact.

Lieberman's legacy will include supporting some important legislation, especially earlier in his career. But something happened to him that caused him to become one of the biggest war hawks in the Senate.

Not to mention that he was also a chicken hawk, due to his excessive use of draft deferments to avoid serving in Vietnam. Lieberman didn't want to get his boots muddy in the jungles of Southeast Asia, but boy he certainly had no problem sending tens of thousands of American soldiers to fight and die in a war that was largely caused by Bush/Cheney's lies, which Lieberman enthusiastically supported.

In the 2004 presidential primaries, who doesn't remember Lieberman's classic loser speech, where he triumphantly claimed that he strode to a big finish "in a three-way tie for third place!" He then dove headfirst down the polls and soon dropped out.

Then, of course, came the famous "kiss" at Bush's 2005 State of the Union address. That kiss came to represent everything he stands for. He followed that up with a kiss to Rep. Chris Shays during the 2008 McCain appearance at Sacred Heart University. Lieberman was the most active supporter of John McCain in the senate, and I'm sure it devastated him when McCain chose that cretin from Alaska to be his running mate instead of faithful ol' Joe. Boy, it made me happy when I heard that announcement!

So now we come to the end of the political line for Joe Lieberman. I'm only slightly curious about where he'll land after this. I assume he'll do some kind of lobbying. But I can't really invest any effort into researching it, because I honestly don't care what he does, as long as he no longer stains the senate with his presence.

Yes, we'll no longer have Joe Lieberman to kick around any more.

I'd say I'm gonna miss the guy, but I don't want to lie. I'm glad he's gone.

Thinking back on 2006, I really want to thank all the bloggers and people I've worked with. The nature of blogging has changed considerably since then, with the advent of social networking, which was unheard of in the day. I was very lucky to hang out with a bunch of smart, funny, and immensely talented people. It was an amazing and hugely rewarding time for me.

And here's a final "thank you" to Ned Lamont, who courageously opened a national conversation that needed to be addressed. And with it, he helped change the face of the political landscape that continues to this day.