BLOGGERS LOVE BILL

Wow. According to our local morning newspaper, "Bloggers Gear Up For Bill's Campaign." Seems "the number of Internet-based groups" (their words, not mine) plugging our New Mexico Governator have "exploded." A little closer look identifies some as: "Brooklynites for Richardson," " Hill Country (Texas) for Richardson," "Illinois For Richardson" and "Northern Colorado For Richardson." According to a Washington state blogger, they had "25 groups before..we have close to 60 now." Well, goody. I didn't notice any rise in New Mexico's bloggers for Richardson. Maybe we're too close to the truth. Our Governator was born and raised in California. Believe me, New Mexico and California politics are very, very different. How? Well, among other things, New Mexico is a Democrat state. Has been for years. This past week the head of our Democrat Caucus resigned, stating that he was tired of the graft and corruption here. Back to Bill. He decided to fly off to a civil-warring African nation when the state was hit by the worst snow storm we have ever had. People without power, no heat, unable to to get to stores, cattle dying of starvation, highways and roads frozen over (our snow and ice removal equipment is inadequate for any storm) and the many other rigors of a state totally unprepared for a storm of this magnitude. Sounds familiar? (Remember, I didn't mention FEMA and New Orleans. Our problems were not comparable.) He has also seen to it that we have a railroad. From one small town to another small town. It will cost our state more than a million dollars a year. Just to keep it running. It will not pay for itself in the foreseeable future, either, according to various experts. Bill also disappeared when two state officials were indicted for dipping into the tax payer's funds. He went overseas then, too. One of them later confessed that both of them had done the same thing. More to come.

IMUS HATES THE GOVERNATOR?

It seems that the turkey Don Imus (who is known to be at least surly) has a problem with Bill R. running for President. Dang it. Since I obviously don't care for the Governator's style (or lack thereof) I must be on the side of Imus. On the other hand, I don't like Imus either. And he needs a haircut. And should be taught to look into the camera (at least from time to time). And keep his head off his chest. So it's reared its ugly head again. Politics make for strange bedfellows. Anybody have any idea how to resolve this one? I did kind of giggle when Don called the Governator a "fat baby."

IT'S ABOUT TIME

So, the "scientists" have finally discovered what I (and many others) have been warning about for a long time. Man (mostly Yanks, BTW) has been screwing up his spaceship for years. We were told about the dangers of using aerosol cans back in the late 1960's.

We were warned about the poisonous and lethal gases being released by every mass-production manufacturing plant.

We were told about the unhealthy, high level of lead in our atmosphere from the gasoline we were using then.

We were told the humongous amounts of waste that we were creating was unnecessarily polluting our cities.

We were told that the new style of plastic wraps we began using would very likely never disintegrate. And anything locked inside it would not receive Mother Nature's blessing of being returned to the earth.

We were told that our automobiles could and would pollute our air even when they were just sitting parked in front of our houses.

We were unkindly told that Man was creating the destruction of animal species that, just perhaps, we might really need on this planet. The warnings were given. One had to remember them, for they were not remarked about one after another, but spread out over some years.

Yet our governments led us down the path of climate destruction by telling us how glad we should be that we were the most prosperous nation on earth and if we wanted to, we could damn well use up anything, in any amount. There would always be more.

They failed to tell us what the "more" would be. The few generalists who tried to warn about our coming problems, were shrugged off as malcontents and the "boys who cried wolf too many times".

Apparently, some people who wielded power and money decided to get rid of the lead that was poisoning us and create both non-lead based paints and unleaded gasoline. See, they pointed out, we do care. This, while they helped coal burning prosper and lowered the mileage that our cars and trucks achieved. They didn't make much of an attempt to get rid of aerosols, nor create packaging that would return itself to the earth. But they did make bigger earth moving machines in order to bury our plastic garbage. For eternity.

Many times in the past, I heard that some genius had invented a fantastic carburator or some kind of wonderful piece of equipment that would enable vehicles to use gasoline so efficiently that one would only have to fill their gas tank two or three times a year. Shortly thereafter a person, of dubious background, would begin selling some such contraption. Of course, they were frauds and the desired results never happened. See, the Auto and Oil companies said, it's all a lie. I accepted their version of the machinery. It never occurred to me, then, that perhaps, just perhaps, the Auto and Oil companies (yes, there are interlocking directorships there) had turned the real inventors into multimillonaires and that the marvelous creations were buried in vaults never to be seen again. But that speculation is beside the point, now.

Those of you with beach front property, anywhere in the world, need to make sure it is at least ten to twelve feet above the current high water level mark. If it isn't, sell it quickly.

Far be it from me to suggest that our very own Government (both the parties) would ever mislead its own citizens, but I can remember watching while black Americans rioted against injustices, in many cities, across the United States. After a while, when powerful people noted it was apparently not going to stop, the CIA (reportedly) began introducing drugs into black population concentrations in major cities. Riots are now so rare they could be compared to the Dodo bird. But we have "The War On Drugs" today.

I'm also old enough to note that the Vietnam War was originally the French Indo-China War. At least it was until the French had enough and told the US they were going to quit (not surprisingly). It became America's war to keep the ugly specter of Communism from overrunning the world. I didn't notice, after we pulled out, that the world was taken over by the Communists.

At one time, the American Public started to get nasty about the second rate cars being manufactured and the extremely ugly specter of petroleum pollution. Automobiles and Gasoline are staples of the GNP. A real attack on them could break some of our gross Federal spending habits and cause a downturn in the economy. Powerful, clever people came to the rescue again. Suddenly, the attack was switched to cigarette smoking as the cause of all our ills. They were even clever enough to talk the AMA into siding with their warfare. Tobacco became an issue. We could forget about our cars and trucks polluting. The evil monster was smoking. The result was shaped statistics and misleading statements.

Although smoking apparently can (and probably does) lead to some cancers, it is not just the one factor that causes it. And it probably helps create emphysema problems. But I have also noticed that none of the big tobacco companies have declared bankruptcy. In fact, I wonder if big tobacco isn't manufacturing (or at least acting as a partner) in some of the various products that aid in stopping smoking. A buck is a buck.

COMCAST CARES?

Our cable supplier here in Albuquerque is Comcast. They run ads for themselves on the nespaper principle: "If no one else will say good things about you, tell other how good you are." Well, Comcast doesn't have a lot people who wish them well. So using the idea just mentioned, they are running an ad about how "Comcast Cares." It shows different cartoon characters having lots of trouble with their houses. Then a Comcast truck shows up and the magical workers of Comcast fix up the houses. Well and good. I have spoken to various Comcast employees about their charitable projects. Yes, the workers do indeed help people in dire straits. They invest their time, effort and money into helping needy residents. Kudos and thank yous to them. However, I asked what Comcast contributes to their work. Blank stares meet my questions. So I asked if Comcast pays them for helping the poor and needy? No. Then I ask if Comcast gives them time off work to do their charitable actions? No. I ask if Comcast furnishes vans for the work? No. I ask if Comcast supplies gas for their personal vehicles. No. I ask if Comcast furnishes any supplies or tools for them? No. Comcast supplies them with nothing? Yes. Exactly. But Comcast, through the ads, implies they do.

A SUGGESTION FOR GOOGLE

I have been looking at a lot of people's problems with the Google blogger pages. Heck, I've got some myself. (Like sometimes getting the wrong type faces on the page, having problems with AdSense, etc., etc., to name a few.) So, in a sort of "click on everything" mode, much of my time has been spent trying to go through the pages and pages of information that is available. Thankfully, very little of it is written in the Micro$oft style (link after link after link to unintelligible descriptions. And just when you think you may the answer you want, dear ole Uncle Bill's crew throws a warning at you letting you know you will probably screw up your computer if you do what they suggest.) But as for Google blogspot, the answers are available for our problems. It's just that they are so darn hard to find. Seems you have to be good enough to outsmart the search engine. (And I love the Google search engine.) But it can be kind of dumb sometimes. For instance, if you're having problems with publishing, the key is not to rely on the "publish" button. That'll send you to an inexplicable page asking you to fill in some html. Not how to do it, just do it. It will also get artsy-craftsy by suggesting you add something or other to their suggestion. Hell's Bells, if I knew what html is and how to use it I probably wouldn't be on that page. I did however, find a freebie that teaches html. I hope I have a short learning curve. I also signed up to be notified with the pages where people write in with their problems. Now I get emails with several hundred problems daily. ("Be careful what you ask for...you may get it.") I am also aware that Google hires genuises (genuisii?). Perhaps one of them could somehow organize the consistent problems into one click answers? We could also use a primer on how to use the task bar for the "create" page. The basic stuff would be helpful: like how to create headlines, choose a type face, spell check, add photos and so on.