Inauguration Day

News, Politics

Four years ago, as George Bush completed his judicial coup at his first inaugural, I was fortunate enough to be out of the country. This time around I am not so lucky, but will instead work from home to avoid the security, gridlock, and hoardes of Republicans who have descended on DC to revel in Round 2. It’s still hard to imagine that based on his collosal record failure in his first term, this idiot got re-elected. Either a majority of Americans are REALLY that stupid, or the Republicans have just gotten better at stealing elections. Neither are comforting thoughts.

So one painful four-year slog has ended, but instead of a finish line we find ourselves at a halfway point. Shit.

For further reading:

Inauguration: Lifestyles of the Rich and Heartless
Center for American Progress, 1/20/05

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Bumper Stickers, Magnet Ribbons & Rubber Bracelets

News

I haven’t taken my Kerry/Edwards sticker off my bumper yet. I don’t know why. Maybe my period of mourning hasn’t passed yet. Or maybe I want to cling to it as my own “I told you so” for when Bush’s continued incompetence finally catches up to him, although his re-election leaves me little hope that it ever will.

Other cars sport magnetic yellow or flag colored ribbons reminding us to “Support Our Troops” and that “United We Stand”. I guess we’ve run short of ‘old oak trees’. I support our troops. But I do not support their Commander-in-Chief. Is he supporting our troops?

Now Lance Armstrong’s rubber yellow braclets have led a new wave of wearable advocacy. It’s not new really, I can remember the metal bracelet my father used to wear in remembrance of a POW/MIA soldier in Vietnam. And some have jumped on this bandwagon by offering blue or black bracelets to tell the world you’re no Bush supporter. I don’t know if I’ll get one, I might. Anyone who knows me doesn’t need to see a bracelet to know my politics.

Just be careful what color your put on your wrist, as there may be untended consequences, especially in a hospital.

update: too funny… tonight on my commute home I saw a truck with 7 various ribbon magnets, two American flags, and two racing number 3’s for Dale Earnhardt 🙂

For further reading:

Anti-Bush Bracelets Say, ‘Count Me Blue’
AP, 1/15/05

Heart on a wrist
San Francisco Chronicle, 1/14/05, editorial

Proliferating bracelets could pose hazards for patients
American Medical News, 1/3/05

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Back on eBay

Diversions, Web Surfin'

It’s been a long time, but I’m back in action on eBay. When I originally joined eBay in 1998, my chosen user name, casey2000, seemed timely and futuristic. Now it just seems like a long time ago. In those six years I’ve been a periodic buyer and seller both. I’ve bought a computer, and sold some old ties. Looking at my own feedback, I can see I didn’t buy or sell anything in 2004.

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But it’s 2005 now and I’ve rejoined this wonderful online yard sale. And what am I selling on my way to that elusive turquoise star? Rubber stamps!

Why rubber stamps? Because my wife has a new hobby. Stamping is out, and quilting is in. And she’s decided that that space being used by her large collection of stamps could be better used for her growing collection of quilt material.

And what do you do when you have too much ‘stuff’ and need to thin the crap pile? Put it on eBay, because there’s a great chance someone out there is interested in your crap. And at the moment, for us, this is rubber stamps.

And what am I buying? Over the years it’s mostly been books, usually signed. But lately it’s been historical items connected with my interest in genealogy. My most recent purchases have been an 1885 map of Chicago, and a used ticket to the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. That’s right, I’m buying 100-year old torn pages from an atlas, and a used ticket stub. Antique crap.

Without question eBay has got to be one of most important and successful online businesses on the net. But flea markets have their dark alleys and questionable items. In the last week alone, eBay has been a frequent subject in the news for its popularity as a market for stolen goods, and for its handling of a unique fundraising auction to help to help a sick boy. With success comes the burden of dealing with such problems. But I remain a hugh fan of eBay. And if you happen to be in the market for some slightly used rubber stamps, I know just the guy 🙂

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Go Trojans!

Sports

USC TrojansI pay little to no attention to college football these days, but I caught the big finish tonight watching the University of Southern California trounce Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl to win the National Championship. It was great fun to see an SC Heisman winner lead his team in a dominating performance over an Oklahoma team that just didn’t look like they belonged on the same field.

And for me, itt was also a trip down memory lane, because I grew up on SC football.

When I turned 14 I received season tickets to SC games which we kept for several years. Initially going to these SC games was something I did with my Dad. Once I was old enough to drive, it became a regular thing to do with any number of my friends. And later, when my older brother went to USC and I followed, we did our share of games as students (neither of us graduated from there, while both our parents have advanced degrees from SC… sorry mom and dad 🙂

Over those years we saw a lot of great football, and great football players. I saw Heisman winning running backs Charles White and Marcus Allen run wild for SC. I saw my football inspiration Ronnie Lott at defensive back, picking ’em off and taking them back. And what SC fan can forget, “Rokshani in motion…” And we saw some great players on the other side of the ball too; John Elway playing for Stanford, Joe Montana playing for Notre Dame, and many others.

I have many wonderful memories of those weekend SC football games. The campus bookstore was among my favorite destinations, there was always room for one more article of clothing or household item with an SC logo on it. I remember visiting Heritage Hall to see the Heisman’s won by Trojans. I had my first (and many many subsequent) beers at an SC football game.

Marcus Allen
Marcus Allen & Me		 Traveller
Hanging out with Traveller (the horse)

But by far, the best was not on a game day. It was in the fall of 1981 a special season kickoff fan appreciation event, a pep-rally basically where season ticket holders could come onto the field, meet the players, and revel in their burgandy and gold. We did, and it was great. Then as my friend Mike and I were leaving this event at the LA Coliseum, we ran into every sixteen year old’s dream… The USC Song Girls. They spotted us, frozen and drooling with a camera in hand, and immediately recognized they were in danger of us latching onto their legs and grinding like pitiful mutts, and one of them quickly and deftly difused the situation by offering to take a picture with us with them.

Marcus Allen
Mike, Myself, and the 1981 USC Song Girls

It’s a tragically blurry photo, but neverthless treasured. Still, I’d love to round the girls up for another try at it 🙂

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Dubya, The Movie

Humor, Movies, Politics

Happy New Year everyone!

Here’s an excellent movie to kick off the long four years we have in store for us. At least idiot Presidents are good for a laugh.

Dubya, The Movie

And just think. As soon when we finish naming everything in the country ‘Reagan’, the campaign to rename it all ‘W’ will begin!

Thanks to Doug for sharing

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End the Year by Helping People in Need

News

Last year, as the last hours of 2003 ticked away, I was moved to make a financial contribution to a political candidate. It seemed very important at the time, and it was.

Click Here to Pay Learn More

But it just can’t compare to the sort of need you can help with right now. This year has ended with a horrifying tragedy too large to fully comprehend. The current reporting is that 80,000 people have lost their lives in the recent Tsunamis that have struck in the Indian Ocean. The likelihood is that the total number of casualities will continue to rise dramatically, and many thousands who survived the Tsunamis are now at risk of from disease and hunger.

Please consider ending the year by helping your fellow man, and be thankful that it wasn’t you who lost everything. Use these links to either make a contribution using your existing account information at Amazon.com, or directly to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.

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Chicago People Watching – 1895

Genealogy

From 1893-1900 a column ran in the Chicago Record under an anonymous byline that was titled ‘Stories of the Streets and of the Town’. I picked up the volume on a recent visit to Chicago as the ideal item to offer some insight into the city during a period that my genealogy research has led me to be particularly interested. I bought the book in hopes that it would offer contemporary sketches of life in the city during that period. No longer anonymous, the stories by George Ade and illustrated by John T. McCutcheon have not disappointed.

One of these stories is titled Some of the Unfailing Signs, and in it the author demonstrates his ability to determine a great deal about a man’s occupation by their manner and dress. More simply put, George does some serious people watching and allows us to join him.

The first profile in particular caught my attention. It reads as follows:

Suppose a man is standing in front of a boarding house in Van Buren Street. He wears a close-fitting suit of black and the short sack coat flares out somewhat in a bell shape below. The coat has rather wide braid on it and the ves is slashed away from the lower button. The shirt is blue-striped and the soft black hat is flat on top and fits well down on the head, scraping the ears. With cameo ring on the third finger of the left hand what more is needed to identify the man as a “railroader”? Not an engineer or a passenger conductor, but one of the freight “crew.” Possibly he is the conductor, but probably his is the brakeman. The usual mark of distinction is the heavy gold chain which is worn by the “railroader” as soon as he is “given a train.”

If there remains any doubt as to his identity it might do to count his fingers and thumbs, watch the “hunch” of his shoulders when he walks or ask him the time of day. If the watch is open-faced and the man says “Nine forty-three” – that settles it.

The railroad man could be picked from a procession of 100 men strung along in a row and there wouldn’t be much risk of a mistake. If he had a look of worn patience in his eyes, affected and iron gray mustached, had box-toed shoes and dangled a secret-society emblem set in jewels the odds would be several to one that he was a passenger conductor with a good “run.”

“So what?”, you might ask. Well, in 1895 and 1896 my Great Great Grandfather, Michael Casey, lived on Van Buren Street. Documents such as the birth and death certificates of his children, and the City Directory, had listed Michael’s occupation as ‘Porter’ and later a ‘Teamster’, and I’ve suspected for some time that he may have worked on the Railroad.

Who knows. Certainly there were many hundreds of people this description could fit. It is Ade’s whole point that men in particular professions are easy to spot because they dress and act alike. Yet even if not talking specifically about MY ancestor of his time, this book has been everything I had hoped it might be, a trip back in time to Chicago in the mid-1890’s, and the feeling that I’m sitting there, looking at my own immigrant ancestor in his everyday life.

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Post-Election Numbers

News, Politics

In Today’s Washington Post, author Scott Turow has a piece about the numbers that let to Bush’s election victory last month that is worth a read:

A Dominant GOP? How So?
The Washington Post, 12/26/2004

In the article, Turow points out that Bush’s popular-vote margin over Kerry is the lowest ever recorded by an incumbent president – just under 2.5%, and on this point he writes:

This shouldn’t underrate Bush’s achievements. He improved on his 2000 performance, winning a slight majority this year – a little less than 51 percent. And it is probably a tribute to his political skills that he won at all because sitting presidents tend to win decisively, or lose. But by the yard stick of history, the Bush victory cannot be taken as a resounding chorus of support from the American people asking for more of the same.

If Bush won (and in America today you don’t have to be a raving nutjob to accept the fact that THIS President would go to any lengths to win legitimately or not), then Democrats will have to accept that. What we must not accept is the Republican attempt to spin this razor-thin victory into some a mandate by a predominantly Red America that just plain doesn’t exist.

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