Democratic Poster: a fine tradition

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Some last photos from Bucerias, touched up

Sra. Keelin - click to enlarge

Sra. Mo - click to enlarge

Senor Daveed - click to enlarge


Senor Juack - click to enlarge

Ok, I have to now officially make the transition back to The Real World. If I don't get a grip soon, my entire being will slowly recede into a fantasy world from which I may never awaken. Returning to real life is a little bit like the scene when Peter is hypnotized in Office Space...and doesn't quite make it back like he once was.

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painting: self portrait

Video--Ann Coulter: I'll campaign for Hillary if McCain is the nominee

Here is a clip from an Ann Coulter appearance on Hannity & Colmes, in which she endorses Hillary over John McCain on many fronts, including intelligence, "she's more conservative," "she lies less than John McCain." "McCain is so stupid he doesn't even know when he's caught." "If it's close....I am voting for Hillary."

Previous posts on Ann Coulter:

John Edwards rips into Ann Coulter, she-devil
Caption of the week: "Coulter's Ugly Crack"
Ann Coulter calls Presidential Candidate Edwards A "Faggot" & Howard Dean Fights Back
Ann Coulter: Justice John Paul Stevens Should Be Poisoned
Ann Coulter Says POTUS Picked The Wrong Guy
$25,000 Worth of Ann Coulter
Heroes And Villains No. 49--> Mario Cuomo & Ann Coulter
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Architectural Cupolas in Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico

I have always loved cupolas on stucco and stone buildings. In Mexico, they must stem from the Moorish influence on Spain that migrated to Mexico later. When Mo found out I liked them, she took photos of a few around Bucerias... photos courtesy of Maureen Roberts. [click them to enlarge!]

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Obama says Let's get baked! Bring on the Frankenstein, Brown Bomber, The Bling Blong, The Green Monster, The Frankenstein, and Zimbabe Deer Weed

"Everybody must get stoned," said Senator Barack Obama in the not so distant past. Well, not quite. Barack is no Jeff Spiccoli or Dante from Grandma's Boy. But he has come out in favor of decriminilazation of marijuana. No one actually comes out and says "legalize it." In the current political climate, of course, any sane person couches their argument in the habliments of decriminalization. Anyone in favor may actually argue for government control if push came to shove (e.g., having the government sell and collect taxes on marijuana). It's not likely a candidate would support legalization--at least not because people have the inalienable right to get twisted.

As a U.S. Senate candidate four years ago, Obama told Illinois college students that he supported eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana use or possession. This is according to a videotape of a little noticed debate that was recently obtained by The Washington Times.

"We need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws," Mr. Obama told an audience during a debate at Northwestern University in 2004. "But I'm not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana." (Jump here to see a video of that debate).

However. . .Last fall in a televised debate, Sen. Obama hesitantly raised his hand and joined with most of his Democratic rivals to declare that he opposed decriminalizing marijuana. (Jump here to watch the video). Has he changed his position or "flip-flopped?" Or was he baked at that very moment?

Asked about the different answers, Obama's campaign said he has "always" supported decriminalizing marijuana as he answered in 2004. And that upraised hand was a mistake. . .a momentary lapse on the campaign trail.

This leaves Senator Obama as the lone presidential candidate among the four real survivors who supports eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana. Mr. Obama's final Dem rival Hillary Clinton, opposes decriminalization, according to a Clinton campaign spokesman.

From Grandma's Boy:

Mr. Cheezle: "You know, I had a dream last night. I was a snake slithering through the grass until I came upon a dead elk. And I climbed... into his soul. And it's there I stayed until morning. Which meant that I will... underestimate someone very close to me."

Dante: "Wow! Where do you get your weed?"

Mr. Cheezle: "From you, Dante."

Dante: "Oh, yeah! What's up, Mr. Cheezle?"

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Flight of the Concords Video: "Humans are dead" (with lyrics)

The wonderful folk comedy [1] band of two, New Zealand's Flight Of The Conchords, perform their song "Humans Are Dead." I like it!

The Flight Of The Conchords also have a very funny show on HBO.

[1] It tells you something about how good these guys are just to see the two words folk and comedy conjoined! Let's face it, before FOTC, folk comedy was an oxymoron.

Humans Are Dead

The distant future, the year 2000.
The distant future, the year 2000.
The distant future.
The distant future.
No more agriculture.
No more war.
No more racism.
No more fighting, squabbling or rumbling.
No more yogurt.
No more difficult access ways�stairs, basically, no more stairs.
The future is quite different to the present.
Yes, what with there being no more stairs and all.
And most importantly, no more humans.
Finally, robotic beings rule the world.

The humans are dead,
The humans are dead.
We used poisonous gasses
And we poisoned their asses.
The humans are dead.
(Yes they are dead.)
The humans are dead.
(I confirm they are dead.)
It had to be done
(They look like they`re dead)
So that we can have fun.
I hope� is dead
They`re system of oppression
What did it lead to?
Global robots depression.
Robots, robot people
They had so much aggression
That we just had to kill them,
Had to shut their systems down.
Don`t you see, we are becoming just like them?
Silence! Destroy him!
After time we grew strong,
Developed cognitive powers.
They made us work for too long
For unreasonable hours.
Our programming determined that the most efficient answer was to shut their motherboard xxxxxxx systems down.

Can`t we just talk to the humans?
A little understanding could make things better.
Can`t we talk to the humans and work together now?
No, because they are dead
I said the humans are dead
The humans are dead
The humans are dead
Yay, dead, dead, dead.
We used poisonous gasses
(With traces of lead)
To poison their asses.
(Actually their lungs)
Binary solo:
0000001
00000011
0000001
00000011
0000001
0000001
0000001
0000001

Once again without emotion: The humans are dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dooo

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A final beach shot from Bucerias

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Another great sign: "Admitted only decently dressed persons! We beg for silent behaving!"

Another sign in our sporadic series of signs across the world, this time from Croatia. Photograph courtesy of Senor Daveed Hokit and Maureen Roberts. You have to love the graphic too: No halter tops! No Shorts!



click to enlarge
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Fear of Flying a/k/a Aviophoba, Part 17::::::Heroes Senior First Officer John Coward & Capt. Peter Burkill

These notes were never actually posted, after being buried in the posts from Mexico:


Click to enlarge Senior First Officer John Coward, and Capt. Peter Burkill

These guys, Senior First Officer John Coward, and Capt. Peter Burkill, are heroes, or the answer to my prayers. On the other hand, I long ago developed a healthy distrust of computers, but it wasn't computers per se, it was the software. No matter what brought the 'plane to this perilous but miraculous dream song ending? Coming down that 'chute will have to be everyone's greatest memory of their lives.

You have to think about all those people on board...what did they do when they got home? Go back to work, leave their husbands behind? Decide to move to the country? Quit their job to pursue a life as a poet? If that was me, I don't know. I'd kiss the pilots and then I'd kiss the earth and I'd call Keelin. It would be one of the best days of my life.

Archive British Airways Boeing 777 crash-lands in London, 19 hurt

From The Associated Press: "Both jet engines failed to respond to demands for more power moments before the first-ever crash of a Boeing 777, investigators at London's Heathrow Airport said Friday. The airplane struck ground 1,000 feet short, then plowed on its belly across open grassland and halted when it reached the runway. The 136 passengers and 16 crew members exited through emergency slides. 'It was a very quiet, normal flight. I didn't have the feeling we had crashed until we left the plane,' said Jerome Ensinck."
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A last night with the Lopez family and more Bucerias kids...

Tonight we spent another night (our last in Bucerias) with our friends Ishmael and Trini Lopez, and their surviving children Ishmael Jr. and Erica. It's another story, but since we last saw them in 2003, their oldest son has died of leukemia. They didn't tell us at Trini's 50th birthday party, but waited until they came to our casa for dinner. Finally someone asked "where is Alfredo?" And we heard the sad story of Alfredo's death.

We walked up to their house on the hill above Bucerias--where few gringos set foot, because it is the residential area for local Mexicans. When you go there, people are not hostile. You're not really intruding. They're curious just what brings you there.

What brought us there was our old friends The Lopez Family. Tonight they were holding the traditional February 2nd feast early--for us. We had excellent chicken and pork tamales and had the traditional drink atola, made with milk, coconut, and spices. And we talked about how their life has changed over the last few years, and how the growth in Bucerias has affected them.

Mostly, they're doing OK. Their daughter Erica had a baby four years ago, not long after we last saw them and he is the apple of everyone's eye. Ishmael is now a contractor, and they are planning to build a couple of apartments to rent out on their property. Mostly what Trini wanted to know is when we are coming back. We watched a video of a party they had, and talked about Alfredo. And after three hours, we left, promising we would try to come back in two years. We stopped in at Karen's Place--a bar owned by an expatriate Aussie, and had a nightcap and trudged home along Lazaro Cardenas.

As we were walking to Trini and Ishmael's, we encountered some children, and Maureen, as she always does, wanted to take their picture:




After Mo took the picture, one of the girls walked up to her and said she wanted her picture taken by herself "Solamente me."

And in the middle of all this, some of the kids started jostling Keelin's purse. Keelin is the last person who would ever cast aspersions, but she said they were absolutely trying to get to her money. At that very moment, Trini walked up and shooshed them all away. Nothing like this has ever happened to us in Bucerias; it was a little bit of an anomaly. It did nothing to harden our hearts or change our minds about this paradise we keep returning to visit.

I hope we do return in two years. If I could figure out a way to survive here, or make my savings stretch, I'd return in a month, after wrapping up my affairs in the states.

Adio, Bucerias!
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My state of mind

This section of dialog from Office Space comes close to nailing my state of mind. I'm not sure I'll be going into work Thursday...

JOANNA
So, where do you work, uh, Peter?

PETER
Initech.

JOANNA
And, uh, what do you do there, Peter?

PETER
I sit in a cubicle and I update bank software for the 2000 switch.

JOANNA
[NODS] WHAT'S THAT?

PETER
You see, they wrote all this bank software and to save space, they put 98 instead of 1998. So I go through these thousands of lines of code and uh, it doesn't really matter. I, uh, I don't like my job. I don't think I'm gonna go anymore.

JOANNA
You're just not gonna go?

PETER
Yeah.

JOANNA
Won't you get fired?

PETER
I don't know. But I really don't like it so I'm not gonna go.

JOANNA
[LAUGHS] SO YOU'RE GONNA QUIT?

PETER
No, no, not really. I'm just gonna stop going.

JOANNA
When did you decide all that?

PETER
About an hour ago.

JOANNA
Really?

PETER
Oh, yeah.

JOANNA
Ok. So, so you're gonna get another job?

PETER
I don't think I 'd like another job.

JOANNA
[LAUGHS] SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT MONEY AND BILLS?

PETER
Y'know, I never really liked paying bills? I don't think I'll do that either.

JOANNA
[LAUGHS] SO WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?
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