More Right Wing Nutcases

From "The Progress Report"


'The Wacko Wing'
Last Thursday, CNN President Jon Klein sent an e-mail to a handful of the network's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" staffers informing them that he considered one of the stories pursued by the infamously anti-immigrant host to be "dead." On his radio show the week before, Dobbs declared that President Obama needed to "produce a birth certificate," picking up on a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that claims Obama was not born in the United States, and the birth certificate released by his campaign last year was fake. Dobbs repeatedly pushed the "birther" cause despite the fact that his colleagues at CNN have repeatedly called the story "total bull." In fact, while guest-hosting Dobbs' own show on July 17, Kitty Pilgrim refuted the fringe theory, saying, "CNN has fully investigated the issue, found no basis for the questions about the president's birthplace, but the controversy lives on, especially on the Internet." But Dobbs has persisted, attacking his critics as "limp-minded, lily-livered lefties" who hate him because he has "the temerity to inquire as to where the birth certificate was." As Dobbs continued to air the conspiracy theory, Klein backed off his admonition of the host, telling the Los Angeles Times that Dobbs had handled the issue in a "legitimate" manner and "if there are future news pegs, then we have to take that story as it comes." On Sunday, Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz used his CNN show to chastise media outlets that "give the birthers any airtime" to repeat their "ludicrous claims." Kurtz specifically criticized Dobbs for not acting "responsible."BORN IN THE USA: Obama was born on Aug. 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. This date is on the Certification of Live Birth released by the Hawaii Department of Health last year at the request of Obama. Birthers like Dobbs point to the fact that the campaign released the "short form" certification rather than the "long form" -- which is drawn up by the hospital and contains more information -- as the crux of their argument that the President is hiding something. But as FactCheck.org noted when they investigated and debunked claims about Obama's birth certificate, "the Hawaii Department of Health's birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate," and "their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department." Birthers, like conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi, claim that the certificate posted by the Obama campaign was "a false, fake birth certificate," but its authenticity has been independently confirmed by FactCheck.org, which examined it in person and declared that "it is real and three-dimensional." Additionally, on Oct. 31, 2008, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii Department of Health, issued a statement saying that he had "personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obama's original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures." Definitive proof of Obama's Hawaii birth has also been found in the archives of two Hawaii newspapers, the Honululu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which both printed birth announcements days after Obama was born in 1961. Birth announcements in those papers are placed by the state Department of Health, not the family.


I can't understand idiots like Dobbs. How did he get a job like that being so stupid? But air head TV talking heads are nothing new. Oh where Oh where is Uncle Walter when we need him? Or even Huntley/Brinkley?

Our new best friend. Comes every morning at 5am to have breakfast in the Cherry tree. Eating Cherries of course. Brought the wife and kid tonight. Too dark for a photo of the whole family.

So, June was the last post. What has happened since then. School is out. Mom was here for a few days. A very nice visit.

Also since then I have actually joined the Whidbey Golf & Country Club. I have played 36 holes since then and parred two. Last Sunday it seems I broke Vince's 3 Wood and am having a new shaft put on. I was using the 3 Wood as a driver cuz I wasn't hitting the driver worth a hoot. Today I went with the driver again and am consistantly hitting a good tee shot. That does not mean that on the 18th hole I didn't dribble the ball about 20 yards. Good thing no one was in the clubhouse to see that.

My pitching and chipping is still a laugher. And getting out of a sand bunker is achingly bad. Today I managed to avoid the sand until the 14th hole or so. I did get out but it took three tries and was rewarded with 3 lousy putts before I put the little white ball in that little hole.

But am I having fun? YES!! Am I getting better? Yes. Less emphasis then you noticed...uhuh...I am getting better but fun is more important. Sure. Okay...getting better is very important but having fun is near the top. I mean I have only been at this for a little over nine weeks.

I did take a series of five lessons from the club pro. I may take another lesson or two but will spend some time on the practice tee and on the practice putting green. Maybe even the sand trap.

What else? Put some new plants in the garden. Dug up some old ones that had died in last winter's cold spell. Built a new deck. Okay...it is a sort of play deck close to the bluff. It is only 8'X12'. Big enough for a couple of chairs and a little table. Gives us a different perspective of the water as we have our coffee on the "deck".

It only took the better part of three days to put up the deck. It started out as a simple little deck made from left over lumber from our regular deck when we expanded the stairs. Well, that stuff was scrap. Leave off the "s" and you get it. So it was off to the lumber yard for 17 12' 2x6's. It is very sturdy. Sitting on 6 concrete blocks with saddles and 2x6's for joists. It is not going anywhere unless the whole bluff goes and that would require 25 feet to go first.

So golf and building decks has kept me out of trouble. Ina has been battling the blackberries on the bluff and is doing a marvelous job. I may pitch in soon.

Later.

Wahoo!!

Got my Laptop back today via FedEx and it did have all my email addresses intact. It never did have my snail mail address book on it. That was on my desktop which, BooHoo, was almost wiped clean. So it will be a slow rebuilding of our address book. Might have to make a hard copy of it too.

Mom is here for a few days. Tomorrow I will be going to a Mariner's game with my brother and some other Phoenix folk. Ina and Mom will find plenty to keep themselves occupied while I am gone.

So, anybody reading this, send us your address so we can include you in our Xmas list. Ho Ho HO!

GOLF?? Me??!!

Okay. Since some have asked. Okay only one person. Me? Golf? Yup.

Why? Good question. When I was in Arizona for spring training I entered a drawing for a free round of golf. I actually entered twice. Once with my name and once with my brother's. Won both times. Could not figure out how to pass for William Brown so did not claim that one. Bill does not golf nor want to. Both notifications were by cell phone while my brother and I were heading home.

Anyway, I decided to claim the one for Columbia Point Golf Course in Richland. Then I proceeded once home to tell my good friend Vince about it and invite him to help me use it. Well, sure did I know how to golf? Of course I knew "how" but did I have any experience? No.
So, I did the only thing possible. Signed up for a series of lessons from the club pro at the Whidbey Golf and Country Club. Six weeks later and five lessons later and one nine hole round with Vince, he and I headed over to Eastern Washington. We decided to play three rounds. One at Sun Willows in Pasco. One in Richland at Columbia Point (the freebee). And one at Canyon Lakes in Kennewick.

Was it hot there? Sure. It is Eastern Washington. 84° or so on Monday when we arrived for our 1:46 tee time at Sun Willows. Greens were kind of slow. Did I play well? Come on?? What do you think?

We stayed at Vinces brother's house in Pasco. Nice guy. Nice Wife and we ate well and drank too much wine. Had a good time though.

Tuesday morning we head off to Richland. 10:02 tee time. We got paired with a fellow who had his non playing wife driving the cart. Yes a cart. I'd be dead if I had to walk all that in that heat with a bag on my back. He was from the South. Nice guy though fairly good golfer. Greens had been sanded (means they lay sand on them to keep the grass a certain way or something) and were a tad slow. Same answer as before.

Finished about 2 something. Went back to Vince's brother's house. Got cleaned up (shower to get rid of sweat and salt) went out to dinner at their fav Italian place. Authentic Italian by Italians from Rome. Really good. More wine.

Wednesday morning 10:10 tee time. Paired with a fellow and his wife. She needs lessons as much as I do to teach her to keep her head down. Anyway, greens were better. Interesting course. Some tees looked way down on fairways and then when on fairway you looked up at green. Lots of slopes on rough. I hate slope lies. Did I play well? Yeah sure....

After we finished about three we headed home but not after a stop at Vince's brother's fav vineyard. Bought a couple bottles of wine. Stopped in North Bend for dinner. Home about 10pm.

Analysis of playing. Learned a lot. Need to practice chipping and putting. Also need to stay out of the sand traps. This was impossible at Columbia Point. Lots and lots and lots and lots of bunkers there.

I would say about 80% of my drives were okay. One actually was about 180 yards. 20% were, well, atrocious. Hook, Slice, Fade, Draw, Dribble...whatever you call them, they were bad. My fairway shots depended on the lie. If it was on a side slope...well forget it.

On the 18th at Columbia Point, I was lying 120 yds from the pin. I was going to be cautious and go left around the water hazard that was about 90 yds away. Vince convinced me to go for the glory. The game was on the line. So I took out my trusty 5 iron and would you believe it? I hit a shot that landed just behind the pin. I think I got a bogey on that one. Lousy putting.

Out of 54 holes, I think I parred two. On several holes I was on the green in three but eighty putted. Slight exageration maybe. All in all I had a lot of fun. Vince was not too happy with his game on Wednesday, but hey it was hot.

Was it worth it? Sure. Got to spend time with a good friend and lots of sunshine. Lots of laughs. At least I was laughing. Will I play more golf? Sure. Just not sure how much. Vince has loaned me an older set of clubs. He loaned me a pair of older shoes too but I needed to buy my own to fit so my feet would not be pinched.

All in all, my "free" round of golf cost me about $360. It was well worth it. Did we take photos? No. Why? Too busy playing golf.

There you have it.

New Rant

Getting tired of looking at the same old rant? Me too.

No rant. Just a new thing to look at. Getting ready to golfing for three days in E. Washington. What have I done?

Golf

Today was a red letter day. No, not a "Scarlet A" branded on my forehead, but a day recognised the world over as the "1st Golf Lesson for me"!!

Since I won a free round of golf at a new course in Eastern Washington (the Columbia Point Golf Course) in Richland while I was in Arizona, which I decided to sort of share with my buddy Vince, I needed lessons. Today was the day.

At 9am I met the pro and he started me off with the "pitching wedge", then moved on to the 6 Iron and then the driver. He was patient and very good. He could see my bad moves and told me how to fix them. Which I tried mightily to do. Some success and a lot of balls going the wrong direction. Not behind me but way off to the right (fading) and often off to the left and a couple dribbling down the grass in front of me.

Today was an hour lesson with another hour and a half spent by myself practicing what he had shown me. I could sense when I did things right and I could also sense when I did something awful. Which was often. But I felt good about it. Will have four more lessons and lots of practice in between. All so I can play Columbia Point? Who knew?

Watch out Tiger!

New Keyboard

Trying a new keyboard that more closely resembles the laptop keyboard. A tad smaller than old ergo keyboard but is the same shape as laptop so I do not have to relearn the keyboard every time. Has most of the same function of which I used maybe three. We shall see.

New keyboards come with their matching mice now. But I wanted to use the old Logitech mouse. I like its feel. Now I have another spare mouse. There is already one out in the garage. Oops gave away my secret. Well, it's not a secret, I just stuck it out there. Who knows when one might need a spare or two?