Thoughts and Themes, Nightmares and Dreams, Things I Love, ...and some I hate, and all the things that's shakin' this date.! Leave a Comment,Post a Link, Tell Our Readers Whatever Ya Think !
The First Hundred Days of the Obama Administration has been widely discussed throughout the Week. I listened to it on the car radio Wednesday Night, with my brother chasing down stations every few minutes as we sped our way across Ohio, on our way home to Indiana, following a great visit with Our Mom in suburban DC.
I thought at the time that it was an excellent speech, with just the right amount of Optimism, tempered with a dose of reality. I enjoyed his answers to the few heavy questions sent his way. I was glad to hear the whole thing on NPR, so I could turn it off before the pundits started telling me what I had just heard ! That crap drives me up the wall, even though I realize that such simplifications are necessary for the Rush Limbaugh fans who might tune in!. Those few who a smart enough to actually operated their radio dials. ! LoL.
I give the Prez' an "A" for his performance thus far. Even his harshest critics have had to admit that he has more on his plate than any President since FDR. Maybe it's a heavier burden than FDR's, since it includes 2 Wars, as well as numerous "Hotspots" around the globe, along with a crippled economy. Add to that, a Foriegn Policy left in tatters from the Bush / Cheney Gang, and you've got "A Lot On Your Plate".
My Big Worry This Week, is the troubles in Pakistan ! Whew, talk about a Mess ! Between the rapid advances of the Taliban / Al Queda insurgency, which is now in control of areas as near as 60 miles from the Capital of Islamibad, there is also the "World-Threatening" problem of Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal. Nobody is being honest with Us about how many young Officers in the Paki' Military and their Intelligence Agency,(INI), are more sympathetic to the Taliban than they are to the US, and NATO. In fact, many of them see the Karzi Government in Afghanistan, and all our combined forces there, as Allies to India, and therefore enemies of Pakistan. This fear of India as their Primary enemy in the world, has for decades blinded the Pakistani Army to the dangers of their Taliban buddie's Ambitions.
I don't know about You all, but the idea of a Taliban / Al Queda group in control of a 100+ Nuke's, scares the Hell out of Me !
With all these scary possibilities ringing in my head, all I heard on the Sunday Talk and News shows, was more about the, (Not gonna Happen), Flu Pandemic . There was also a lot of discussion about Senator Specter's Party switch. While I think that's significant, and have some misgivings about it, I still think The Pakistan Situation should be at the top of everyone's agenda right Now. The Only show today which discussed these matters was Farheed Zakaria's GPS program, where he had SecDef Robert Gates as his only guest, and they discussed both wars, the First Hundred Days, and the Paki' Problems. The title of this post is linked to David Gergen's article about The First Hundred Days, well worth reading.
Below is an hilarious video about "FaceBook Manners" that I think You'll all enjoy.
Hi Folks, I just finished my first post on my New Blog at "Blogatize.com", and I'm pretty glad to have my own Domain Name for it !
This blog is not only a paying proposition, but it gives me a place to rant about politics and world events, without boring my readers to death on this fine Blog ! LoL, (sarcasm). The Title of this post is linked to the new blog, and I'll post it here too ! http://hermansbdailyblog.com/hippy-vets-first-post/
Oh, While I'm about hyping things, these folks at Blogatize have a huge network with about 50 categories of Blogging possiblity. They use "WordPress" which works nearly the same as Blogger, and has some cool themes with options. Mine's pretty generic just now, but that will all change when I get back from visiting my Mom on the 1st of May. BTW, here's a repost of a link to some of the Funniest & Best emailed videos of 2008,..on my Food Blog site at : "http://casualcommerce101.com/funny_files".
Hi There Folks, bet you thought I'd be ashamed to come back so soon after posting that horrible picture last night ! But, Y'all know I have no Shame ! LoL
Anyway, as I've been babbling about in recent weeks, I've been trying to channel all my many hours of Blogging, (and reading your Blogs), into some kind of badly needed income. This is not an easy thing to do. While I know a whole lot about a lot of subjects, the thing that I've done all my life, which is cooking, bartending , and managing Restaurants and Taverns, is probably the most Overloaded Niche on the Web. It's not even a "niche" anymore, it's more like a huge Arena!
My next thought was; since I don't want to compete with all these beautiful and knowledgeable folks in the Recipe and Menu sector, I would instead focus my blog on teaching some basic skills, and advising on how to build an elementary set of kitchen equipment, and a basic pantry of spices and staples, that would allow an interested reader to begin cooking some of those 5 million wonderful recipes they can find online.
I've been creating such a blog at my new domain in recent days, and was making some decent progress. I started with a simple list of 10 skills and procedures that I would blog about in the order I presented them. So I wrote the intro to the First subject "Knife Skills", in which I explained how fine cutlery is made, and why it should never be sharpened with anything but a "Steel".
At that point, I realized that I was going to need a decent Video Cam to record some actions in order for my techniques to make sense. Since I don't even have a digicam that can be programed to take a frame every 30 seconds or so, I couldn't even build a good Power Point presentation to demonstrate my methods.
Well, at this point, I'm fairly frustrated, so I start looking around for another way I can spend all this spare time while waiting on the rest of my disability claims to be settled. I spent last week signing on to every Social Networking and blog related site in the whole CyberVerse, some that I'd never heard of until my Blogging Guru, Darren Rowse include a list in one of the lessons of the course I've been taking this month "31 days to Building a better Blog".
I'm having a good time learning all these new sites, and building profiles for hours at a time. (About My Favorite Subject ME !), when Thursday afternoon,(Aussie Time) 2:AM in Hermville, Darren puts out a tweet about this new posting he's gotten on ProBlogger's Job Board. I instantly click on it, and find that this new Blog Network, called "Blogatize" is looking for people to blog on a variety of subjects,....One of them is Politics ! TaDuh !!
So, weary but stoked, I fill out the application, stating what type of blog I would like to have, and writing a sample posting, which was supposed to be new, but I used the 'Navy Seals Rescue Captain' post I'd written here at Blogger, and told them it was 2:30 AM and my thinker was pretty tired. LoL, Honesty really is the best policy !
This Morning, when I fired up the old 'puter and went to my Google home page, there's a letter from the Team at Blogatize telling me I've got the job ! They want my Google adsense codes, done their way, and want to know if I want my new Domian name to end in Dot Net or Dot Com,.....Hooray Friends and Neighbors !!
In about a week, this Blog will be known as "HippyVet's Daily Opinions", and I'll be blogging about Politics, News, and Opinions from around the US media ! See, They even liked my Twitter and photobucket moniker ! and though I've been "The Hermanator" since the early eighties, I have also always,(since '68), been a "HippyVeteran", so I can live with that as my byline.
So, Please follow me on my new adventure, and I'll still be visiting all my friends, and TJ's on a daily basis, just like I have done since last year when I first started visiting "The Price of Convenience" and discovered what a cool circle of friends TJ had here on the InterWeb Nets.com !
Ari "tagged" Kelwhy, who played along,(as per usium), then she put it on her blog, Then she told folks to play along too, (but left Me off the List ?), So I obeyed her command, took a pic right then, and here it is !
See, Letterman is doing his monologue, I just got up from a three-hour nap, and Sadly, this is what I look like when I get up from a nap ! Now, You take a pic', right Now, and post it on Your Blog, and post a comment here to send us to it !
I've been so busy with the "31 Days to a Better Blog" challenge, that I've neglected all my Blogs ! Man, (and Woman), have I been a busy guy ! In Just the past 6 days I've :
Been Tweeting my brains out on "Twitter".
Devoted to "Delicious".
Lying on "LinkedIn".
Up the creek on "Ustream".
Been rewarded for writing a Testimonial @"DMS Publications".
Squandered time at "Squidoo".
Been Adamant about "AdSense"
Gushed over "Google's Beta's".
Bragged on Myself @ "Blogatize"(Job App.)
Dug being on "Diigo".
And that's just the start of a list too long todeal with!
So, I hope my Few Faithful Followers and Daily Visitors will understand, and more importantly, help me build this, and my "Foodie" blog at CasualCommerce101.com into something worthwhile that We can all share and enjoy !
Again, I Thank You for your Support thus far, and ask you to send me Anyone who's warped Sense of Humor, and curiosity about Life and Living are approximately as Weird as Ours ! LoL
I think the Whole World is in awe of Our fantastic Navy Seals, who were able to take-out 3 of the 4 pirate / terrorists holding the American Ship's Captain hostage. I'm also impressed that President Obama had no qualms about authorizing deadly force to deal with this scum. Most people can't even imagine the precision marksmanship it took for those Seals, on one bobbing and rolling vessel at sea, to hit their targets on another, (much smaller), vessel, with even more motion on the high seas. The fact that they took all of the pirates out of play before they could shoot the Captain, is nothing short of miraculous ! The sad part of this tale is that there are still 200+ people, aboard several ships, who are still held captive in Somali territorial waters.
This is a country that has had No government or legal structure since the Clinton administration's ill-fated "Blackhawk Down" incident in the 90's. When we sent Cruise missiles in there to take out Bin Laden's chemical weapons factory, we should have followed up with a brigade or two of Marines, and put all those warlords on notice, that if we see you armed, you are dead meat !
By now, those innocent civilians would have some sort of leadership structure, and even if it were radical Islamists, even that would be better than what they have now ! After our horrible experience there, it's a small wonder that the United Nations, nor any country has tried to bring a stop to the violence and anarchy that rules this sorry part of Africa, and that says a lot about Courage and Principles in the 21st Century !
Hello Folks, I'm smiling and absolutely "chirpy" this morning! The reason for my elevated mood level, is that as we speak, (read, write, type, whatever), a nice young man is crawling around outside, drilling holes in my walls. Now, normally when I tell people about someone drilling holes in my walls, I soon have a visit from these nice fellows in white lab coats, who want to give me a ride in their nice padded Van. This time it's different, and I know he's real because my neighbor spoke to him as she was leaving for work. Plus, I can go online and see where my bank account was debited by AT&T for installation of my New Direct TV dish ! Hooray ! After 5 months in my new place, watching furry pictures on Broadcast TV, aided by 'rabbit ears' of uncertain age, I will at last have Real TV !
Now, you've got to understand that I'm not much of a Television guy. I love History Channel, Food Networks, and all the news I can watch, but I spend too much time Online here at the Webernets to allow for much viewing of 'the idiot box'.
There are a few shows that I like to watch on a regular basis. Two and a half Men, NCIS, Without a Trace, and lately, on my friend TJ's advice, I've been watching Friday Night Lights.
So, my man is gone, and I'm about to hook up my Deluxe Home Theater system for the first time, and blow the neighbor's ears off to repay him for his 3:AM jam sessions ! LoL More later, Herm
