IrishAyes
IrishAyes's JournalWow, for a newbie around here, you sure have started off with a bang.
I look forward to hearing more from you. Actually, anybody brave enough to open the door on Cruzland has my admiration. That guy has to be as crazy a loon as hell ever set loose. I mean a downright crackpot. He even looks like Tailgunner Joe, not to mention talking and 'thinking' like him. And I hear his old man's even worse. Good and double-good on you and others for taking down those stories, because you can bet your life they won't stay up long. I once sneaked onto the Blaze and posted lovely liberal thoughts, and Beck (or an underling in disguise) started sending me thinly veiled threats via return email. He'd probably still be at it if I hadn't threatened legal action.
While I'm at it - does anyone remember where to find that site (if it still exists) where you could enter your name in the dialog box and the short video would feature Beck blasting away at you by name? He'd explain how 'you' were the anti-Christ and all sorts of loony junk. I thought it was hysterical, but I lost the bookmark somewhere and can't find the place anymore.
That's true.
And I'm in total agreement that we scatter in imaginary 'freedom' at our own peril. United we stand, after all. People tend to forget the other part. That's why I'd never make a good anarchist, even though I've known many fine ones. Freedom lies in the effective choices we make, not trying to survive as an island of one. Humans simply aren't put together that way. Although I do vastly prefer living alone, part of the reason is to give me emotional and mental space to more effectively engage the world. In my youth I indulged myself by living for long stretches on what I called the backside of the moon. There are many reasons including advancing age why that's no longer an option for me, so I try to console myself a bit by remembering that living IN civilization is also the only way to try to help improve it.
Last election cycle, I painted a huge wooden sign for the front yard, suitable for all
occasions. It shows a kicking donkey and just the words 'VOTE DEMOCRATIC'. Of course the o's are the OFA symbol. I think that I'll leave those as is even after President Obama leaves office to honor him. I put in many hours of work on that sign and I expect it to serve many years. At least so long as I'm able to set it up in the yard every other year. That thing must weigh 30 lbs. Here in flyover land, it would be next to impossible to find anyone to do that for me. If other things I'm working on pan out, I might just sell out and move back north. I've been checking real estate in Elmira, NY for instance, and you can still get a decent house there for $35-50K with a pretty decent tax break too. Hard as it is to uproot old trees, I might just do it.
He's earned every one of those gray hairs, hasn't he? Serving We the People
(and always getting bashed for it by the other side, too)
Something just occurred to me: President Barack Hussein O'bama has shown he can handle the GOP, so why should anyone doubt that he could manage Putie just as well? When I think of all the wars and various disasters this man has kept us out of, in addition to the other good things he's produced, I kinda want to faint, it's so awesome. And that's a word not at all wasted on him. He will be a hard act for even our best to follow. As (ahem) 'healthy' as the Irish ego runs, I'd never want to follow him in office. It would be worse than following U2 on stage.
Sometimes that's what it takes. 'The Prince', while not exactly
a North Star roadmap, still should be required reading.
My Ship Sails Ever Closer
That ship hasn't quite docked yet, but still she's at the mouth of the harbor now instead of far off on the horizon.
Before I get into any details at all, first let me say that I'm not here to sell anything or solicit donations. If someone wants to know more, they can always just PM me.
But my happy news touches on something I've mentioned here before - my volunteer efforts on behalf of my favorite charity, PetFoodStamps.org - special to me partly because I'm currently a recipient. They're NY-based and thoroughly vetted to suit any reasonable person. Anyway, it seems every time I turn around there's something new in the mix including an internet radio show debuting next week and soon even a new internet portal. Using my regular non-internet pen name (not IrishAyes), I get to head several groups and write newsletters and press releases, interview people, all sorts of fun stuff. And yes, there's a lot more than free dog food every month in the pipeline.
Please understand I'm 68 and never expected to stumble into a dream career at this point in life. Food for my furkids was awfully hard to come by, though, and I just started volunteering early on. Now look what it's morphing into. I could do all this stuff just as easily in my salad years but never got the real break being offered to me now. After his military career, my ex first went to work at a major ad agency in Los Angeles as their photographer/writer. Guess who wound up writing half his copy and editing the rest, and yes, I'm still mad 30 years later because they refused to give me so much as unpaid credit. At that time the only female on staff was the boss' daughter.
At risk of repeating myself, I wanted to bring up the subject one more time, not to toot my own horn (although we all love to do that) but to urge others to volunteer whenever/wherever they're able. Doing good can be good for us in many ways! No telling what might happen. I'm also impressed with the business plan involved, because half the profits from the commercial enterprise will be dedicated to funding the charity. In addition, opportunity for anyone to turn over a little easy extra cash will soon be in effect, and I'd be remiss in my social duty if I failed to share that.
I even asked Skinner before posting this time, and he was kind enough to give permission while still advising me not to, umm... wear my ad copy writer hat while doing so. I sincerely hope this present effort meets his approval as well as that of DU at large. IF AND ONLY IF you might be interested in details, feel free to drop by my mailbox. I'll never say anything else about this on the front pages again. That will be an easy promise to keep, because I'm going to be increasingly swamped very soon.
Things could still go south, but there's every reason to believe they won't.
I lost my first big break in Hollywood when my mentor died suddenly, after arranging a multi-picture deal with prearranged worldwide distribution. Since I was the newbie and had absolutely no control in his production company, there was no way I could've driven that train all alone anyway. So things today still hinge on a lot that's in the pipeline but not arrived yet. I can believe and hope and dream with my eyes wide open.
I hope it's okay to mention here, because it does eventually come back to President Obama:
What I've been doing post haste the past couple weeks or more is helping a friend who started a pet food charity out of NY state, where you know the vetting is as stringent as it gets; anyway, the need far exceeded the donations to be raised even by a lifelong expert in the field, and so he started a streaming radio station, then he and his partners are opening a new web portal in late April. I'm on the board - a pure ego trip since I can't vote or attend meetings! - but they wanted to honor my hard work anyway as a sort of head writer. I can't say a whole lot more except that 2 of NY's biggest attorneys are on the real board and major shareholders; you know they're not going to waste their time on anything that hasn't got a pretty good chance. The web portal will be split between the charity and for-profit side of the business, with the latter helping fund the former. Great business plan.
So there are, shall we say, financial prospects for me as well. For some reason my friend seems to value my opinion and support, so my future compensation will be tied to (though justifiably less than) his, and to use an old I-hope-not-too-crude an expression, I smell $ coming. When and if my ship comes in, I intend to donate every bit I can to President Obama's work and also to other fine Democratic causes. I'm past the age and stage where I care about fur coats and jewels or big cars. I care about Democrats in office, that's what!
I'm also old enough to have learned all too well about the best laid plans; but if I remain a near-pauper next year, well, I'll just keep on writing and signing petitions and voting. I'm mad for a tee shirt with that coiled stethoscope flag on a dark background with the words DON'T TREAD ON MY OBAMACARE! below. I ROFL every time I think of the teabaggers complaining that he stole 'their' flag. Notice how everything is THEIRS. Their flag, their $, their rights, their country. And it was a beautiful slap in the face worthy of Dorothy Parker. They're lucky that's all he did.
I read your last post first. Thanks again for the link.
Before I started volunteering for this charity, I only used FB as a convenient news feed so as not to clutter my personal email boxes. I even told my RL friends with FB pages NOT to 'follow' me because I can't return the compliment. Not enough time. But now I share a lot of things on my timeline, not only as a convenient cache, but also to provide others involved in the charity (those who do 'follow' me) good graphics for them to share far and wide. Every drop in the bucket counts.
That's how we take and hold beaches - one grain of sand at a time.
Thank you so much!
I've been away from DU for a week or so, working on something that might prove financially beneficial in the long run, and I want that as much for the sake of charity as perhaps becoming able to send $ to Democrats.
Meanwhile I'm continuing to volunteer with others, and one of the things I consider important is sharing good posters. A visual being more powerful than a thousand words - unless it's Lincoln or Obama speaking, of course!
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHome country: US
Current location: retired to MidWest
Member since: Mon Feb 18, 2013, 10:15 PM
Number of posts: 6,151