Republicans

I do not know how you could possibly think that John Boehner and his henchman would actually do the right thing but as of this moment it looks as if I will not receive any Social Security in August. Fortunately I can pull money from my regular savings for the month but if the jackasses in Congress do not solve the problems soon I will have to dig into "deep savings". Those isolationist racist pigs don't care about anything or anyone else. Why should they? They have it made while in Congress with good pay and benefits. Well, it they can say f--- you, then I will say the say thing back to them and they can all go to hell. They are so thick headed that they do not realize that a U.S. default will bring the whole worlds economy down and would they do this if Obama were white? I think not!

There are some people in this country who do not realize the gravity of this problem and some appear to be living out there in la-la land where everything is pink and rosy and where nothing ever goes wrong. Those people need to get real.

What the hell?????

Sometime between bedtime (approx. 10:30 PM Saturday) and waking up this morning (approx. 8 AM) some critter, varmint or whatever, made a mess of my computer by deleting everything inside my Libraries folder on this Windows 7 computer which has a large hard drive and lots of memory. What is even weirder is that the information has just been moved around. It would be as if someone took all the city streets you are familiar with and moved them to other locations in your city. Also, my Robo Form program is now blank as the 200+ passwords have disappeared and when I try to start entering them into the program new, I receive the error message that i needs a browser in which to save or fill forms. Well, what is the matter with this one, the one I am using right now????

At least I apparently have not lost anything especially my photos from many vacations going back a number of years but how and why did this happen?

Update as of 11-July-2011

Just as mysteriously as did those files and folders disappear from the Libraries folder then they reappeared a few days ago. This is great but I still do not know what happened to make those links disappear nor just just suddenly reappear. Strange...very strange indeed...

Election in Thailand

Editorial from The Bangkok Post

Many fear that today's election could herald a new round of violence in the country. Over the past few years, Thailand has been plagued by political unrest. In 2008, anti-Thaksin yellow shirt demonstrators blocked the entrance to parliament to prevent the administration of Somchai Wongsawat from entering to read its policy statement. The demonstration turned violent and two protesters were killed and hundreds more injured. That was followed by the immensely damaging takeover of Bangkok's two airports.

During March to May last year, the pro-Thaksin red shirts staged protests against the Abhisit administration. The rallies turned bloody and at least 92 people were killed.

The divisions remain and if the results of today's elections are not respected they could worsen as the two major parties are far apart on how the new government should be formed.

The only way to avoid further conflict is for all parties to respect the principle of the election serving as a means to end rifts.

What has occurred in recent years has caused Thailand to lose many opportunities. Since 2006, governments have wasted too much time dealing with divisiveness instead of helping the country to cope with a rapidly changing world.

Fortunately, Thailand survived the so-called "hamburger crisis" caused by turmoil in the US financial system. But there is no end in sight to the world's economic problems. The financial crisis in the European Union prevails, leaving it perilously close to collapse; the nuclear radiation risk in Japan is far from over.

Then there is the fact that Asean is to become the Asean Economic Community in 2015, but Thailand, even though a founder of the regional grouping, appears to be doing little to prepare for it.

Add to that the relentless daily killings in the three southernmost provinces and the seemingly intractable conflict over the 4.6 square kilometre area near the Preah Vihear temple with Cambodia that forced Thailand to withdraw from Unesco's World Heritage Convention.

The next government needs to pay utmost attention to these problems. So, no matter which party leads the next government, let it get on with the job.

---

Pattnapong Chantranontwong is the editor of the Bangkok Post

Pocket full of dust...

Haven't done much lately here even though there are many thoughts on my mind at times. But then too, there are times when my mind seems to be blank. Also, some events just cry out for a comment while others are ho-hum in nature and either I could care less or find the situations to be beyond help by anyone in this city or state.

Other problems are of a personal and medical nature and seem unsolvable at this time. Sometimes I feel like just saying, "Shoot me". Also, to everyone out there, DON'T GROW OLD as you are going to have a whole bunch of problems that will make life less worth living. At least that is the way it has been in my family's history.

My life has been full of diseases which have taken their toll: Alzheimer's (mother), dementia (father), lung cancer (step-father and one uncle), stomach cancer (sister), pancreatic cancer (a friend) and colon cancer (an even closer friend). Now my problems are still being evaluated.

Is life worth living? Of course religious people are going to say so, or, what's the alternative. Well, at age 73 I don't give a rats ass about the alternative if my health is not going to be good. I have had a full plate, as they say, for many years, so now it is time to let go. I am not needed here nor is there anything here that I really need.

Oh, I can just hear some people in religion crowing, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and have life eternal", or words to the effect. Damn, I could of nothing more cruel. These 73 years have been enough. Who the hell would want more? Even in perfect health, that would be cruel. There is only so much that a human being can deal with, mentally, physically, or emotionally.

As some wise person said a long long time ago, there is a time to love, a time to hate, a time to live, a time to die, etc., etc. Well, you get the picture or should anyway.

Am I depressed? Maybe, maybe not. Just tired would be more like it. Right now I just desire better health and while my friend Richard cannot be replaced, a new friend of similar intellect and compatibility would be nice. It has been a lonely life since he died in January 2010 but how does one meet and make new friends at my age? Most everyone I know, even casually, are somewhat feeble, physically or mentally or both, and let's face it, at this age we are too set in our ways anyway. Aint' nothing gonna change me or any other ol' fart out there.

It is really a helluva dilemma when I can't identify with people of my own age or with the younger generation either. There MUST be a solution to this but I sure can't think of one right now.

Well, I am tired now and need to figure out what to do with myself the rest of the day. If tomorrow comes I will have to start all over again but for now I will leave that problem alone.