Scott McClellan

All of the right wing pundits are dissing former White House press secretary Scott McClellan for his book about Dubya's selling of the Iraq war. When it was at it's height of hype, I was living in South Africa. From that distant viewpoint it was obvious what Dub was trying to do and why. It had to do with Saddam trying to kill Big Daddy and, of course the oil. It had nothing to do with WMD or 911. That was obvious to me and anyone that I talked to in South Africa. Darth Cheney and his henchmen had decided (The real "Decider") to go to war with Iraq long before it became a hot button issue. Was McClellan kept in the dark? Of course he was. How else can you get someone of principle to lie as he did to the public week after week. Treat him like a mushroom. Keep him in the dark and feed him BS.

Want to live Forever?

Raymond Kursweil believes that if we can just manage to live until 2015 we can probably live indefinitely, if not forever. That's his assessment of how fast medicine is moving and discovering ways to cure diseases. He also believes that we'll solve the problems of fossil fuel dependency, global warming and virtually all the many modern day problems.

If you aren't familiar with Raymond Kursweil you should be. The best description I can think of for him is a futurist. His view of the future isn't gloomy, but quite optimistic. He is a strong believer in technology. I attended a lecture he presented by hologram at the University of Arizona a short time back. He wasn't there, but a hologram of him hovered over the podium on stage and he actually took questions from the audience after his presentation. Shades of Star Trek. Beam me up, Scotty.

Mr. Kursweil also has a website that is about cutting edge high tech discoveries and inventions in all, and I mean all, scientific fields of endeavor, from nano technology to space exploration to biotechnology to artificial inteligence. He believes that by the year 2020 we will have developed computers that equal or surpass human intelligence. In fact his website is called KursweilAI.net. I signed up for a daily feed from his site and get the most amazing information daily. I look forward to each morning to see what new and amazing thing is coming down the pike.


Want to be amazed? Sign up to get the feed from his site at http://www.kursweilai.net/ and be prepared to be amazed.

Thoughts on Mother's day and the stimulous package

My daughter and I took the wife out for lunch today and then out for dinner too. It was surprising that there were so few people dining out at both places. It was curious.

We got our stimulous package this week. I can personally say that it won't stimulate much. It went into our checking account to pay bills. It was already spent. The lack of diners could be that the snow birds here in Tucson have gone back to Wisconsin, Michigan, Chicago and other northern tier states. Or perhaps people are afraid that we really are in a recession, or depression, or whatever the hell you want to call it. I think it was the latter.

I was born at the depths of the Great Depression and it scarred my mother for life. She never really could enjoy having money when it was finally over.

Anyway, take your stimulous package and go crazy. Buy yourself a few tanks of gas and a half dozen McDonalds. And if we have the gas tax holiday this summer, take your $0.18 per gallon and go to Disney World. Just be carefull about those axel breaking pot holes. That money was for fixing the roads.

Happy Mother's Day

My mother has been gone for many years.

I rarely presented my wife with a mother's day card. I reasoned that she wasn't my mother. She always takes great umbrage with that, but she's gotten used to it over the years. She is a great sport to have put up with my antics for 51 years. She was and is a great mother. I know because my two kids (48 and 50 years old) still call her frequently for advice.

So here's to all mothers everywhere.

Happy Mother's Day!

Buying art on line

If you've read my previous blogs you know a little about how I feel about art. Buying art at a brick and mortar gallery is comfortable because you can see the piece of art on the wall and get up close to it. You can compare it to other pieces and check out the prices. What you may not know is that the gallery gets 50% of each sale. They have to charge that much because people don't buy art every day, even if they are collectors. The gallery has to pay the light bill for the times when no one comes in and buys something.

My gallery is totally on line, so I can be a little more generous about my work. I live in my gallery (Home) so the light bill gets paid regardless. I like to be able to see at night too. If you live in Tucson you can make an appointment and come see any painting that you have an interest in in person. If you live in North Dakota just select a painting you'd like to see and I'll send it to you. If you don't like it simply send it back and I will refund your money, no questions asked.

Some people buy for investment and some buy because they like the painting or what ever it happens to be. They like horses, so they buy a painting with horses in it. Some of the work that I see I haven't a clue why people would buy it. Some is downright butt ugly. I don't care if it's from a famous, well respected artist. I just don't get it.

I paint things I would like to see on my wall. There are a wide variety of subjects that I've painted and you can't say that I paint them in my "Style". I don't really have a style. I don't care.

My wife also makes some beautiful necklaces at very reasonable prices and you can see them on the site too. Come see us and look around. We're at www.greenestudiosoftucson.com. It doesn't cost anything to look around and kick our tires. Oh yes, we just posted a downloadable e-book on hand knotting your own necklace that neeeds a new lease on life.