Whoosh!

It’s a good thing ol’ Trumpy wasn’t hanging out at Nutwood today, because lo, a mighty wind arose! That thing on his head would not have liked it. Well, it’s a good thing he wasn’t hanging out here for many other reasons than that...the latest being the firing of my Magician Crush, Penn Jillette, from Trump’s stoopid show. Which I continue to watch, but that’s beside the point. Don’t you judge me!

Anyway, it is very blustery today. Two casualties so far: a good-sized limb from one of the big maples, and some bamboo wind chimes. (I think I can easily fix the wind chimes, though.) It could definitely be worse...it might be cool and windy here, but at least we’re not getting a nasty snowstorm like the East coast! Yikes! I think that would make me cry at this point. Well, East coast, that’s what you get for being all elitist and junk. Oh, and gay marriage! See?! That’s what tolerance and reason will get you, every damn time.

Another quiet day here, with nowhere to be and no real obligations. Just some general puttering, working out, and reading. My social life picks back up tomorrow, as Cousin Shane and I head out for lunch on his day off. (I’m not sure yet if Matt has to work, or if he can come, too.) We decided to try a new place, a little pizza and sammich shop, Buffalo Rose, in my hometown of Lakeville. Every time Ken and I drive by there, we say, “We need to stop there!” Well, looks like Shane and I are going to beat me and Ken to it. I told Ken to consider it a test run to see if it’s any good...you know, like I’m testing the food to see if it’s poisoned. You’re welcome, Hubby.

Speaking of my hubby, he heads out on Wednesday for a few days at a conference in Minneapolis. Normally, I’d be making out a grocery list for one of the dishes that I make when Ken is gone—something with eggplant or cabbage or green peppers—but this time, I’m going to work on cleaning stuff out of the freezers in order to make room for the side of beef we’ll be getting soon. I’ve made pretty good headway on it, but man, it’s hard for me not to buy chicken or ribs when they’re on sale! There will also be several things that we toss out when it comes time to defrost the freezer. Things get buried and they’re starting to come to light as I clear things out. (I initially typed “come to life.” That would be really, really bad!) 

I have no big plans for when he’s gone...mostly hanging out here, reading, maybe getting a little spring cleaning done, and maybe watching a movie or two that he’s probably not all that interested in. (I’ve had “The Runaways” on deck for a while now.) In short (har dee har har), I plan on staying out of trouble! I’ll let you know how that goes. Heh.

One more whoosh:

Trump: The non-serious non-candidate

*Article first published as Trump: The Non-Serious Non-candidate on Blogcritics (this is my first post there!)

There has been much buzz lately concerning whether or not Donald Trump will run for President. Trump, a master of self-promotion, has blatantly courted the Tea Party by aligning himself with the little group of crazies that just won’t go away, the Birthers.

Trump’s shameless pandering to this group of idiots seems to be paying off. Not only does a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll show Trump tied with Mike Huckabee at 17% for second place behind Mitt Romney, the ratings for his NBC show Celebrity Apprentice are up. (I’ll admit to Apprentice being one of my guilty pleasures. It’s a fun show.) He’s a smart businessman and a good promoter.

However, when he uses the Birther “controversy,” a non-issue that has been repeatedly debunked, to garner attention and generate publicity, it is impossible to take him seriously. He spouts the typical nonsense about how a certificate of live birth is not the equivalent of a birth certificate; he states that Obama’s grandmother in Kenya says she was a witness to the birth, although it has been shown that that was due to a translation error; he maintains that Obama’s mother didn’t have the money to put birth announcements in not one but two Hawaiian papers, although most newspapers publish such announcements at no charge. It’s a silly argument, and Trump makes himself look silly for climbing onto the Birther bandwagon.

Trump doesn’t just make himself look foolish. He diminishes the stature of the office of the presidency. While he certainly has the right to run for president if he so chooses, his pursuit of the Birthers is ludicrous and laughable. Former entertainers can certainly take being elected seriously, and approach the job with the appropriate gravitas. Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Sonny Bono, even Fred Grandy (Gopher from The Love Boat), for pete’s sake, made the transition from entertainment to politics. While they all occasionally had non-serious moments, they embraced nothing so ridiculous as the Birther nonsense. (One could make the argument that trickle-down economics was every bit as ridiculous, but that is a topic for another day.) I suspect that the GOP is not thrilled with this development; when they are struggling to field a serious candidate who has a chance against Obama, this clown is talking Birther blather. When even Glenn Beck says you’ve taken it too far, you might need to realize that you’ve got a credibility problem.

If Trump’s goal was to garner attention and generate publicity, he has succeeded. If his goal is really to be taken seriously as a possible presidential candidate, he is failing miserably, except with a small and deluded minority of the population. Astonishingly, a significant portion of Republicans (51%) don’t believe Obama was born in America. That portion of the population isn’t enough to win an election; Independent voters will be key, and they want no part of the Birther silliness. Nor should any thinking American.

Semi-productive day

As opposed to a semi-conductive day. Or a semi-charmed life.

Ken is off today and tomorrow before he starts his new duties, and we had a lazy morning as he waited for the grass to dry enough to mow. As he's been out mowing, I've been doing some odds and ends around the house. It's getting nice and green outside, and the sun has been shining all afternoon, but it's still not exactly warm. I'm ready for some heat! I got my Vidalia onions all tarted up by putting them into stockings. Ha! I know I've mentioned this before, but I order a 25-pound box of Vidalias from a place in Georgia, and then put them into nylons and tie them up to store in the basement. They stay cool and dry that way, and will last through the summer. I gave Mom and Dad a half dozen of them, because they love them, too. There really is nothing like a Vidalia. Sweet, yummy goodness! Who else loves Vidalias? I sure wish we could grow them here, but the growing season isn't long enough. True Vidalias only come from Vidalia County, Georgia, and a couple of surrounding counties, though.

Thanks for all the comments on "Star Trek." If you haven't seen it yet, I hope you'll let me know what you thought of it if you decide to go. I haven't heard anyone say yet that they disliked it, and the opening weekend box office was $76.5 million. Not too shabby for a franchise that some felt was either dead or on its last legs. I remember when "Casino Royale" came out, and discussing it with our friend Steve. He said, "Wow...way to save the franchise!" I don't think anyone would disagree that Daniel Craig and the new "killer Bond" style has definitely been a hit, and injected new life into the Bond brand. It made me wonder if this new Trek (and the new actors, should they reprise their roles) has saved that franchise? I suppose only time will tell, but it sure looks like it's going to be a huge summer hit. It's only just come out, and I'm ready for more!

We enjoy watching "Celebrity Apprentice," and the three-hour finale was last night. We were both quite disgusted when Joan Rivers beat Annie Duke (the poker player) and won the whole thing. I'm happy for her charity, which sounds like a great cause, but we both got so irritated by Joan and Melissa Rivers' behavior that we really wanted to see them go down in flames. Annie is a poker player, so yeah, there was strategy there, and I don't know if there were some underhanded tactics or not (as was alleged). But Joan sat there in the board room and compared Annie to Hitler at Buchenwald. (I'm not sure how much time Hitler spent at Buchenwald--I'm guessing very little--but that's beside the point.) She also said that Annie's poker friends were in the Mafia. That is not cool and it is not true. Try and haul your ass out of the 1960's, okay, Joan? Not everyone who goes to Vegas or gambles is in the Mafia. When Melissa Rivers got fired, she went on an epic tirade and called Annie and her remaining teammate "pit viper whores," among other things.

Now I have to give credit where credit is due. "Pit viper whore" is one inventive and interesting insult. But such insults spewed by Melissa and her mother (Man, how would you like to marry into that family?) have no place in a professional setting. If someone at work called me a pit viper whore, I'd be all over that. That is just unacceptable behavior.

Interesting TV, but unacceptable behavior.

What do you think? How would you react to being called a pit viper whore? It's making me laugh at the moment, but if I were called that, I have to say that it would be interesting to see how I'd react. I think I might actually laugh, for real, because if someone called me that to my face...well, that's just damn funny. How could you not laugh at that, especially if the person was totally serious and really trying to insult you? I think I'd be like, "Pit viper whore? Are you serious? Really?” Ha!