Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Copyright Stuff

I put a Creative Commons copyright on my blog today. It applies to my whole blog, including previously published material. It is a flexible copyright: follow the link and read it. Creative Commons has an innovative concept for people who want to share their work. You should check them out.

Ciao.

H. L. Mencken Speaks From the Grave

As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

What more can I say?

Ciao.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Pitts Nails It

Monday evening, I read Leonard Pitts Jr's 11-08 column "As election demonstrated, the time has come for the Christian Left." Pitts writes for the Miami Herald, but I read his column in the Houston Chronicle. He's a good writer and has good ideas, so I at least skim his column whenever I see it. Today's column really struck home. I urge you to read it. (After you do, you will understand my word plays about nails and homes. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.)

I'll look for a link on the net and if I find one, I'll come back and post it.

As I forgot to say in my earlier post about the election, Costa Rica, et al: Ciao!

Monday, November 08, 2004

And I have 33 posts (counting this one) not 20!

EXTRA! EXTRA! Blogspot Eats Post

This is not my first post since Halloween. Blogspot ate my post about the election. Talk about heaping insult on injury! It took me several days after the election to get to a point of calm in which I could write about it. I poured my heart out, carefully constructing a statement that expressed my dismay and deep sense of betrayal without overtly abusing anyone or violating the bounds of propriety, loose though they are in bloggerland.

After I spell checked it and read it one last time, I clicked on “post” and watched the program move into slow-mo. The green bars barely advanced across the bottom of my screen and then they stopped. Nothing worked. I tried to save the post as a draft: nothing.

It broke my heart. I don’t have the fortitude to recreate the post because it was and is too painful a topic. I hate that Bush won reelection. I hate that so many people voted for him. I hate that I will have to endure the consequences of their actions for years to come, court appointments and all. I hate that people voted against their own best interests – at least the vast, non-rich majority of people – on bogus issues trumped up by the slime balls working for Chief Slime Ball Karl Rove.

I am moving to Costa Rica.

The research indicates that it is a stable, democratic country with a good universal healthcare system and the government even provides free e-mail to all its citizens. How cool is that? To gain legal resident status as a pensioner – which I certainly am – you need a passport, birth certificate, police check with fingerprints and $600 per month US in guaranteed income. I have all of that. Many people speak English so my inadequate Spanish isn’t as much of a problem as I expected. Housing is available for reasonable prices. And I don’t have to live with the daily aggravation of being governed by Dubya and his ilk.

I have to do a couple of things first. Pay off all my bills (can’t move to a foreign country in debt, now can you?); learn at least basic Spanish; arrange for Victoria’s education; sell my house (to fund our new house in Costa Rica). This is all doable. It might take a couple of years, but by then we’ll know for sure how things are going with the country and whether I’m going to be just visiting or staying on.