Vox Populi Redux

Here we go again.
A slew of wannabe presidents have thrown their gloves in the ring to claim the presidential title.
A farcical version of the Amassing Race is now underway.
The candidates are indeed amassing obscene amounts of money to fuel this ridiculous contest.

My first objection to this masquerade is that this so-called race is far from being an even contest. It is merely a fight between lightweights and heavyweights, the weight in question being money.

In boxing, a lightweight would never be allowed to fight a heavyweight. It would be deemed unfair, unsportsmanlike. But in politics (where low blows are allowed, even encouraged) this rule strangely does not apply.

So our vaunted “democratic” elections are basically a rigged contest between Big Money versus Pauper Money.

In my modest opinion, every candidate should be allowed the same (small) budget to run his or her campaign and make do with it. No big donations would be permitted and the poisonous Political Action Committees would be outlawed.
Any money surplus should be used to shore up the Social Security and improve medical care.

Right now, we have on the right a pompadoured buffoon leading a pack of lemmings and on the Left deluded socialists fighting windmills. Pathetic!

I am a middle roader. I don’t care for extremes. I don’t care for polarization.
In a government, I want consensus. I don’t want to see our system deadlocked and paralyzed for months.

Margaret_Thatcher_01And I don’t want a warmongering president either; but on the other hand, I want a president with spine, and often women have shown more backbone (Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, Malala Sousafzai, yes her too) than their male counterparts.

I don’t want a businessman for president either. These “captains of industry” have no idea what politics are all about. I want a poker faced Chess Grandmaster that can anticipate his opponents’ next twelve moves and have a parade ready for each of them.
As a matter of fact all candidates should know how to play chess. It should be an absolute prerequisite for those who want to the Oval Office.

My ideal candidate would be in the image of Teddy Roosevelt.
“Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

 “A proverb advising the tactic of caution and non-aggression, backed up by the ability to do violence if required.”

 I want a president who is not going to show his hand in advance and who keeps his cards close to his chest.
Some women are excellent poker players and I would not mind at all having a gentlewoman as a chef and as a commander in chief.

But please spare me all this tired baloney (and money) about fair elections.

In November (close to the Day of the Dead), I will vote for the least objectionable (male, female or transgender) candidate.
A non-bombastic person who has truly the wellbeing of ALL (not just a few) Americans at heart.

Do we really have such a gem among the candidates? Chi lo sa…

Allez Alain

2015 Octoberfest

Yesterday I drove to Sonoma to take part in the VOMPC Octoberfest.
I am not a big beer guzzler or a sauerkraut chomper but I like to schmooze and that’s why I went there.

From our club, I met Le Facteur, Jean-Claude Bunand and Jean-Claude Etallaz.
I didn’t plan to play and I didn’t, but a bunch of people from other clubs showed up ready to rumble.

It looked like the event was organized and run by Alan Brauermeister (which incidentally stands for “master brewer”) and he did his shtick dresses appropriately in lederhosen.
Peter Mathis also looked swell in his leather shorts and suspenders.

As I said before, I didn’t play but indulged in one of my favorite pastime: taking candid shots of people being themselves.
I took a bunch of pictures that came out pretty damn well if I may say so.
But I’ll let you be the judge.

The weather was fair and the mood congenial. There was about an equal number of men and women and everything went swimmingly.

IMG_0804Just after lunch there was a “shooting contest” and young Wolfie Kurz came on top after being the only contestant able to hit a cochonnet resting on a wooden log.
Congrats Wolfie!

I don’t know who won the Concours or the Consolante and it is not important, but what I know is that everybody had a good time and that was the only important thing.

Enjoy the pictures! For best effect, go “Full screen”.

Alain

Fighting spam
Gmail is working very hard to fight spam.
To help keeping this junk off of the Internet, Gmail bounces back mail that they think is spam.
It is for this reason that I cannot anymore send messages to a large number of people at the same time.

Gmail urged me to create a special group (that I called “My Blog Faithful”) and ask each recipient to accept messages that are coming from me.

If you want to keep receiving new postings from me, you need to accept to be on my mailing list.
When you receive the above mentioned message, simply click on “Accept” and you will continue receiving my postings.

Thank you for your attention.

Alain
Cochonnetmarin.com

my-blog-faithful@googlegroups.com

Lost in space

Au secours, ayuda (for my Hispanic friends), help… I have lost my Internet connection… What, oh what am I going to do?
Digging in my large cache of knowledge I have tried everything I know to reestablish contact with the cybersphere, all but in vain… or almost.

IMG_0046 (1)My Ferrari of a computer (yes) is now running on 2 cylinders instead of 12.
I can connect to the Internet, but my Mac is presently running as fast as an asthmatic donkey when it should be speeding like a greyhound.
It is pathetic.
What is a true-blue cybernaut to do?

And the Comcast guy can only come in 4 days… Four days… an eternity…
What am I going to do if I cannot use the services of my cyber Jeeves?

The net is my source of knowledge, my advisor, my Mentor. I can talk to it and it can talk to me. And it never (like somebody I know) gives me any lip.
Without it, I am nothing but a shell of a man.

In the olden days, everybody read the newspaper. Now few people (besides octogenarians) do.
I don’t read newspapers anymore but I can ask my computer to read an article to me and it will oblige.

Being without a computer is like flying blind in a snowstorm.
Once you have tasted the delights of Capua (cyberspace), you cannot quit cold turkey. You will need your daily fix every day or you will climb the walls.

As a matter of fact, I feel the urge to climb the curtains of my bedroom right now.



I might start believing in miracles.
This morning, four days after its death, like Lazarus raising from his grave, my computer came back to life.
Alleluia!

I don’t know what happened but you never argue with success.
My baby is back as attentive and affectionate (unlike my cat) as ever.
Everything is forgiven. No questions asked.

I am back in the driver seat ready to fight windmills.
Praise the Lord (or Steve Jobs) for resurrecting my faithful acolyte.

Alain



Fighting spam

Gmail is working very hard to fight spam.
To help keeping this junk off of the Internet, Gmail bounces back mail that they think is spam.
It is for this reason that I cannot anymore send messages to a large number of people at the same time.
Gmail urged me to create a special group (that I called “My Blog Faithful”) and ask each recipient to accept messages that are coming from me.
If you want to keep receiving new postings from me, you need to accept to be on my mailing list.
When you receive this message, simply click on “Accept” and you will continue receiving my postings.
Thank you for your attention.

Alain
Cochonnetmarin.com

my-blog-faithful@googlegroups.com