A Drought in the Desert

I have been out of touch for a couple of months now. Part of that was the fault of the holidays and the New Year. Part was due to my own laziness, for which I am sure I will suffer some sort of eternal torment. The other part, most recently when I shook off the siren’s call to sloth, was that my computer caught a virus and crashed. It was a very nasty virus and a very nasty crash.

It all started with The Wife’s computer. It crashed. But, it was old, and she doesn’t have a green thumb for things electronic and digital. I examined and researched and applied my vast knowledge and concluded her equipment failed. (My body seems to be doing so more as I age, so why not computers?)

I put her problem down to an electronic one. A device failed, or more likely, a chipset on the motherboard. So I told her, after hours of futile resuscitation, that I could not save the patient and we should just get her a new computer. She had rather wanted a laptop than a desktop anyway, so this was the opportunity.

But “what about my emails?’ and “my documents?” and “my address book?” Not to worry, I said. I will take your hard drive out of this dead machine, hook it up to my live one, and save all those precious things for you.

You know where this is going, right?

Three days later, my computer crashed in exactly the same way as hers. No revival. No miracle of rebirth. No Lazarus Effect.

Her computer was protected by McAfee Anti-Virus. It was up to date and active. Didn’t see a thing. My computer was protected by Norton Anti-Virus software. It was up to date and active. Didn’t see a thing.

My advice to computer users relying on Norton and McAfee for anti-virus protection is that it’s like buying condoms from a depressed, anti-social AIDs carrier who works in a straight pin factory.

About a thousand dollars later, for the wife’s new laptop and my new hard disc, upgrade to Windows 7 and alternative virus protection, I am back on line.

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I have been amused recently by the state of the State affairs in Wisconsin. This is the one where all the Democratic State Senators went on the lam, apparently to Illinois, to avoid allowing a quorum in the State Senate which prevents any budget bills from being voted on. It’s a pretty good technique for thwarting your opponents, I guess.

Now the Democrats in Indiana's Senate have done the same thing. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that Ohio's Senate Democrats turned up missing soon, as well.

Everyone has a take on it, so I don’t want to repeat all the observations already made. But, you know that I have my take, right? Here it is.

This strikes me as so many deserters from the Army. These aren’t folks who ran away in the scary, bomb-filled, bullet-flying heat of battle. These are cowards who ran away from a safe base at home because they would be asked to go overseas to where there was a battle. Who knew the French had taken over the Democratic parties in Wisconsin and Indiana?

How much lower can you go than to run away from the fight, then claim that you are doing the hard thing and standing up for your cause.

Sounds like a pretty weak cause if that’s what it takes to stand up for it.

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I read a piece recently in which a State Senator from my home state of Oregon essentially told some European Eco-Nuts that he didn’t give a rip about their position on “wolves” and basically told them to butt out of the affairs of the State of Oregon.

The Press had fun with it. Mostly, they were mocking the Senator from Grant County. I lived in Grant County for several years. While I found the people to be xenophobic, and not all that fun to be around, I did find the county to be exemplary. All that aside, I’m sure the European agitators were delighted, since it got AP and Reuters to run the story and give them the coverage they wanted.
Still, I was amused.

After all, what is the point?

Mostly, the point was that the Senator was saying don’t waste your time sending me emails and faxes from Greece, because you are not in my constituency.

I love democracy. It is so hard and so simple at the same time.

That’s probably why the Europeans (and Wisconsin and Indiana Democrats) don’t get it.