2 GUSSIES

Zoo--- May 2009

2009-05-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

Family visit to Philadelphia Zoo. The zoo has changed over the years, mainly for the better. Cages have given way to more natural-looking habitat-enclosures, and the animals look well-cared-for and free of the obsessive repititious behavior that occurs when animals are too confined.

On the not so happy side, the zoo is now part of Corporate America, which means that the most prominent exhibits have to do with selling something. It is possible to bypass the cash-register for some of the more genuinely attractive items by purchasing a special all-inclusive ticket, which is expensive unless you plan to visit the place so often that the kids are mistaken for docents.

As you can see from the pictures, some of the most popular activities (available at additional cost) have nothing to do with their particular location, but are of the generic fun-at-the-fair variety, such as face-painting, pony rides, and trips on the shriveled kiddie-train.

Madeline seemed genuinely interested in hearing about the giant tortoises from a young zoo intern, and I tried to enrich the experience by asking questions that I though Madeline might relate to. She listened very attentively and examined the shell and skull that the volunteer used as visual aids.

Colton was quite taken with the goats in the petting zoo, but I think he was also overwhelmed by the number of goats, the assortment of brushes available for grooming the animals, and the Brownian motion of the children who were in the enclosure with him.

He responded to ALL of the elements in the situation, which means that he went quickly from one animal to the next and even seemed frustrated to find that there were additional goats who were seeking refuge in an enclosure that was closed to visitors. The bucket full of brushes posed an additional problem, making him feel anxious and dissatisfied with whatever brush he held at the moment. And the other children served as unwanted competition for both brushes and goats, even though he always had at least one brush and a reasonable large section of a goat to pet and groom.

This doesn't strike me as odd, given his age, and I must say that I saw some pretty obnoxious behavior on the part of other kids who seemed to be about his age. One little monster took a real whack at one of the roaming peacocks, leading me to think that there are some species that have a shorter lifespan in captivity than they have in the wild, though in most cases the situation is the other way round.

Tillie Rose At Home--Mothers' Day 2009

2009-05-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

TILLIE ROSE BLANC EARLS--30 April 2009

2009-05-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Tillie Rose Blanc Earls

7 Pounds-14 Ounces, 30 April 2009, Jonesboro, Arkansas

(St Bernard Hospital), going home to Rector, Arkansas.

(Click on photos to get full-size image)

BEFORE

AFTER

__________________________________________
______________________________________________
THE WHOLE STORY:

Two of the team at St Bernard's who took care of Jess & Tillie wheel Jess and the "inside" Tillie into the O.R.
Soon we'll see the "outside" Tillie.

(You couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of knowledgeable and competent professionals than the staff at this hospital. I say a lot of funny things, but I'm not joking at all about this. )

Waiting... So why not get something accomplished

Donna, Richard's mother, paints her toenails while Martha and Donna's friend "Cat" gaze off into space and think about whether they left one of the burners on the stove turned on at home.

Get Off My Lawn

2008-10-17T09:10:00.001-07:00

In his third (and final) debate performance, last night at Hofstra University, John McCain unintentionally explained why he is losing the contest to his rival. It's not about his campaign strategy. It's about him.

Or more precisely, it's about McCain trying to sell the unappealing, thin Republican gruel to a populace that's already making its dinner from boiled onions and carrot tops. In happier times you can convince ordinary people to think of themselves as soon-to-be millionaires who will benefit from government policies that make the wealthy even wealthier.

Even though simple logic tells us that only one percent of the population can actually BE in the top one percent of the population when it comes to income or any other attribute for that matter, a sunny smile and an affable manner can slip the hallucinogenic suppository right up the public's derriere. And that's where McCain has a real problem. These aren't happy times, and McCain himself couldn't sell ice water in a drought.

Since there are lots of Economics experts whose opinions are available here on the internets, I'll let them explain to anyone who needs it why the "trickle-down" approach to prosperity for the masses is a fraud. It is McCain's MIND that lies in my domain, a field sometimes called Applied Psychoanalysis, which, though it is as much art as it is science, can often provide us with provocative insights into public figures and historical events.

Using only the information available to me in Senator McCain's public appearances, his own written statements, and news reports of his activities I have formed an impression of a highly combative, irritable older man who believes that his long tenure as a Senator and the suffering he endured as a prisoner of war entitle him to the ultimate political prize, the presidency.

He seems to regard his rival as a "whippersnapper" who has not paid any patriotic dues in general, and certainly none involving great personal distress. As a political tactic he makes fun of Senator Obama's careful choice of words, which is an attempt to turn the Democrat's intellectual assets into liabilities, but I think he genuinely resents the idea that mere knowledge, skill, grace, and temperament can put a man on the same stage with a wounded old warrior. He seems to be saying, "Why, I was grinding my way through terrible ordeals when "That One" was still pissing in his Underoos."

The old-fashioned name for McCain's attitude is "Compensation Neurosis", a term used after the Second World War for a veteran's feelings of bitterness and entitlement that got in the way of the man's adjustment to civilian life. The label was reserved, you understand, for those whose demands seemed impossible to meet.

As the late Erik Erikson said after spending time on a Sioux Indian reservation, "They won't be happy until they get the buffalo back". He meant no disrespect, at all, but was commenting on how the members of that community seemed to feel that their lives had been rendered meaningless by the destruction of their traditional patterns of living.

When it comes to the senior senator, it is one man's beliefs about what he is due for the hardships he has endured and the ticket-punches he has acquired that set him up for a sense of outrage at being made to sing for his supper like everyone else. McCain waves his hand dismissively as he says "I know how to fix the economy" (or catch Bin Laden, or create order in Afghanistan.) He knows how-he just DOES- and he shouldn't have to stoop to spelling it out before he gets put into the office he deserves.

The longer the presidential campaign drags on and the more McCain finds himself losing ground in the polls the angrier he gets, which does not bring out the best in him. By now the signs of seething anger have grown very large. One notes the clenching of the jaw, the humorless, practiced smile, the chillingly hostile "my friends", which reminds me of Jack Nicholson's horrifying parody of "Heeeere's Johnny". Even his taking of notes comes across as more savage than methodical, as if he were saying, "Go ahead, my friend, say those fancy things. I'm writing them all down and I'm going to turn them in to The Authorities. Your name is on The List… My friend."

Like many angry men, McCain doesn't fully recognize his own anger. He thinks that he knows when he's angry. And he also thinks that even when he is, he can keep it from showing unless he wants it to. He is wrong. Polls of people who have watched the candidates during their debates reveal that many people find the man dyspeptic and mean.

He would do himself and the nation a favor if he silently admitted that he really is not well-suited to running for office, and, furthermore, has nothing very special to offer should he actually get elected. It is hard to imagine a more complex and difficult time in which to take the helm of the ship of state. It is a time that demands an extremely keen mind, physical strength and endurance, and a personality that is high in equanimity. Those are not traits that characterize John McCain. His vanity, fueled by a sense of entitlement, blind him to the simple fact that he is "max-ed out" as a U.S. Senator, and is trying to reach his "level of incompetence" by seeking to get us to "promote" him to President.*

Obviously McCain cannot bow out at this point, but he can "get a grip" on himself and conduct the remains of his campaign with dignity and honor. His job is to sell the Republican Party platform in a straightforward, honest manner. I'd rather run a HumVee dealership during a fuel shortage. But just as the real owner of such a business cannot ethically present his 4-ton behemoth as a gas-sipper, a Republican ought to present the essence of his product as Laissez-faire, pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps capitalism without dressing it in patriotic bunting, and without implying that opposing views are treasonous.

It is somewhat ironic, now that I think about it, that the party of self-sufficiency, the party that decries "entitlements" of any kind, is inhabited by people like John McCain, who believe that they are being unjustly denied full compensation for their efforts (past or present). Since the Republican Party is multistranded it is home to various forms of claims for compensation.

Some partisans resent what they see as redistribution of their income through progressive tax policies, social welfare programs, and government funding of the public school system.

Religious Republicans also cast their claims in terms of victimization, emphasizing violation of the "rights" of the "unborn", and dismissal of the word of god from the public square through such means as removal of morning prayers or bible-reading from the list of rituals that start the school day, or the substitution in schools of multicultural pageants for Christian holiday celebrations.

Social Republicans are those who have enjoyed a privileged status by dint of birth. They are, for instance, white, Christian men, who until fairly recently received selected advantage in employment, education, and enforcement of criminal law. No one has ever been arrested for the crime of "driving while white", nor has a white man been denied a job or an admission slot to a medical school due to color, religion, or gender. (Let's not get into the tiny fraction of positions sometimes set aside for applicants belonging to groups previously denied fair access. In fixing injustices other injustices are sometimes committed, but they are of smaller scale than the original discriminatory practices, and the reaction to them has been out of proportion.)

John McCain has plenty of company, then, in the party that offers a philosophy of pulling up one's sox and getting on with it and yet is a haven for all kinds "victims" of social progress. If he seems to have a chip on his shoulder, he's right at home in the Republican woodshed, a place that wants to be known for the tough-love practice of beating discipline into kids but doesn't want to acknowledge that such harsh treatment begets an attitude of martyred entitlement. "I've suffered, my friends, and YOU OWE ME!"

*["In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." The "Principle" named after Dr. Laurence Peter, from his 1968 book about organizations.]

Red Meat McCain

2008-10-16T06:21:00.000-07:00

2008-10-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday, the day after Senator McCain's decisive victory in the second Presidential Debate. Here is a bit of the coverage of that debate by FUX NEWS:

On Tuesday night, Commander McCain strode across the presentation floor like a man very much in charge, to stand squarely on his own two feet while he delivered clear, concise impromptu answers to questions clearly designed to catch him off guard. We asked the Senator how he felt about his performance in Nashville, and he confirmed our impression that while he felt that he was in charge at all times, he was not pleased by the obvious bias of the moderator or by presence of Democrat "stooges" among the questioners.

He said that he could see earpieces in their ears and perhaps antennas poking up from their hair. This reporter told the Senator that he had not noticed those devices, and President-to-Be McCain explained that one had to be right there in the auditorium, facing the crowd, to pick out those who were wearing special equipment.

Furthermore, he said, whenever he walked away from his notes, he found that they were not the same when he returned to them. Someone was constantly shuffling his papers and even removing pages and modifying what he had written. He was pretty sure, he said, that "That One" spent a lot of time scurrying around in back of him, and so, you could easily figure out who was messing with his stuff.

We have never before heard of such strange goings-on, and even for an event presided over by the liberal media, this has to mark a new low in dirty tricks.

Given the allegations found in the above, we must ask our readers to be even more alert than usual to political dirty tricks, especially those that are designed to make conservative candidates seem unintelligent, ill-informed, peculiar, senile, paranoid, underhanded, mean-spirited, bigoted, narcissistic, or hot-tempered.

Obama Had Affair With Horse

2008-10-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

With only 4 weeks left in the campaign, McCain strategists have decided to ignore minor issues such as the nation's descent into the bread-line and emphasize the serious questions that have arisen concerning the true nature of their opponent. Extensive research by the Murdoch Society for Freedom From Thought (MSFFT) has unearthed startling evidence of two shocking episodes in the mystery man's cloudy past.

First, we see actual images depicting Senator Obama's long involvement with the Taliban, when he was a teenager. A frame from one of the captured videotapes is presented here for the very first time.

Earlier efforts at uncovering the "dark" truth about the man have yielded connections between this stealth candidate and the notorious Mad Bomber of Hyde Park, William Ceefour Ayers, who terrorized the country forty years ago (when Obama was 6, which shows just how early was his involvement in anti-American activities), and the not-so-Reverend Jebediah Lenin Wright, in whose church Obama learned to hate this country and especially its White people. And this recent find makes it clear that all suspicions are justified.

But if that isn't enough, tonight, just minutes ago, the MSFFT has revealed a photograph of the horse with whom it is alleged that Mr. Obama had a continuing intimate relationship. The photo appears here, for the first time on the internet.

One need not go on at length about the implications of such behavior. It is one thing to shoot Defenders of Freedom with Bangalore Torpedoes, and another to get physical with an equine, and still another to be guilty of both practices. What are we to make of this man, except to say that he is not like anyone you or I know.

You may rest assured that as this terrible electoral struggle continues I will post instantly any similar findings. I also invite YOU, dear reader, to post any information of a similar nature to the comments section of this report.

Thank you. And be sure to keep your wits about you.

FilmDog

McCain-Only Needs One Answer

2008-08-22T17:42:00.001-07:00

McCain-Pinocchio Nose-2 Versions

2008-08-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Are You Nuts

2008-08-09T19:46:00.001-07:00

Krabby Klown

2008-08-07T05:35:00.001-07:00

Screw Warning

2008-08-06T18:00:00.001-07:00

McCain Running Mate Choices

2008-07-26T12:55:00.001-07:00

Rx For McCain

2008-07-25T18:26:00.001-07:00

Res Ipsa Loquitur

2008-07-23T19:49:00.001-07:00

IndiaCollage

2008-07-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

India

2008-07-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

2008-07-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

IndiaPics

2008-07-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

Wood Or Wire--Republican "CHOICE"

2008-07-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

The title of this poster is obviously sarcastic, but the exact phrase "Wood or wire?" might get an extra laugh from Baby Boomer movie fans who recall that this "choice" was offered to the famed "Mrs. Robinson" by an anxious and inexperienced young Benjamin --"The Graduate"-- played by Dustin Hoffman. The two were engaged in a bit of extracurricular fun in a hotel, and Ben, still acting like a gentleman even when he's bedding his girl friend's mother, offers to hang up Mrs. Robinson's coat. When he looks in the closet he sees the two kinds of hangers, and feeling a wee bit awkward blurts out this ridiculous question.

It's a bit of a stretch to use it in the present context, because, not to put too fine a point on it, a wooden hanger would actually not be up to the "job". Nevertheless, the poster makes its grim point, and if I can add a bit of levity to a horrendous subject, it'll be worth taking a bit of poetic license.

Most people who have seen this poster and its predecessor in my collection are rather taken aback. The whole matter is very ugly and believe me I'm sorry to have to mention it. However, there's nothing to be gained by closing our eyes to the fact that a Republican administration will do all that it can to load the Supreme Court with more barbarians like Scalia and Thomas (and Roberts, and Alito) whose philosophy is just to the right of Attilla The Hun.

They've never heard of a civil or human right that needed their help. It's a great time for Guns and "Jay-zus", and we all know The Lord favors a good war, a whole lot of prayin', keepin sex in its "place" (right along with the wimmin folk), and the preservation of fetal life and all its tissues.

So pardon my blunt and zealous defense of the Democratic Party. It's just that there's no doubt about where the two parties in this country stand on matters of personal freedom. If people don't want to learn about the fine points of home made surgical tools, they need to vote for the party that regulates commerce and deregulates everyday human conduct. The Republicans have it bass-ackwards. My guess is that under a McCane (sic) presidency one of the best financial investments one could make would be in the coat hanger industry. Second to that would be body-bags.

One in a Hundred

2008-07-08T20:13:00.001-07:00

2008 Election Posters

2008-07-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Busch League

2008-07-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

McPain

2008-06-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Why 2 Gussies ?

2007-11-17T18:31:00.001-08:00

TWO GUSSIES was the name given my Yorkshire Terrier by my then 18 month old granddaughter, Madeline. How did one dog double in her mind?

Maybe it had to do with the two Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties) who also live with me. There were two of them after all. I can begin to make out a rather primitive logic under the promotion of the singleton Yorkie to his own twin.

But then does it matter that the dual Shelties were themselves multiplied by 1.5 when Madeline began calling them "April, Callie, April" ? The names were correct, but of course there was only ONE "April". Add to the mystery the fact that today, now that Madeline is 4 years old, she has to look very carefully at the Shelties to distinguish them from one another. So although it was April whom she counted twice, she didn't really know what (or who) she was talking about.

Of course if you understand the development of thought in a child, it is possible to unravel the threads that go into seemingly meaningless "errors". Kids' thinking is perhaps more difficult to understand than that of adults, which means that it's a poor place to start learning about the way people in general think.

That's what this BLOG is about--how and why people think (and say and behave) the way they do. There are reasons behind everything, but they are seldom the reasons given by a person, even to himself. We share that with children--the inability to explain our own ideas or actions, though as adults we can make logical noises that satisfy both internal and external questioners.

What this BLOG is about is the effort to apply the tools of Psychology to everyday life. That's something that is seldom done (correctly or well), despite many claims to the contrary. I could try to justify that position, but it might be more effective if I just tackle each topic that I am moved to investigate and you can judge for yourself whether the articles help you make connections that are new and worthwhile.