Crankybear http://www.crankybear.net Because the Terrorists Have Already Won posterous.com Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:16:40 -0800 Last Night http://www.crankybear.net/last-night http://www.crankybear.net/last-night
Photo1

Dock @ Yacht Club / Beach Club

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:37:55 -0800 Illuminations @ Epcot http://www.crankybear.net/illuminations-epcot http://www.crankybear.net/illuminations-epcot
Photo1

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:52:52 -0800 Ah, vacation http://www.crankybear.net/ah-vacation http://www.crankybear.net/ah-vacation

P47

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:32:58 -0800 Here kitty kitty http://www.crankybear.net/here-kitty-kitty http://www.crankybear.net/here-kitty-kitty
Photo1

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:24:04 -0800 Animal Kingdom is my favorite Disney park http://www.crankybear.net/animal-kingdom-is-my-favorite-disney-park http://www.crankybear.net/animal-kingdom-is-my-favorite-disney-park
Photo1

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:00:59 -0800 Pool at Boardwalk Villas http://www.crankybear.net/pool-at-boardwalk-villas http://www.crankybear.net/pool-at-boardwalk-villas
Panorama

I created this panorama on my iOS device with the Photosynth app,
http://www.photosynth.net.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:39:59 -0800 Vacation http://www.crankybear.net/vacation http://www.crankybear.net/vacation
Photo1

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:32:12 -0700 Arnold's Night in the Spotlight http://www.crankybear.net/arnolds-night-in-the-spotlight http://www.crankybear.net/arnolds-night-in-the-spotlight

1483008300

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:23:00 -0700 9/11 porn http://www.crankybear.net/911-porn http://www.crankybear.net/911-porn

Can we have a little less 9/11?  Actually, how about a lot less?

I'm not talking about any events or ceremonies meant for the people who were there or who lost loved ones that day. It's not my place to tell them how they're supposed to feel or what they ought to do to remember. I wish them the best and I wish them peace.

No, what I'm talking about is the rest of us, that vast number of us who did not participate in the events of that day in any way other than being horrified. I heard about it when I was on the phone trying to get rid of a salesman. Who the hell cares what I remember about 9/11? It sucked. Lots of people died for no good reason. What possible good comes from reliving it? If you were alive that day you remember. If you weren't alive, or were too young to remember, lucky you. 

Something that makes me absolutely nuts is people telling me how I'm supposed to feel about something. That's why I don't want anyone twisting this into some sort of attack on survivors, victims and families. They need to do what they need to do. And the rest of us need to step back and give them some space.

And save me the "but this is the day American lost its innocence" and all that crap. If America was innocent that day it's only because it wasn't paying attention. "But it's the day everything changed!" Um, no it's the day some idiots flew planes into a bunch of buildings and killed a bunch of people for no good reason. Anything that happened after that was a choice. We, as a country, made choices. That, to me, is the crux of the matter. America has made a bunch of choices since that clear, cool September day. It's no secret that I think most of them have been wrong and America has pretty much driven itself off the rails.

The worst time to make big plans for anything is when you're traumatized and I think it's fair to say we were traumatized.  And fetishizing the events of that day just because the earth has circled the sun ten times since then can serve no other  purpose than to try to recreate that feeling of trauma, to relive the feeling of helplessness. It's claimed that all this "coverage" is meant to help people remember the events. Bullshit. No one has forgotten. What it's meant to do is artificially recreate the sensations of that day.

And there's a word for that. 

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:37:00 -0700 OK GO sings The Muppet Show Theme Song http://www.crankybear.net/ok-go-sings-the-muppet-show-theme-song http://www.crankybear.net/ok-go-sings-the-muppet-show-theme-song

And it's every bit as good as you might imagine.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:03:00 -0700 OK, that's just funny http://www.crankybear.net/ok-thats-just-funny http://www.crankybear.net/ok-thats-just-funny

http://www.gocomics.com/badreporter/2011/08/10/

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Sun, 01 May 2011 15:07:00 -0700 If I ever become a megalomaniacal supervillian... http://www.crankybear.net/if-i-ever-become-a-megamaniacal-supervillian http://www.crankybear.net/if-i-ever-become-a-megamaniacal-supervillian

274931278

...I want this building to be my headquarters.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Sun, 01 May 2011 13:08:01 -0700 The name of my next band http://www.crankybear.net/the-name-of-my-next-band http://www.crankybear.net/the-name-of-my-next-band

-744053642

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Sun, 01 May 2011 12:35:41 -0700 The view from where I am now. http://www.crankybear.net/the-view-from-where-i-am-now http://www.crankybear.net/the-view-from-where-i-am-now

-101170287

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:27:26 -0700 My Hero http://www.crankybear.net/my-hero http://www.crankybear.net/my-hero

1059244449

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Sat, 09 Apr 2011 18:58:29 -0700 Detroit impressions http://www.crankybear.net/detroit-impressions http://www.crankybear.net/detroit-impressions I'm working in Detroit this week. I'll mostly be in the heart of downtown. I'll post random thoughts and photos. No ruin porn. I have a complicated relationship with this city. I think a great deal of my father's life was about escaping what he was in Pre-WW2 Detroit. I try to see the city he saw, but he wasn't that enamored of the "old" Detroit. So I think it's OK to just concentrate on what is, not what was.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Thu, 31 Mar 2011 05:48:50 -0700 Opening Day is serious business http://www.crankybear.net/opening-day-is-serious-business http://www.crankybear.net/opening-day-is-serious-business

2011-03-31_08-37-25_238.3gp Watch on Posterous

I will always be an Astros fan, but I've always been impressed by the passion of Reds fans. There are fair-weather fans here as much as anywhere, but Opening Day is special.

This is 8:40 am at the city's oldest bar, Arnold's. People have been coming here to celebrate Opening Day for as long as such a thing has existed. The modern structure of baseball was created a few blocks from here, officially at a hotel but likely at a biergarten on Vine Street.

There is no better place to be today.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Sat, 05 Mar 2011 09:16:25 -0800 The Goat Knows All http://www.crankybear.net/the-goat-knows-all http://www.crankybear.net/the-goat-knows-all

-1698798366

Bockfest 2011

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Sat, 26 Feb 2011 06:32:00 -0800 Quite possibly the best explanation of how democracy works http://www.crankybear.net/quite-possibly-the-best-explanation-of-how-de http://www.crankybear.net/quite-possibly-the-best-explanation-of-how-de
Implicit in this is a notion of democracy that we've encountered again and again among American evangelical Christians attempting to engage in politics. It is the idea that democracy means everything is subject to the will of the majority -- including the rights of minorities, which therefore aren't rights at all, merely privileges permitted or withheld by the sentiment of the majority. It is, bluntly, the idea that democracy is just a fancy word for mob rule.
via slacktivist.typepad.com

Read the whole thing and share with everyone you know.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:56:00 -0800 There's not a class war in America. It's already over. We lost. http://www.crankybear.net/theres-not-a-class-war-in-america-its-already http://www.crankybear.net/theres-not-a-class-war-in-america-its-already

Inequality-page25_1
Inequality-taxrate_3
Not depressed enough?  There's more where this came from.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/105078/TomBeerSm.jpg http://posterous.com/users/4aGgHoV7ZXON Tom Streeter crankybear Tom Streeter