YYM in Portugal

So, I get this phone call at 7 am Saturday from the YYM:  "I got pickpocketed in the Lisbon train station."

He still has his passport, and he is with his girlfriend so he has access to cash.  But it is worrisome.  Apparently the two of them had "met" this aggressive woman who stood very close to them and asked for directions.  Presumably confederate behind him reached and took the wallet.

From his front jeans pocket?  Because that is where I always tell him to keep his wallet in train stations and public place:  keep your wallet in your FRONT jeans pocket.  Make them "kiss the dog."

No, it was in his outside jacket pocket, the big open one where you put your hands.  *&$^#$&^@!

Later in the day, he sent this picture, after they had rented a car and driven over to the coast.  Things must not be TOO bad...

Click for an even more happy image.

The Gorge

Visited the Columbia Gorge with my sister Kathy.  Here is a view of Multnomah Falls....a short movie.

Kathy and I got to see some pretty impressive parts of the gorge.  This slot canyon was completely blocked with a log jam.  Looked like something from Lord of the Rings.

Kathy in front of one of the smaller falls.  Really great hiking.

Selfish reasons to NOT have (more?) kids

Ah yes, kids are cuddly, fun, look like you, and are impervious to your attempts to influence them via expensive or time consuming parenting techniques, so just, chillax, be fruitful and multiply, and enjoy the floor show, what could go wrong?

Well there's this:

More than half of baby boomer mothers in the United States support adult children financially and 60 percent are the person their offspring go to when they encounter problems, according to a new survey.

Of women with children over age 18, nine percent said they had adult children living back home for indefinite periods. Twelve percent were primarily responsible for their adult child or children's financial well-being and 31 percent said they had children who returned home, relied on them but expected to become independent.

People, can I get a Yikes!!??

And of course you can't argue that you would raise your child not to be such a shameless leech, because, as we all know, parenting doesn't affect how kids turn out!

Quien anda lo mas despistado?

People, who is the most clueless, the NY Times or the WaPo?

Let's start with the Times, which has produced this gem:

Obama Budget Pivots From Stimulus to Deficit Cuts

WASHINGTON – President Obama, pivoting at midterm from costly economic stimulus measures to deficit reduction, on Monday released a fiscal year 2012 budget that projects an annual deficit of more than $1 trillion before government shortfalls decline to “sustainable” levels for the rest of the decade.

There is just not enough koolaid in the world to wash this kind of crap down. Obama is not pivoting from the stimulus; he's freezing spending at the stimulus levels. Plus his PLANNED deficit for 2011 is $1.65 Trillion and for 2012 it's $1.1 Trillion. After that, it's not clear he'll even BE IN OFFICE. It's incredibly brave of him to shrink the deficit in 2021!!

Not to be outdone, the WaPo fires back with this:

Obama administration studies recent revolutions for lessons applicable in Egypt

As the Obama administration works to shepherd the Egypt uprising toward a democratic government, it is drawing on the experiences of a half-dozen other nations whose revolutions have been the focus of internal White House study in recent weeks.

Oh yeah, I'm feeling all Psalmy up in here...

Obama is my shepherd, I am so screwed. He maketh me lie down with the Israelis, He leadeth me back to Camp David, He restoreth my subsidies. Yea though I walk through the valley of the Muslim Brotherhood, I shall fear no Islam, for Obama is with me.....

Journalists, please!