The Loathsome Carl Paladino

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

Today’s WTF? MomentPatentPending …

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Carl Paladino (above) has had a busy two weeks or so. Today may bring it to a close. The Buffalo, New York, real estate developer who was the 2010 Republican nominee for New York State Governor (he lost in a landslide to Andrew Cuomo, who is still governor) was New York co-chair for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and he has been spotted among the many celebrities and office holders arriving at Trump Tower in New York City for job auditions with the incoming Trump administration. Any normal human being who might fit the above description might find themselves erring on the side of caution, of circumspection, in their public statements.

Perhaps you are not acquainted with what no one in New York State refers to as the Carl Paladino Era (2010–Present). The man is incapable of circumspection … beyond that, he is incapable of human decency.
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Today in History: Dec. 23

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

No one grumbles among the oyster clans,
And lobsters play their bone guitars all summer.
Only we, with our opposable thumbs, want
Heaven to be, and God to come, again.
There is no end to our grumbling; we want
Comfortable earth and sumptuous Heaven.
But the heron standing on one leg in the bog
Drinks his dark rum all day, and is content.—Robert Bly, “Wanting Sumptuous Heavens

Robert Bly is 90 today.

A film, Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy, was released in 2015 and is appearing on PBS stations:
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O? Christmas Tree? O, Christmas Tree!

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

How (not) to cut down your own Christmas tree.

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I am sitting in my girlfriend’s office looking at her office Christmas tree. It is white, snow white, like a snowman in a Rankin/Bass claymation cartoon. We will be trimming it in a few moments.

I think that tree trimming was my least favorite type of trimming when I was young. I still lack the eye necessary for decorating a tree correctly; in fact, I believe that almost every tree I have attempted to decorate has been quietly fixed upon my leaving.

(Two things transpired within moments of me writing the above: 1. My girlfriend credited me with expanding her notions of tree decoration—she said, “You’re the first person I’ve seen who does not put all the decorations on the ends of the branches,” which is true, I sometimes place them on the middle or sometimes closer to the trunk; and 2. We found that I had overloaded one section with the same color ornament and we needed to correct this.)
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