Overhaul

Ladies and germs, it has been brought to our attention here at Pendragon Hold that some of the functionality of this illustrious Blog, namely the comments and links, have been compromised for some strange reason known only to the geeks at Blogger. So, in the spirit of providing you, our loyal readers, all three or four of you, with the outstanding reading experience that fans of this Blog have come to expect, I have moved TTEM lock, stock and barrel over to a whole new blog, identical in every way except for appearance, content, layout, photography, and price of admission.

Now, since the links are not working for everybody visiting THIS site, I have provided this ULR (pendragonhold.blogspot.com) so that you can drift on over to the new location and record the new link. Please let me know if you encounter any difficulty in this transition.

If this does NOT solve our problem, please feel free to rise up in rage, frustration, and bloodlust, and storm the gates of Blogger, hauling the architects of this outrageous outrage upon our sensibilities to the guillotine, where their arrogant heads shall be parted from their body and donated to the "noggins of love" foundation, who will in turn provide them to unfortunate victims of decapitation accidents.

Again, thank you for your loyalty, patience, and bags of cash that you have and will continue to lend to us who love you all so much we stayed up past bedtime to fix this thing.

Dissent Ad Naseum

I am watching an edition of "Front Line" on PBS concerning the abuse of presidential power in the Bush White House and it is making me nauseous. We are allowing this "president" to do things so outside the realm of constitutional sanity that the document, this very essence of what America is all about, is becoming dangerously irrelevant. We pretty much should have crowned Dubya "King George" when he stole the first election.

I really don't understand the politicians that presently occupy the halls of Congress. These men have been elected by the citizens of 50 separate yet united States to exercise their share of government oversight and power, and yet they allow what has amounted to an attack upon our constitution to go unanswered. Yes, there has been bluster and "investigations" and testimonies of the most outrageous conduct imaginable by White House officials, including the President and Vice-President. And yet no one has been held accountable.
Instead, everybody seems to be ignoring the cancer festering in our capital while we all focus on the upcoming elections, with the thought that we shall soon easily rid ourselves of this bafoon and replace him with a Democrat, who will miraculously repair all this damage and make it all go away.

Really.



Even as I type this post to my blog, there is a computer deep within the bowels of the NSA that is data-mining everything we Americans say on phones and type on computers. This computer is looking for catch words that hint at disagreement, disloyalty, and maybe, just maybe, the scratching of terrorist rats in the undergrowth of our society. Should this computer compile a collection of words from this post that the administration does not like, it is very possible that I could disappear without a trace, for presently there is no one in any branch of government with the balls to prevent such an atrocity from happening. This is a very real risk that you, I, and every American undertakes each time we get on our computer and dare to question our leadership. That is NOT the America we were born into, but it IS the America we shall hand our children if we do not stand up as a nation and put a stop to this bullshit once and for all.

We still have the ballot box, and hopefully, enough of the right people watching closely to insure that we are not subjected to another debacle that forced this idiot onto us as president. We are also capable of changing the entire status quo by getting rid of ALL the career parasites that now inhabit the Congress and replace them with citizen-legislators who can get us back to the form of government our forefathers gifted us with; a nation OF the people, FOR the people, but only possible with a government BY the people. We also need to return the appropriate power BACK to the people, such as ballot initiatives for Congressional pay raises, rather than this plunder that is presently going on. AND, for once, we need to divorce ourselves from this idea that we can only function under a two party system, and start giving our independents a chance to step up to the bat and prove their mettle. I personally have had enough of these two extremes tearing at each other rather than serving the people who elected them to do a job.

Perhaps you don't like me saying this, but we, the average American, has become detached and lazy, absolving ourselves of the responsibility necessary to maintain the freedoms we are taking for granted, which as a result are now under assault, with precious little protest from the heartland. Using the same tools that dictators throughout history have employed, namely FEAR and hyper-patriotic fervor, this government has scared you, middle America, into accepting draconian measures disguised as protection against terrorism, rather than the rape of our freedoms our forefathers paid dearly for in blood. You disgrace their memory when you blindly send off your sons and daughters to give their lives to ensure the profits of such monsters as Haliburton and Brown & Root.

This is my rant for today. I served my country once in the armed forces and proudly live with the knowledge that I helped win the REAL war, albeit a quiet one, that we fought against the Soviet Empire. Now I cringe in shame as my own country slowly becomes the new evil empire that the rest of the world has painted a target onto. This didn't have to happen. We didn't have to make the panicked and ill-advised choices we made which put us where we are now. However, we CAN make the right choices from here on out. Let's CONSIDER our choices carefully this time around and NOT fall victim to fear and bigotry. Let's act like Americans again.

Another Exciting Episode

Hello guys, and welcome to another exciting episode of TTEM, the Blog that asks the question.........Huh? The following commentary IS the express opinion of the author of this Blog, namely Me, THE Michael, and yes, I am totally responsible for said commentary, and yes, if you don't like it, TOUGH! * And now, onto the Blog!

THE Wife has been felled by a killer headache, missed two days of work and had to be taken to the Doctor, whom, after poking, prodding, questioning, and thinking deep doctor thoughts, prescribed AND administered a cocktail of drugs designed to put an end to both her headache and heathen worship of porcelain Gods. It worked, although it zonked her out for awhile. So, I and the offspring, the infamous resident evil twin, ventured forth to the supermarket and brought home the groceries. Tonight, we get to sample THE Daughter's lasagna. Hopefully, you will hear from me again.

After several days of very low temperatures that actually caused our liquid water left outside to solidify, the mercury has swung back in the other direction and we now are enjoying our unseasonably warm weather that normally signifies that spring has sprung. I bought me a new warm coat, so, of course, the weather will now not require any kind of clothing heavier than a T-shirt, making my investment totally worthless. But it felt nice while it lasted.

THE Dog, the amazing Shiloh, has been REVELING in the cool weather, refusing to come inside even though the cold plays hell with his arthritic joints. The poor creature is Nordic at heart, just like his Dad, so I understand. Summers suck for a Norwegian Elkhound. I wish I could take him somewhere to experience snow. I think it would make him one happy hound.

Oh, and speaking of wonder dogs, our ever-vigilant protector started raising hell in the middle of the night a few nights ago, forcing me to get out of bed to see what the HELL was going on, because THIS dog was barking like a Republican was knocking on the door or something! I got on my bathrobe, flung open the front door and turned on the porch light, and my crippled canine companion took after one of the intruding creatures like a bat out of hell, I swear breaking Mach 2.3 as he streaked out of sight attempting to run down the interloper! I never saw this dog move so fast since I first brought him home! Anyway, satisfied that he had protected the Hold from enemy, he came happily back quickly when I called for him to return. He was granted a well-earned dog treat as he settled smugly back onto his dog bed. "Come into MY territory, dare you........." he must have been thinking in doggy thought as he enjoyed his treat and I returned to the comfort of my bed.

I can't believe how the prices of gas and groceries has gone up this last several months. If I don't get a SERIOUS cost of living increase this year, we are really going to be hurting. I imagine most of the country is suffering much the same hits as we are, so I hope like hell we can kick these conservative bastards out and get a handle on this fiscal mess they have left us as they retire on their handsome government pensions that congress hasn't got the balls to take away from them AFTER indicting them for treason.

I need to ask a favor of my remaining few loyal readers. I really need you to push this blog, to tell all those millions of readers that you guys enjoy to take a peek at us here at Pendragon Hold. I know that your endorsements will really bring the fan base that we want so very much. Matter of fact, for every ten readers you turn onto TTEM, I will award each of you one hundred warm fuzzies, which is the official currency here at the Hold. Unfortunately, we have not been able to establish an exchange rate between our WM's and the American Dollar, but we are in negotiations with Liberia, the same folks who will flag anybody's tanker or rust bucket freighter, no matter how unsafe they might be, for the right amount of money. We are also hoping to get some Nigerian government official to deposit a shit-load of our freshly minted fuzzies in one of their banks so that we can draw upon them with a debit card. Also, those who turn us onto 50 new readers will get a TTEM coffee mug, just as soon as we can negotiate their manufacture without the lead paint in China. We will keep you informed of any progress.

On the news front, we have had a tragically huge automotive pile-up on Interstate 4 North of Tampa. A combination of forest-fire smoke and fog conspired to reduce the visibility on the highway to almost zero, setting off a chain of collisions that so far has claimed the life of four people. You can see the full story HERE if you haven't seen it already on the national news.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this episode of TTEM and will return next time when Timmy tells Lassie his job has been given to an illegal Sharpei. Will Lassie attack?



* He was just kidding, folks, he didn't really mean it.

New Year's Resolution Song

I thought you guys might like this one.

Fast Eddy and the Four Shots (or a New Years that only I might Remember)

It's 10.58 as I start this post on this New Year's Eve, and let me tell ya, the fun has already happened and is now being put to bed.

You see, I made the mistake of inviting my good friend Eddy, a young fellow PCT at my hospital who has a knack for making people like him simply by being so damn frigging likable, over to the hold to meet The Evil Twin on his way home from work. I should have known he'd bring a bottle of Jose Quervo with him, and it all went downhill from there.

Three, no, make that four, I think, shots later (I only had one because I don't do straight hard liquor but was bullied into it by the others, and I have to admit it DID go down alot smoother than I anticipated), Eddy said his good-nights, seeing that he, like myself, have to work tomorrow, and besides, his wife and kids were probably wondering where he was by then. It was shortly after Mr. instigator left that the full effect of the tequila began to make itself known by the increasingly strange behavior of my Soul Mate and my Offspring, Goddess bless them both.

The wife began a non-stop cacophony of laughter whilst sitting on her ass while the daughter struck up an online conversation with a girl friend she had left back in Arizona, who was obviously much more sober than this crowd and was enjoying the spectacle, via webcam, of my two drunk relations, while I, THE very much sober and ever-responsible Man of the Manor looked on and shook his head.

It is yet another hour before 2008 sashays its way into our time zone, and already the Daughter has emptied her stomach on our porch and THE Wife, Bob bless her, has passed out cold in the bed room, in the bed I somehow managed to get her into before she lost consciousness. My only regret is that the battery in our camcorder hasn't been recharged, robbing me of the opportunity to gather mucho blackmail material in living color.

As I type this and get ready for the New Year, THE Daughter is still upchucking in her bathroom quite loudly, and I am almost tempted to feel sorry for her. I won't, tho, because I am sure the fun she had tonight was worth every heave she is now experiencing. Would any of us in our heyday give back the experiences we enjoyed that led to our worshiping at the porcelain Goddess? I think not.

If this blog had been an enterprise that measured it's success by the numbers of faithful readers or some amount of money it might have garnered, you know and I know it would have been a roaring failure of utter proportions. Since you nor I have measured this vessel by visitations to ports of such kind of worth, I am proud to say that in such case this blog has been a success beyond measure, in that it has allowed me to vent my inner demons, tell a few tales, and share what makes me THE Michael with folks like YOU, my few and faithful readers who have stuck with me through thick and thin and allowed me to think of all of you as some sort of brother, sister, drinking buddy, or fellow sojourner, and I want to thank all of you for the pleasure of your company.

So, go forth and welcome in one more year, a year we are becoming fortunate to experience, as each one that now comes along might very well be our last as a species. Go forth and do what you can to somehow hold onto what made this planet the oasis in space that it has been for millennia, and still can be with a bit more careful stewardship. And last but certainly not least, may you all be blessed by whatever department in this universe has been handed the unenviable job of even considering such a thankless task. Blessed Be!