This is the end of an age indeed.

He broke all the rules and made us laugh while he did it. He showed us that it was alright to be ourselves, showed us that we shouldn’t take life so seriously, not to sweat the cheapshit so to speak.

He was “Al Sleet” the Hippy Dippy Weatherman, playing his sax (badly), predicting never ending rain for the Netherlands, increasing dark towards evening and showing nothing but lows all over the country while stating “…what this country needs is a good high“.

So goodbye to an old and dear friend. You’ve had me laughing all the way.

Note: one of the most impressive routines I’ve ever seen or listened to him do was his “I’m a Modern Man” routine at the beginning of his “Life is Worth Losing” HBO special which I was lucky enough to find online. “Modern Man” is the opening bit of the show so you won’t have long to wait once you start watching it. You’ll probably have to listen to it more than once to catch all the cliches.

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Of course, since the voting was complete, there’s been all sorts of accusations from all corners including the one’s who voted “Yes” bashing the ones who voted “No” and everyone else bashing the ones who abstained but that’s to be expected. However, there’s also been quite a lot of chastising of folks who voted “No” simply because they couldn’t make heads or tails of the Treaty itself and after downloading and attempting to grind my way through all the vague wording and political “corp-speak” of said Treaty myself, I can’t say as I blame them. If the “Powers That Be” can’t make it any clearer than that…

Be that as it may, in doing some additional research after the fact, it looks like either “Divine Providence”, “Fate Intervened” or just “Murphy’s Law” working against the Government of Ireland (or certain powers of the present EU perhaps?), saved the Irish people from giving away their right to have any say in future issues of EU treaties or the like by allowing the Irish equivalent of the Senate (the Dáil and Seanad) to make decisions on any future EU issues without consulting the Irish people in any way, shape or form:

If the change [referring to an amendment to the "Irish Constitution"] is passed this will be the last referendum we have on anything to do with the EU. The last members of the voting public which can ratify or reject EU treaties will be gone. I guess the government figure something that important can’t be left to idiots that voted them in in the first place.

Source: Inane Ramblings–Sneaking Under The Lisbon Treaty Radar

I strongly suggest you read the rest of the above article for the full explanation but to quickly sum up; by voting “Yes”, the Irish electorate would have (mostly unknowingly by what I’ve read) given their permission to their government, the same government who expected the Irish folks to “trust them” and vote Yes, to add an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland which, as explained in the above quote, strip away any future right of the Irish people to vote on any future EU treaties or issues thereof. This would be akin to the voters in Vermont (where I live) telling their State government; “Okay, we’re going to do away with all the traditional, annual town meetings thereby giving up our right to vote on State matters and all matters involving the Federal government and let the State government handle it all from now on“.

Although that’s not an exact, direct comparison, it’s a close equivalent of what the Irish people would be giving up by my way of thinking.

I’m going to end this now and leave you with a three links to certain other posts by Irish folks that I’ve read, one of which I’ve been able to comment on so far (wireless router kept going down this weekend so it’s been catch as catch can) and there’s some good links in these posts and comments to follow for those interested in knowing more. And please, do read the comments as well. One of the best ways to find out what the people involved with this are going through and how they’re feeling about the vote and their place in it is to read their comments. After all, the world is changing faster now than people can keep up and you never know when you yourselves might be facing a similar situation.

Ireland Says No–Head Rambles

Lisbon Treaty Rejected–Bock the Robber

The Lisbon Treaty: Too long; didn’t read–Holy Shmoly!

Update: (I would have included this earlier but it took me some time to find it again.)

I had to admit I found this BBC News article an accompanying video(s) somewhat amusing as I watched David Miliband as he danced around the continuing ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty while at the same time saying that the Irish vote and the meaning of their rejection of the Treaty could not be ignored (IE: By law the Treaty should now be dead in the water). Good Lord, could he get any more transparent? Political BS at it’s best.

Check out the other videos in the small sidebar of the article, especially Brian Cowen’s reaction to the final outcome. Here’s the man who supposedly stated earlier that he hadn’t even read it himself yet he wanted the Irish people to vote “Yes” on it??

‘Nuff said.

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Now it’s not that the present day candidates still aren’t holding my attention, indeed they are, but I’ve become just a little tired of people asking me whether I’m going to vote Democrat or Republican when the fact is I’m going to vote as I see fit. To me, party affiliations are completely irrelevant and often times foolish which isn’t meant to reflect on anyone else, I’m just contrary that way. Of course once I state how I’m going to vote the usual response is; “Oh, so you’re voting Independent?” and my answer is; “No, I am not voting Independent. Independent is also considered a political party and I’m not affiliated with any political party” or something to that effect.

Perhaps you may feel that this is un-American or not working with the system but I see it as an absolutely American way of thinking or at least an old way of thinking especially for a cranky old(er) Vermonter like me.

So for now, until things are sorted out between Hillary and Obama and we finally know who is going to run against who as Presidential nominees, I’ll keep my Pat Paulson button close at hand and even when the final elections do come around, I’ll still remember that dead pan face hung out in front of the cameras for all the nation to see as Pat Paulson made his pitch for the Oval Office. Even as foolish as that might sound–it’s at least guaranteed to keep me honest.

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To wit:

Mr. Obama’s advisers downplayed the West Virginia loss, describing the state as demographically unfriendly territory — the primary electorate was 95 percent white; 70 percent did not attend college — and pointing to national polls showing him in a strong position.

After Lopsided Loss, Obama Woos Blue-Collar Voters - New York Times

Ah…so what they’re essentially saying here is that if you ain’t college edu-mah-cated you ain’t smart enuff to vote for Obama ‘cuz you’re too dumb to see that he’s the one who should be President? Well, listen up Mr. Obama’s advisors, I have a light to shine upon this subject.

After fifty years of life, serving in the US Naval Submarine Force during the Cold War and working and dealing with people from all over this world and from all walks of life, the simple fact is that college educated doesn’t mean squat when it comes to a person’s intelligence or whether said person is informed/educated or not. 

I would hate to think that Obama’s loss in W. Virginia was strictly due to prejudice and although that might have been a minor factor I believe that a lot of folks, not just the those in W. Virginia, are finally starting to see Barack Obama for what he really is; A slick talking, consummate phoney. Of course this is strictly my non-college-educated opinion here. Obviously I’m too ignorant, inexperienced and naive to realize what having this man as President would do for this country. On the other hand I might see exactly what having this man as President would do for this country hence my aversion to the idea of him of winning the Presidential election.

And now I hear tell that ol’ Barack is wearing American flag pins and mentioning God here and there in his speeches to assure the people of his values. Yeah, right. Maybe he should of thought of that at the beginning of the campaign instead of waiting until now where the gesture seems transparent, flimsy and insulting of one’s intelligence.

But all the above is just my subjective opinion, now let me step outside myself and tell you what I objectively think will happen.

I believe that unless the man really pulls a massive boneheaded maneuver in the coming months of the campaign that alienates not only the public at large but the delegates and super delegates as well, Barack Obama is going to win the Democratic nomination. I even believe that Obama has more than a fair chance against John McCain for a couple-three reasons.

The American people are clamoring for change not only because they want it, but because they need it as well and McCain only offers the general public a big heaping helping of the "same old-same old". That plus the fact that he seems to spend quite a bit of his public time lately apologizing for things he said in the past which isn’t exactly what you might call impressive. Neither is his age for that matter and age seems to be playing a big part in this election in certain areas. So yes, looking at things objectively I think that Barack Obama will not only win the Democratic nomination, he’ll also stand an good chance of becoming the next President of these United States.

But then again, what do I know? I’m white and never attended college.

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That’s not what they mean? Oh…sorry about that.

Check out Earth Hour. Sure it’s half over already but not for the folks here in the USA and Canada and South America and…well, you know what I mean. Funny thing though, Laurie and I have been using those compact fluorescent bulbs for so long now I can’t remember when we didn’t and now we don’t have an incandescent in the house with the exception of those little 7 watt "night light" bulbs. Guess we won’t be saving as much as other folks.

Wonder what would happen if the world did this on a regular basis for instance, once a week? Wonder how many things we’d end up saving besides electricity? How much might we save in the long run? Only time would tell.

Meanwhile, I’ll just keep on running with my lights out.

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