Got Any New Year's Resolutions?

Editorial: Reflections

Personally, I think that capital punishment lets the bad guys off easy and it sends the message that killing people is ok.

Many people are very happy that Saddam was executed. I expected that sentiment from the Iraqi people who had to endure hardship and death under his rule. We know that the sanctions against Iraq in the 90's hurt the Iraqi people more than it affected Saddam. So many people died as a result of the sanctions and Saddam's death camps. So many people died when the US shocked and awed Baghdad. As an American, I feel guilty for all the deaths attributed to this man. But American "christians" are just tickled at the outcome. Don't you sometimes wish that Jesus would come back and kick some ass? I know, I know, the "christians" would be the first ones to crucify him again.

Saddam was tried and hung for killing 148 people in 1982. It didn't seem to bother the US in 1983. See photo above.

The powers that be in the US have made sure that Saddam doesn't reveal just how far up his ass they were. Juan Cole has some insight on this.

I haven't been able to actually watch the hanging but it's here. I clicked to pause it because I have a problem watching people get killed. I'm a total weenie. So I read the comments instead. Disturbing.

PS. Our friend who's a reservist just came home for Christmas from his second tour of duty to meet his daughter who was born while he was away. He'll be going back on January 9th. He doesn't know where. Bush doesn't care. Condi doesn't care. She thinks it's all worth it. I don't want our friend to die, but then again, his type is also part of the problem. He looks at it as if it's a job that pays well with benefits. I am having a big problem with human beings lately.

PS. Found the Southpark version of Saddam's death on youtube.

'On Faith' -- A conversation on religion...

with Jon Meacham (believer) and Sally Quinn (Atheist).

"At The Washington Post and Newsweek, we believe the first step is conversation-intelligent, informed, eclectic, respectful conversation-among specialists and generalists who devote a good part of their lives to understanding and delineating religion's influence on the life of the world. The point of our new online religion feature is to provide a forum for such sane and spirited talk, drawing on a remarkable panel of distinguished figures from the academy, the faith traditions, and journalism."


THEIR QUESTION:
Atheism is enjoying a certain vogue right now. Why do you think that is? Can there be a productive conversation between believers and atheists, and if so over what kinds of issues?

What kind of question is that? First of all, I sure did not feel "in vogue" this Christmas and I really did not "enjoy" telling my entire family that I did not go to Christmas mass this year!

AND -- "productive conversation", from what I can gather from this website, is a given here. AND "issues" should be singular, as the only ISSUE up for discussion here is believer or nonbeliever.

The site does have some great commentary. Since this is my first visit here, I had best read more and stop nitpicking.

The "On Faith" panelists respond

I have only read these two so far.
God’s Enemies Are More Honest Than His Friends
by Sam Harris

No Atheists (Still) Need Apply
by Susan Jacoby

Add or Read Comments to this post here

Looks Pretty Old To Me

Photo by Blondesense.
January 1, 2005


Now for the geological agnostics
Good heavens, I can't believe this story is back in the news again. How Old is The Grand Canyon? For fear of offending flat earthers, the folks at the Grand Canyon National Park aren't allowed to speculate on the age of the Grand Canyon unless it's in the range of 6,000 years. Puhlease. What about NOT offending those who paid attention in science class and have working thought processes?

It's been 3 years since the story first took root. The Grand Canyon bookstore was forced to carry the book, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" which purports that the Canyon was created during the time of Noah. Naturally the people who work there were infuriated and demanded action. There was supposed to be a "high level" review but it seems that none was ever done. The issue is still a sore spot.

"I was well informed, but then I met the Lord and checked my brains at the door"
I blogged about this story 3 years ago. This is the quote from the Guardian by the man who wrote the book:

Mr Vail writes: "For years, as a Colorado river guide, I told people how the Grand Canyon was formed over the evolutionary timescale of millions of years. Then I met the Lord. Now I have a different view of the canyon, which according to a biblical timescale can't possibly be more than a few thousand years old."

Indeed. I met the Lord and now I'm blinded by stupidity.

Honestly, when I went to the GC in January 2005, I looked for that book and looked for signs that the national park was cowtowing to the fundies and I couldn't find it. If it was there, it was well hidden among the stacks of books about geology. I met no one who offered the so called "biblical" explanation of the canyon's formation and believe me, I was looking for it so I could blog it. Could my very well educated Noo Yawk axxent have given my indentity away and I was therefore briefed on the correct geology of the canyon by the ranger man in the big hat? I dunno. I was also gasping for air at the time and forgot to axe (ask).

This story could be overblown by eco-terrorists, but I still encourage those of you who visit the canyon and the surrounding areas to snoop around and see what the 'official' story is. See if you can find any park employees who are going along with the politically/fundamentally "correct" version rather than the scientific version. Let's "out" them. It's hurting my head. Since when is it politically incorrect to be correct?

What century is this?

help me

Executed

President Bush said in a statement issued from his ranch in Texas that bringing Saddam to justice "is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror."

That's a loaded sentence. It may come back to bite him in the ass some day.

"Brought to justice." I can't get that out of my head.

Check out Dark Wraith's post on the execution.
What happens next?

Last Minute Gift Suggestions For Those Who Don't Care

You've been invited to some festivities this weekend, eh? You didn't really care that much about the host/hostess because you didn't buy them a present for the holidays. Show them how much you care with a USB Humping Dog (you had better be able to read Japanese).

Or how about a radioactive isotope for that backstabbing piece of shit who you thought was your friend? Polonium-210, which comes in a cute gift box, isn't enough to kill your cheating spouse, but it will sure scare the shit out him or her.

What about the Dick Cheney in your life? How about some seasoned bird shot? Shoot the birdie and it will be marinated by the time you put it on the dinner table. Mmmmm. Ammo with flavor. Throw in some Mullet Shampoo too.

The religious freak in your life deserves the Thomas Kinkade Faith Mountain Religious Christian Home Decor. It's a thingy that looks kind of like a Christmas tree but it's really the life of jesus from his humble beginnings to his grisly death in painstaking detail and it lights up too.

What about the alky in your life who likes to sneak booze into non-alcoholic events? Why not a faux beer belly (with a straw) or a wine rack for the lady?

That little underdeprived daughter of the host and hostess deserves Barbie and her incredible shitting doggie. Comes with toy poop and pooper scooper. Don't miss the Barbie toy kitty litter box or Barbie's Let's clean up the stable playset either.

We keep this catalog in the bathroom for fun reading, but just about anything from Archie McPhee is a way to tell those you "love" how much you care. Personally, I like the Swedish Ear Syringe but you may prefer the Avenging Narwhal Play Set for the little brat.

A Modest Farewell

There will be no "12 days of funeral pomposity" for President Gerald Ford. President Bush will not attend the weekend funereal festivities as he is still busy "deciding" at his Crawford Ranch. Bushie plans to pay his respects to the former president, who disagreed with Bushie's war, on Monday and speak at his funeral on Tuesday.

Does This Mean That We Won and Can Go Home Now?

The White House wants Saddam hung as early as this weekend. He is charged with killing 148 people who were planning to assassinate him back in 1982. The US will turn the dictator over to the Iraqi's on the day of his execution. Saddam's lawyer insists that it is forbidden by international conventions to hand over a prisoner of war to his adversary. His lawyer doesn't seem to understand who is in charge here. The bush administration "believes the trial was held in accordance with international and Iraqi laws." So who is going to argue with that? The Pope says that he condemns capital punishment because it's inconsistent with Roman Catholic teaching, as if that matters to anyone involved in this. Saddam was a bad, bad man and that is really all that matters to the blood thirsty.

Meanwhile bush topped both lists of an AP Poll.

He was voted the top villain of the year by a landslide beating by far Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and voted top hero of the year by a tiny margin of fringe wingers.

Rebecca Solnit, End of the Year Review,........... 2026

The Age of Mammals
Looking Back on the First Quarter of the Twenty-First Century

2006 was a year just grim enough that a bit of perspective seemed a necessity. So Tomdispatch ordered up a little dose of the recent past from the distant future -- a trick not normally easy to accomplish, but just about nothing is beyond Rebecca Solnit, this site's resident historian of hope...........

THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE MUST READ

Ahh.....life is good

Enjoy!

I just love these year end summaries.

Most outrageous comments of 2006 at Media Matters

Best Inventions 2006 by Time Magazine

NPR Listeners Pick the Best CDs of 2006

“Best of 2006 List” by Amazon

Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2006 by Juan Cole

Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006 by Project Censored

Top Ten Stories of 2006 from National Geographic News

Top Ten Environmental Stories of 2006 from the Gristmill

Bush's worst lies of 2006 by Eleanor Clift

From Foley to Frey: The Year in U.S. Scandals from Alternet

I'll keep adding to the list. What else have you got?

Presidential News

Can you believe this was newsworthy?
Flash! President Bush Says He Reads Papers
That was the headline in a NYTimes article on the 25th.

Apparently Gerald Ford read the papers and strongly disagreed with Bush's war on Iraq. Sure. Now that comes out.

Yay. John Edwards threw his hat in the race. The blonde in me thinks that he will be soooo much easier on the eyes than the Chimp.

Be Very Afraid. Oy.

Have you been keeping up with the propaganda of the week and the ensuing war?

The NRA published a beautifully illustrated novella which points the finger at the real enemies of America: A rich Jewish Hungarian man, illegal immigrants including the dastardly Chinese, animal rights terrorists (women who don't shave their legs), the media, Democrats and so on.

Eclectics Anonymous summarizes the story nicely with links to the debate between Wonkette, Boing Boing, a DKos diarist and the PDF version of the novella concerning the reality of this magnificently concocted fear mongering by the NRA.

RIP Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford passed away at 93 years. I will remember him best for pardoning Nixon, for his wife Betty's women's rights activity and her alcoholism and drug addiction which led to the famous Betty Ford Center for Treatment of Chemical Dependency and for Chevy Chase' impression of him on Saturday Night Live.

The president had a sense of humor, however. Gerald Ford was the only president to open the show with "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night."

10 myths—and 10 Truths—About Atheism

(A Provisional Metaphysical Theory of Everything)

[As regards] those who seek the right path. When one of them rejects anything as false, he will be lifted towards a better symbol which is nearer to the truth and is not open to that objection; and if he is satisfied with it, he will be left where he is. When that better symbol is also rejected by him as false, he will be lifted to another rank, and if he is then satisfied with it, he will be left where he is.

Whenever a symbol of a given standard is rejected by him as false, he will be lifted to a higher rank, but when he rejects all the symbols as false and has the strength and gift to understand the truth, he will be made to know the truth and will be placed into the class of those who take the philosophers as their authorities.

If he is not yet satisfied with that and desires to acquire philosophical wisdom and has himself the strength and gift for it, he will be made to know it.

Via God...

NOW I am able to go back to these next two "Christmas Messages" and not want to SCREAM to the world WTF?!? because it just ain't worth getting my blood boiling anymore -- it's not good for me! I'm really glad I read those words above before I started writing this post -- (it's much shorter now!!)

Pope says: Worship God not technology
(out of respect, no comment -- a picture says a thou$sand words

A warning from the Archbishop of Canterbury
(no comment out of respect to my elders -- and an even BETTER pic!)

Now HERE'S something for you two gents to think about --Religion does more harm than good says poll and I have come to this conclusion also. After much soul searching over the past few years about whether or not I, as a mother, should be providing my kids a religious (church) experience, I can now say I made the right choice. I am now seeing the wonderful, happy lives that my three children are experiencing as a result of not belonging to a religion.

This piece by Sam Harris is very timely for us. 10 myths—and 10 Truths—About Atheism

The kids at school seem to be noticing that mine have been absent from CCD for a few years now. Quite a few comments have been made to them this past year about jerseycynic's family being atheists. Up until now, I've just told them to respond "yes, that's right; thank GOD I'm an atheist" and see if anybody gets it!
Now that they are older and able to communicate with their peers on a somewhat intelligent level now, I hope they are able to get these great points across. A lot of kids discuss their family's religious beliefs. It's about time my kids were able to discuss the real deal with friends who care to challenge their minds.

I thought these were great talking points:

Our relationships with those we love are meaningful now; they need not last forever to be made so.


There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable.

historian Stephen Henry Roberts (1901-71) once said:
“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

Tell people you are intellectually honest.

"Pretending to know things one doesn’t know is a profound liability in science. And yet it is the life-blood of faith-based religion. One of the monumental ironies of religious discourse can be found in the frequency with which people of faith praise themselves for their humility, while claiming to know facts about cosmology, chemistry and biology that no scientist knows..."

"There is no question that some Christians have transformed their lives for the better by reading the Bible and praying to Jesus. What does this prove? It proves that certain disciplines of attention and codes of conduct can have a profound effect upon the human mind"

"From the atheist point of view, the world’s religions utterly trivialize the real beauty and immensity of the universe. One doesn’t have to accept anything on insufficient evidence to make such an observation..."


"In most cases, it seems that religion gives people bad reasons to behave well, when good reasons are actually available. Ask yourself, which is more moral, helping the poor out of concern for their suffering, or doing so because you think the creator of the universe wants you to do it, will reward you for doing it or will punish you for not doing it?"

"We do not get our morality from religion. We decide what is good in our good books by recourse to moral intuitions that are (at some level) hard-wired in us and that have been refined by thousands of years of thinking about the causes and possibilities of human happiness."

Whatever is good in scripture — like the golden rule — can be valued for its ethical wisdom without our believing that it was handed down to us by the creator of the universe.

Now Can We Call It Even...And Start Picking Up the Pieces

Sometimes I don't even have the words to express the pain and horror I feel when I gaze at the headlines. I thought I would feel better after the elections but knowing how much damage can still be done and how much evil and destruction we need to repair just to get us back to where we 'used' to be...well it gets a bit overwhelming.

The big headlines this morning is that we have officially lost more soldiers in the war than we did civillians in the 9/11 attacks. Of course little if anything has been said in the American papers about the Iraqi CIVILLIANS who have died. I think we're between a quarter and half a million dead at this point. There is a call for an influx of new soldiers, supposedly a temporary one, but others say to beware, it won't be temporary at all. And I'm sure they will need those extra troops to keep what little order is left when Saddam is hung by the kangaroo court. Now don't get me wrong, he is a evil, cruel man - one who caused a great deal of pain, hardship and death and perhaps he deserves death or a life sentence ( don't have the strength to get into the pros/cons of death sentences at the moment) But I would feel a LOT more confident if his lawyers had been permitted to defend him to the best of their abilities and not been banned from the courtroom on several occasions. Not to mention the murder of his original lawyer and judge.

Meanwhile, as we have read in the posts below, Islands are disappearing, climates are changing radically, extinction is coming at a rapid rate, and many insurance companies are dropping their policies on coastal homes from Texas all the way up the Eastern Seaboard.

And what is our government doing? Its going on vaction to 'rethink' (read- hide) its talking head points on the 'war on terror', it is hiring lawyers in anticipation of all the inquiries and probes that the Democrats can launch against them.

And then today, Boxing Day, the 2 year anniversary of the monster tsunami that killed so many started with another potential disaster, a true disaster and news that neither of the previous disasters are even close to being taken care of.

So, what are we going to do about this? Any suggestions outside of a large, large glass of Guiness with a chaser on the side?

What's the doggie thinking?

The president went back to Texas to "rethink" the course in Iraq in light of the death sentence that came down for Saddam Hussein who will be hung in 30 days.

As we know from previous news stories, the president will not address the nation as to the new course until January 23rd because the WH didn't want the war to compete with college football.

Why I'm glad Christmas comes only once a year:

It seems like every year I always get stuck sitting around the dinner table next to this same old geezer who is a prime example of self-imposed ignorance and stupidity. Remind you of at least one friend/relative you see once a year at Christmas time? Anyway, this year he outdid himself. When I asked him, "What do you think of the situation in Beirut"?, he replied,
"I t'ink Babe Rut' was da greatest baseball player dat ever lived".

What did you want for Christmas that you didn't get?

I wanted someone to throw their hat in the ring for the '08 election that wouldn't make me have to hold my nose when I vote.

And I still haven't gotten my pony.
---------

And on a happier note, what did you get that totally surprised you in a good way?

I got to see a whole lot of relatives that I hadn't seen in years and it was ok.

Our fascists suck.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military on Tuesday announced the deaths of six more American soldiers, pushing the U.S. military death toll since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003 to at least 2,978 — five more than the number killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean, but to me it means that we doubled the amount of people killed on 9/11 plus we actually made terrorism worse, not to mention we practically obliterated Iraq for no good reason and Afghanistan is worse than ever. Heck of a job, bushie.

And how about this waste by the lousy fascists?

WASHINGTON - The tally for Hurricane Katrina waste could top $2 billion next year because half of the lucrative government contracts valued at $500,000 or greater for cleanup work are being awarded without little competition.

Federal investigators have already determined the Bush administration squandered $1 billion on fraudulent disaster aid to individuals after the 2005 storm. Now they are shifting their attention to the multimillion dollar contracts to politically connected firms that critics have long said are a prime area for abuse.

Can this administration do anything right?

And what is with this troop surge NOW? Why didn't they send in enough troops in the first place if they felt that they HAD to wage this war? The military should have recruited enough troops and have enough war gear ready BEFORE the US shocked and awed Iraq. Hell, even I figured that out 3 years ago. They are so useless. Some people try to tell me to this day how the war was so urgent. I didn't believe it then and I don't believe it now.

And bush is contemplating giving $10billion for a New Deal project in Iraq that would put Iraqi's to work? Get the hell outta here. Why doesn't the US just flush it down the toilet? And why do I get the feeling that somehow the US corporations will benefit the most from this exercise? And why aren't there any New Deal projects in the US at this time? feh, on all of them.

Poppa's Got A Brand New Bag

One good thing about the olden days: Radio stations and television variety shows didn't distinguish between musical genres so we all had a pretty good taste for all types of music unlike today where I am unfamiliar with a lot of popular music and lack an appreciation for it.

The clock radio went off on Christmas morning and the DJ's were talking about the passing of James Brown. What a great loss to the music world. I've enjoyed him and his music for most of my life.

Yesterday, I was picturing my family watching Ed Sullivan way back when and seeing the Godfather of Soul come into our living room and singing his brand of funky gospel blues called "soul" at the time and watching this skinny black man with his white man's hair, move his feet like nothing I had ever seen before. All those "Ow's" and "Ooh's"- no one did it like James.

This morning I found James Brown on You Tube from the Ed Sullivan Show in 1966. Enjoy. (Lots more where that came from.)

If we could just figure out a way to move Crawford, TX to the middle of the ocean...

For the first time, an inhabited island has disappeared beneath rising seas.

That's the headline. Here's a couple of quotes:
"The obliteration of Lohachara island, in India's part of the Sundarbans where the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal, marks the moment when one of the most apocalyptic predictions of environmentalists and climate scientists has started coming true."

"As the seas continue to swell, they will swallow whole island nations, from the Maldives to the Marshall Islands, inundate vast areas of countries from Bangladesh to Egypt, and submerge parts of scores of coastal cities."

The aptly named Independent has the rest and a hat tip to Chris at Americablog.

From Our Barn To Yours

The world today measures success in how much wealth we can acquire. The rich and famous are often placed on pedestals and admired by millions for their accomplishments. I tend to agree with Albert Einstein when he said, "A successful man is he who receives a great deal from his fellowmen, usually incomparably more than corresponds to his service to them. The value of a man, however, should be seen in what he gives and not what he is able to receive."

In your own search for success, I urge you to hear these words: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you!

O What a Difference a Key Change Makes

Here's a cute (and menacing) twist on Christmas Carols....

Check out a great video from PandaSmash.com... it's called "Evil Christmas Carols (Volume 1)"... click here to check it out.


Merry Xmas, Blessed Yule, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Holidays to all

The Gift Outright

The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia,
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

-- Robert Frost

Merry Christmas to all blond bloggers!

Some Holiday Time Wasters

Just milling about, waiting for relatives to show up or the baking to be done?

Here are a few time wasters to keep you busy and somewhat sane during the oft frantic and stressful holidays.

Write a Presidential Speech , Not quite a game but useful in the mall parking lot, then there is Rock, Paper, Saddam, Oh and don't forget to celebrate the FSM yule time feast day, 'holiday', - get we get a rAmen?

Once the relatives arrive you can get them a Psych eval via Dr. Seuss., also specifically for some of those relatives; hitman the online version. If you are like me and have to put up with one or two exteme bible literalist who claim that the Bible predicts everything, explain to them that so does Moby Dick and let the fun ensue. Your relatives a little cooler than that? Maybe old D&D players from way back? Try the 8bit version for old times sake.

Maybe mess around with some 'will they notice its not the real stuff' ads. Or make them a new year calendar with all those 'important' dates already on it. And to top off the night, a little Monty.


Hope everyone has a happy, safe and relaxing few days off with loved ones and a bit of peace.

Holiday Weekend Open House

Stop in, have a drink and leave a link.
Click for larger image of photo.

A Parable For Our Times - by Bill Moyers

In today's America, as it was in ancient Galilee, we must fight for a more equal society.

My Christmas wish:

I wish that ALL 'men of the cloth' (especially the RC priests) across this magnificent earth that we ALL inhabit would read this during their Sunday sermons.

The Christian story begins simply:

Scared Yet?

Some people are. So scared they don't even take vacation time they have coming. Courtesy of Patricia of Lone Tree who brought it to my attention, I offer an article entitled, "Are your vacation days numbered?" which contains such nuggets as:

"With the downsizing and companies being leaner in terms of the staffing, ... companies are trying to do more with less, and people are busier than ever,"

"On average, Americans will give up four vacation days this year, one more than last year."

"Experts say Americans are not fully taking advantage of their vacations because they are more insecure about their jobs. Some of them feel that if they take all their vacation, especially in large chunks, they will be looked upon negatively by their boss."

Final economic suggestion (for this post): Instead of buying a fancy-dancy can opener and presenting it to your loved one for Christmas, buy a couple of cases of Aldi's pork and beans and use your old opener to open the cans; then consume the contents right out of the can, preferably with a wooden spoon.

"Population Reduction" plan seems to be working:

"Iraq is "worth the investment" in American lives and dollars, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday."


Veterans Affairs secretary indicates support for military draft


Experts Predict Avian Flu Pandemic Could Kill 62 Million People


Pandemic Flu Similar to 1918 Would Kill 62 Million

Now this is a war on christmas

By night, they are tremendous and throbbing. By day, they lie strewn across suburban lawns like spent condoms and deflated egos.

It didn't take this article in the NY Times to tell me that inflatable christmas decorations are this year's landscape spoilers for lazy Long Islanders.

Is your neighborhood taken over by inflatable christmas decorations? And if so, what does this mean?

Another Friday, Another Excommunication

If you grew up Catholic, January 1st was a holy day of obligation (meaning if you didn't go to Mass, then it's a mortal sin and you will go to hell) because it was the Feast of the Circumcision. Looking back, it was kind of creepy, but then again, there were a lot of weird and paranormal holy days that were observed. If we giggled while the nuns explained a particular practice or observance, we were quickly admonished and warned of that special place in hell for Catholic boys and girls who asked questions. Our parents couldn't explain any of the weirdness to us, "Be quiet and put on your church clothes or we'll be late for mass." When I finally learned what a circumcision was, I paid attention at Mass that time, but the priest didn't talk about Jesus' foreskin at all. You weren't allowed to mention Jesus and penis in the same sentence when I was growing up.

I was over at Jesus' General and read his letter concerning the Holy Prepuce (Holy Foreskin) being stolen and it not being mentioned in the mass media for lo these past 23 years. It got me giggling like a Catholic school girl again. It seems that in 1983, the holy foreskin wasn't going to be available for devotion and procession that year because someone stole it out of the priests' closet. Some say that it was stolen by the Vatican because no one was supposed to use the words penis and Jesus in the same sentence. oops

As a matter of fact, in 1900, the Vatican supposedly decreed that if anyone were to write or speak of the holy foreskin, they would be excommunicated. So there you go. I guess I'm excommunicated again.

would you, Mr. President, volunteer for duty in Iraq?

Mr. Bush dodged the draft in his own class conscious, "the rules are for suckers" manner. It is true that former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes pulled strings to get Bush into the Texas Air National Guard. Barnes openly discussed what he had done for Bush and others who were well connected enough to avoid the draft. My hat is off to anyone who refused to go to that illegal war, but Bush didn't object to the war on moral or religious grounds. He supported the war, particularly if he didn't have to fight in it.

He had famously commented that he learned from the Vietnam War that politicians defer to the generals in the field. That presidents should listen to and respond to their generals. Politics shouldn't be a part of warfare.

No American president, as commander in chief, allows generals to run a war. (Isn't he the decider?) And evidently Bush isn't taking any advice from his own generals in Iraq. Two generals on the ground in Iraq would rather retire than accept an increase in troops in Iraq which they oppose. Some military officials have suggested that sending more troops into Iraq will cause harm to an already heavily stressed, all volunteer army.

But for heaven's sake, don't suggest a draft. The day after Bush suggested that he was considering sending more troops to Iraq, Bush's own Secretary of Veteran's Affairs Jim Nicholson commented that a draft would be good for America and then quickly backed away from his own statement, no doubt after a come to Jesus discussion with the White House, and said that he didn't support a draft.

If Bush was in his twenties again, would he volunteer for duty in Iraq?

christmas presents a la blondesense

Cheap Date

I don't know if I was just slap happy or what, but while I was making elegantly beaded christmas presents yesterday, I came up with these wine charms. I just may keep them for myself and use them the next time I entertain... or maybe I will make more and give them as gifts.

(They are put around the stems of wine glasses for identification at a gathering where the guests are tight and can't remember which glass is theirs.)

PS: I posted some pictures of some of the other wine charms I have been working on at the Blondesense Annex.
Warning: Page is graphics intensive.

Who thought manholes could be so artistic?

You really have to hand it to them. This is a fine example of manhole art found in Japan. Wanna see more? Sure you do. Damn Cool Pics Blog

He wanted to mourn his wife before the holidays, so he wanted the murder over with fast

A snippet of life from my neck of the woods...

Excerpt from today's Newsday:

He started by asking a friend to kill her, they said. When that didn't work, Paul, 31, of 2431 Cliff Lane, North Bellmore, arranged to meet a hit man in a McDonald's restaurant parking lot in Uniondale. There, with his 3-year-old son in his car, Paul agreed to pay the man $200,000 to follow his wife to Manhattan today and stab her through the heart, prosecutors said.

There was just one problem: The hit man was a cop.

Paul said he wanted to mourn his wife before the holidays, so he wanted the murder over with fast, said District Attorney Kathleen Rice. He said his wife, who works for Cablevision, was heading into Manhattan to get a passport today, and that the undercover detective should follow her and stab her there, where crime is more prevalent, the prosecutors said.

Late Tuesday night, when Paul returned to the parking lot to give the man money for the job, he was arrested and charged with second-degree conspiracy. His unsuspecting wife, Tina, filed a missing person report when her husband didn't come home Tuesday night.

"Unsuspecting wife" is some understatement.

Welcome to my "Church of What's Happening NOW!

I'm still trying to put together our family's Christmas celebration (I'm the hostess this year -- lucky me!)

At present, none of them can give me a 'good time' to start the festivities because they're all still arguing over what mass and which church to attend. This is a MAJOR deal in my family, as most of them bitch and moan about all the "once-a-year attendees" that crowd their church and how they will have to get there an hour ahead of time to get a good seat and how they'll all probably catch a nasty cold during the sign of peace. This will be the first year I don't make an appearance. It's about time I gave up 5 seats! I probably only attended in recent years just so I could join in on the decision, and complicate it even more. I am sooooo tempted to offer them to attend MY 'church' this year -- Mass begins whenever you get here!

I was hoping to dig up a youtube video of
The Flip Wilson Show and have Reverend Leroy playing as they arrived. No such luck. (I'm such a trouble maker.) For the best, I guess. Apparently, it's only available to purchase on DVD. Too bad! I never realized that the Flip Wilson show was eventually cancelled because he wanted too much money. I wonder who owns the rights now?

Flip Wilson, Johnny Carson and Jonathan Winters were my abosolute favorites as a kid. Look what I happend upon while searching youtube: Flip Wilson on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1965
CLASSIC -- still LMAO!

I think I'll keep the peace this year and tell them whatever works for them -- don't worry about us --we'll fit mass in around their schedules. Maybe I'll come down with a cold, and spare all the parishioners my germs (wink wink).

The one common ground we all seem to share is The Late Show with Johnny. I'm going to keep a lid on it this year and play the many episodes that are now showing up on youtube -- Rickles, Gleason, Winters, Newhart. So many!! We're going to have some good laughs. It should be a great time!

If you click on this video, it will bring up all of the episodes.

Johnny Carson - "What I have Learned"


HAPPY SOLSTICE to my all my BFF(s) at Blondesense and BigBrassBlog

Happy Winter Solstice

The days are getting longer again, and that's always a cheerful thought.

History Repeating Itself Again

I'd like to show you an excerpt (so that you'll read the whole article) from Madison’s Ghost on The Intoxicated Presidency – and its Corporate Support Group by Thom Hartmann, published on October 25th, 2002 in Common Dreams. (At this point in time, we aren't absolutely sure that Bush will invade Iraq)

"Hitler used the 1933 burning of the Reichstag (Parliament) building by a deranged Dutchman to declare a “war on terrorism,” establish his legitimacy as a leader (even though he hadn’t won a majority in the previous election).

“You are now witnessing the beginning of a great epoch in history,” he proclaimed, standing in front of the burned-out building, surrounded by national media. “This fire,” he said, his voice trembling with emotion, “is the beginning.” He used the occasion – “a sign from God,” he called it – to declare an all-out war on terrorism and its ideological sponsors, a people, he said, who traced their origins to the Middle East and found motivation for their “evil” deeds in their religion.

Two weeks later, the first prison for terrorists was built in Oranianberg, holding the first suspected allies of the infamous terrorist. In a national outburst of patriotism, the nation’s flag was everywhere, even printed in newspapers suitable for display.

Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation’s now-popular leader had pushed through legislation, in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it, that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers; police could sneak into people’s homes without warrants if the cases involved terrorism.

To get his patriotic “Decree on the Protection of People and State” passed over the objections of concerned legislators and civil libertarians, he agreed to put a 4-year sunset provision on it: if the national emergency provoked by the terrorist attack on the Reichstag building was over by then, the freedoms and rights would be returned to the people, and the police agencies would be re-restrained.

Within the first months after that terrorist attack, at the suggestion of a political advisor, he brought a formerly obscure word into common usage. Instead of referring to the nation by its name, he began to refer to it as The Fatherland. As hoped, people’s hearts swelled with pride, and the beginning of an us-versus-them mentality was sewn. Our land was “the” homeland, citizens thought: all others were simply foreign lands.

Within a year of the terrorist attack, Hitler’s advisors determined that the various local police and federal agencies around the nation were lacking the clear communication and overall coordinated administration necessary to deal with the terrorist threat facing the nation, including those citizens who were of Middle Eastern ancestry and thus probably terrorist sympathizers. He proposed a single new national agency to protect the security of the Fatherland, consolidating the actions of dozens of previously independent police, border, and investigative agencies under a single powerful leader.

Most Americans remember his Office of Fatherland Security, known as the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and Schutzstaffel, simply by its most famous agency’s initials: the SS.

And, perhaps most important, he invited his supporters in industry into the halls of government to help build his new detention camps, his new military, and his new empire which was to herald a thousand years of peace. Industry and government worked hand-in-glove, in a new type of pseudo-democracy first proposed by Mussolini and sustained by war.

This wasn’t a new lesson, however, and neither Orwell nor Hitler were the first to note that a democracy at war was weakened and at risk.

Chillingly familiar isn't it? (I heard Thom Hartmann on Air America yesterday reading something like this and I really thought he was talking about the US.)

Eisenhower then warned of the military industrial complex.

"As Eisenhower said in an April, 1953 speech: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”

It was a brilliant articulation of human needs in a world increasingly dominated by the non-breathing entities called corporations whose values are profit and growth but not the human values of fresh air, clean water, pure food, freedom, and happiness. But it was a call unheeded and, today, it is nearly totally forgotten.

Reflecting on Eisenhower’s time, The American Heritage Dictionary (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983) left us this definition of the form of government the Germany democracy had become through Hitler’s close alliance with the German military and industrial complex: “fas-cism (fâsh'iz'em) n. A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.”

A related article by Thom Hartmann, you will like is The Myth of National Victimhood - All Wrapped and Delivered for Christmas.
How the neo-cons use Hitler's trick of pointing to a "them" (Jews) out there who are destroying the nation's moral fiber:

This is an old trick, and one the cons know is very difficult to counter. Consider what happened when German militarism in WWI led, through the punishing Treaty of Versailles and then later the Great Depression, to the collapse of the German economy in the 1920s and early 1930s. Hitler couldn't blame the militarists and corporatist conservatives who had led his nation into WWI and mismanaged the economy afterwards, so he pointed to the Jews as the "them" responsible for the problems in German society.

Just substitute "liberal" for "Jew" and there is a clear picture of America today. (I noticed that Bill O'Lielly does it all the time.) There are lots of good related articles by Hartmann here.

Ah yes.....1984 IS...... finally here!

Bush Admin: What You Don't Know Can't Hurt Us
(from TPMmuckraker) and also from the carpetbaggerreport: Keeping Iraq attack numbers under wrap.

Of course, this does fit nicely into the Bush administration’s m.o. — when data is inconvenient, hide it.

* In March, the administration announced it would no longer produce the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, which identifies which programs best assist low-income families, while also tracking health insurance coverage and child support.

* In 2005, after a government report showed an increase in terrorism around the world, the administration announced it would stop publishing its annual report on international terrorism.

* After the Bureau of Labor Statistics uncovered discouraging data about factory closings in the U.S., the administration announced it would stop publishing information about factory closings.

* When an annual report called “Budget Information for States” showed the federal government shortchanging states in the midst of fiscal crises, Bush’s Office of Management and Budget announced it was discontinuing the report, which some said was the only source for comprehensive data on state funding from the federal government.

* When Bush’s Department of Education found that charter schools were underperforming, the administration said it would sharply cut back on the information it collects about charter schools.

When government reports conflict with the White House’s, the Bush gang has a choice — deal with the problem or change the reports. Guess which course they prefer?
-----------------------------------

TMPMuckraker continues carpetbagger's list below and is looking for additions.

Update:

* The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has to date failed to produce a congressionally-mandated report on climate change that was due in 2004. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has called the failure an "obfuscation."

* The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced plans to close several libraries which were used by researchers and scientists. The agency called its decision a cost-cutting measure, but a 2004 report showed that the facilities actually brought the EPA a $7.5 million surplus annually.

* On November 1st, 2001, President Bush issued an executive order limiting the public's access to presidential records. The order undermined the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which required the release of those records after 12 years. Bush's order prevented the release of "68,000 pages of confidential communications between President Ronald Reagan and his advisers," some of whom had positions in the Bush Administration. More here. (Thanks to Roger A. and nitpicker below.) Update: TPMm Reader JP writes in to point out that Bush did the same thing with his papers from the Texas governorship.

* A rule change at the U.S. Geological Survey restricts agency scientists from publishing or discussing research without that information first being screened by higher-ups at the agency. Special screening will be given to "findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed." The scientists at the USGS cover such controversial topics as global warming. Before, studies were released after an anonymous peer review of the research. (Thanks to Alison below.)

* A new policy at the The U.S. Forest Service means the agency no longer will generate environmental impact statements for "its long-term plans for America's national forests and grasslands." It also "no longer will allow the public to appeal on long-term plans for those forests, but instead will invite participation in planning from the outset." (Thanks to libra below.)

* In March 2006, the Department of Health and Human Services took down a six-year-old Web site devoted to substance abuse and treatment information for gays and lesbians, after members of the conservative Family Research Council complained.

* In 2002, HHS removed information from its Web site pertaining to risky sexual behavior among adolescents, condom use and HIV.

* Also in 2002, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission removed from its Web site a document showing that officials found large gaps in a portion of an aging Montana dam. A FERC official said the deletion was for "national security."

* In 2004, the FBI attempted to retroactively classify public information regarding the case of bureau whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, including a series of letters between the Justice Department and several senators.

* In October 2003, the Bush administration banned photographs depicting servicemembers' coffins returning from overseas.

* In December 2002, the administration curtailed funding to the Mass-Layoffs Statistics program, which released monthly data on the number and size of layoffs by U.S. companies. His father attempted to kill the same program in 1992, but Clinton revived it when he assumed the presidency.

* In 2004, the Internal Revenue Service stopped providing data demonstrating the level of its job performance. In 2006, a judge forced the IRS to provide the information.


(ALL LINKS TO ABOVE EXAMPLES ARE AT BOTH SITES)

E-mail, or print and snailmail it to your congresscritters today

I wonder what Lloyd BLANKcheckFEINd has on Henry Paulson....

Goldman Sachs breaks Wall Street bonus record, pays CEO $53.4M


The bonanza for Blankfein included a cash bonus of $27.3 million, with the rest paid in stock and options. He took the helm of the investment bank in June after President Bush nominated Henry Paulson to be Treasury secretary.

Freedom Tower?

UPDATE Wed, Dec 21st: In today's Newsday you can read Wrong-way flag yanked at WTC site. The flag was displayed backwards on the beam. Thankfully, there are enough Americans who love the flag to have noticed this disgraceful faux pas. Sadly, I missed it.

If you click on the image below, you can see the US Flag on the beam as it appeared yesterday.


The first beam of the "Freedom Tower" was erected at ground zero in NYC consisting of thousands of signatures. It will be completed by 2011.

How Tainted is our Collective Soul?

There are 2,243,040 people in US prisons. We have the highest percentage of the population imprisoned in the whole wide world. We even beat the bad guys!

Black men are hardly our biggest problem in America, but under George Bush, we beat out encarcerating black men against South Africa in 1993 under apartheid:
US in 2004: 4,919 per 100,000
SA in 1993: 851 per 100,000
(stats via prisonsucks.com)

We execute more white people than blacks though. White people are more likely to be serial killers. The Europeans called for a ban on executions. Here, more than 60% of the populace endorse it. Probably because we discuss who we are killing, not who is doing the killing. We are not number one in worldwide executions, but we share the stage with such luminary countries as Sudan, Kuwait, China, and republics of the former Soviet Union. (link)

So is it really hard to believe, when you read these days, that we're the number one torturers in the world and we are able to break a human being better than anyone else without even killing him? And if you ask around, like I have been doing lately, this doesn't seem to even bother a lot of people. They say that they don't want to be mugged or terrorized. It has never occured to them that giving equal opportunities to all people may reduce crime and terrorism. Or maybe it has, but they don't care.

If you read some right wing blogs, you'll see that the thirst for blood still runs strong. The consensus is that we haven't bombed the shit out of enough middle eastern countries to date. Maybe I don't care enough either because I haven't organized a nationwide outrage. I really do care though. I am outspoken and all it gets me are more enemies.

How sad it is to read this article by George Monbiot of The Guardian (UK): Torture Is Now Part of the American Soul. I want to cry out and say, No! Not my soul! But we've been taught to affect change at the voting booth, not to rally in the streets (because we are so civilized.) But we only have the choice between worse and worser on election day.

Please do read the article by Monbiot which details what the US has done to Jose Padilla and what goes on in our prisons (some things that are rarely ever done in a democracy.) This is what he concludes and he's sadly not mistaken:

President Bush maintains that he is fighting a war against threats to the "values of civilized nations": terror, cruelty, barbarism and extremism. He asked his nation's interrogators to discover where these evils are hidden. They should congratulate themselves. They appear to have succeeded.

PS: Check out this article about differences between men and women when it comes to the joys of punishement: Men Are From Vengeance

And this one: In Men, 'Trigger-Happy' May Be a Hormonal Impulse

Reality Check

So if 95% of Americans have had premarital sex, whose big idea is it to fund abstinence only education and who the hell do they think they're kidding? This is nothing new either. I wish someone would just cut the crap already.

In the past 10 years though, the self-reported practice of oral sex has doubled for 12-25 year olds. It hasn't slowed down the incidence of STD's. But perhaps young people are trying to avoid unwanted pregnancy... or perhaps they just like it. Oh wait. I know. Monica Lewinsky.

The Mark of Cheney: A Rotting Corpse

Wonkette has the scoop on the greatest scandal in DC. Bambi has been decomposing on the side of the road in Cheney's compound next to the Naval Observatory and nothing has been done about. Speculation on how Dick Cheney killed the deer are unclear because guns aren't allowed in DC. It is suggested that perhaps he just strangled it with his bare hands.

The comments just made me LOL.

"Everyone is saying that the shooter was on top of the observatory in front of him, but then the head would be forward, and to the right after the shot. Look at this picture. the head is back, and to the left......back and to the left. It's obvious that the shot came from behind him on the grassy yard across the street. Back, and to the left.....back, and to the left."

"I heard the Navy forensic team discovered Cheney's semen in the deer."

"Cheney shot it? Feh. He beat it to death with his massive penis."

"anybody check the corpse for polonium?"

The Santa Claus Test for Radical Extremists

Radical religious extremism is like bad breath: it’s impossible for those with it to smell their own condition. But others can smell it plenty!


The Essence of all Religion
The Golden Rule is the fundamental moral principle found in virtually all major religions:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” ~Moses

“What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others.” ~Confucius

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” ~Jesus

“Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.” ~Muhammad

And yet, all religions have extremists who repeatedly strive to break this Golden Rule.

All religions, that is, except one…

Santa Claus as Religion

There are people who are convinced that Santa is real. There are people who are sure he’s only make-believe. Unlike with other religions, believers and nonbelievers aren’t killing each over the truth about Santa Claus.

So, how can you tell when you, or someone else, have crossed the thin line between embracing spiritual traditions and violating common standards of ethics and recipocity?

Have no fear, because the

Santa Claus Test for Radical Religious Extremism is here!

Whenever you, or someone else, refers to deity or dogma in conversation, replace said deity or dogma with “Santa Claus” and see if you sound Assholian.

From Hard-boiled Dreams of the World


Via Godisnotanasshole

A Legend Has Passed Away

When I heard on the news last night that Joseph Barbera had passed away, I commented to the husband, "He must have been a hundred years old!" Close. 95.

Then we got to reminiscing about silent cartoons that were on really early in the morning when we were kids: Koko the clown and Farmer Gray, not to mention we early rising kids also had the choice of watching American Farmer and Victory at Sea which were boring as hell and not animated. It was either that or test patterns. (Does anyone in the NY area remember this?)

I grew up deprived. We watched "The Wonderful World of Color" on Sunday nights in black and white. But then again, we also played outside because there wasn't much on television during the day except reruns of Lucy, The Gale Storm Show, Topper, The Bob Cummings Show and My Little Margie (how do I remember this? is my short term memory failing?) We ate a lot of crap (candy was cheap but made of real sugar) and we burned it off walking back and forth to the candy store, 5 miles in the snow, uphill both ways. We were lean and mean with rotten teeth. Kids today have no clue how lucky they are. We didn't even have a color TV until 1973 when I bought one for the family with my summer job money. My dad felt guilty and paid me back.

Where was I? Oh yes. Hannah/Barbera invented Tom and Jerry if you like cat and mouse cartoons, but they were best noted for their talkies that began in the 60's like the Flintstones and the Jetsons which were cartoon versions of the Honeymooners taking place in different eras but with the same premise: the buffoon husband and the sensible wife. Wonder what that was supposed to mean?

Business Opportunity?

Marijuana top US cash crop, analyst says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country's largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released on Monday.
...
The total value of 10,000 metric tons of marijuana at $1,606 per pound would be $35.8 billion.

By comparison, the United States produced an average of nearly $23.3 billion worth of corn annually from 2003 to 2005, $17.6 billion worth of soybeans, $12.2 billion worth of hay, nearly $11.1 billion worth of vegetables and $7.4 billion worth of wheat, the report said.

Gettman said the 10-fold increase in U.S. marijuana production, from 1,000 metric tons in 1981 to 10,000 metric tons in 2006, showed the country was failing to control marijuana by making its cultivation and use illegal.

The Second Revolution

Just surfing YouTubes replacement and came across this video, thought you all might enjoy it.

The Second Revolution

I Just Have To Ask:

Attacks in Iraq at record high: Pentagon

U.S. violent crimes jump in first half of 2006: FBI

SO, WHAT FUCKING GOOD ARE YOU, BUTTFUCKBOY?

How a Constipated Doll Baby Sabotoged the Hap-Hap Happiest Time of The Year

The scene on Christmas Day afternoon was straight out of a Norman Bates, er, Rockwell, portrait. There we all were: me, my husband, and our three-year-old, lovingly surrounded by assorted grandmothers, uncles, aunts, and cousins all staring, rapt, at the festively decorated dining table.

And there, in the center of the table,was no pineapple beringed ham or golden turkey but rather a foot-tall baby doll balance, but barely, on a too-small pink plastic potty.

"Why won't she go?" my brother-in-law moaned. He stepped forward and began to squeeze, pinch, and then pound Baby Born on her pink potty.

Aunts who had helped feed the doll, my daughter's only Santa request "because she performs seven bod-diddy fun-shuns," stood back and clucked their tongues. "Maybe she needs some prunes," one finally said, apparently serious.

The brother-in-law continued to pound Baby Born up and down on her potty. Saliva was now dripping from both corner of his mouth and his eyes gleamed like Jack Nicholson's in The Shining.

Baby Born had taken over our holiday and made us all a little crazy. She is made of had plastic, has slightly maniacal blue eyes, and isn't even fun to hold. She was one of the most in-demand toys that Christmas, leading me to realize that our wacky dining table scene was probably being repeated in hundreds of thousands of American households.

Baby came with instructions that you should only feed her the specially formulated cereal (sample packets included) before sitting her on her magic pink potty and waiting for nature, or something like it, to take its course.

There was a warning: "If Baby Born does not go on her potty, push her down and hold her in position until she is finished. Do not let go!"

I could only imagine what horror would ensue if we let go, so, like paramedics doing CPR, one member of the family would hold on to Baby Born until they got tired and another would take over immediately.

As my brother-in-law continued to pound away, my daughter began to cry. "You're hurting her," she wailed.

"Don't----be----ridiculous," he panted through clenched teeth. His voice got all high and squeaky then. "Baby Born likes the trampoline jump, don't you, Baby Born, don't you? Oh, yes um do."

Okay, so he'd lost his mind.

With several aunts taking turns, we decided to try to get Baby Born to at least cry real tears As Seen on TV.

When she couldn't even do that, I felt like crying a few of my own. For damned near fifty bucks, Baby Born should perform a least two of the seven fun-shuns.

"Seven?" my husband mused. "That's more than I got, I'm pretty sure." The aunts laughed at this so he said it a few more times.

The instructions advised that Baby Born would need to be rinsed frequently so she "would not be allowed to grown moldy inside."

Oh, great. Instead of a precious doll for my daughter to cuddle with a at night, I was going to wrap her arms around a fungal, constipated, and vastly overpriced piece of plastic.

The instructions further advised that, in the event of a blockage, you should "shake her vigorously in all directions, set her on the special potty, and repeat the entire procedure several times." Note to self: Postpone life.

We worked on this until late into the evening. Finally, six hours behind schedule, we sat down to a proper Christmas dinner. At my daughter's tearstained request, Baby Born sat in her own chair, smirking I thought, as her place a the table meant the brother-in-law had to balance his plate on a tiny Hollie Hobbie TV tray that one of the aunts found rusting behind the dryer.

I believe that if he could have, he would've taken Baby Born for a long drive into the country that cold December night.

Over the next few months, we tried, in vain, to get Baby Bitch, as I took to calling her, to do anything at all except sit there and look snotty.

She didn't pee or poop, she didn't cry "real ," she didn't squeal "bah!" when you lifted her arm . She didn't do shit.

The directions were very specific about never giving Baby Born anything but water in her useless specially designed bottle. Lemonade, tea, or "even milk" would damage the "intricate interior workings" of the doll.

One day my daughter and her little friend were giving Baby Born some orange juice, although I'd told them she could only have water. She had so much damned water sloshing in her now that she sounded like a coconut when you shook her. Which I had taken to doing lot lately.

"What are you doing?" I shrieked. "You know she's not supposed to have juice. It will make her sticky inside."

"So what? my daughter asked.
"Good point. Carry on."

The Iranians love Ahmadinejad almost as much as Americans love Bush.

Despite the election disappointment for Ahmadinejad, there won't be a shift in Iranian foreign policy. This story sounds so familiar. I wonder why?

Another kick in the butt for the chimp (not that he cares)

This is sort of uplifting.

Southern Methodist University in Texas is one of 3 schools which may host the GWB library. Faculty, adminstrators and staff of SMU's Perkins School of Theology have protested the library in a letter to SMU's president:

...regret to see SMU enshrine attitudes and actions widely deemed as ethically egregious: degradation of habeas corpus, outright denial of global warming, flagrant disregard for international treaties, alienation of long-term U.S. allies, environmental predation, shameful disrespect for gay persons and their rights, a pre-emptive war based on false and misleading premises, and a host of other erosions of respect for the global human community and for this good Earth on which our flourishing depends.

Furthermore, two graduates of the school say they will lobby to have "Methodist" removed from the school's name if the library is put there.

I wonder if winter will come this year

I've been christmas shopping all morning and boy are my fingers tired... now my index finger has a twitching thing. It's a pain to shop on Long Island.

Speaking of Long Island, it's been downright balmy here. The grass is still green. My neighbor washed her car in her driveway yesterday. All we need are palm trees. It doesn't feel like Christmas. The awning came down over the weekend (just in case it ever snows) and we were packing up the summer stuff from the backyard as if it was October. I have a little bit more to do today and since it will be in the 60's it's not a problem. The husband found a nest of 'possums living in the shed yesterday when he was putting the awning away. They were evicted. I think they were intending to hibernate but it was too warm.

In Russia, it's balmy too. The animals think it's spring and are smooching it up way too soon. The smokers haven't quit smoking because it's still nice outside. There's a good article in the SF chronicle on how the climate change is affecting animal and bird migration and hibernation. They think it's spring but the insects, flowers and trees aren't on the same schedule.

Skiing in Europe sucks this year due to climate change or whatever you want to call it. It's being called a "snow crisis". That may be good news for the American skiing industry. Kenya's Mt Kilimanjaro hasn't much snow, so don't think you can go there either. Come on over Europeans- the dollar is cheap and there's still snow in our mountains somewhere. Spend spend spend. (Sorry about the airport fiasco, but we have to endure it too.)

Meanwhile car makers are fighting a global warming lawsuit in California. They don't believe that they are harming human health and the environment by producing heat trapping gasses. The technology is there for manufacturers to make more environmentally friendly automobiles but auto makers say the only way that they will make these cars is if the feds dictate stricter fuel-economy standards. But will they?

Years ago when there were fuel-economy standards, I asked the husband, who worked for Ford at the time, about his demo car which was a huge burgundy thing (slept 6)... the kind that old people in Florida drive, and he said they were making them in Windsor, Canada therefore they are not subject to U.S. fuel-economy standards.

So how's your climate? Typical? Strange?

Does This Saddle Make My Butt Look Too Big?

A Christmas Tradition

Around five years ago, I started what is becoming a bit of a Christmas tradition around the Red State Blues household. I found myself wandering aimlessly around a department store looking for a little something for this friend or that friend, and I was disgusted at the notion of ending up with some little geegaw or other (probably made in China) that I wasn't sure the friend would like or want or need. What could I do, I thought, to bring a little of the personal, to give my friends something that could come only from me?

Growing up, I was never much of a baker. (Not much of a cook of any kind, really.) I never spent time with my mother in the kitchen learning how to make that fabulous pie crust, though Red State's momma made one mean apple pie. But over the last five years, I have developed a love for baking, especially cookies. My kids' friends actually call me periodically to see whether I have any freshly made cookies; if the answer is yes, I can expect a visit from them that day, with or without my kids in tow. When the cookies would go in my kids school lunch, I'd have to send extras for their friends.

So, cookies for friends and their families around Christmastime seemed a natural fit. Every year the Washington Post runs a cookie edition in the Food Section during the weeks before Christmas, so I would pick five or six recipes (as well as three or four others that have become old stand-bys), spend a weekend in my kitchen baking up batch after batch of all kinds of cookies, fill up little baskets for each of my friends, and deliver them. When I did it the first time, the feedback from my friends was encouraging, so I kept it up. This is my baking weekend this year. I spent yesterday up to my elbows in flour and baker's chocolate and lemon zest, and will do so again today.

On Friday I sent an email to my friend S. to make sure she would be home to receive her cookie delivery tonight. The email I got back said the following:

"I will be home and this may be good timing. My Mom and I are going to try to arrange a few bakers to help us bake for the injured at Walter Reed. Mom and Dad were out there last week visiting a family friend who unfortunately died but while there Mom said it was just heartbreaking to see the injured soldiers. She is checking with Walter Reed to see what if any rules they have for this and she and Dad will do the delivering. I'll let you know what they find out and maybe you will have a couple of cookies that will freeze for a few days? It really breaks your heart to see the suffering caused by that idiot in the White House."

It will, of course, be a real privilege for me to participate.

We have talked a lot here at BlondeSense about how poorly the returning veterans are treated by this (mal)administration. How "out of sight, out of mind" the true sufferings of the injured and maimed soldiers are. How John and Jane Q. Public show their "support" for the soldiers by slapping yellow Made in China ribbons on their cars. I personally don't know anyone serving in Iraq, but I appreciate the opportunity to show, in my very small way, that I feel so badly that these young men and women were served so very poorly by their political masters. And maybe the joy I feel in sending off a few meager batches of cookies is only a sauve for my conscience, but it's what I, as a single person, can do. (I never wanted this stupid war anyway.) I just hope they make someone smile.

Is there something you can do, too? Is there someway you can reach out? Send a Christmas card? Send some candy, or cookies, or flowers? Please think about it.

By the way, the Chocolate and Vanilla Sandwich cookies from this year's edition are delicious. Now, back to the kitchen.

Is This A Joke?

New Counterinsurgency Field Manual Hits Net

Now you and everyone, including Al Qaeda terrorists and insurgents, can read the entire 282-page manual.

What a Tool

Former President George H.W. Bush on Hillary Clinton if she runs in 2008:
"I'll be back on the other side and I will be trying to beat the hell out of her if possibly I can. So that's the American politics."


There's just something about Republican politicians. Their eyes are empty. They are soul-less. Politics for them is a game. It's about winning. It's about strategy. Dirty tricks aren't out of the question. It's not about serving their country- it's the power. And it's a boys club.

YOU are Time's Person of the Year

If you use or create content on the web, then you are it.
Congratulations everyone.

What do you think?

Steppin' out - Saturday Night!

Well.....

Maybe not this Saturday night for me. I'm exhausted, so I think I'll just sit here a tap my feet tonight.

I just love Bill Haley!

My dad used to cut a mean rug when we were growing up. He taught me all of these dance moves as a kid. I just loved getting airborne, as most kids do.

Unfortunately, I'd probably be in traction for 6 months if I attempted these moves today!!

Watch this "infamous" and "barbaric" scene from the 1956 movie 'Rock Around The Clock'
Razzle Dazzle

and my FAVORITE song --

I know I would have been sneaking out to RIP IT UP had I been a kid back then. What a time it must have been!!

The Corksoaker

from a youtube poster:

"this is a hillarious clip featuring "jimmy falon" you will piss yourself!!!!!!! ..."The Corksoaker

(You'll definitely launch a lougie watching this one!)

It looks like a homemade video off of the teevee, and then posted.

HURRY -- I have a feeeling they'll (network) make them yank it. It's BRILLIANT..

Like Totally Blonde Editorial

UPDATE: John Edwards threw in his hat once again.
UPDATE: Barack Obama Worries about being shot.

I'm just going to go totally blonde bimbo here for a moment and lament Senator Evan Bayh's decision to drop out of the race for democratic nominee for president. He is such a pleasant looking man. Isn't he? Almost John Edwards-ish. I kind of like that boyish thing he's got going- I liked that in Bill Clinton too. Republicans probably hate that because their candidates are so unpleasant to look at. But then again, I always thought that John Kerry looked like he was melting before he got his face done.
/shallowness

Sen. Bayh dropped out because he didn't get much of a response in New Hampshire due to Barack Obama's popularity. I think Senator Bayh, ought to reconsider. Look what happened to Howard Dean. I wouldn't trust what happened in New Hampshire as an indicator of who's going to become the official nominee.

According to the news, there was a huge Barack Obama frenzy in New Hampshire this past week. It worrys me that Obama may just turn out to be another "looks French" John Kerry. With the media ultimately controlling public opinion through lies and manipulation, I hope that other fine Democratic candidates would consider staying in the race (even not so cute ones)... just in case. You'll see why in the next paragraph.

How to undermine a Democratic candidate 101:
This is the type of crap that the media presented to Americans despite Senator Obama's success in New Hampshire:

No sense mentioning how wonderfully Obama was doing in New Hampshire. And it's politically incorrect to suggest that Sen. Obama "looks black"... but "everyone" hates Muslims! Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein. Let's not only mention it on the news, says CNN, let's do a split screen showing America's arch enemy, Saddam Hussein alongside Senator Obama so we can imprint it in the minds of the sheeple.


Double Whammy- His name rhymes with Osama!
Obama-Osama. CNN insists that the two be shown side by side for emphasis. Not that they have anything in common- in case you haven't played the name game, CNN just wants to give you a suggestion. This is worse than the Dean scream.

I don't know folks. I wouldn't get my hopes up about any candidate until the media is finished smearing them. This smearing isn't just on CNN. MSNBC and of course government mouthpiece FOX are on the bandwagon. Evan Bayh shouldn't give up yet.

Everything you know about SEX is WRONG

Belated 'Mandatory Friday Sex Post' --

"The SATURDAY AFTER....." (A group effort?)

The disinformation guide to the extremes of human sexuality, (and everything in between) Edited by Russ Kick

Has anyone read the book?
If so, please leave some details for us in the comment section!!!

Here is Russ Kick's site: The Memory Hole

Psst.....
BONUS
(Pics of Rare Erotica)

Liz -- I hope you don't get fined!!

Wanted: Competent Executioners

"What happened to the good old days of hangings, beheadings and firing squads?" she asked her readers with her glorious tongue firmly planted in her rosy cheek, "You just can't get good executioners these days. They must all be union men."

Have you been reading about the unusual pain and suffering of those being executed must endure? It's so bad that last week in Missouri, the injection method of execution was declared unconstitutional, it was stopped last February in California and now Florida has followed suit. It appears that no medical professionals want to assist executioners to ensure that they have mixed the death potions properly and administer them properly. And gee, I wonder why. I guess it's hard work to get executioners to do their jobs properly and all I can say is duh.

This leads me to another interesting story in the news about the goode olde days when hangings were the preferred method of execution. People used to come from miles around and bring the kids and the family dog to watch a good hanging. Then they'd all have a celebration and pat the kids on their heads knowing that this was a good way of ensuring that their children didn't break the law. Between reading the bible and watching a hanging, kids were taught to stay in line.

In Illinois, the last hanging took place almost 80 years ago. The granddaughter of the sheriff who supervised the final hanging has started a legal battle where she insists that she is the rightful heir to the noose that hung the last man in Illinois and not the county jail. Presently the county jail has all sorts of memorabilia of its last bad guy to be hanged, the smiling Charlie Berger. See photo on left. (more authentic pictures of the execution here).

The granddaughter of the sheriff who wants the noose says, "It's part of my family's heritage. If I let it go now, I'll never see it again."

Indeed.

This has been another presentation of "Our Country's Glorious Heritage" presented by the blonde folks at blondesense.

Charlie Rose

My main man, Stephen Colbert, was recently on Charlie Rose discussing the WH Correspondent's Dinner.

Here is the youtube version.
It's the brief version (3 min). I'm looking for the entire interview, but it is not up on Charlie's site. I wonder if it will be put up at all?

Here's Charlie Rose's Website. He's currently got some great videos up.

Work your way up from the bottom -- I'm not sure how long these stay up. I can't seem to get any results when I search his site for videos. The header says he's launching a new website in the coming months offering clips and full length streams of thousands of interviews. Maybe that's why I can't seem to search the video archive.

Sam Moore and Sting are currently on the bottom. Gotta watch him do SOUL MAN!

DON'T MISS A physics lesson on the future from

LISA RANDALL Author, "Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions"

and

EDWARD O. WILSON Author, "The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth"

also still up are MADELEINE ALBRIGHT and HENRY KISSINGER

M. Ward Performing "Chinese Translation"

Check out this fantastic group of musicians. Some really exciting folk rock! His new album, POST-WAR has some great tunes. See him here live on Letterman from a show in August. Also check out his album on itunes. He has quite a nice collection on this one.

(gotta love the featured song title!)

Merry Christmas, you morons....

"Barney's Holiday Extravaganza"

Featuring Barney and Miss Beazley

a la Jon Stewart.

He IS the master!

One Punk Under God has it right

so why can't the rest of the politico-xtians figure this out?

Jay Bakker (son of Jimmy and Tammy Faye) actually seems to have read the bible and LISTENED to the teachings of Jesus. (will wonders never cease) But he does have a very good point. We've all been concerned that the undo influence of religion will destroy the government. (and rightfully so) However he is warning that blending religion and politics will destroy religion and possibly outlaw it.

There will be a documentary on the Sundance Channel and here are some of the questions they ask:

What the hell happened? Where did we go wrong? How was Christianity co-opted by a political party? Why are Christians supporting laws that force others to live by their standards? The answers to these questions are integral to the survival of Christianity.

While the current state of Christianity might seem normal and business-as-usual to some, most see through the judgment and hypocrisy that has permeated the church for so long. People witness this and say to themselves, "Why would I want to be a part of that?" They are turned off by Christians and eventually, to Christianity altogether.

I know that personally I am in that last category, I've gone from a peaceful agnostic to a 'get out of my face you woo-woo yutz' aetheist in a matter of a year and a half. And the main reason is watching what the 'religious right' considers the word of God to be and cringing at their attacks and sound bites. And please no "they aren't TRUE Christians" arguement. If they believe in the divinity of Christ, they are by definition, Christian.

Now, how about we get some more reasonable people to start listening to these two kids and maybe I'll learn some respect for religion again.

and now a holiday message from our sponsor

Click on Ronnie for a larger image.
See also 'Smoking During Wartime' at the blondesense annex.

Now I've Seen Everything

Texas Bill To Allow The Blind To Use Lasers For Hunting
Josephine Roque - All Headline News Staff Writer

Dallas, Texas (AHN) - A lawmaker has filed a bill for the 2007 legislative session that would allow legally blind persons to use laser sights, or lighted pointing instruments for hunting live animals.

"This opens up the fun of hunting to additional people, and I think that's great," said the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Edmund Kuempel.

Presently, visually impaired people are allowed to shoot with the help of a sighted person.

"I've seen this on TV before, when they're taking target practice," Kuempel said. "When they aim the gun, the guide tells them, aim two inches higher or two inches lower and you're on the target, and you're off and running."

Kuempel's bill will give the state a Jan. 1, 2008 deadline to define the term legally blind for the law to take effect.

Under existing Texas law, laser sights, spotlights and headlights use is not allowed for hunting.

The AMERO and the North American Union

We have been discussing this and the issues relating to it -- SPP, NAFTA, etc., for quite some time now, and it never seems to go anywhere. What I have sensed from these discussions in the past is that we all are, to some degree, (cultural) xenophobics. I am in no way calling anyone here a xenophobic. I use the word in the sense that most people within ANY country seem to be instictively fearful and do not trust anything foreign to them. It's been happening since the beginning of time. When we discuss issues here at blondesense, we are able to put our differences aside and really focus on the issue at hand. That's why I have made my home here. We are all capable of thinking outside of the box.

Could it possibly be that the reason the discussion on this topic never really goes anywhere is because many of us are on the fence here? I, personally, have been straddling on this all along, looking for any insight that might help me take a position.

I feel the socialist inside of me coming out and starting to push me to one side now. In theory, this idea has appeal (if it could happen overnight). But in all practicality, well, that's where I straddle again.

What got me going on this topic is an article that our Peter of LoneTree just sent me this morning:
Debut of the 'amero'.

The People's Republic of China, long lauded by America's enemies as the world's next economic power, will be the country that will force the creation of the `North American Union' (NAU).

The article, of course, references WND Jerome Corsi, who is the "expert" on the subject. Here are his recent words:
North American Union leader
says merger just crisis away


Robert Pastor, a leading intellectual force in the move to create an EU-style North American Community, told WND he believes a new 9/11 crisis could be the catalyst to merge the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

I dug up a recent dialogue on the subject matter from thoughtmechanics that I feel provides great argument on both sides.
Dollar is Dead! Long live Amero!

Also, two pieces from the Fraser Institute,

here and here.

And here we go again!

"US Government Biological Weapons Legislator Says 2001 Anthrax Attacks Part Of Government Bio-warfare Program"

"Expert says FBI covered up the plot to attack Congress which may have been perpetrated by the same people who carried out the 9/11 attacks"

Those are the headlines; here's some of the text:

"The real culprits behind the 2001 anthrax attack on Congress were most likely US government scientists at the army's Ft. Detrick, MD., bioterrorism lab according to a former government biological weapons legislator and University of Illinois Professor.

"Dr Francis A. Boyle says the FBI covered up these facts and has also quite clearly stated that he doubts the official government story that 19 arabs with boxcutters perpetrated the attacks of 9/11."

Check it all out at the INFOWARS website.

"Boston Air Traffic Controller Says 9/11 An Inside Job"

From Prison Planet:

"A former Boston Center air traffic controller has gone public on his assertion that 9/11 was an inside job and that Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon tracked three of the four flights from the point of their hijacking to hitting their targets. In an astounding telephone interview, Robin Hordon claims air traffic controllers have been ignored or silenced to protect the true perpetrators of 9/11.

"A recording of the phone conversation was posted on Google video late yesterday by the Pilots For 9/11 Truth organization."

I declare war on Fox News

Those sick fucks are speculating on how officials could declare Sen Johnson "incapacitated" and therefore shift the balance of power to the fascists.

KILMEADE: Steve, remember we were down this road before? If something happens that Johnson can’t continue, 50-50 with Dick Cheney breaking the tie.

DOOCY: That’s right, and you know, in the state of South Dakota, I understand there is the issue of incapacitation. It’s not spelled out in the state law, at the state level. However, the secretary of state of South Dakota says there would be a precedent at the federal level. Is that how you understand it as well Megan?

FOX ANCHOR: Yeah, indeed, there’s a big laundry list that they would have to go through in order to determine that he is incapacitated. It’s something that, ironically enough, might be weighed in on by his advisers. In other words, Sen. Harry Reid, the incoming majority leader, and Chuck Schumer, may advise him on whether he should declare his incapacity, if in fact he’s in a position where he can declare it or not. And so, we’ll have to see what happens in terms of, you know, what exactly his condition is and who’s going to weigh in on whether it should be declared an incapacitation or whether that’s just clear from the facts. Via Think Progress.

I would like to speculate on how we can get fox and fiends anchors declared mentally incapacitated.

Scientists must now have APPROVAL to release data

You knew it was only a matter of time, right? Apparently the Bush Administration feels they need to keep a closer track on US Geological Survey (you know, those folks who, amongst other things, study global warming).

And I quote:

New rules require screening of all facts and interpretations by agency scientists who study everything from caribou mating to global warming. The rules apply to all scientific papers and other public documents, even minor reports or prepared talks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Now maybe I'm just being a little touchy on this, but I think I should be allowed to get my science and my facts straight from the source without the administration deciding what is 'appropriate' for me to hear. And wouldn't this infringe upon the scientists free speech if even prepared talks must be screened and approved?

How do the researchers and scientists feel? Again, I quote:

"I feel as though we've got someone looking over our shoulder at every damn thing we do. And to me that's a very scary thing. I worry that it borders on censorship," said Jim Estes, an internationally recognized marine biologist in the USGS field station at Santa Cruz, Calif.

"The explanation was that this was intended to ensure the highest possible quality research," said Estes, a researcher at the agency for more than 30 years. "But to me it feels like they're doing this to keep us under their thumbs. It seems like they're afraid of science. Our findings could be embarrassing to the administration."

The new requirements state that the USGS's communications office must be "alerted about information products containing high-visibility topics or topics of a policy-sensitive nature."

The agency's director, Mark Myers, and its communications office also must be told — prior to any submission for publication — "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed."

Sounds a bit too Rovian for my tastes.

I declare a war on John McCain

Blogs, especially those with comments sections are under attack by the senator, according to Think Progress.

He wants us to believe that he wants to save the children from sexual predators as if blogs are causing our nation's children to be exploited. He ought to just look around capital hill.

After all our work it may not matter

I'm sure most of you have heard about Senator Johnson and his unfortunate medical situation. He is undergoing brain surgery and hopefully will recover fully. However the unfortunate timing of his condition may leave us all in the lurch. The Govenor of SD is a Republican and if Senator Johnson is unable to fulfil his duties, Govenor Rounds is fully entitled to pick someone to take his place, and historically Govenors pick from their OWN party, regardless of which party the previous senator came from.

If this happens and if Gov Rounds chooses a Republican to replace Senator Johnson we have just lost that all so slender majority in the Senate. Any comments on this one?

The Decider Decided that he will put off Deciding what his Decision will be

I don't mean to ruin your day but this man needs to be put out of my misery:

Bush said to the troops who are fighting for their lives every day: "I am listening to a lot of advice to develop a strategy to help you succeed, a lot of consultations. I will be delivering my plans after a long deliberation, after steady deliberation. I'm not going to be rushed into making a decision."

In other words, "Merry Fucking Christmas. This is hard work for me too. It's hard work to listen."

"And I reject those ideas," Bush said. "Ideas such as leaving before the job is done. Ideas such as not helping this (Iraqi) government take the necessary and hard steps to be able to do its job."

In other words, "When you tell me what I want to hear, then I will do something different."

The president said he wanted incoming Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who will be sworn in Monday, "to have time to evaluate the situation" and come up with his own ideas on how to proceed.

In other words, "I reject what Gates already suggested and I will give him time to think of how to tell me what I want to hear."


The Decider decided to make his decision public in January:
The timing for the speech could be anywhere from January 3 to 15, and the administration is factoring in the college football championship game on January 8 in its determination of scheduling, administration officials say.

By all means, let us put college football before the war. This administration wants liberals to commit suicide this holiday season.

May the ghosts of christmas torment him night after night after night after night from now until after the college football season.

I propose that we tie him to his seat, prop his eyeballs open with toothpicks and make him listen to everyone who has anything to say to him.

Jon Stewart has a review and some clips from this event.

Slide on over and wish him a happy birthday.

WHODAT?

Why the DARK WRAITH.

A quote from his margins:
"The Dark Wraith Forums was first published two years ago today. The Dark Wraith recommends that readers celebrate the occasion of this second anniversary."

A bacchanalian revelry sounds like the order of the day. Get into the spirit of things with his "Scholarly Snippets and Quantitative Quandries".

Do Deficits Matter?

While over at san antone rose's blog I came across a post she put up by Larry Beinhart --

Remembering Reagan: Nostalgic Republican Twaddle

"I just received a gang email that contained a group of quotes from the late, great saint of the right, Ronald Reagan.

It even included a conciliatory note: "I know that there are many 'liberal friends' among the addressees, but if you shut your eyes to the author, there's a good chance you will enjoy the quotations."

Here they are

----------------------------------

Speaking of Ronald Reagan, does anyone want to help me answer this question: DO DEFICITS MATTER? (as in TRADE deficits)


'Reagan proved deficits don't matter," Dick Cheney told Paul O'Neill during a Cabinet meeting. "We won the (2002) midterms. This is our due." (we all know what happened to O'Neill)

I better back up here a bit.

What's a trade deficit? And, here's what is happening with our trade deficit: It's falling.....

According to this article, it does matter. Maybe not to us, but it seems that it WILL matter TO OUR CHILDREN

And here are a few more opinions

But when much of the world's capital is being parked in US Treasuries rather than wealth-building entities, and when we are spending like mad at home on flat-screen TVs and I-pods, and US stocks have dangerous valuations and entitlement programs are looming large, it is hard to be sanguine about the deficit. In this case, the capital account surplus looks more like a bulge of borrowed money,parked in Treasuries that could be quickly 'unparked' at any given time.

QUICKLY 'UNPARKED' AT ANY GIVEN TIME

Hmmmm......

China Has U.S. By The Purse


Yes, the Red Menace that we spent so many years fearing as a military threat now represents a far more serious economic threat. Mao must be turning in his grave with the news that no less than six U.S. Cabinet members are on their way to the Middle Kingdom on Wednesday to beseech, beg, lobby and try to persuade the new mandarins not to sell off their vast reservoir of dollars.


I think I answered my own question.......

War on Christmas Going Well, President to Stay the Course

by Robert J. Elisberg

With intense fighting continuing, the Administration claims today that government forces have finally made significant headway in the War on Christmas. The intensity of the conflict, which recently marked its first anniversary, has caught many in the White House by surprise. Experts there initially believed it would never continue long past last Thanksgiving, certain that government forces would be greeted by visions of sugarplums.

It gets even better....

Thank you Mr. Elisberg -- you've made my day.
I am feeling much better already.

HAPPY CHRISTMAHANUKWANZAYEAR to you!!!

----------------------------


***UPDATE****** UPDATE ******UPDATE*******

OMG!!! --- LMAO!!!
Fellow blogger Comandante Agi is recruiting soldiers. Oh somebody help me! I'm on the floor -- I can't get up.......

Soy is making kids 'gay'

Jersey Cynic brought this article up in the comments yesterday, and I think it's such an interesting topic for discussion on all levels. In the article Soy is making kids 'gay' the author claims, "Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality." The author wrongly states that testosterone levels in gay men are lower than in heterosexual men.

I'm not going to make fun of the picture of the author or his name because I am so dignified. ;)

In Giddy Anticipation of the New Congress?

I don't see how your average American Republican could argue with a lot of the stuff being planned by the new congress, but then again, I would have to watch it being spun by the media. At least the issues that concern the American people will be addressed for a change. We'll see.

One of the first things the Dems say they will do is "slash interest rates on need-based college loans in half — from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent." Boosting Pell Grants for low income students is also on the radar. Watch the fun begin as the Republicans claim that there is no way to pay for this. But what they are really saying is that all this college learnin' is detrimental to Republican values.

Congress demands anthrax probe answers
We thought that the 9/11 Commission was rather lame but at least there was sort of a investigation into 9/11. Remember anthrax? Remember how every single newscast was about it? No one investigated it. Strange. Thirty-three members of Congress have written Attorney General Alberto Gonzales demanding that the FBI update lawmakers on the investigation into the anthrax attacks five years ago that paralyzed the nation with bio-terror fears.

Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee promised to combat what he denounced as President George W. Bush's war-time trampling of American rights. Privacy rights belong to the people. Not the Government!

Convert Or Die

convert, convert, kill ( press pray button ) , kill ( 2 X pray button - pray pray ) ,
convert, convert, convert, kill ( pray button again .........

The real life battle over the release of "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" video game where the post apocalyptic christians war against secular peace keeping forces/New Yorkers is still going strong.
There's another good article about it over at Talk2Action.org

James Dobson's Focus on the Family endorses the game: "Christian militias wage physical and spiritual warfare using the power of prayer and modern military weaponry to convert New Yorkers and kill those who resist." A FOF website, "Plugged In Online" has called the product "the kind of game that Mom and Dad can actually play with Junior—and use to raise some interesting questions along the way"

Let's kill the non-christians! It's been tried in real life for centuries and now you can play it at home. I don't think it should be banned because when I invent a game that lets secularists feed christians to lions, I will have an argument.

----
Remember when Hillary was all gung ho against Grand Theft Auto video game? Well blogger Andrew Warner asks if Hillary is going to ban Left Behind. Good point.

Giving It Away

The "Digital Mozart Edition" (DME) website -- http://dme.mozarteum.at -- features over 600 works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, separated into ten categories, from concertos for orchestra to chamber music and pieces for piano.

The website may go down here and there and it helps if you know german... but I clicked around and found stuff.

Another one bites the dust

I'm sure his wife was happy to hear that her husband is gay.

"The founding pastor of a second Colorado church has resigned over gay sex allegations, just weeks after the evangelical community was shaken by the scandal surrounding megachurch leader Ted Haggard..."

"... Barnes told church members: "I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy. ... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."" AP

Maybe God doesn't think that whether or not someone is gay is such a big deal in the grand scheme of things or God would have helped him overcome his grave "affliction". It seems that the loudest voices against homosexuality are by those who are "battling" with it. God doesn't want you to hate yourselves. Let it go. The NY Times also has a piece on evangelicals who are "struggling" with their faith and the fact that they are gay.

-------------
How do gays undermine the "sanctity" of marriage?
When they marry straight people and live a lie, thus hurting their families deeply when they can't fight nature any longer. Now that's a problem which needs to be addressed.

What are they thinking?

Don't think for one minute that I missed the irony that 3 of the 4 possible candidates for the next presidential election from Gomorrah are Republicans.

I don't know if I can see the Republican base pulling the lever or pushing the button or whatever you do in red states, for any New Yorker. These guys favor gun control, gay rights and family planning. Are American christians willing to hold their collective noses and vote against their "moral" interests?

Science's "Greatest Contribution to Civilization"

by Dr. Gerry Lower

From the Smirking Chimp

Toward the end of his 1977 book on cosmology, “The First Three Minutes,” the Nobel Laureate, Dr. Steven Weinberg, wrote “Anything that we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done and may in the end be our greatest contribution to civilization” (1).

This statement is, very simply, the horrible and glorious truth of cultural evolution and it alludes to the larger evolutionary program in which all people on earth are currently embedded, largely without their thinking and knowing about it. The scientific, i.e., human view of the world has completely changed during the 20th century, at the expense of religion and just in time for the 3rd millennium (2).

-------------

I thought this commentary made a lot of sense. But what do I know. Check out the comment section -- lot's of good arguments, but I think they really went overboard picking it apart.

Inquiry Sought Over Evangelical Video

THE CHRISTIAN EMBASSY
The organization was founded nearly 30 years ago by the late Bill Bright, who also founded Campus Crusade for Christ. The Christian Embassy Web site says the group holds prayer breakfasts each Wednesday in the Pentagon's executive dining room and organizes small groups to help military leaders "bridge the gap between faith and work."

Army Brig. Gen. Bob Casen refers in the video to the Christian Embassy's special efforts to reach admirals and generals through Flag Fellowship groups. Whenever he sees another fellowship member, he says, "I immediately feel like I am being held accountable, because we are the aroma of Jesus Christ."

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a watchdog group led by retired Air Force lawyer Michael L. "Mikey" Weinstein, is requesting an investigation in a letter to the Defense Department's inspector general.

Weinstein, a White House lawyer in the Reagan administration, cites Defense Department regulations barring personnel from appearing in uniform in "speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies or any public demonstration . . . which may imply Service sanction of the cause for which the demonstration or activity is conducted."

All the officers are identified in the video by their Defense Department positions, "yet the video failed to include any disclaimers indicating that the views expressed were not those of the Department of Defense," the letter says.

It asks whether the officers received permission to promote the Christian Embassy and whether any other religious or secular organizations have been allowed to use Pentagon facilities and uniformed personnel in promotional videos.


Here's the 'promotional' video
It looks like they JUST added this to their website --

Disclaimer: " The views expressed by any government officials in this video are their personal views and are not intended to represent the U.S. government nor any department in which they serve."


Here is the story from WaPo

Also, the same story was on today's segment of NPR's

All things considered

Picking out a gift for "someone who has everything"?

Not to worry. Because of that delightful creature "somegirl" over at the AllSpinZone, your difficulties in selecting a gift for those "hard to buy for" folks are at an end. Her latest post directs us to Celebrity Butt Plugs and I guess the website's title says it all.

Survivalist Tip of the Day:

With the world poised to enter an urban age when more people will live in cities than in the countryside, Josiah Tobiko sees no need to move from his cow dung-covered hut in rural Kenya.

"You can choose city life with televisions and mobile phones but I prefer living here," said Tobiko, a Maasai teacher who lives in a settlement of 125 cattle and goat herders with no electricity or piped water at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Tobiko, 35, moved into a new one-storey home this year -- made of tree branches tied with sisal and coated with about six inches (15 cms) of cow dung and mud.

Here in Amboseli, lions and elephants are residents' most pressing concerns, not road accidents or muggers.

Complete story at REUTERS, where in a RELATED article you can read about how U.S. home lenders brace for bad news, legislation.


UPDATE: As long as we're discussing things financial, here's an interesting article on the dollar/euro:
"Oil producing countries have reduced their exposure to the dollar to the lowest level in two years and shifted oil income into euros, yen and sterling, according to new data from the Bank for International Settlements.

"The revelation in the latest BIS quarterly review, published on Monday, confirms market speculation about a move out of dollars and could put new pressure on the ailing US currency."

Rest at Oil producers shun dollar in the Financial Times.

FINAL (so help me) survivalist tip of the day (it's a quiz actually):
If you were starving, would you rather have a:
1) Dollar,
2) Euro,
3) Liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti?

The 64,000-dollar question: ARE WE A CHRISTIAN NATION?

Anyone....? Anyone....?


NO CHRISTMAS TREES IN SEATTLE AIRPORT


There will be no Christmas trees in Seattle this year, at least not at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport. According to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Port of Seattle has received "at least one complaint," so the trees have been removed.

The tradition had reportedly lasted for over 25 years, with a tree placed over each of the 15 airport entrances. However, all the trees have been removed, literally overnight, after the complaint or complaints, reportedly originating with an unidentified Seattle rabbi in conjunction with the Central Organization for Jewish Learning, who reportedly threatened a lawsuit "if the airport did not erect an eight-foot menorah to balance the message of the Christmas trees."

The story quotes one airport worker as decrying the action, stating, "It's a Christmas tree! It's not like they were displaying crucifixes or menorahs or anything religious, but Christmas trees that have been around here for years." There is now a campaign, started by airport employees, to get the trees restored.

Here's another story from seattlepi.com

Dialogue Session with President Bush

VERY FUNNY!

A Few More Reasons Why We Cannot Win

The military puts their homophobia before national security.

Between 1998 and 2004, the military discharged 20 Arabic and six Farsi speakers. Bleu Copas, 30, was a decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist who was dismissed from the U.S. Army this July for being gay. But he was closeted and was outed by an unidentified email campaign and it was never proven. According to Andrew Sullivan the number of gay discharged Arab language specialists is now 55.

And if that news isn't disturbing enough

Very few people know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite. It's not easy to learn and to remember all of it, but you'd sure think that the fucking House and Senate members would know the difference.

Five term Texas Democrat, Sgt. Silvestre Reyes who is the incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee doesn't know the difference between Sunni and Shia.

Jeff Stein interviewed him:

Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?
“Al Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”
“Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Predominantly — probably Shiite,” he ventured.

So there you go. He's very wrong. Oh, but he wants to send more troops to the region. Read more and weep. Seriously.

I am really curious as to what side we are supposed to be on. If we support the Sunni's, then we are al Qaeda's side, right? The Saudi's are Sunni's (and I don't trust them either). The US talks to the Saudi's. The president holds hands with the Clowned Prince of Saudi Arabia. The 9/11 terrorists were Sunni's and were mad because the US had bases in Saudi Arabia. The US no longer has bases in Saudi Arabia. Technically, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 should not attack the US anymore because they got their way. (And I thought that we don't negotiate with terrorists, didn't you?)

Cheney went to visit with the Saudi's a few weeks ago to discuss them helping out with the situation (civil war) in Iraq. Who do you think they would help out? The Sunni's for sure. The US doesn't want to talk to the Iran and Syria. They are predominantly Shiites. Iran did offer to help the Iraqi leaders with the situation in Iraq. You can imagine that they would want to help out the Shiites. Jeff Stein implied in his article that Silvestre Reyes isn't the only one who doesn't know who's who.

I had a heated argument with a very avid Israel supporter and friend of mine the other night. (He watches Fox News and) he was telling me that we are in for a big war between Iran and Israel... and he stated emphatically that Iran was involved with 9/11. I told him that the terrorists were Sunni's. Iran is Shiite! This is hard stuff. I don't even know that much about it! But I know when things aren't adding up.

It makes my heart palpitate to think that we have so very few translators. Why so many gay men sign up for the job escapes me but for god's sake, who cares? We are in a global war against terrorism. And the nice folks in the House Intelligence Committee and Armed Services committee don't know what religious faction al Qaeda belongs to. It would behoove someone in a leadership position to send our congress critters and war mongers to some history classes.

George H.W. Bush knew more about Iraq than anyone his son knows.
Chapter 19 of Daddy Bush's memoirs "A World Transformed" discusses why Bush 41 didn't "finish" the job in Iraq. If Georgie would have read this, we wouldn't be in this mess.

"We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under the circumstances, there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles... Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different — and perhaps barren — outcome."

Bush asked the voices in his head about invading Iraq. Defensively, Bush 43 told Woodward when asked if he went to his father for advice:

‘He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice. The wrong father to go to, to appeal to in terms of strength.’ And then he said, ‘There's a higher Father that I appeal to.’"

And that's enough to make you palpitate for today.

Pacific Views (dot org)

What a great, informative site

I just finished reading this recent post -- Al Gore on Oprah
Now that the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth is available, lots more people are getting an introduction to Al's fine work. FINALLY!

(from his RollingStone interview in July):
At the end of the movie, you make it sound like it's not going to be that hard to stop global warming -- we'll just change our lifestyles and turn this thing around. But isn't that too optimistic? The scientist James Lovelock says that by the end of this century, most of the Earth will be uninhabitable -- the planet's population will plummet by eighty percent.

Lovelock is truly a visionary. But I disagree with his darker view. He's forgotten more about science than I'll ever learn -- but I think I know one thing about politics that he doesn't. Sometimes, the political system is like the climate system, in that it's nonlinear. It can seem to change at a snail's pace and then suddenly cross a tipping point beyond which it shifts into a shockingly fast gear. All of a sudden, change that everybody thought was impossible becomes matter of fact.

Here's the essence of our problem: Right now, the political environment in the country does not support the range of solutions that have to be introduced. The maximum you can imagine coming out of the current political environment still falls woefully short of the minimum that will really solve the crisis. But that's just another way of saying we have to expand the limits of the possible. And that's the main reason that I made this movie -- because the path to a solution lies through changing the minds of the American people. Not just on the facts -- they're almost there on the facts -- but in the sense of urgency that's appropriate and necessary. Once that happens, then things that seem impossible now politically are going to be imperative. I believe there is a hunger in the country to be part of a larger vision that changes the way we relate to the environment and the economy. Right now we are borrowing huge amounts of money from China to buy huge amounts of oil from the most unstable region of the world, and to bring it here and burn it in ways that destroy the habitability of the planet. That is nuts! We have to change every aspect of that."

YEP! Don't you think most people are almost there on the facts now?
After our spring-like November here on the east coast, I'd say most people do know deep down that things MUST change.

This recent observation should wake up the rest of those who question global warming

Disappearing Phytoplankton


The ocean has been getting bluer, according to a study published in the journal Nature. But that's not really good news for the planet. It means that the plants that give the ocean its green tint aren't doing well. Scientists say that's because the ocean has been getting warmer

This is at least the third significant peer-reviewed research paper in the past six months showing that long-anticipated global warming biological side effects are already happening.

We may have one last chance according to a New Climate Model

Recently, climate scientists have used this process to adjust the computer models for how the southern ocean winds are behaving. What they've found is that the westerly winds have been moving southward the past 30 years and this is creating a different dynamic in regards to climate change. Factoring this new information leads to a new climate model that plays out differently than earlier models. This new model shows that the ocean could end up absorbing a lot more heat and carbon than originally believed leading to an overall slower warming of the atmosphere.

This could be good news for humans because it means that we have more time to clean up our act and make up for the lost Bush years. But it is not good news for the creatures of the ocean because as I wrote last month, the warming of the ocean is leading to the acidification of the ocean and this is leading to the oceans being inhabited mostly by jellyfish.

The new finding surprised the scientists, said lead researcher Joellen L. Russell. "We think it will slow global warming. It won't reverse or stop it, but it will slow the rate of increase."

So we humans could have more time than we understood to mitigate global warming, although our luck comes at a steep price -- the expense of the ocean's shelled wildlife and all the fish and marine mammals that depend on the existence of those shelled creatures. Too bad they didn't have a vote on who should ultimately pay for the poisoning of the earth with excess carbon.

Sunday Open Thread

The War on Christmas re-enacted by toy action figures.

-----------
I have another glass blowing class today and I will be out of here.
So what's happening in your neck of the woods? What's new in the news?

The Ministry of Truth needs to be regulated -- NOW!

If enough people wake up, maybe we can get our airwaves back again? Anything is possible - right?

I wish I had a better understanding of legal issues surrounding copyright laws. I understand creative/intellectual property rights, (which I really don't think are working to well, especially for musicians), But I don't understand the legal issues regarding "stories" (news) and their production rights.



Four major media companies, including News Corp.'s Fox, Viacom Inc., CBS Corp. and General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, are in talks about creating a video Web site to compete with Google Inc.'s YouTube, according to people close to the situation.


The companies, owners of most of the major TV networks, envision a jointly owned site that would be the primary Web source for video content from their networks, allowing them to cash in on fast-growing Web video advertising.

The talks are driven by media companies' belief that the fast-growing YouTube has built a huge business off their video content. Although many of the videos on YouTube are homemade videos uploaded by users, some of its most popular clips are pirated copies of television shows.
A lawsuit collaboration between News Corp., Viacom, and NBC against YouTube Inc.
is still pending over the accusation of copyright infringement. YouTube defends their service by immediately responding to the removal of clips when the copyright holders complain about their content making its way on YouTube. On CNET, it was reported that Mark Cuban and the Los Angeles News Service are potentially teaming up by suing YouTube for the inclusion of the Los Angeles riots and the exclusive police chase of O.J. Simpson.

Within the last month C-SPAN and Comedy Central’s parent company Viacom ordered that Comedy Central remove The Colbert Report clips from YouTube. BoingBoing has a brief report on why this occurred.


The comment section from huffpo regarding the article provides some good links and commentary.

"Television is altering the meaning of "being informed" by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation... Disinformation does not mean false information. It means misleading information - misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information - information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which in fact leads one away from knowing."

Neil Postman


"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false."

-- William Casey, CIA Director (from first staff meeting, 1981)

I read that if it were not for the coverage of the Macaca incident on youtube, this would have NEVER made it to the MSM.


How do you think this will play out?

Three planets meet in the morning sky

All three are now in the morning sky and are about to do something special. In the southeast on the morning of December 10th the three planets will form the closest gathering of three bright planets since 1925!

I'm going to have to go for a ride. Too many trees on my horizon.

Is anyone able to view this?

This Week at War In Review

Bush And Blair Press Conference

Rumsfeld on Civil War: Gosh So Many Americans Were Killed

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I’m wondering what books you read while you were secretary that you found most useful and edifying.

RUMSFELD: Well, I’ve read a great many books. They’re all history books; a number about the Revolutionary War and about George Washington and John Adams and others, Jefferson.

I started reading a number of books about the Civil War. And one particularly good one was a book on Ulysses S. Grant. But I stopped. I found the struggle going on — gosh, those years, there were so many people killed and wounded, and they were all Americans, except for the foreign fighters who came over from Germany and Poland and elsewhere.

So I turned away from that and read a great deal about World War II. And that has been basically what I’ve been reading.


PS: Judge weighs torture claim vs. Rumsfeld

Letters to Santa Flood Alaskan Town

Some unedited excerpts from letters sent by children to Santa Claus in North Pole, Alaska:

Why can't people know when your in the house? Can the reindeer talk? ... Can you leave me a sleigh bell off your harness please!
* Lane

Please forgive me for my wrong mistakes. Me and my brother DO believe in you. We will have some YUMMY cookies waiting for you!
* Alyssa

Every year more and more people stop beliveing and even though I am 11 so people laugh at me I still belive you. I was wondering since people are not beliveing if you could send me a picture of you and your elves. That will prove to all nonbelivers you are true.
* Kelly

I would like to get things for my family but I have no money. I was hoping that you can help me by geting them ... and just put my name on them so they know I am thoughtful.
* Bethany

I want a big bear hug ... I wish I could see you but I am allways sleeping ...
* Taylor
AP: Source: U.S. Postal Service

"This is special because it has Santa's name on it," said Debra Cornelius, a supervisor at the main post office in nearby Fairbanks, where the letters are processed during the holiday rush.

"It's what makes Christmas magic for children," Cornelius said. "Why not make that available for them?"

Gabby Gaborik is among several dozen volunteers who believe in the Santa cause, opening crates full of letters, as many as 12,000 a day come crunch time. With 6,000 now arriving daily, volunteers are hustling to send off preprinted replies to children who sent return addresses.

"We try to keep the big guy mystical, so we sign off as Santa's elves and helpers," Gaborik said.

In his 10 years as an elf, Gaborik has seen every kind of request. There are the children who want the latest toys and gizmos they see on TV. There are the children who ask for miracles, orphans wanting their mother back for Christmas or a father back from Iraq, even though he died there. Many letter writers point out how good they've been. Some enclose a dollar bill to cover postage.

Gaborik still marvels at a missive that arrived three years with a Michigan postmark and no postage stamp. It was addressed to Santa Claus and had no return address. Inside was a thousand-dollar money order and an anonymous note that said: "If you are who you say you are, you'll put this to good use."

Volunteers bought postage stamps for the effort.

He fished a random letter out of a pile. This one ran the gamut. The writer, Ashley, wants only one thing, an iPod Nano, but then asks: "What list am I on, the naughty or nice list? If I'm on the naughty, what could I do to get of (sic)?" Then comes the hook: "And how many cookies do you think you can eat on Christmas night?" Here's the whole story

My 12 year old girl refuses to stop believing.....
She's never made a list either. Every year she says, "Whatever he's got, I'll take".

Oh, God! We're all gonna...well, not die; but we'll standing in line at the soup kitchens and bread lines.

From The New York Post:

TOP-LEVEL INSIDERS SELLING THEIR STOCK
By PAUL THARP

December 7, 2006 -- "America's corporate chiefs are unloading their own stocks at one of the boldest paces in 20 years.

"In cases of the very rich, such as Microsoft's Bill Gates and Google's top brass, the executives are selling a whopping $63 for each $1 of stock they bought, says a report by Bloomberg.

"In November alone, leaders of public companies dumped $8.4 billion worth of stock they owned as insiders, most of it awarded as compensation, bonuses or other management incentives.

"But the vast majority of the executives put their windfall cash to work elsewhere, with just $133 million being plowed back into purchases of more company stock.

"Analysts say a take-the-money-and-run flight from their own companies signals a growing lack of confidence in the economy's future course, as well as fears of a possible global meltdown if the Iraq crisis escalates across borders."

More at the link. I don't have any stocks to dump but I do have to get to Aldi's and stock up on cases of corned beef hash.


(THE BOYS ARE BAILING) UPDATE:
From REUTERS: "Shares in Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile , Research) raced to a new high as speculation mounted that Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N: Quote, Profile , Research) could bid for the UK bank, even though a sale of shares by Barclays' outgoing chairman signaled no approach had been made.

"Barclays Chairman Matt Barrett said on Friday he exercised share options and sold 2.3 million shares the day before, netting 6.5 million pounds."

Some of these I'd heard; Most of them I hadn't:

Here is a selection of 50 quotes from President George W. Bush, for entertainment or for meditation:

•A man lost in his geography:
1-"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe." -- George W. Bush

2-"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system." -- George W. Bush

3-"The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country." -- George W. Bush


•A man lost in his logic:
4-" It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it." -- George W. Bush

5-"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." -- George W. Bush

6-"These people are trying to shake the will of the Iraqi citizens, and they want us to leave...I think the world would be better off if we did leave..." -- George W. Bush

7-"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." -- George W. Bush

8-"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." -- George W. Bush

9-"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- George W. Bush

10-Well, I think if you say you're going to do something and don't do it, that's trustworthiness." -- George W. Bush


There's lots more, 40 more in fact at Home Site : International Institute of Peace.

Obligatory Friday Sex Post

All I want for christmas. Holiday Gift Guide

And Don't Let the Screen Door Hit You in the Ass on the Way Out

The 109th Do Nothing Congress is getting ready to pack its bags. Before it goes to the Big Tent in the sky, it prepares to leave 'em gagging by doing something to please its dwindling constituency.

They will probably pass a drilling bill that with open a swath of the Gulf of Mexico to energy exploration along with some "needed" tax breaks.

And as a big old GOP "Fuck You", they will not enact 9 of the 11 appropriations bills that pay for the federal government, leaving a big old GOP mess for the incoming congress to clean up because they were so disheartened by losing.

There are also a whole bunch of Capital Hill staffers looking for work this holiday season. Won't you help them? Not.

Imagine

Live version here and here

"I find tinsel distracting"........

Frank Costanza quote from "The Strike" episode of Seinfeld (a nondenominational holiday celebration).


"A Festivus for the rest of us!!"

I've never had a FESTIVUS -- always wanted to. I think this year I'll start the tradition!

According to Seinfeld, Festivus is celebrated each year on December 23, but many people celebrate it other times, often in early December. Its slogan is "A Festivus for the rest of us!!" An aluminium pole is generally used in lieu of a Christmas tree or other holiday decoration, shedding holiday materialism. Those attending participate in the "Airing of Grievances" in which each person tells each and everyone else all the ways they've disappointed him/her over the past year, and after a Festivus dinner, The "Feats of Strength" are performed. Traditionally, Festivus is not over until the head of the household is wrestled to the floor and pinned.

Sounds like a great time!!!

From Your American Heartland . . .

Maybe a story like this shouldn't surprise me, seeing as how it's from deep in the heart of Texas (sorry, Jaye), but I was a little stunned to read this.

The Islamic community wants to build a mosque in the Houston suburb of Katy. The neighbors are not amused. A woman calls the mosque a "security risk". A man says he will hold pig races on Muslim holy days. A website urges the community to be on the watch for "suspicious activity." A community organization has formed to buy another piece of land in hopes that the Muslim community will trade them for it. Some try to put a good face on it and say they're only concerned about traffic and drainage. (Oh no you don't, not in MY backyard!)

Nice.

Here's an interesting quote from the guy who's going to hold the pig races:

"Though he now concedes the Muslims are probably not after his land, Baker said he is obligated to go through with the pig races, probably within the next few weeks, because 'I would be like a total idiot if I didn’t. I’d be the laughingstock now because I’ve gone too far.'”

Gah, now who does that remind you of? The guy knows he's done something stupid, something totally fucked up really, and now he has to see it through to the bitter end so that he doesn't lose face. There's the type of mentality that results in 2,900+ American deaths.

Gone too far, indeed.

PRISON-YARD DIPLOMACY (Recipe for Failure)

Yesterday the Iraq Study Group delivered their recommendations to the preznit as a thorough indictment of the Bush Administration policies, not only in the War in Iraq and the incompetence of conducting the War, but also the in-existence of diplomacy in the USA in the 21st Century.

We all know the incompetence, stubbornness and partisanship of this president. When it comes to diplomacy, his approach is childish and resembles more of a schoolyard scuffle, or rather prison-yard enmity.

In prison, there are latino gangs, black gangs, white-macho gangs, besides the general population who mind their own business. Sometimes they join the gangs only for protection (Bush has tried that: "you're either with us, or against us") Those gangs don't talk to each other, they'd rather send their envoys to stab someone from the other gang as a reprisal for something. Taking diplomatically to solve their differences is for wimps.

Bush applies the same philosophy in his approach to states and governments who disagree with him.

He will not talk to Syria, or Iran, he will not change course in Iraq (he really believes in his own failure) and this is my doomsday scenario:

I give the Iraqi Government of Maliki two-three weeks before it falls, while the pundits here will try to debate which course we should take. When the Government in Iraq collapses, an all out Civil War will erupt with chaos and anarchy on all levels. The bloodshed will be beyond any human imagination.

Here at home, I expect that Robert Gates will resign his post as Secretary of Defense by February, and the Congress will move to remove Shrub from power together with Cheney.

But I may well be wrong. Now you see why I call myself BillyDoom

Remember Pearl Harbor?

I almost forgot --, actually my daughter just mentioned it. She said the history teacher had the question on the board today:

Does anybody know what today is?

According to the kids, it was well remembered today in school.

I haven't seen too much on the blogs. I haven't tuned into the teevee yet today -- maybe there will be a story this evening?

As a general rule, newspapers stop running anniversary stories after 50 years.

The thinking holds that past 50 years, few readers even remember the event, much less took part in it. Past a half-century, journalists cede the field to historians.

Here's google stories

Indeed, the short-term nature of American military memory shows up in the very first stanza of "Let's Remember Pearl Harbor." The lyrics say:

Let's remember Pearl Harbor
As we go to meet the foe
Let's remember Pearl Harbor
As we did the Alamo

For all you Astrology buffs out there....DIRE PREDICTIONS 2007

Armageddon is still scheduled for 2007 in the Middle East of course, though that just seems so yesterday – or, in real terms, today, because it appears to be already happening. But despite some traditional end-of-the-worlders getting a thumpin’ at the ballot box, there are still plenty of Biblically-proportioned endings on the table…


John Townley's AstroCocktail

I enjoyed his Deja Vu piece. You can play "SaigonGirls" in the background.

I'm a BIG TIME astrology buff! Anybody else?

Via, God

SO MANY great sites! -- Enjoy

The Atheist Delusion 'a pisspoor presentation' - God is Real. God is Unbelievable

ONEGOODMOVE "I thought these things might be clues" TONS of great links!

Celebrity Cannabis Consumers

TOP TEN VIEWED YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF ALL TIME (Evolution of Dance - over 36 million views)


Scareface fuck you version

and

Pulp Fiction - Fuckin' short version from --

Sugarandpepper which has way too many great videos!

How Nice

Richest 2% own 'half the wealth'

World's richest 1% own 40% of all wealth

Income of Top 0.1% of Americans up 348%
Income of 60% of Americans down 5%
20% of Americans live on $7 per day

Hong Kongers 'richest in the world'

Bring My Baby Back Home For Christmas

While I was in a beading class the other morning, I got to talking with the woman sitting next to me about our kids (at the same time I was cursing at these miniscule beads that I insisted did not have any holes until I donned yet another pair of magnifying glasses, then fighting to keep 3 pairs on my face at the same time). She seemed too young to have a 20 year old son. I asked what he was doing and she said he was in Iraq.

"Where in Iraq?"
"He can't tell me but he IM's me almost every day."
"When did he enlist?
"Two years ago."
"Jesus Christ!"
"I know. I know. He was 18 and there was nothing I could do about it."
"I would have tied my son up and locked him in his room until he came to his senses."
"You can't do that!"
"Wanna bet?"
"I wish I knew you 2 years ago."
"Me too."

She finished her piece in 2 hours and left the studio. We made plans to bead together again. I remained there for another 3 hours and still haven't finished the piece. My eyes hurt and my hands are bleeding.

Have you read what the troops serving in Iraq had to say about the commission report yesterday? Breaks my heart. Here's a small sample of the typical hopeless response:

"There's no way we're leaving in two years no matter what any recommendation says," Spc. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster, Calif., said. He thought 2012 was more realistic.

Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic. "It's just a study group. It's not really going to affect the president. I don't see any major changes happening until presidential elections start," Wiacik said. "I think both sides will promise to get troops out and give timelines then, but not before."
...
"We've been here for 12 months now and there's been no progress," said Spc. Richard Johnson, 20, of Bridgeport, Conn., as he manned a machine gun on the rooftop of an outpost ringed by a shallow moat of sewage.
...
"In Iraq, we try to win the hearts and minds of population," said Dow, 32, of Chicago. "They want Americans out of here. They blame us for all their problems. They look at us as the terrorists and then they turn around and help the terrorists who are trying to kill us."

"U.S. soldiers are dying trying to help people who don't want their help," he said. "That makes you angry."

Dow said elders at a nearby mosque broadcast messages saying Americans are the cause of all the problems in Ramadi, the capital of restive Sunni-dominated Anbar province, 70 miles west of Baghdad.

How the hell long will this go on? Bush is the only 'person' and I use the term loosely who wants this war to continue and it's only because he wishes to save face, but he has no face left. We need a christmas miracle.

The phrase "Better late than never" comes to mind, but in this case that's not good enough.

There's a link over at the Rigorous Intuition Discussion Board which starts with a quote: "Film Director and cult icon David Lynch has gone public with concerns he has over the official government story of the September 11 2001 terror attacks."

Another poster's quote:
"Lynch and Brolin follow in the footsteps of other notable cultural figures who have spoken out on 9/11, such as Richard Linklater, Jesse Ventura, Matthew Bellemy, Ed Asner and Charlie Sheen."

Yet another commenter provides a link to an article at CommonDreams.org entitled, "The Surreal Politics of Premeditated War" by Richard W. Behan, a few quotes from which I'll include:
"George W. Bush, who proudly claimed the mantle of “war president,” was keenly rebuked in the recent mid-term election. The event was notable, but it merely continued the surreal politics of premeditated war—a politics that has dominated the last six bizarre, hideous years of our nation’s history.
Two elements of the repudiation seem unreal, indeed. Not the fact of it, but the amazing length of its gestation period—those six years—and how tepid it was. Given the documented record of the Bush Administration—lying us into war, torturing prisoners, rewarding cronies with no-bid contracts, spying secretly on the nation’s citizens, selling public policy to Jack Abramoff’s clients, stating even their intent to ignore laws with dozens of “signing statements”—one would expect the political about-face to have occurred far sooner, and the protest to have been a firestorm. Bush loyalists in Congress (and George Bush) should have been turned out angrily and en masse two years ago."

I have what I believe is a partial answer for Mr. Behan.
Dipping into my Grace Slick-inspired "Revolutionary Handbook" dating from the late '60s, which includes definitions, I came up with "CHICKENSHIT" a term with dual meanings: It can mean cowardly or, it can describe something of little or no consequence; with a few exceptions (Conyers, Kucinich, McDermott, McKinney come to mind), the elected members of the United States Congress are CHICKENSHITS. And as far as the Main Stream Media is concerned, I consider them beneath contempt.

Back to my headline. Yeah, we're awakening. Finally. But at what cost?
Saw the people standin' thousand years in chains.
Somebody said it's diff'rent now, look, it's just the same.
Pharoahs spin the message, round and round the truth.
They could have saved a million people, How can I tell you? -- John Fogerty

Boo-Stinkin-Hoo

So House members have been told that they're gonna actually have to work for a living, with in-coming Majority Leader Steny Hoyer saying that the House will be in session Mondays thru Fridays when the new Congress convenes. That ain't goin' down too well with some of the Republican members, who seem to believe that actually having to work for their annual salary of $165,200 is, um, an assault on family values.

"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."

Tell that to the folks working for minimum wage (which you refuse to raise), Mr. Kingston. Tell that to the people working two jobs just to make ends meet or to pay for health care. How often do you think they get to see their families, Mr. Whiny-Butt Boy? Cry me a freaking river. This is the job you wanted, that you campaigned for, that you spent millions of other people's money to get. So, STFU and get to work.

Get The Fuck Out Of Here!

Cheney's gay daughter is pregnant

Who's Your Daddy?

Just How Bigoted Are Americans?

In the Borat movie, I was made very aware of the anti-Muslim sentiment in America and the suspicion that 'all Muslims are potential terrorists'. It was not very funny when Borat went to a rodeo in Salem, Virginia in order to sing the national anthem. Before he went on, the producer told Borat to lose the mustache so he'll "look Italian" and less like a terrorist. The producer told him not to kiss people hello because it was too gay. The scary part came when Borat took the stage the dirt.

He introduced himself and before he sang roused up the crowd:

"We support your war of terror." Crowd cheers loudly.
"We support your boys in Iraq." Crowd cheers loudly.
"May you kill every single terrorist." Crowd cheers loudly.
"May George W. Bush drink the blood of every single man, woman and child in Iraq." Crowd cheers.
"May you destroy their country so that for the next thousand years not even a single lizard will survive in their desert." Crowd cheers but not as enthusiastically.

Then he sang the "Kazakhstan National Anthem" to the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner"
"Kazakhstan is the greatest country in the world..."

From there it went downhill and the crowd booed him loudly. Gawd forbid you make fun of our National Anthem and suggest for one minute that the USA is not the best country in the world, but we don't care if Iraq is destroyed.

So it was not surprising when "radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly." Many callers were deeply disturbed by his comment, however many were in total agreement and suggested even more torment:

"Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."

"You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."

It was all a hoax though. Gotta watch out for those hoaxes. The host revealed his experiment:

I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said," he told his audience on the AM station 630 WMAL , which covers Washington, Northern Virginia and Maryland

"For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting.

"Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous."

Remember I posted the story about talk show host, Dennis Prager who falsely claimed that the Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress wanted to swear in using a Koran and that Prager demanded that he must swear on a bible because otherwise it would undermine American Civilization? The comments were pretty interesting and many people thought Prager was nuts. Thank god.

According to ThinkProgress.org: "In September, Prager was appointed by President Bush to a five-year term on the taxpayer-funded United States Holocaust Memorial Council. A statement announcing Prager’s appointment praised his “unique moral voice.”"

Indeed. Yesterday the Council on American Islamic Relations called on Prager to be removed from this position and the Anti-Defamation League also issued a statement calling Prager’s views “intolerant,” “misinformed on the facts,” and “downright un-American.” Good.

Ignorance is alive and well in America. I am not so sure I agree with American's being set up to reveal their ignorance and bigotry, but then again, it might not be such a bad thing to point it out before it gets worse. What do you think?

NASA Schedules Briefing to Announce Significant Find on Mars

NASA hosts a news briefing at 1 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Dec. 6, to present new science results from the Mars Global Surveyor. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters auditorium located at 300 E Street, S.W. in Washington and carried live on NASA Television and www.nasa.gov.

The agency last week announced the spacecraft's mission may be at its end.

What a difference a week makes.

So, what do you think a 'significant find' on mars could be?

Via, WRH

Could you just die?

American Flight 1053, from Washington Reagan National Airport and bound for Dallas/Fort Worth, made an emergency landing in Nashville because a woman struck matches on the plane in order to conceal her flatulence. She is now banned from flying on American Airlines but will not be charged for lighting matches (that the bomb squad dogs happened to find on the plane after it was evacuated).

----
Off topic
Did ya see how much money some bloggers make for blogging about candidates?

Not Surprising...

We're Not Winning The War

WASHINGTON - Robert Gates, the White House choice to be the next defense secretary, conceded Tuesday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and warned that if that country is not stabilized in the next year or two it could lead to a "regional conflagration."
...
Tony Snow said that Gates' testimony, taken in its entirety, shows he shares Bush's view that the U.S. must help Iraq govern and defend itself.

What do you suppose that this means? We're staying the course?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, returning soldiers suffering from PTSD are being punished by officers at Ft Carson.

What I asked the old man for Christmas:

"Dear Santa,
All I want for Christmas is:
An honest, ethical, trustworthy, 24-hour TV news station that avoids misinformation and disinformation techniques."

Whaddayaspose Santa meant when he wrote me back and said,
"People in Hell want ice water!"?

How crazy is it that Europeans are flying here to shop?

I read this most interesting commentary at the Guardian this morning after I googled "global warming." It seems that the Brits enjoy hopping over to NYC to do their shopping especially since the dollar is cheap- the pound is close to $2.00. This is probably a good thing for the NYC economy since most New Yorkers prefer buy more than half of their gifts online. All this shopping in NY creates and/or sustains jobs. New Yorkers will then have more money to spend online... buying stuff that was made overseas.

Another lure to the US for Europeans are our ski resorts. Apparently there is a lack of snow in the Alps. I believe they are making snow here, but nevertheless, our ski resorts, as long as they continue to make snow will be hopping this winter. (Do we waste fuel creating snow?)

The author critizes the jump in flights to the US from western Europe in general and a more enormous increase in flights to the US from the Middle East, India and China. I surmise from all this news that although foreigners hate bush, they don't hate Americans and they love our cheap dollars. I'm no economist and I don't know what that means. I find it funny that our stuff is manufactured overseas and the people from overseas are coming here to buy it. But then again, I remember when my parents were always flying to Europe to buy junk we didn't need (how many freaking gold chains from Italy does one need?) when the dollar was strong.

All this flying does nothing to curb global warming. This is what has the author of the commentary upset. I agree with him to a certain extent and I would also add that we should be trying to use less fuel to force the price of oil down since production is being cut in order to deliberately raise the prices. Screw them.

The day after 9/11/01 when it was clear that our attackers were from Saudi Arabia, I surmised, falsely, that Americans would start to drive vehicles with more fuel economy and quit "joy flying" so that the Arabs could eat sand and drink oil. You would think.... but no. More and more people started driving the most environmentally and economically irresponsible vehicles imaginable. And don't think for one minute that I didn't call these gas guzzlers on it and I still do, thank you very much.

Between global warming and the sleaze balls who control the price of gas, I'm pretty dismayed at the lack of global concern of Earthlings. Then again, with bush fucking up the world, maybe people just figure, what the hell, we might as well enjoy life now before it goes away.

In good news, Brazil Creates 7 New Protected Areas in Region of Amazon Rain Forest Known As Guayana Shield. This accounts for more than 25% of the world's rain forests. It's about the size of Alabama.
-----

Ironically, the bread winner in my household works for Ford.
-----

May I also suggest that you buy some handmade in America gifts this season and support your local artisans?

Coming this Friday to the Saban Center for Middle East Policy...

a three-day forum entitled 'America and Israel: Confronting a Middle East in Turmoil.'


special guests to include:Avigdor Lieberman-- I read where he once proposed to bus thousands of Palestinians to the Dead Sea and drown them there -- but that was three years ago. That was when this populist Israeli politician was just a 'fringe member' of government. Now, he's a big player -- Mr Lieberman said that the best means of achieving peace in the Middle East would be for Jews and Arabs to live apart, including those Arabs who now live inside Israel.

Here is a picture and some more background.

What do you think? Oh NO! I can't tell from the pic, but I do believe he has a COMB-OVER!! (never trust a man with a comb-over) Just like his new buddy, Olmert.

Let's see, who else will be attending this private meeting that is closed to the media.

The impressive list of participants includes: Former President William J. Clinton, Israeli Vice Premier and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman, US the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, Israeli Minister of Education Yuli Tamir, former Shin Bet chief and MK Ami Ayalon, Secretary of State’s Senior Adviser on Iraq David Satterfield, , former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, former Israeli National Security Adviser Giora Eiland; Director of Israeli Military Intelligence Amos Yadlin and journalists Tom Friedman, Nahum Barnea and Ted Koppel.

Hillary's constituents are not too happy about her attending. "We your constituents respectfully and forcefully request that you cancel your upcoming meeting with Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's newly appointed Minister of Strategic Threats. Please cancel the meeting publicly as a matter of principle that is in the best interests and ideals of the United States of America. As a champion of democracy and human rights, you cannot possibly know about the policies and......

So far, that's all I could find about the attendees on google.

There are 1090 hits on google for Mr. Lieberman
(If I find anything good, I'll link it)


Does anyone else know anything about this forum?

I hope nothing 'funny' happens on the way.......

"WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) .....

Happy Christmas from John and Yoko."

From YouTube:

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) is a song that was written by John Lennon with partial help from Yoko Ono. It was recorded at the Record Plant in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. It features soaring, heavily echoed vocals, and a sing-along chorus. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir and are credited on the song's single.

Directly following John Lennon's death on December 8, 1980, the song was re-released in the UK on December 20 1980.

Although the song is a protest song about the Vietnam War, it has become a Christmas standard and has appeared on several Christmas CDs. One of the best known versions was recorded live by Melissa Etheridge.

Closely related to the song: in late 1969, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono rented billboards and posters in eleven cities around the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko." Five of the eleven cities included in the billboard campaign were New York, Tokyo, Rome, Amsterdam, and London. At the time the United States was deeply entrenched in the Vietnam War, which would later become a major political debacle.

This video version of the song is heartbreaking to watch.

Every year it gets harder and harder for me to get into the Christmas spirit. And enough with the songs already. You know how I LOVE MY MUSIC! But I really don't want to hear all these cheery xmas songs when I haven't even started a damn thing. I NEED MORE TIME!

Didn't they start playing the Christmas songs on the radio a bit early this year? And what ever happened to getting your tree on Christmas Eve and decorating it?

oh Angry Old Broad -- I'm with you this year my friend: Bah Freaking Humbug


Sorry to anyone who cherishes this time of year. Forgive me for being such a killjoy. I'll work on my attitude for next year.

Some of Today's Top Stories (with spin)

John "got milk" Bolton finally resigned. AP

With the dollar weakening, OPEC considers cutting production even more. Reuters
Less than 10% of evangelists are bible literate. With a little knowledge, they'd be really dangerous. Alternet

It cost you and I $1.1 billion for Americans to train Afghani police. It didn't work. NY Times

This really makes you wonder. It was reported yesterday that Rummy called for a major adjustment or a new course of action regarding the War on Iraq the day before the Republicans were voted out of office. What does this all mean? Now for the WH spin:

"We have not failed in Iraq," Stephen Hadley said as he made the talk show rounds. "We will fail in Iraq if we pull out our troops before we're in a position to help the Iraqis succeed." AOL News

Hillary is asking NY Dems if they will support her run for presidency in 2008. Cover of Newsday

Christian church in Kenya wants to suppress Richard Leakey's discovery of hominid fossils that show the evolution of human's early ancestors. The Pentecostal's refuse to believe that human's were "evolved from apes." Perhaps christians ought to get some facts before they poo poo science. Live Science

Perhaps the scariest part, for me, in the movie, "Borat," was Borat's visit to an evangelical church. I wasn't laughing at that part.

Shameful milestone reached for minimum wage. Hasn't been raised for 9 years and 3 months. Bob Geiger

Worst President Ever. But we knew that already. WaPo

And Now a Word From the Cockpit "Harrummpha Lumpha Whee!"

According to the colorful flier that just fluttered out of our Dividend Miles statement for the airline, now you may use frequent-flier miles to go to outer space.

This seems pretty ambitious for an industry that still hasn't figured out how to serve coffee that doesn't taste like an old ashtray, but who am I to question progress?

The airways has hit on a clever way to entice travelers who are weary of redeeming those miles for free trips to eligible cities and dates such as Poughkeepsie in midwinter (Saturday night stay required; subject to capacity controls and blackouts, dealer taxes and tags extra, 8:00 p.m., 7:00 Central).

By partnering with SpaceAdventures, the company that has made a fortune shuttling bored Thurston Howell III types to the International Space Station, the airline is offering regular jugheads like you and me the chance to, among other choices, "accelerate faster than the speed of sound in a MiG-25 fighter jet and see the curvature of the earth below." Of course, in my case the view would be obstructed by my breakfast all over the windshield, but no matter. I'm game!

Another trip offered by the airline will allow you to "float weightlessly just like the astronauts in a plane departing from the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia," which, I believe, is conveniently located between the Yuri Gagarin Stop'n Rob and the Yuri Gararin Eyeglasses-in-a-Hour Stand.

The only thing worse than being seated beside some Jabba on a cross-country flight would be going into space beside him so he has even more time to nag you for the rest of your string cheese.

Especially in light of the terrorism attacks, it's unbelievable to me that there are still some people who are obnoxious on airplanes.
I must admit I adore the thought of federal marshals being on-board, though I'm puzzled why they must sit in first class, bogarting the hot-fudge sundaes and heated towels. I mean, it is supposed to be a job, isn't it? We paying passengers are sitting back here in the crates-of-live-poultry class, eating brick-hard pastries that taste like they were baked in somebody's Queasy Bake oven.

Still, we need extra protection when there are idiots like that West Coast passenger who sparked a brawl and injured four passengers a while back. Nobody said why he got so mad, but I suspect it was because he discovered that he paid $2,350.69 for his round-trip ticket, and the guy beside him paid about $17.50 plus tax. While that is a maddening little airline habit, this is not time for picking a fight on a airplane.
Where does this guy get off? If I was the captain, the answer to that question would be "somewhere around Phoenix," via a handy-dandy, anti-terrorism, anti-asshole Rowdy Passengers Trapdoor System (the RP-TS, in airline lingo).

All you'd have to do is lure the loser to the secret trapdoor spot, pull a lever, and, quick as the other passengers could circle around and chant "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" the little problem in 12-C would have frosty eyelashes and a buttload of regrets.

There are other problems with outer-space travel via commercial airline. For starters, your fellow space passengers will probably try to cram even more luggage into the overhead compartment because who knows what the weather's like up there and you know there's always that one loser who has to pack skis and a crate of lobsters.

While we're on that subject, let me just say how much I admire fight attendants. On the flight to Las Vegas I watched this gal take a six foot duffle bag, stomp it down to the size of a stick of Dentyne, and then look around like "What's your problem, fool?" We are not worthy.

And people, please. Let's all check a few bags, shall we? I mean, not me, of course, but the rest of you. I do my part, after all. When I used to fly with my daughter when she was a toddler, she was kept where all the crying, unruly children should be kept, safely stowed in the overhead compartment. With all the lobsters up there, it wasn't like she was gonna stare, now, was it?

On my recent fight I was treated to the usual speedbinding demonstrations of how to buckle a seat belt and the usual "if the oxygen mask drops and you're with a small child, put yours on first" spiel. Sure, it makes sense in the big picture but don't you think you'd feel just a smidgen guilty if that mask, which looks like a sinister yellow puppet screaming "We're all gonna die!" dropped down and you put it on first while your kid sat there watching Stuart Little 2 and trying to breathe? Sure you would.

The thing that throws me every time I fly is how airlines expect us to feel relaxed about flying even though the pilot's microphone doesn't even work. It's hard to feel confident when your grand-children's Karaoke machine from Wal-mart has better sound quality, am I right?
So you're flying at 35,000 feet or so and the pilot---- you think----is saying something about "reaching cruising altitude" but you're not sure because every other word doesn't come out. You hear "Good morning, folks, from the deck....skies....wind.....miles.....hour....cruising......Grand Canyon.......she looked like she was maybe eighteen.....hey!....Is that smoke?"

At least, through it all, the airlines have a sense of humor. How else do you explain the warning on the back of every seat: "Please fasten seat belt while seated"? Try doing it standing. I can tell you it's damn near impossible.

And they love to switch your gate at the last minute, just for kicks. ("Kansas City? Oh yes, that fight will depart from gate C-four.") you turn, walk away, and imagine a snicker, then a chorus of guffaws as you get farther away. At C-4, sure enough, you've been bounced to B-14. Gotcha!
And dear readers don't fall for that business about the flight being delayed because of "problems with inbound equipment." This is airlinespeck for "broken airplane".

Overall, however, I think outer-space travel with frequent-flier points has definite appeal.
For instance, let's say you've got one of those "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave" relatives staying at your house. Just boot'em into orbit. ("You'll love Jupiter, Aunt Tootie. Hmmm? Oxygen? No, I don't believe they need that sort of thing up there. Buh-bye, now.")

The brochure promises that the new program allows the airline to "take you where no other airline has gone before." It's a nice thought but how about we settle for getting off the Tarmac in under an hour?
It's not like I'm asking for the moon, you know.

Happy Trails!

Some practical gift ideas ......

Personal EMF Shielding Devices

brought to you by
SILVER LINING GARMENTS


"Gain Control of Your Inner Environment"

Lots of items to choose from: Camisoles, boxers, t-shirts, and even a SHIELDED CAP -- Smart and Subtle:

Protect your brain from RF (radio-frequency) pollution with this handsome baseball style hat. Specially designed to shield the head from frequencies from below AM through microwave, including cellular phone frequencies


I'm putting these gloves on my Christmas list:

SHIELDED GLOVES
The Finger Faraday Cage!

For those of you who experience (or want to prevent) ES symptoms in your hands when using a computer keyboard, laptop, cell phone or other electronic devices, these gloves form a conductive enclosure and effectively shield electric fields. Soft, light weight, with ribbed cuff, and offering good tactile sensitivity.

I would really like to improve my 'tactile sensitivity'. Do your fingers feel funny sometimes after typing a lot? Sometimes I can't even feel them!

Do you think this stuff really works?

via, God...

And The Operative Word Of The Year Is...by Jesse Leavenworth

Merriam-Webster Online is taking the people's word for 2006.

For the past three years, the electronic dictionary and thesaurus has drawn its top annual words from users' inquiries. The word most sought in 2005, both for definition and synonyms, was "integrity." "Blog" ranked highest in 2004, "democracy" in 2003.

But when staff at the Springfield company scrolled through data this year, no clear candidate emerged, says company president and publisher John Morse.

"No one word seemed to hold people's attention throughout the course of the year or in a dramatic way," Morse says. "Since it was kind of ambiguous, we decided to ask people to reflect."

here's the rest of the story

I'm voting for..... CYNICAL

I don't know if it's because I took that handle and now I seem to see some form of the word used in a lot of articles that I read -- You know, like when you buy that car, and all of a sudden you start to notice a million people driving the same car that you never noticed before?

They Got Me!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Tip of the hat to RoxPopuli.

was Rosa Parks a feminist?

Driving in to town, listening to a rock and roll radio station's drive time morning show, hosted by two Republican sexists who perform voices that communicate a stereotypical black man and a homosexual man, the disc jockeys reported right after the commercial for a H**ters gift card, that today is the date of Rosa Parks' arrest. Sandwiched between the the DJ's humor reminiscent of a sexually frustrated 15 year old boy repertoire, they were pondering the deep, philosophical dilemma--what if, instead of Rosa Parks not giving up her seat to a white man, she was told to give up her seat to a Japanese man? They did get me to reconsider the reality of the bus seat situation.

Of course everyone familiar with the story knows that Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. She was arrested for breaking the law which required her to give up her seat to a white person.

What if the person was a white woman? But it wasn't a white woman. She refused to give her seat to a white man.

Why do we not recognize her for refusing to bend to the will of a man or laws written by men?

Because this would upset the other myth in American society--that men give their bus seats to women who are obviously too frail to ride holding the handrail in the ailes. Aren't men supposed to at least offer their seats to women on buses? Aren't women supposed to take men up on the offer? Would he have asked a white woman to give him her seat? Of course not because her race trumps her gender.

Rosa Parks wouldn't give her seat to man. She worked all day. She was tired. Tired of being treated as second class. She didn't have to defer to him, whether she was black or white. What if Rosa Parks had been a black man? Would the altercation become violent? The horrible situation of asking another person to recognize the inherent dignity and rights of another because they are too stubborn to see is doubled by being black and female.

The female angle of the story should be told. Which is rather difficult to do if we don't want to recognize it between the commercials for H**ters, songs about bitches as sex objects, and wondering if Nancy Pelosi is wearing Armoni suits and has undergone botox injections.

(The curiosity about Speaker Pelosi's clothes reminds me of John Kennedy's tongue in cheek lament that while he was regarded as "the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris," "no one ever asks what Lyndon and I are wearing.")

The issue in this story is race, but it might have been about gender. The issue was the segregation of society by law. But the retelling of the story does not include her act of defiance as a woman. Women were at the time denied bank accounts, credit, mortgages. Women couldn't serve on juries in many jurisdictions. They were denied admission to colleges and professional schools. Women were second class citizens by law and custom, too.

When men offer women seats on public transportation it mutes the treatment of women in areas of life that mattered. When women accept the seat offered to them they participate in the degredation of women. Women are too weak to stand on their own two feet like their fellow men standing on the bus and too child-like to make their own financial way in the world.

It is interesting that blacks, hispanics and women must extricate their power as human beings and their dignity as people from white men. My constitutional law female classmates were enraged by that observation made by our con law professor. The right to vote was granted and laws can no longer discriminate on the basis of race and gender but rather than recognize the equality of all persons we draw lines incrementally case by case, statute by statue. Each time we write laws that grant this right or that right we get our power from people who usually have more money, more education, who are more comfortable than the majority of us.

The importance of a place on the bus for everyone--in the school house, the statehouse, the courthouse--can not be overstated. We should be recognizing everyone's equality rather than give it too them piecemeal. If we are all equal than is political power really someone else's to give?

This is of course why women must have control over their own bodies and reproductive capabilities. Why should we ask for permission from men in public office or behind the pharmacy counter to control our own bodies? Don't we have as much right to decide if we are going to carry a child as men have the right to decide if they are going to father a child? Do we have to ask a man for a right?

While their are certainly more women in colleges, courtrooms, and congresses women are still second class citizens if they cannot control their own bodies.

U.S. legislator warns of Bush plot to merge Canada, the U.S. and Mexico

Tom Tancredo says:

"He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that, it’s an idea. It’s not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where the guy is really going,” he told WorldNetDaily, a controversial conservative website."

He is warning Americans that:
"President George W. Bush is plotting to integrate the continent."


A coalition of American conservatives is organizing a grassroots effort to make it an issue in the 2008 presidential race and vow to campaign against any candidate, Republican or Democrat, who won’t side with them.

The group is calling for a congressional investigation into the SPP and full disclosure of all documents when the new Congress run by Democrats begins in January. They’re getting support from the Minuteman Project that monitors the borders to deter illegal crossings, a group Bush has called vigilantes.

And he says Prime Minister Stephen Harper “buys into it.”


I'm sure Harper will buy into anything right about now. He's too busy with the motion to recognize the Québécois as a nation

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's plan to outmanoeuvre separatists with a motion to recognize the Québécois as a nation has cost the government a cabinet minister and exposed fractious divides within both the Liberals and Conservatives."

The two appeared to have
difficulty explaining the ethnic aspects of the nation motions from the government and the Bloc Québécois.

The point of controversy is the English translation of the text. The Bloc motion in French recognizes les Québécois et Québécoises, which can mean all men and women who live in Quebec. Rather than using the English word, Quebeckers, which means all residents of Quebec and is the word used in English by the Bloc, the government's motion in English uses the French term, les Québécois.

When pressed by reporters as to who qualifies as Québécois, Ms. LeBreton suggested it had a broad meaning.

“I know anglophone Quebeckers who call themselves Québécois,” she said.

But when asked whether the motion applied to all residents of Quebec, Mr. Cannon said: “No, it doesn't.”

Mr. Cannon then said the wording, first used by the Bloc and repeated in the government motion, refers to “ pure laine” Quebeckers, a controversial term avoided by sovereigntists for its racial connotations, given that it literally translates to “pure wool.”

(WTF?)

Smile For Big Brother or I'm Not Flying Anywhere Anymore

1. Phoenix airport to test X-ray screening
"The technology, called backscatter, has been around for several years but has not been widely used in the U.S. as an anti-terrorism tool because of privacy concerns.

"The security agency's Web site indicates that the technology will be used initially as a secondary screening measure, meaning that only those passengers who first fail the standard screening process will be directed to the X-ray area.

"Even then, passengers will have the option of choosing the backscatter or a traditional pat-down search."

Hmm. Pat down or x-ray? Decisions. Decisions. That lovely picture above is Susan Hallowell, the director of the Transportation Security Administration's security laboratory testing it out.

2. U.S. rates travelers for terror risk

Without their knowledge, millions of Americans and foreigners crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assigned scores generated by U.S. government computers rating the risk that the travelers are terrorists or criminals.

The travelers are not allowed to see or directly challenge these risk assessments, which the government intends to keep on file for 40 years.

UPDATE: 3. No more fun on your computer at work.
New Federal Rules Compel Companies to Keep Track of All E-Mails, IMs and Electronic Documents

U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect Friday, legal experts say.

Oh baby, they just can't seem to get enough of us.

Obligatory Friday No Sex Post

The gubmint doesn't want you to have sex until you're 30 unless you are married. They don't want to tell you how to avoid pregnancy, they just want you to keep in it in your pants. It will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars to get this message out... and I just told you for free.

Mark Morford says it funnier:
Sex Will Make You Go Blind
Single? Under 30? You are in grave danger. Your government says so. Please, stop laughing.

It is enough to make you wonder: Will there ever be, in our lifetime, a president, a Senate subcommittee, a government program that will dare emerge with a sex-positive, unashamed, salacious and delicious new guideline suggesting that we should all get naked as much as possible so long as we work to understand our bodies and enjoy ourselves responsibly and lovingly and respectfully and orgasmically because it shall make the country and the planet a better place?

In other words, will there ever be a time when we can honestly look to the United States government for valid and reasonable and healthy and truly informative, positive information about human sexuality, information that does not embarrass us and humiliate us and insult our libidos the same way Dick Cheney insults sunlight? Do you already know the answer? Read the whole story and quit laughing.

Update: Just happened to notice this on the buzzflash sidebar- Erick Keroack is Buzzflash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

The busheviks appointed a doctor with rather odd credentials to head federal family planning programs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You see, Eric Keroack is "a nationally known advocate of abstinence until marriage, [and] served for more than a decade as medical director for A Woman's Concern, a Massachusetts nonprofit group that discourages abortion and does not distribute information promoting birth control."

Hi Mom! -- it's me.....

"Happy December!" "Do you BELIEVE this weather!!!"

"Batten down the hatches"

We're going to have lots to talk about today! (We're speaking now)

63 degrees here in the NE. Humid as hell. You should see my hair - OMG!

Gotta love global warming!

I know in a few hours it will be all over and this cold front will soon be here. I'm suprised I don't have a raging headache this morning -- I usually get one when we have these extreme swings in temp. Maybe we will slowly ease into the colder temps with this front.

And what about that wimpy hurricane season?

We were supposed to get CREAMED by a least one!

Not even one scary storm!! Didn't even have to buy one battery. Nothing to talk about all season -- that must of been our problem.

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

I hope MoMule got home safe and sound from 'the concert'.
It looks like a miserable day in Missouri.


I'm going back outside. I love windy, warm, rainy days -- especially in December --A Bonus Day for me!