The following does not necessarily reflect the views of the poster:

2007 Same shit, different year

How can I recap 2007? I can't. Young people can. Not me. Not anymore.

It's so fun to be old and cynical. You wait a lifetime for it. Sure, it was fun to be young, firm and ditzy, but older age is waaaay cooler. The years come and go and meld together. You really can't pin point a date anymore as the past 10 or 20 years seem like yesterday. How awesome is that? Waddaya mean it's been 3 years since I went to Arizona. It was just last year. No?

And now a musical interlude by the Asylum Street Spankers who will be in NY in January. The Spankers say on their website that they are veterans and do indeed support the troops.


hat tip to dear tali for the linky poo.
Happy birthday Billydoom and Peter of Lone Tree (who are much older than I am and yet still alive.)

Let's Just Call Christians What They Are- Whatever that is.

I would like to challenge those who use their First Amendment Rights to threaten others with damnation (in the literary concept of hell) on behalf of (the literary vengeful, Old Testament,) God Almighty. I liken this to calling out "fire!" in a crowded movie theater when there is no fire. With freedom of speech, there comes responsibility. One's freedom of speech should never interfere with another's right to the pursuit of happiness and vice versa. Perhaps the concept of freedom of speech ought to include what responsibility is expected of those who use it. I hate to get all nit picky, but the time has come to get this all out in the open.

I modestly propose that the concept of a "Christian" ought to be officially and legally defined in the US Constitution once and for all before anymore proseltysing is acceptable under the First Amendment cloak. I suggest that because there are too many people preaching in the name of christian gods who contradict each other and it leads to confusion and mayhem. I also understand that my proposal would lead to mayhem as well. Fine with me. Let the games begin.

How can anyone really be sure if they are going to hell or not? Since no one has actually been to the literary hell and back again, how do we truly know that hell won't be "heaven" to some people? Never in a million years did I ever think that in light of what US Presidential candidates declare is godly or heavenly, that I would prefer not to go there. I am not interested in a god who wants to scare me into loving or respecting him. I reserve the right to wave my fist in the face of anyone who waves their vengeful god in my face.

I suggest that the Bible be officially interpreted and that no more loose translations or unofficial interpretations be allowed in the public sphere.
Perhaps each "christian" sect ought to be required to name itself and use their sect's name when preaching and bullying outside of the church house under their First Amendment Rights. I laugh to myself because I know that there will be no less than a million sects.

Why propose such a silly thing? Because this will, once and for all, blow the lid off the steaming, stewing, fermenting load of shit being passed off as "christianity" named for the peace loving, people hugging, tax paying, hippy known as Jesus Christ. Once and for all, those who preach hell fire, intolerance and hate will not be legally allowed to refer to themselves as "christians" Or on the other hand, those who do believe in a loving, merciful god, will go by a different classification if the intolerant version of "christianity" should win. Actually, it appears that those who once thought themselves as mainstream "Christian" are already being classified as "secularists."

A national debate on what constitutes a "christian" ought to start the second civil war in the US that makes the first one look like a day in Disney World. People may be forced to use their long subdued powers of reason! After much bloodshed, plundering, rape and pillaging, no side will win and those who survive will keep their mouths shut, never daring to suggest in public what "god" thinks. It will be a long time before any more wars are fought here or abroad.

(this post is subject to future editing as I am tired and spent the morning reading one too many stories of religious interference in our government.)

Republican Thought Process

This dialog is actual and fictional too, but not far fetched.

Gov. Huckabee: "In light of what happened in Pakistan yesterday, it's interesting that there are more Pakistanis who have illegally crossed the border than of any other nationality except for those immediately south of our border,"
Reporter: Gov. Huckabee, how so masterfully you tied the assassination of opposition leader in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto to the hot immigration issue?

-------

Gov. Huckabee: Well,... there is an elaborate thought process that goes into our policy making... First, I would contact Jesus for advice; second,... I would enunciate it to my parishioners on sunday mass. Hey this is a much complicated process; it is very hard to express it in words; I would rather sketch it down for you...

Here is the sketch:




Gov. Huckabee: Here is the result:



This is the most precious Gem of 2007...As for Miss South Carolina, I nominate her as Blondsense's Blond of the Year Award 2007

Also. tell your mother how wrong she was when she told you, that education is the only way to succeed in life!

Peace on Earth. Indeed.

I caught this cartoon on TCM a few days ago. It was created in 1939 by Hugh Harman on the eve of WWII. Squirrels ask their grandfather after singing Christmas Carols invoking "Peace on earth, good will to men," what men are. Apparently, there are no more men on earth. They've annihilated themselves. Quite graphic. Luckily animals survived the holocaust. And the Bible.


See also the 1960's remake titled, "Good Will To Men" by Hanna and Barbera here.

Blackdog,
Before I take your advice and get that rest, I thought you might appreciate this. I had sent it to a few people a while ago but never had the chance to share it this way. It's from Jimmy Stewart on the Tonight Show way back in 1981. I feel your pain.

Dedicated to Farmer Bob's Simon:



Bo

He never came to me when I would call, unless I had a tennis ball, or he felt like it; But mostly he didn’t come at all.

When he was young he never learned to heel, or sit, or stay… he did things his way.

Discipline, was not his bag…but, when you were with him, things sure didn’t drag.

He’d dig up a rose bush just to spite me, and when I’d grab him, he’d turn ‘n bite me.

He bit lots of folks from day to day; the delivery boy was his favorite prey.

The gas man wouldn’t read our meter; he said we owned a real man-eater.

He set the house on fire, but the story’s long to tell; suffice to say that he survived and the house survived as well.

And on evening walks, and Gloria took him, he was always first out the door; the old one and I brought up the rear because our bones were sore.

And he’d charge up the street with mom hangin’ on; what a beautiful pair they were, and if it was still light and the tourists were out, they created a bit of a stir.

But every once in a while he’d stop in his tracks and with a frown on his face look around; it was just to make sure that the old one was there, to follow him where he was bound.


We’re early to bedders in our house, I guess I’m the first to retire, and as I’d leave the room, he’d look at me and get up from his place by the fire.

He knew where the tennis balls were upstairs I’d give him one for a while, and he’d push it under the bed with his nose and I’d dig it out with a smile.

But before very long, he’d tire of the ball and he’d be asleep in his corner in no time at all.

And there were nights, when, I’d feel him climb upon our bed, and lie between us, and I’d pat his head.

And then there were nights when I’d feel his stare and I’d wake up and he’d be sitting there and I’d reach out to stroke his hair and sometimes I’d feel him sigh, and, I think I know the reason why.

He’d wake up at night and would have this fear, of the dark, of life, of lots of things, and he’d be glad to have me near.

And now he’s dead, and, there are nights, when I think, I feel him climbing up on our bed, and lie between us, and I, pat his head.

And there are nights, when I think I feel that stare, and I reach out my hand to stroke his hair, and he’s not there.

Oh, how I wish that wasn’t so;
I’ll always love a dog named Bo.


Jimmy Stewart – July 28, 1981
The Tonight Show

For your viewing funny bone

Sometimes, the proper music set to the proper graphics makes something proper...

R U Loathsome Tonite?

For some more entertainment:

The 50 Most Loathsome People in America
from:

The Beast

Special Attention paid to number 14 for those who feel CNN is leftist.

You may experience delays because their server is quite full. But it's worth it.

Here are 2 of the 50 examples:Loved #9!

9. You are one of the 50 most loathsome people in America:

Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you to press 9 for Spanish. You cling to every scrap of bullshit you can find to support your ludicrous belief system, and reject all empirical evidence to the contrary. You know the difference between patriotism and nationalism -- it's nationalism when foreigners do it. You hate anyone who seems smarter than you. You care more about zygotes than actual people. You love to blame people for their misfortunes, even if it means screwing yourself over. You still think Republicans favor limited government. Your knowledge of politics and government are dwarfed by your concern for Britney Spears' children. You think buying Chinese goods stimulates our economy. You think you're going to get universal health care. You tolerate the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques." You think the government is actually trying to improve education. You think watching CNN makes you smarter. You think two parties is enough. You can't spell. You think $9 trillion in debt is manageable. You believe in an afterlife for the sole reason that you don't want to die. You think lowering taxes raises revenue. You think the economy's doing well. You're an idiot.

Exhibit A: You couldn't get enough Anna Nicole Smith coverage.

Sentence: A gradual decline into abject poverty as you continue to vote against your own self-interest. Death by an easily treated disorder that your health insurance doesn't cover. You deserve it, chump.

14. Glenn Beck

Crimes: If Fox News isn't quite asinine enough for you, just click on over to Headline News, where the CNN brand is eagerly defiling its vestigial credibility by giving an hour a day to the dumbest dumbfuck in dumbfuckistan, Glenn Beck. A white-knuckle, dry drunk, closet case man-child with apparent xenophobia issues and a penchant for end-times theology, Mormon convert Beck is palpably horny for the apocalypse, passive-aggressively accusing even the world's most benign Muslims of plotting America's destruction and likening withdrawal from Iraq to slavery. Beck's combination of faux everyman persona and deliberate misinformation -- The hottest year on record was 1934 (actually 2005), tax cuts increase revenue (patently false Reaganomic mysticism), Antarctica is cooling, Scooter Libby went to jail -- seems increasingly insane, as his whole persona seems to be a frantic pantomime of how he thinks an even-keeled, "smart" bigot would act. Thinks Al gore is "like Hitler." May actually be in love with the president of Iran.

Exhibit A: "I don't know if the Muslim community will ever step to the plate like the Japanese-American community did during World War II. You know, it was absolutely disgraceful how we rounded innocent people up then and, sadly, history has a way of repeating itself no matter how grotesque that history might be. The Muslim community can prevent this if they act now."

Sentence: Anchored to the Florida shore, Beck is forcibly compelled to vigorously deny the gradual rise of water levels around him as boats full of gay, Marxist Muslim illegal immigrants arrive and disembark nearby. Eventually, after two decades, Beck drowns.

Who's your pick for the TOP BULLSHIT CAMPAIGN ARTIST for 2008?

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Morning Laugh

April Fools...not really.

But this is really hilarious if they weren't so serious. I imagine George Mason U. to be a bastion of impartiality.

From the Huffington Post:


Fox is the most fair and balanced newscast


And George Bush will become a Democrat!

And Baby Jesus Wept, "I was born for this?"

Priests brawl at Jesus' birthplace

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) -- Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests attacked each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning on Thursday.

The clean-up turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities.

Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can touch off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners were scrubbing the church ahead of the Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in early January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for Christmas celebrations.

But the clean-up turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section, touching off a scuffle between about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

Palestinian police, armed with batons and shields, quickly formed a human cordon to separate the two sides so the cleaning could continue, then ordered an Associated Press photographer out of the church.

Four people, some with blood running from their faces, were slightly wounded.

"Benazir Bhutto - A Warning To Us All"

That's the title of Joe Quinn's article at SOTT Focus.
He tells us why. The who? Well....

Glad I'm Not A Kennedy

Homage to Benazir Bhutto and all the brave people who put Country and Democracy before their own life!



Glad I'm Not A Kennedy
Shona Laing

Living on through politics

Body-guarded, heart in bits

A blue-eyed honesty

Indigo injury

The family tree is felled

Bereavement worn so well 

Giving up on certainty 

Wilderness society 



Wearing the fame like a loaded gun

Tied up with a rosary

I’m glad I’m not a Kennedy



Imagine being a Kennedy

Rule without remedy

To watch your family die 

The world loves a sacrifice

Prophets longing for the three

Honouring the tragedy

They hunger for the crime

The privilege to take a life 



Wearing the fame like a loaded gun

Tied up with a rosary 

Ooh, I’m glad I’m not a Kennedy



I love the look in your eyes

I can see your soul sometimes and we laugh

When we try too hard we stop and start

Oh imagine being a Kennedy

I’m glad I’m not a Kennedy



Wearing the fame like a loaded gun 

Tied up with a rosary

I’m glad I’m not a Kennedy


Imagine being a Kennedy

Ooh I’m glad I’m not a Kennedy


"...the cost of freedom is always high,
Yet one path we shall never choose
- that is the path of surrender or submission.
When a man's way please the lord,
The scriptures tell us,
‘He maketh even his enemies
To be at peace with him'.
We will not prematurely or unnecessarily
Risk the course of worldwide nuclear war
In which even the fruits of victory
Would be ashes in our mouths
Ashes in our mouths...
Ashes in our mouths...
Ashes in our mouths... "

Some Short Thoughts


Isn’t our projected six week involvement in Iraq over?

If hunters eat what they shoot, did Cheney eat his lawyer friend?

Republicans don’t like to waste money…on the poor, the sick, the homeless, on education.

Religious Leaders have created this current mess to foist their money loving views on this country. They have no sincerity about gawd, just about power and money.

Right Wing Political Zealots have taken the Radical Evangelical’s bullshit and run with it for their own purpose.

The current Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth and this was an education how?

The press has been taken over by Extremists from the Right who only want power and money just like the Religious Leaders. Once the people have been enslaved, the Religious leaders will be eliminated. Of course, they can’t see that.

If anybody thinks that we will get through the next year without a major catastrophe, they are living in another dimension.

Can Martial Law be far behind?

Local law enforcement is being promised greatly increased power without recrimination to exercise over the general population.

When the general population becomes upset about anything the government does, a distraction is created by the government.

It would seem that this administration is bent on the actual deaths of as many poor and minorities as possible. Their actions or lack of actions over the last 7 years should be ample proof. Add to that their unconcern over dangerous food products, imports from China, continued destruction of the environment, etc.

Fred Thompson is the ugliest misogynist candidate of either party.
Rudy Giuliani is the most psychotic.
Willard Romney is certifiable.
Huckabee suffers from delusions of Godhood.
Remember when we though that we couldn’t do worse than Gingrich, Frist, Hastert, Robertson and about a dozen other Republican Nuts?
Remember when we laughed that Gawd talked to Bush…and 51% of the crazies believed him? Now he’s a regular contributor to the Republican Candidates.

Are members of the press really brainless morons or do they just play them on TV or in the papers?

Who is more ball-less, the press or the Democrats?

…To be continued.

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated In Pakistan

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at the end of a campaign rally, aides said.

The death of the 54-year-old charismatic former prime minister threw the campaign for the Jan. 8 election into chaos and created fears of mass protests and an eruption of violence across the volatile south Asian nation.

more

Irony Watch

Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ Convinced Bush To Ban Embryonic Stem Cell Research

Well someone actually read him passages from the book in order to help him for his own opinion. Bushie ought to actually read some dystopian novels and do some hard thinking.

Airport profilers are watching your minutest expressions

While reading this story about TSA officials who are "trained" to watch traveler's expressions, how cops are using tasers on citizens who don't do exactly as they are told, and for being fingerprinted during a traffic stop I began to think that perhaps I shouldn't argue with "conspiracy theorists" because they just may be on to something. We seem to be living in a dystopian novel. Pretty soon the monkeys will take over.

Getting back to the TSA watching your expression-- It appears that while they claim that they are experts in detecting "microfacial expressions -- a flash of feelings that in a fraction of a second reflects emotions such as fear, anger, surprise or contempt" and will then refer you to secondary interrogation at the airport gate, they truly suck at it or in fact tens of thousands of travelers want to kill others. Well perhaps both are true. I would recommend a good shot of Botox before you fly.

Since January 2006, behavior-detection officers have referred about 70,000 people for secondary screening, Maccario said. Of those, about 600 to 700 were arrested on a variety of charges, including possession of drugs, weapons violations and outstanding warrants

Seventy thousand microfacial expressions were referred for secondary screening? I think they need to send the swift TSA officers back to the drawing board in order to teach them how to detect which passengers merely want to see the TSA go straight to hell vs those who want to blow up the airplane. Heaven forbid, we don't want to be seen as racial profilers in America. Sure, rush the old white lady with blue eyes to secondary screening because she looks perturbed and might have a bomb strapped on her. (Well maybe not this time...)

I can't imagine anyone going through airport security in NY's JFK or LGA without expressing sincere disdain and contempt in their microfacial expressions (or their macrofacial expressions.) Just dropping off someone or picking them up at the airport makes my macrofacial expressions twitch. Thinking about it makes me twitch uncontrollably.

Being greeted at the airport terminal in your home city by youngsters in full riot gear wielding automatic weapons, after being barked at by renta-cops at the drop off point, then being shuffled around by those fine government employees in tight fitting uniforms who haven't passed their first semester of "English as a second language" and who can only bark unintelligible orders at weary travelers and cannot answer any questions because they haven't learned enough words in English yet, and then wondering if your bags are going to be violated by goons in the back room and then having to stand on too long lines to get screened and questioned while there is no line at all at the elite check in for first class passengers, knowing full well that even if the plane leaves the terminal on time, that doesn't mean it will take off any time soon... well it all seems kind of pointless to try to train anyone to detect outstanding fear and contempt in a particular traveler. Oh and I forgot to mention that if you try to ask an actual airline employee a question in the terminal, the required response is "write to head office."

Well thank goodness, Big Brother is watching and keeping us safe. Who the hell needs another terrorist attack? They've won.

Anniversary

Boxing Day, 2006.

The Earth shrugged.

230,000 dead, in 12 countries.

A year ago, today.


UPDATE: Yes, my mistake. The Aceh Tsunami was in 2004, not 2006. Three years ago.

I'm going to wander off for a bit.

In America: 2007

Dear _____,



Saw your light on and thought I'd leave a note. Thanks for the gift certificates.




We were thankful the McDonald’s hamburger wasn’t over done by the kids that complained they had to work on Christmess so they couldn’t get to their friend’s places to celebrate till later; the fries were however; and the drink was mostly soda water.
Good thing they had a dollar menu or we wouldn’t have been able to celebrate this year.




It was nice though, being able to spend an hour or so in a heated place. Since they shut my gas off in November, it’s been pretty rough but I’m sure once the Democrats are in next year, things will be a lot better.




Sometime next month my ’82 Corolla will be ready or at least that’s what the man at the garage says. Something about a valve thing or something like that he had to replace, I guess. Says once I make the last payment to him, I can have the car back. Maybe by January 15th. Hope I have enough for some gas.




The youngest one got a used coat from the local bundle-up place but they didn’t have any more so I just put some of those handy napkins in the holes. Seems to work ok.




Today, the day after Christmess I got my tax bill in the mail for the last year. They never have any trouble finding us for what we owe them. They won’t extend the time on me paying them because I owe taxes for a couple of years now. Been kind of tough coming up with money for that government stuff and now they want to go to a magistrate and make me pay costs and other stuff. How much is a stamp nowadays?




It’s so nice my taxes are helping take care of all the things I really use; like roads and buses (they cut the service in my area and I have to walk 10 extra blocks to get one), oh and that war on terror thing is really working well. I ca’t tell you how much it means to me that all that money is so well spent over there where it’s needed. Thanks President Bush, for protecting me, my kids and my lifestyle.




At least the water is running again. The temperature is above freezing so we’re filling as many plastic jugs as we could find. It helps to put some water in smaller bottles and keep them next to your skin to warm them up so you can wash up better.




Being cold, the socks don’t dry as quickly in the winter as the summer so they don’t get washed as often. And we only have a couple of candles left. We need them because the electricity was shut off, too. I promised the little one that I’d read her a story tonight before she goes to sleep. The radio needs batteries to work. Maybe next week I’ll find some.




We’re going down to the employment office today. I have to take the kids since I can’t afford day care. I heard there’s some temp work on the other side of town. Not sure how I’ll get there but at least it’s work…for a couple of weeks.




My youngest has a bad cold. Thank God for them and CHiP since I don’t qualify for medicare and the welfare and food stamps were cut. Too many people were probably taking advantage of them and the government had to teach them a lesson so they didn’t waste any more tax money on fakers.




Well, I got to go now. The plastic on the front window blew off again and if I don’t get something on the opening, it’s going to be a colder night.




Hope you guys got all you wanted for Christmess.




Laura, Jimmy and Karen

What I Got for Christmas

1. Two pounds heavier, after a lovely supper Monday and grazing most of Tuesday afternoon.
2. Homemade candy.
3. The new translation of Beowulf.
4. The restored version of Battleship Potemkin, on DVD.
5. New bed sheets.
6. A piece of stained glass art to fit the lunar window over my front door.
7. Some peace and quiet.
8. The internet posting of Chapter 125 of my serial Luck of the Dragon, and the sorta-kinda Christmas story The Pickering Papers: A Clean Start, both on the Spontoon Island website.
9. A t-shirt with the following line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "I fart in your general direction."

What was under YOUR tree?

Santa Was Here

We had a lovely Christmas. I hope you all did too.

I never could have willed myself into such a state of calm. Maybe it was just surrender. Maybe it was the war.

Billy Joel & Cass Dillon Performing "Christmas In Fallujah"

"Don't suffer from PTSD, go out and cause it"

BOISE – Idaho's newest police officers are not being trained to inflict post-traumatic stress, the head of officer training for the state says, despite a slogan to that effect that was featured prominently in the program for the latest police academy graduation.



"That's not something we encourage or condone," said Jeff Black, executive director of the POST Academy. "It shouldn't have been in there – it was inappropriate."

"Our class president was ex-military," Black said. "It slipped in."

It slipped in????

To all from me...

A Wife's Night Before Christmas

Anonymous


'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the kitchen;
I was cooking and baking and moanin and bitchin.
I've been here for hours, I can't stop to rest.
This room's a disaster, just look at this mess!


Tomorrow I've got thirty people to feed.
They expect all the trimmings. Who cares what I need!
My feet are both blistered, and cramps in my legs.
The cat just knocked over a bowl full of eggs.


There's a knock at the door and the telephone's ringing;
Frosting drips on the counter as the microwave's dinging.
Two pies in the oven, desserts almost done,
My cookbook is soiled with butter and crumbs.


I've had all I can stand, I can't take anymore;
Then in walks my husband, spilling rum on the floor.


He weaves and he wobbles, his balance unsteady;
Then grins as he chuckles "The eggnog is ready!"
He looks all around and with total regret,
Says, "What's taking so long.... Aren't you through in here yet??"


As quick as a flash I reach for a knife;
He loses an earlobe; I wanted his life!
He flees from the room in terror and pain,
And screams "MY GOD WOMAN, YOU'RE GOING INSANE!!"


Now what was I doing, and what is that smell?
Oh damn it's the pies!! They're burned all to hell!!
I hate to admit when I make a mistake,
But I put them on BROIL instead of on BAKE.


What else can go wrong?? Is there still more ahead?
If this is good living, I'd rather be dead.
Lord, don't get me wrong, I love holidays;
It just leaves me exhausted, all shaky and dazed.


But I promise you one thing, If I live till next year,
You won't find me pulling my hair out in here.
I'll hire a maid, a cook, and a waiter!
And if that doesn't work, I'LL HAVE IT ALL CATERED!!!


Happy Christmas!

The Days Are Getting Longer Now Liz!!

Tyrrhenian Sea and Solstice Sky

(exposures from sunrise to sunset - December Solstice day of 2005)

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day - yesterday.

Ah, for the good old days!

"Hoover Planned Mass Jailing in 1950"

"A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.

"Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons."

Rest at the NY Times.

And They Call This "News?"

The major news services here in the US (including the main government propaganda channel, Pravda TV - er, oops, Fox News) have all been agog about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's recent conversion from the Church of England to Catholicism.

Two things.

One, Blair ISN'T the godsdamned PM any longer - so what the hell are the media doing talking about it?

Two, back in the day (say about 1830 or so) if a major figure in Britain converted from the C of E to Papism, he would have never gotten far in political office or even allowed in Parliament. Britain took such things seriously - just look at Guy Fawkes' Day.

Our country was founded on an idea of tolerance buttressed by the Mexican standoff between the major sects in Christianity so that no single one can get the upper hand. Since there is NO religious test for public office, announcing that someone's converted from Protestantism to Catholicism (or even from Episcopalianism to Baptist) is a non-starter.

Happy Solstice

Oh thank goddess. I can't take this darkness much longer and I will hate to see my electric bill when it comes in. As usual, I missed the Global Orgasm For Peace. I hope that most of you celebrated it and were thinking of me.

In good news, I am happy to read that late night comics will be back in January to skewer the politicians (with or without writers). As much as I support the writer's strike, I have been very concerned that politicians have been getting away with murder and that only those politicians who disagree with the president get bad press. Sometimes, the only reality in the media concerning the political antics in America come from late night commentary, snarky as it is. Well that ought to cheer up those of us who are quite SADD this time of year.

House Of Cards

The chairman of Overstock.com (Patrick Byrne) tells it like it is on CNBC. Apparently Overstock does well during bad times. This is not what they want to hear.

Note first the global warming reference as to why Overstock benefited this season by having current merchandise, and then note how he speaks of our economy as a "House of Cards." Oh my! Not on CNBC. Stay cheery! Stay Cheery!

Notice how the hosts of the program do not like such a gloomy outlook on the economy and how they change the subject. It's almost as if it's their job to keep shoring up the cards: "but our life style is so improved....I mean, we've built BILLIONS of new buildings."

Now check out his interview with Fox earlier this month and how he stuns the host:

KEENAN: You know, your stock has held up pretty — you are smiling, because it has had a rough couple months, but compared to Wal-Mart, which has flatlined this year, your stock has done pretty well. How come?

BYRNE: Well, we're up about 50 percent for the year.

(CROSSTALK)

KEENAN: Yes, that's pretty well.

BYRNE: I never try to figure out too closely what is driving the stock. I think there's actually a lot of games and manipulations being played in the stock — and, actually, I never encourage people to buy it, because I think it's heavily manipulated.

[...]

KEENAN: Also want to ask you about what is going on in the mortgage market, and we have seen a lot of record, indeed, foreclosures, people cutting back.

And I know that you sell a lot of items for the home. Have they been weaker than your other products?

BYRNE: Actually, no. I do think that our furniture business is fantastic.

KEENAN: Really?

BYRNE: Great corner of our business.

I do think that we are in — I have been saying for about two years we're looking at a 1929 kind of event. I think that we are really in trouble in this country. And what you have seen in the last four months is just the beginning of it.

KEENAN: Wow.

BYRNE: The government has been keeping the economy afloat with flooding us with cheap money. And those days are over. The dollar is cracking. Eventually, they are either going to they have to defend it by raising interest rates or something. But we're looking at a very bad economic situation.

(CROSSTALK)

KEENAN: But, so far, you are not seeing it. But, of course, you would probably be the last place to see it, since you are selling such discounted items.

BYRNE: If anything, we are counter-cyclical. In good times, it is — we have — it's toughest to get overstock. In bad times is when, suddenly, everybody is calling us to unload product.

The rich people, according to my sources, are preparing for a huge downturn in the economy and preparing to bail on their investments, which means that I too will be bailing, digging a hole and drawing a treasure map.

hat tip to farang for the video

Repost: Season's Greetings, I Think

by Father Tyme

Death By Comets

I just read the most fantastic book review of New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection by dendrochronologist Mike Baillie of Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland over at SOTT.

Descriptions of the earth during plagues once written off as metaphor may actually be associated with high energy atmospheric interactions coming from space.

From the SOTT review.

Mike Baillie didn't start out to write a book about cometary impacts being implicated in the great Pandemics of the past; he had just noticed some strange tree ring patterns that happened to coincide with this historical catastrophe and thought that, perhaps, there was some sort of environmental downturn that weakened the human population, making humanity susceptible to bacterial or viral death on a large scale. But, what he found was a dangling thread that, once he began to pull on it, unraveled the "accepted wisdom" about the Black Death and sent him off on a search that led to completely astonishing conclusions.

As mentioned, the first clue was tree rings - that's natural since Baillie is a dendrochronologist. He compared these tree rings to dated ice-core samples that had been analyzed and discovered a very strange thing: ammonium. There are, as it happens, four occasions in the last 1500 years where scientists can confidently link dated layers of ammonium in Greenland ice to high-energy atmospheric interactions with objects coming from space: 539, 626, 1014, and 1908 - the Tunguska event. In short, there is a connection between ammonium in the ice cores and extra-terrestrial bombardment of the surface of the earth.

Now notice that the above statement is that there are four events that can be definitively linked with high-energy interactions; Baillie presents the research in this book showing that the exact same signature is present at the time of the Black Death in both the tree rings and in the ice cores, AND at other times of so-called "plague and pandemic".

As it happens, the ammonium signal in the ice-cores is directly connected to an earthquake that occurred on January 25th, 1348 - and Baillie discovers that there was a 14th century writer who wrote that the plague was a "corruption of the atmosphere" that came from this earthquake!

How could a plague come from an earthquake, you ask?

Oh my. It's all so interesting. So much to learn and so little time.