In case you are wondering

yes, it is a very boring day at the office.

Economist Milton Friedman dies at 94.

You can read more about him at Wiki. You can thank him for the way we withhold payroll taxes in the US.

~ ~ ~

And the winner for the 2006 Darwin Award is...

Man accidently shoots himself in groin

oh, wait... he didn't die. Oh well, moron, better luck next time, eh?

~ ~ ~

Strong Leonid Meteor Shower Expected This Weekend.

Wo0t! I'll try to head upstate to see if I can see this meteor shower. There's too much light pollution around my area to see much of anything, usually.

For more information on the Leonids, see Space.com.

~ ~ ~

Tomorrow is Ladies Poker Night at my sister's house. Featuring Cosmo's. I may have to fight the dog for the couch.

RIP Louis Riel

Will you watch?

No.

Man, this is just sick. Please do not watch “If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened” or enrich that scumbag by buying his book. Please.

Back then O.J. denied everything. Now, I guess, he’ll tell us how he terrified her, beat her, sliced her until rivulets of blood streamed past the bougainvillea outside their Brentwood home. We’ll tune in. Then he, Fox, Regan, and all those advertisers will cash in on the blood of the woman who saw it all coming.

~ ~ ~

Being George's poodle isn't working out too well for Tony: Sympathetic Labour Pains: Tony Blair's Post-Election Panic Attack

But the turning of the water was no miracle, no divine judgment on the leader whose fateful partnership with George W. Bush is producing - week after week, month after month, year after year - fresh cause for future mourning. The color came from the thousands of fake poppies tossed into the fountain in what The Observer called "a spontaneous act of remembrance": an offering of the ubiquitous charity emblems worn by most of the population in the week leading up to the memorials.

In any case, Tony Blair never saw the vision of blood in the Square; he was in Hyde Park, with the Queen and other worthies, conducting formal ceremonies where no free action or unscripted word from the public was allowed to intrude. These offices of the dead were a fitting end to a week which saw Blair and his ministers launch a massive new fearmongering campaign, promising a "generation" of terror, war and tyrannical security measures in a "long and deep struggle" against his own nation's Muslim minority.

~ ~ ~

Molly bids farewell to Rumsfeld.

And the beybey Jebus smiles.

~ ~ ~

USDA Eliminates 'Hunger'

“very low food security.”

America's Second Harvest

Foodshare, Bloomfield, CT

Island Harvest, Mineola, Long Island

The Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA

Food Bank for New York City, Bronx, New York

Connecticut Food Bank, New Haven, CT

Yorkville Common Pantry, New York, New York

I found some of the list above using Charity Navigator and the criteria was "hunger" and I sorted it by highest to lowest rating - giving me a list of 192 hunger related charities across the United States. Please do the same for your own locale and give what you can.

~ ~ ~

If you don't know who Louis Riel is, look it up.

Fractured History Tales

On this day in 1002... King Ethelred II, also known as Ethelred the Unready, ordered the murder of all Danish people living in England. He had been fighting with the Danes since 991, the beginning of his reign, and I guess he had just had enough. Seems a bit extreme to me. He ended up having to run away, to Normandy, in 1013, when Sweyn Haraldsson (yes, he was a Dane) whooped his ass in response to the massacre (and just because he could) and conquered England. But not for long. Ethelred returned to England in 1014 when Haraldsson died, only to die two years later in London.

Ethelred is also famous for taking a dump in the baptismal font when he was a baby. Most believe this is not a true story. But it's funny so I'm going to go right on believing it.

Ethelred married, thirdly, Emma of Normandy, whose big brother Robert helped him when Sweyn kicked his ass outta England. When the Bastard (no, not Ethelred, William) wanted to be King of England, he claimed his right by way of Ethelred being his great-Uncle.

Don't think I would have gone about bragging a familial connection to this guy. But then I've never wanted to be King of England. For what it's worth, I think William's military ability meant more in the long run, anyway.

Ethelred's reign is responsible for the foundations of the grand jury system we know today.

This is also the anniversary of the birth of an ex-boyfriend and current friend who is turning 50 today.

It's Friday. Do the Happy Dance!

I'm not happy that Howard Dean is saying "we" won't be impeaching Bush.

"I know half the audience wants us to impeach the president, and all that kind of stuff," Dean said, "but we're not going to do that."

We'll see.

Send letters and emails to Congress people. Bush and Cheney need to go to jail for what they've done.

~ ~ ~

As usual, a day late and dollar short: Britannia Blog: Where Ideas Matter.

Wo0T!

~ ~ ~

I was watching CSI last night and noticed that Christmas is already being hyped. Argh! We haven't even hit Thanksgiving in the US yet! grumble, grrr.

Watching the show I realized, yet again, I have the most eclectic taste in men: I mean how hot is William Petersen? 8.5 out of 10. Well, for me anyway.

But then there is Jesse L. Martin of Law & Order... pauses to drool Oy! 9.9. In my Universe no one is a 10 but Jesse is so damn close.

Remember the Joe Boxer guy? Jumping up and down with that fantastic smile on his face? 9.9. I must have watched that commercial a dozen times before I realized he was just wearing (and advertising) boxer shorts - that happy and adorable face just blew me away.

Others? In no particular order:

Senator Robert Byrd. Don't ask. 8

Same for Harry S Truman. 8.5

Jon Stewart. Oh man... Love!Him! Smart and sarcastic and funny - hatrick! Sexy as all get out. He gets an 9.

Tim Gunn. 9.9

drooling... daydreaming...

Um, what was I on about? Oh, right, sexy men.

Let's see... Patrick Stewart, LeVar Burton, Wil Wheaton (yeah, I'm a TNG geek) - all 8's

Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon: 8's

Aasif Mandvi, from The Daily Show. 7. He's growing on me. He's a future 9, I think.

There are others but 1) Can't remember who they are right now and 2) I've embarrassed myself enough for one day.

~ ~ ~

Seems it's a good day to be a kid:

Jesus Camp shuts down.

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

~ ~ ~

Forgot to mention this morning that tomorrow is Veterans Day in the United States. I didn't think of it until I was out and about getting lunch this afternoon and saw an elderly gentleman handing out red poppies. I took several and said thank you.

It is also Armistice Day in France and Belgium and Remembrance Day in United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

America's dumbassification

Love it. Never saw or heard that expression before. But, I'm usually behind the times.

America's dumbassification - I read that in an article by Melanie McFarland at Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I'm liking it, whomever came up with it first.

America's dumbassification.

~ ~ ~

The nightmare that is Gaza continues to intensify.

Israel on alert as Palestinians bury civilian victims

~ ~ ~

World welcomes shift in US Politics

Against the broad mood of satisfaction, however, there were voices of concern that a power split between Democrats and Republicans in Washington might mean uncertainty in crucial areas like global trade talks.

It's not just international relations that are apt to suffer, domestic issues will most likely not be dealt with either.

Both parties are cooing "bipartisan" to all and sundry. I think, come January (if not sooner) we're going to see a hardening of ideologies. In short, not much is going to get done in the next two years.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said Rumsfeld's surprise resignation underscored the depth of what has happened in America.

"Even though U.S. politics had already started changing, Rumsfeld's resignation means an accentuation of this change," Prodi said. "We'll see over the next few days what the new direction will be. But certainly we have a political structure ... deeply different from that of a few days ago."

I think Rummy's resignation is a bone Bush and Co are throwing the American public. Bush's press conference yesterday was just bullshit meant to soften people up, make them think things are going to change.

They won't.

~ ~ ~


Ah, enough doom and gloom. Let's enjoy the awesome majesty of our Universe!

This image of the Orion nebula, taken by NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and released November 7, 2006, shows an infrared and visible-light composite that indicates that a 'gang' of four monstrously massive stars at the center of the cloud may be the main culprits of mayhem in the familiar Orion constellation. The stars are collectively called the 'Trapezium' and can be communally identified as the yellow smudge near the center of the image. Swirls of green in Hubble's ultraviolet and visible-light view reveal hydrogen and sulfur gas that have been heated and ionized by intense ultraviolet radiation from the Trapezium's stars.

This image provided by NASA Thursday Nov. 2, 2006 is a recent photo from the Cassini spacecraft showing the mighty planet Saturn, and if you look very closely between its wing-like rings, upper left, revelas a faint pinprick of light. That tiny dot is Earth bustling with life as we know it. The image is the second ever taken of our world from deep space. The first was captured by the Voyager spacecraft in 1990. This marvelous panoramic view was created by combining a total of 165 images taken by the Cassini wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on Sept. 15, 2006. The mosaic images were acquired as the spacecraft drifted in the darkness of Saturn's shadow for about 12 hours, allowing a multitude of unique observations of the microscopic particles that compose Saturn's faint rings.

Comments on the pictures are from AP and Yahoo! news.

The Silly Season is finally over

Lieberman defeats Lamont to hold Senate seat.

Not a huge surprise. CNN kept stressing last night that Lieberman has promised Connecticut that he will work with the Democrats. Wolf sending a message? Perhaps.

Connecticut knows Joe only works for himself. He'll take the ripest plums the Republicans offer him and do what ever the hell they want him to do.

Six more years of this crap.

Independents and Republicans voted for him in droves. Thanks folks - you are responsible for this. Hope you're happy.

If Schlesinger had not been in this race I'm not sure Lamont would have received his votes. Lamont lost it after winning the primary. Schlesinger's numbers are mostly attributed to his good showing in the debates - goodness knows the Republican machine abandoned him . For Lieberman. That's gotta leave a bad taste in his mouth.

It's depressing that voters in seven states have decided to amend their Constitutions to define marriage as a union between one male and one female.

The conservative Concerned Women for American said it "rejoices with the American people on these important victories."

Depressing. It looks like only Arizona will not pass one of these marriage amendment issues.

Good news? Six states voted to raise their minimum wages; Santorum lost to Bobby Casey (whose Dad once dated my Mother back in the dark ages :) ); South Dakota’s law banning abortion was rejected 55 - 45; Webb might win Virginia - it's really close; the removal of Republicans wasn't just Federal - it was on the state and local level as well.

Not sure how I feel about Madam Speaker, the individual, but Madam Speaker... sweet.

Get the message Mr. Bush?

~ ~ ~

In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega won his presidential bid after Eduardo Montealegre conceded yesterday.

On the campaign trail, Ortega traded his olive-green military garb for white and pink shirts and ran on a center-left platform. Once an atheist, he has made peace with an old enemy, the Catholic Church. His running mate, Jaime Morales, is a former Contra commander whose Managua home Ortega confiscated as president and still lives in.

Tiger changing its spots? Perhaps. I wonder how long it will be before Bush declares Nicaragua one of the "Axis of Evil" nations.

~ ~ ~

Britney Spears is divorcing her husband. This is news, apparently. Comes under the header "who gives a shit" for me... but then, that's me.

However... it's just fine for some foolish person, ala Miz Spears, to "marry" some equally foolish person during a drunken... well orgy might be too strong of a word… for 55 hours and get it... was it annulled or were they divorced? In any case, this child makes a complete mockery of marriage and that's just fine and dandy. Then she goes off with some other equally foolish person, whose girlfriend had given birth to their second child just a few months prior, and marries this clown. This is just peachy-keen. They have two more children who will now not have a full-time Father in their lives, just like his other two children don't. No problem, apparently.

But two people who love each other, have been committed to each other for some long period time in most cases, who wish the world to know and accept them as loving spouses/partners, and congratulate them as such, welcome them as such, just like the Spears-Fed "marriage" - that can't happen. Two people who just run rough shod over others lives, doing whatever the hell they feel like doing and making a joke out of what marriage is supposed to be about, can get away with this behavior - but two loving, committed adults cannot get married if they are of the same sex.

This makes sense? How? How can this possibly make sense to anyone? It's a sick joke. The State has no right to say who can and cannot marry beyond very basic guidelines such as age and mental health - this simple fact seems to allude most people. Amending the state Constitutions to give the State that power is the worst kind of insanity - if they can tell you that you must marry someone of a different sex, next they will tell you what color, what religion, what nationality your spouse must be.

You don't think so?

Think about it some more.

Today is a good day for civil liberties - the Democrats have taken back the government from Republican control. But only one of eight states rejected the notion of a state Constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one male and one female. In 2004 11 states voted the same way - that's 18 states looking to amend their Constitutions to declare that marriage is between one male and one female. It’s not a huge stretch of the imagination that this could get much, much worse. Did you see this coming six years ago?

Four years ago?

I know I didn’t.

YaYa

Dinner was at the Red Barn last night. We combined Gretchen's birthday with our YaYa night out.

The Red Barn has been around since the Grant administration. Okay, I lie... Truman, possibly. In any event, it's been around for a while. The prices are steep, as in $290 pre-tip for five people with only one bottle of wine. The food is usually excellent and, for the most part, last night was no exception. Their version of chicken marsala, which my sister Gretchen had was... different. Can't quite explain what was so unusual, but that it also didn't work well was a bit of a downer as she was the birthday girl. My stuffed shrimp with pilaf and asparagus was fantastic - I nearly licked the plate - and I hate asparagus!

I'm something of a foodie (oooh looks so dirty, doesn't it?), as my BMI will attest to. This got me to thinking about blogging a list of favorite food blogs (and yeah, I've done this before. Sue me.):

Chezpim: makes me pea-green with envy. I want her life. I would weigh 900 pounds, but I would be happy.

dcfud: I now want to eat my way through DC.

Cooking with Amy: recipes, reviews, good looking foodporn - who needs more?

The wine makers wife: her photographs border on the pornographic. Love looking at and reading her site.

Chocolate adn Zucchini: she has a cookbook coming out - give it some loving!

The Food Section: beybeys and food and the occassional snark - a good time!

The girl who ate everything: girl after my own heart.

101 cookbooks: I almost never make any recipe showcased here, but I read this site nearly every day. I should cook more and read less.

As Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio (scandals! election fraud! recount!), I'll confess yet another dirty little secret:

I watch Top Chef.

Yeah, I know... there's something wrong with me. But at least it's not Dancing with the Stars!

Apparently the YaYa's are huge fans of this insanity. Dancing with the Stars now has some sort of road-trip thing and their "Stars" are coming to our area early next year and the YaYa's want me to go. A YaYa trip, they say.

Kill.

Me.

Now.

The YaYa's are not happy that I picked on their choice of reality television so in good old sisterly fashion Gret just had to let out my deep, dark, sorted secret:

"Well you watch Top Chef!"

Silence descended. It was painful. I wanted to hide. But, in my usual fuck you fashion I sallied forth with a brilliant retort:

Yeah, so?!

Yes, I'm five. But my sister's four! And, and, and... she chews her hair!

So there.

Election day fun

Blogspot has not been helpful in creating my poll. So, click the link to vote on my question: Should I buy an ipod?




Take My Poll




When I have more time I'll write my own damn script.

Friggin' blogspot.

Don't waste your time reading blogs

GO VOTE!

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Belles-lettres

Judith at Starlight News posted a copy of a letter and a link to the story on Wonkette about Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff receiving the Henry Petersen award. The letter to Chertoff is from Mr. Petersen's grandson, Mr. Miles W. Swanson.

I want to have Mr. Swanson's babies.

Yeah, it's that good.

Go read and tell me you want to have his babies too.

'Cuz you will.

~ ~ ~

This weekend will be nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake. It is the last weekend before Tuesday's election.

You know what to do, right?

Read another letter.

Tell me why you're crying, my son
I know you're frightened, like everyone
Is it the thunder in the distance you fear?
Will it help if I stay very near?
I am here.

Refrain:
And if you take my hand my son
All will be well when the day is done.
And if you take my hand my son
All will be well when the day is done.
Day is done, day is done
Day is done, day is done

Do you ask why I'm sighing, my son?
You shall inherit what mankind has done.
In a world filled with sorrow and woe
If you ask me why this is so, I really don't know.

(refrain)

Tell me why you're smiling my son
Is there a secret you can tell everyone?
Do you know more than men that are wise?
Can you see what we all must disguise
Through your loving eyes?

~ ~ ~

From now until Wednesday, November 8, we get to watch the United States equivalent of the Roman orgy on television. From the comfort of our own e-z chairs! Who's bringing the spinach dip?

The Media will have an orgasm approximately every hour for the next five days. The orgiastic frenzy will reach it's maximum pitch around 8pm Eastern time when orgasms will occur, roughly, every five minutes. They will taper off around midnight, Eastern time, out of shear exhaustion. By noon, Eastern time, on Wednesday, November 8, it will be all over. Forgotten.

A long, lost, weekend.

But will be happy?

Ignore the Mainstream pimping machine and their last minute exit poll data. Ignore the increasing shrill hysteria of people who want your vote and the Media who pimp them out to you.

Shut it all out.

Turn off the television, the radio - don't read the newspapers or the internet.

You already know who you'll vote for and why.

Stop paying the pimps.

Stop listening to the whores.

Just go vote. Tuesday, November 8, 2006.

---

I know these letters do not fit the definition of belles-lettres except that they are critisim. You try coming up with titles for the stuff I post! :)

Enaks Tears

Down below I have posted some of those silly "tests" you can find online. In one of them I get Patrick Stewart as my "daddy"...

pauses to drool...

Anyway, Mr. Editor posted the following comment:

One thing I'm slightly confused about though: If you're supposed to call him dada, shouldn't Jean Arp have been your daddy instead of Patrick Stewart? After all, Patrick is more of a classicist and traditionalist and I just can't picture him with melted clocks all around the cottage . . . .

If someone would care to translate, I'd be grateful. There were clues, however, such as the melted clocks and dada, so I went off to google, because I had never heard of this person Jean Arp.

Jean Arp.

Arp was a founding member of the Dada movement in Zürich in 1916. In 1920, as Hans Arp, along with Max Ernst, and the social activist Alfred Grünwald, he set up the Cologne Dada group. However, in 1925 his work also appeared in the first exhibition of the surrealist group at the Galerie Pierre in Paris.

Ah ha! Enlightenment dawns! Look folks it's raining buckets again and I didn't get much sleep so I'm a tad slow on the uptake this morning.

But I still can't figure out what, if any, connection he has to the delightful Mr. Stewart.

Mr. Editor makes my brain hurt from time to time.

And that's a good thing.

Artcyclopedia - Jean Arp

Jean Arp - Guggenheim Collection

Sliding towards chaos.

Sliding? Good grief.

From the DailyKos, which got the article from the New York Times: Military Chart Confirms Iraq Is Sliding Towards Chaos.

Is this like being a little bit pregnant?

Six days until election day in the US. You know what to do, right?

103 US troops killed in Iraq in 31 days. I stopped counting the Iraqi death reports a week ago. Too goddamn depressing. However, yesterday, a car bomb killed 15 people in a wedding procession, including four children; five gunmen were found dead in an orchard; 42 Shiites were kidnapped because... they're Shiite; eight people found shot execution style... and it goes on and on.

See also: Baghdad is under siege:

- upwards of 1,000 Iraqis are dying violently every week;

- Shia fighters have taken over much of Baghdad; the Sunni encircle the capital;

- the Iraqi Red Crescent says 1.5 million people have fled their homes within the country;

- the Shia and Sunni militias control Iraq, not the enfeebled army or police

You know why this is going on, right?

Six days until election day in the US. You know what to do, right?

History lesson: Turning the Corner Into Madness, by Robert Scheer.

Who's your Daddy?

Your Daddy Is Patrick Stewart

What You Call Him: Dada Why You Love Him: He takes you to Disneyland

Who's Your Daddy?

Yes!

No, wait... I wanna date Mr. Stewart, not get him a Father's Day card!

Damn!

And he would not take me to Disney, but rather here.

You Are a Pegasus

You are a perfectionist, with an eye for beauty. You know how to live a good life - and you rarely deviate from your good taste. While you aren't outgoing, you have excellent social skills. People both admire you - and feel very comfortable around you.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Cool! I love the Pegasus! I wanted one when I was a kid. All my friends wanted Unicorns, but seriously? what the hell good are they? Can they get you any place fast? Don't think so.

You Are 76% Lady

Overall, you are a refined lady with excellent manners. But you also know when to relax and not get too serious about etiquette

Are You A Lady?

76%? Must be my potty-mouth.

Mom would not be impressed.

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

Hm. Okay. Didn't expect that. Paris, Madrid or London, yes, but not Amsterdam.

Good fences make good neighbors.

Der Fueher obviously believes heartily in that old axiom as he is signing into law, today, a bill which authorizes the construction of a 700 mile long fence along the border between the United States and Mexico.

Its cost is not known, although a homeland security spending measure the president signed earlier this month makes a $1.2 billion down payment on the project. The money also can be used for access roads, vehicle barriers, lighting, high-tech equipment and other tools to secure the border.

Mexican officials have criticized the fence. Outgoing Mexican President Vicente Fox, who has spent much of his six years in office lobbying for a new guest worker program and a chance at citizenship for the millions of Mexicans working illegally in the U.S., calls the fence "shameful" and compares it to the Berlin Wall.

27 countries back Mexico's border fence protest

Mexico urges Canada to help oppose border fence

In 1883, celebrating America as the "Mother of Exiles" from whose beacon-hand glows worldwide welcome, Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus" to aid the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund. That sonnet, now inscribed on the pedestal of Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, has America proclaiming:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

The entire poem by Emma Lazarus is:

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Just as Lazarus' poem gave new meaning to the statue, the statue emitted a new ideal for the United States. Liberty did not only mean freedom from the aristocracy of Britain that led the American colonists to the Revolutionary War. Liberty also meant freedom to come to the United States and create a new life without religious and ethnic persecution. Through Larazus' poem, the Statue of Liberty gained a new name: She would now become the Mother of Exiles, torch in hand to lead her new children to American success and happiness.

Israel has it's own fence project. The Israeli High Court approves continuation of security fence today.

Life in Gaza steadily worsens

The good, the bad and the ugly.

Madonna does Oprah and bitches about how evil the media is.

I have a problem with these extremely wealthy people (yeah, I'm looking at you Jolie) going into impoverished countries and tossing about money and "adopting" children. They bring the media down upon people who are not helped by their invasion and all of whom, celebrity looking for one more ounce of fame and the media more than willing to be their pimps, disappear into the mists once they've all gotten what they wanted. It's sick.

I don't doubt that Ms. Madonna feels for the child, all the children of Malawi she encountered. How about setting up schools and hospitals instead of removing the child from his home land? A few million dollars goes a long way in those countries. And, if the media is such a problem for you, then shut the fuck up while building your schools and hospitals.

And what of the poor, impoverished children of England, your adopted homeland, Ms. Madonna? How about the United States? Are they all well fed, educated, inoculated? Alls well and peachy keen in both nations, right? You and the others might want to consider working at home first.

Why any of these people, celebrities and others famous for being (in)famous, merit attention is beyond me. That one second of news time is given over to what they do seems to me a huge waste of time. There are more important things going on in the world. For example, California closing on Wisconsin cheese crown. Man, if I were from Wisconsin, I'd be seriously pissed and distressed over this. What's the first thing you think of when someone says "cheese"? Wisconsin, of course! This is going to have dire repercussions on the entire state. In a few years the entirity of the United States might have to bail out Wisconsin just like the US had to bail out New York City in the early 70's. People, for the economy's sake, for the sake of all Wisconsonians, eat more Wisconsin cheese!

~ ~ ~

Mr. Olbermann was brilliant the other night. If you missed it, Advertising Terrorism is available through Truthout.org.

While signing a Military Commissions Act so monstrous that it has been criticized by even the John Birch Society, you told us, Mr. Bush, "there is nothing we can do to bring back the men and women lost on September 11th, 2001. Yet we'll always honor their memory, and we will never forget the way they were taken from us."

Except, of course, for the ones who've been lying under a manhole cover for five years.

Journalism at it's best.

It's Friday

It's raining.

I seem to be in a permanent funk these days.

U.N. envoy: Gaza situation 'explosive'

Months of contacts to bring the current Hamas-led government and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party into a national unity government have broken down over Hamas' refusal to accept international demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and endorse past peace accords.

Why would they want to do anything anyone asks of them?

"The combination of near total closure of the Gaza Strip, non-payment of public sector salaries, absence of basic law and order, declining service delivery, continued military strikes by air and land, and the lack of any apparent political horizon is a truly explosive one _ as potentially dangerous for Israel as it is currently dangerous for Palestinians," de Soto said.

I wouldn't cooperate. What does it get the Gazan's, the Palestinians, to recognized Israel's right to exsist when it's all too clear that they do exsist and want you, citizens of the Gaza Ghetto, to no longer exsist? Renouce violence while being bombed? Hm. Endorse past peace accords which have done so very much to help you have a better, more peaceful, quality of life?

Seriously, what's the point? Where's the incentive for the people of Gaza to capitulate?

~ ~ ~

Apparently North Korea is gonna play nice and not set off any more bombs.

I can't help but wonder at what China said to North Korea to make them promise this.

North Korea 'promises not to conduct further tests':

While Beijing has historically been reluctant to pressurise Pyongyang, in sending a special envoy to meet with Mr Kim, the Chinese sent an unusually blunt warning.

~ ~ ~

Shia Fighters seize Iraqi city which the Brits returned to Iraq in August.

It's October 20 and the US has lost 74 troops (possibly more) in just 20 days.

Really wanna be depressed? Read Professor Cole's blog in which, amoungst other devastating data, he reports:

31 Percent Increase in Iraq Poverty

60 Percent Unemployment

30 Bodies Found in Baghdad



* 5.6 million Iraqis living below the poverty line. (At a population of 27 million, this is about 21% or 1/5 of the inhabitants!)

*40 percent of this number "is living in absolute and desperate deteriorated conditions." This is 2.2 million persons in the direst poverty, and 8.4 percent of the country's population-- nearly 1 in 10!

*"this level of poverty is a 35 percent increase over the level before 2003. . ."

*"Local officials and NGOs put the unemployment rate countrywide to be more than 60 percent." (The Brookings Institution recently put it at 30 percent and said that the rate has been declining. What world do they live in.)

*"the price of basic necessities in Iraq has skyrocketed over the past year."

* "A report by NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq (NCCI) suggests a 70 percent rate of inflation from July 2005 to July 2006."

*"When prices are increasing and people do not get more money, poverty is also increasing," said Cedric Turlan, information officer for the NCCI.


The End of Maliki?: Will a Coup Unravel Iraq?, by Robert Dreyfuss:

A coup d'état in Iraq would put a period - or rather an exclamation point - at the end of the Bush administration's bungled experiment with democracy there. And it would open an entirely new phase in that country's post-2003 national nightmare. Would it result in the creation of a Saddam-like strongman to rule Iraq with a heavy hand? Or would it force the warring parties (Sunni insurgents, Iranian-backed Shiite militias, and Kurdish warlords) to intensify the bloody civil war that is tearing Iraq apart? No one knows.

Heck of a job Bushie.

NATO's, in Afghanistan, doing well too.

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Time to Go! Inside the Worst Congress Ever, by Matt Taibbi:

Step Two: Work as Little as Possible - And Screw Up Whatever You Do

It's Thursday evening, September 28th, and the Senate is putting the finishing touches on the Military Commissions Act of 2006, colloquially known as the "torture bill." It's a law even Stalin would admire, one that throws habeas corpus in the trash, legalizes a vast array of savage interrogation techniques and generally turns the president of the United States into a kind of turbocharged Yoruba witch doctor, with nearly unlimited snatching powers. The bill is a fall-from-Eden moment in American history, a potentially disastrous step toward authoritarianism - but what is most disturbing about it, beyond the fact that it's happening, is that the senators are hurrying to get it done.

and

In the Sixties and Seventies, Congress met an average of 162 days a year. In the Eighties and Nineties, the average went down to 139 days. This year, the second session of the 109th Congress will set the all-time record for fewest days worked by a US Congress: ninety-three. That means that House members will collect their $165,000 paychecks for only three months of actual work.

What this means is that the current Congress will not only beat but shatter the record for laziness set by the notorious "Do-Nothing" Congress of 1948, which met for a combined 252 days between the House and the Senate. This Congress - the Do-Even-Less Congress - met for 218 days, just over half a year, between the House and the Senate combined.

The whole article is just fantastic and worth reading. When you're finished, follow the link there, or here for Rolling Stone's list of the 10 worst Congressmen.

It gave me a lift to an otherwise dreary day.

Did you know Habeas Corpus died yesterday? Did you notice?

Probably not.

Do you care?

I'm curious what the difference is between Bush and his signing statements, the new act he's signed into law and the old lettres de cachet?

By the way... if it matters... this new law? It's unconstitutional.

Not that it will be challenged in the Courts. Oh, the ACLU will put up some token battle, but it won't last.

Because no one cares.

This country wasn't destroyed by some brilliant enemy who invaded, overwhelmed us and took over. It was destroyed by apathy and George W. Bush.

Congrats, folks, and all hail His Imperial Majesty, King George.

It's all in the numbers

No Art Appreciation Friday. I'm not interested this week. Maybe next week.

A number has been going through my head all week. One I can't wrap my mind around.

655,000

More or less.

The Idiot in DC, only because someone told him to, says the numbers are inaccurate, the methodology is flawed or some such shit.

Really? MIT and Johns Hopkins have copies of the actual death certificates for over 90 percent of those reported dead.

90% of 655,000 is 589,500 documents.

589,500 death certificates.

Inaccurate. Flawed methodology.

Bullshit.

If you can't wrap your mind around 655,000, try 4.


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Olbermann. I don't need to say anything, do I?

Documents Reveal Scope of US Database on Antiwar Protests.


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October Anniversaries:

Battle of Karbala, October 10, 680, in Iraq. Battle of Tours, October 10, 732, in Tours, France.

The Bugs Bunny Show aired for the first time on ABC on October 11. I've found myself wishing for Bugs to rule the US - hell, I'd settle for Marvin the Martian.

Man, I so want my own Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator. Guess you know who I'd aim it at.

October 12 is the birthday of Jonathan Trumbull, for whom my hometown was named.

On October 13, 1775 the Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy.

While Congress deliberated, it received word that two unarmed British supply ships from England were heading towards Quebec without escort. Plans were made to intercept the ships, but the armed vessels to be used were owned by individual colonies. Of greater significance, then, was an additional plan to equip two ships under the direct authority of Congress to capture British supply transports. The plan was not carried out until October 13, 1775, when George Washington announced that he had taken command of three armed schooners under Continental authority to intercept any British supply ships near Massachusetts. With the revelation that vessels were already sailing under Continental control, the decision to add two more was made easier. The resolution was adopted and October 13 would later become known as the United States Navy's official birthday.

The Miracle of the Sun took place today, 89 years ago.

It's also Sacha Baron Cohen's birthday.

And it's Friday the 13th.

Tomorrow is 940th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings.

October 15 is the 66th anniversary of the premiere of The Great Dictator, directed and starring Charlie Chaplin.

Hm. I guess it's turned into Art Appreciation Friday afterall.

Secrets. Shhh... don't tell anyone.

God and I have a love-hate relationship. Well, more to the point, I have a love-hate relationship with god. Ever just want to smack someone in the head and scream, what the fuck is your problem?... kinda sucks when that someone is... god. What makes it worse is when you actually have more faith in the Easter Bunny being real than god.

Yeah, I have issues. You must be new here if you've just figured that one out.

In any event, it's October 4. The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. This is the only Saint I have any affinity with - why that is, I don't know.

I suppose part of the reason is the prayer attributed to him which was actually written several centuries after his death:

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace,
that where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that where there is error, I may bring truth;
that where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted;
to understand, than to be understood;
to love, than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds.
It is by forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to Eternal Life.


With the exception of the Pater Noster and Ave Maria, it's the only prayer I ever bothered to memorize.

As for the rest of the reason, it would be that I have an odd fondness for the truly bat-shit crazy, yet harmless, people of this world. And, really, do you get any crazier than hermits who give up everything they have to wander about their known world barefoot, begging for their food, preaching peace and redemption?

The stigmata he "received" has always fascinated me. First of all, he tended to lepers early in his religious life, so I think he might have picked up the disease from them, leading to his "stigmata". However, I also think the human mind is capable of causing something like that to happen in the human body; a faith so deep, an empathic ability so strong, could cause someone to bleed.

Faith of this sort, that which it is said can move mountains, I have a great deal of respect for. I don't understand it, but I undertand the reality of it for the person who has it.

That makes no sense, does it? Ah well. I know what I mean. Which probably means I'm also bat-shit crazy.

Dogmatists and/or religious people just piss me off. There is no room in those people for the faith of others. "My way or the highway" attitudes piss me off in general, but when wrapped in religion it really steams me. Belief in god, a creator, whatever, is a deeply personal, intimate, thing. Codifying and structuring those beliefs just makes no sense to me. As far as I'm concerned everyone's path to god is right - as long as they don't try to make others conform to what they deem to be "right". Afterall, how could we be right about what god or the creator wants? How could human beings even begin to guess at the thought process of a being so far beyond us we cannot even conceptualize it?


See also The Canticle of the Creatures

Don't you hate it when there are no answers?

Foley Scandal Could Cost GOP Control of Congress

# Truthdig says: As badly as this country needs a change in the control of Congress, it would be awful for this to be the impetus. Democrats deserve the opportunity to win in November based on the strength of their ideas and policies—not via the fallout of a tawdry GOP sex scandal. But that’s the hand we’ve all been dealt.

That's what I've been thinking. Not that the Democrats have done much to form a platform this year - seriously, what are they for? What are they against? Where is The Issue(s)? There isn't a great deal of noise from the Democrats - not nearly as much as one might expect.

So the Democrats may take the House and Senate because some perv couldn't keep his sick thoughts (and please, please, let's all hope that's all he did) to himself.

Sex trumps policy. Again.

I hope the Democrats step up to the plate and make good on the opportunity they've gained.


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There are five little girls from Lancaster county, PA, who dead are dead today. Last week a man sexually assaulted some girls and murdered one in Colorado. Is this a pattern or is it too soon to tell? I've never been much of a feminist... but I'm wondering and I'm seeing the same questions sort of questions on many blogs. The deep-seated lack of respect for women in the far right of the radical Christian community is very disturbing. Are those messages starting to seep up through the collective psyche? I know many people look at pornography and x-rated games and say the same thing: disrespectful, down-right dangerous, to woman. Is it part of a pattern?

I don't know. I'm just wondering.

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Go read Professor Cole today:

Informed Comment:

Lies and Cover-Ups are not "Being in Denial" Foleygate, Ricegate and Insurgencygate

The right wing of the Republican Party has a problem with the truth. The American press corps has an addiction to euphemisms.

I don't understand why US reporters and editors won't call a spade a spade.

I don't understand either, Professor.

Woodward has no cred with me after his previous asskissing books on Bush and Company.

Maybe she just forgot about the Clinton plans, the way she "forgot" about the Director of the CIA informing her that his hair was on fire and he was sure that the United States was about to be attacked by al-Qaeda.

The Professor is referring to Miz "I don't recall" Rice.

Didn't that signal the downfall of the Reagan administration?

When everyone lies or covers up the lies, what do you do? What is truth? Where is it? How do you discern fact from fiction?

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Wandering around the web I've noticed bloggers, at Kos as well as other sites, talking about Rove's October Surprise being the invasion of Iran - nothing new there. But they've now got a date: October 21. Supposedly there are nuclear subs headed for the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. True? Not True?

I don't know.

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NATO is taking over in Afghanistan. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Hopefully it means my sister's friend Rob will be home soon.