Looks to me as though BushCo continues to save it's support for anybody rich enough, rather than the troops. Consider first:
HISTORIC RECRUITMENT SHORTFALLS: The numbers tell the disturbing tale. The Army in February failed to fill its monthly quota of volunteers sent to boot camp for the first time in five years. The Marine Corps recently missed its monthly recruitment goal for the first time in ten years. The National Guard missed its annual recruitment goal for the first time in eleven years. (Both the Army and the National Guard missed their recruitment goals again in March, by an even greater margin than in February.) The share of females in Army recruiting classes is steadily declining. And "the number of foreign nationals enlisting in the US military is dropping, even though service now provides a fast track to American citizenship," the Associated Press reported this week.
Could this be part of the problem?
UNPROTECTED TROOPS: Shockingly, a "third of the 35,000 Humvees and other trucks in Iraq" still "rely on sheet metal as a last-minute solution" to thwart insurgent attacks. And until yesterday, the war supplemental bill didn't include one red cent for armored Humvees and trucks. In an eleventh hour push, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) was able to crowbar roughly $200 million into the Iraq package for armor costs. Too bad the Army and Marine Corps say they need at least $750 million to finish the job.
Yeah...I'd say so. You'll notice who is supporting our troops...and it ain't BushCo.
Wrap.
Friday, April 22, 2005
Once upon a time...
...there was another war, whose soldiers stood for us. We need to stand for them and all who have come after. Do take a moment for this:
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/PASSINGOFGENERATION.HTML
Use sound if you have it.
Wrap...
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/PASSINGOFGENERATION.HTML
Use sound if you have it.
Wrap...
Thursday, April 21, 2005
No surprise...
...that Colin Powell, former SecState doesn't much like the idea of John Bolton being our Ambassador to the UN. Would hate to think how long Bolton would have lasted had he served under Powell when Powell was a General in the Army. Ten seconds maybe? Ouch!
Why is it that so many Republican congressional members continue to say things that offend the maximum number of people? Like Santorum (R-PA)...who's announced that the minimum wage for waiters and waitresses should be just the smallest amount more, because they get tips. Wonder if he knows that in some states that wage is $2.30 an hour? And does he know that tips have to be reported and are taxed? That in some states they don't report tips because the restaurants or bars or whatever simply assume that whatever the amount of the bill is, the customer has tipped that amount whether they have or not, and the employees are then taxed based on that amount? And that in most restaurants the waiters and waitresses also tip the bus boys/girls and sometimes the cooks as well out of whatever amount of tips they've earned that shift? Santorum should have read "Nickled and Dimed" before he opened his big mouth.
There are fools and damned fools and he's the latter.
Wrap.
Why is it that so many Republican congressional members continue to say things that offend the maximum number of people? Like Santorum (R-PA)...who's announced that the minimum wage for waiters and waitresses should be just the smallest amount more, because they get tips. Wonder if he knows that in some states that wage is $2.30 an hour? And does he know that tips have to be reported and are taxed? That in some states they don't report tips because the restaurants or bars or whatever simply assume that whatever the amount of the bill is, the customer has tipped that amount whether they have or not, and the employees are then taxed based on that amount? And that in most restaurants the waiters and waitresses also tip the bus boys/girls and sometimes the cooks as well out of whatever amount of tips they've earned that shift? Santorum should have read "Nickled and Dimed" before he opened his big mouth.
There are fools and damned fools and he's the latter.
Wrap.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
So, there...
http://morialekafa.blogspot.com/ is his URL.
Just read, in the NY Times online, the article about Condi meeting Putin in Moscow. Had a pic with the article (on the front page). The pic is shot from behind Condi and has Putin facing her across his desk. If ever I've seen Putin's former KGB face, this is it. I'd give much to know just what he's thinking, I kid you not. Expressionless, he is. The eyes are what give him away. Talk about intense. I'd give odds the NSA (National Security Agency) has even every breath either of them took secured in their computer files. To say nothing of the tiniest inflection in their voices. And the pauses between words. Hell, they've got any of us, worldwide, any time they want to bother...automatically. The NSA analysts then decide just who or what needs looking into. They're the greatest scanners in the world. That, I must say, is one hell of an outfit this nation has operating. Whoa!
Wrap...
Just read, in the NY Times online, the article about Condi meeting Putin in Moscow. Had a pic with the article (on the front page). The pic is shot from behind Condi and has Putin facing her across his desk. If ever I've seen Putin's former KGB face, this is it. I'd give much to know just what he's thinking, I kid you not. Expressionless, he is. The eyes are what give him away. Talk about intense. I'd give odds the NSA (National Security Agency) has even every breath either of them took secured in their computer files. To say nothing of the tiniest inflection in their voices. And the pauses between words. Hell, they've got any of us, worldwide, any time they want to bother...automatically. The NSA analysts then decide just who or what needs looking into. They're the greatest scanners in the world. That, I must say, is one hell of an outfit this nation has operating. Whoa!
Wrap...
Morialefaka....
There are few blogs I enjoy more than this guy's...Morialefaka. When he pitches a fit, he really pitches a good one. The man does not, in any way, shape or form, appreciate BushCo and their doings. Here's how he started out today:
"Where do people get their ridiculous ideas? For example, Chafee's excuse for voting for Bolton (unless he changes his mind) is that the President is entitled to name anyone he wants for various positions. If that is so, why is the Senate involved at all? Why can't the President just announce who he wants and that is that? Because that would give him dictatorial powers. What if he decided he wanted Falwell or Robertson to take over civil rights? Or Attila the Hun to be Secretary of State? Clearly the idea that the President ought to be able to have whoever he wants is utter nonsense. Chafee is just a wimp. But as of today Condi Rice is reported to have used the same argument. How pathetic. Bolton is an absolutely stupid unreasonable appointment and should by all means be resisted. Of course Bolton is Cheney's choice, and as Cheney is really the President what can poor old Dubya do?"
Hah! And that's just the start! Before he's finished, he nails DeLay as well. Just a delight, this guy!
Wrap...
"Where do people get their ridiculous ideas? For example, Chafee's excuse for voting for Bolton (unless he changes his mind) is that the President is entitled to name anyone he wants for various positions. If that is so, why is the Senate involved at all? Why can't the President just announce who he wants and that is that? Because that would give him dictatorial powers. What if he decided he wanted Falwell or Robertson to take over civil rights? Or Attila the Hun to be Secretary of State? Clearly the idea that the President ought to be able to have whoever he wants is utter nonsense. Chafee is just a wimp. But as of today Condi Rice is reported to have used the same argument. How pathetic. Bolton is an absolutely stupid unreasonable appointment and should by all means be resisted. Of course Bolton is Cheney's choice, and as Cheney is really the President what can poor old Dubya do?"
Hah! And that's just the start! Before he's finished, he nails DeLay as well. Just a delight, this guy!
Wrap...
Plain truth...
Seems as though more and more of the major media are giving a thumbs-down when it comes to John Bolton. More, they're not shy about saying why he's a bad choice. I'm not too sure, however that I want to see Bolton as Ambassador to France! I like France. They gifted us with the Statue of Liberty.
Bolton Should Step Aside
The Los Angeles Times Editorial
Wednesday 20 April 2005
President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to become United Nations ambassador began as an embarrassment and is ending as a disgrace. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was right to delay a scheduled vote and resist being railroaded by the administration into approving him.
Bolton's infantile crack that it would make no difference if the U.N. lost its top 10 floors already testified to his unfitness to serve as the United States' diplomat to the world. It may have been Bush's right to appoint someone provocative yet capable. But the revelations that have emerged over the past weeks in the Senate call into question Bolton's basic ability to do the job.
On issue after issue, whether North Korea or Iraq, Bolton has wielded a wrecking ball. It might be possible to wave off one allegation of the misuse of intelligence - infighting always takes place in the government bureaucracy - but Bolton appears to have willfully and systematically suppressed and misused classified information, including bullying civil service officials who dared to challenge his apocalyptic assessments of North Korean, Iraqi and Cuban weapons programs. Former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin apparently had to intervene to protect a Latin American analyst from Bolton's wrath; Carl W. Ford Jr., the State Department's former assistant secretary of intelligence and research - the only government bureau to get it right on Iraq - describes him as a "serial abuser." And Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is rightly inquiring about Bolton's unusual request to look at National Security Administration intercepts and why he asked for the identities of analysts. Why indeed?
The best case that can be made for Bolton is that he's no worse than other neoconservative officials in the Pentagon who manipulated intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. But Bolton also appears to have a mean streak, a pattern of arrogant recklessness that bodes ill for this assignment. If there is anyone in the U.S. government who needs to be infinitely patient, it's the ambassador at the U.N., who must constantly engage representatives of dozens of nations - diplomats Bolton would no doubt find infinitely annoying. Not only does he lack the temperament for the job, it's hard to imagine why he'd want it.
Bolton surely can't want the job now, with the world on notice that even the Republican Senate has its misgivings about his nomination. Bush may find it hard to back down, so Bolton should do him and his country a favor and step aside. Maybe there is a consolation prize the White House could offer him. How about ambassador to France?
Wrap....
Bolton Should Step Aside
The Los Angeles Times Editorial
Wednesday 20 April 2005
President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to become United Nations ambassador began as an embarrassment and is ending as a disgrace. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was right to delay a scheduled vote and resist being railroaded by the administration into approving him.
Bolton's infantile crack that it would make no difference if the U.N. lost its top 10 floors already testified to his unfitness to serve as the United States' diplomat to the world. It may have been Bush's right to appoint someone provocative yet capable. But the revelations that have emerged over the past weeks in the Senate call into question Bolton's basic ability to do the job.
On issue after issue, whether North Korea or Iraq, Bolton has wielded a wrecking ball. It might be possible to wave off one allegation of the misuse of intelligence - infighting always takes place in the government bureaucracy - but Bolton appears to have willfully and systematically suppressed and misused classified information, including bullying civil service officials who dared to challenge his apocalyptic assessments of North Korean, Iraqi and Cuban weapons programs. Former CIA Deputy Director John McLaughlin apparently had to intervene to protect a Latin American analyst from Bolton's wrath; Carl W. Ford Jr., the State Department's former assistant secretary of intelligence and research - the only government bureau to get it right on Iraq - describes him as a "serial abuser." And Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is rightly inquiring about Bolton's unusual request to look at National Security Administration intercepts and why he asked for the identities of analysts. Why indeed?
The best case that can be made for Bolton is that he's no worse than other neoconservative officials in the Pentagon who manipulated intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. But Bolton also appears to have a mean streak, a pattern of arrogant recklessness that bodes ill for this assignment. If there is anyone in the U.S. government who needs to be infinitely patient, it's the ambassador at the U.N., who must constantly engage representatives of dozens of nations - diplomats Bolton would no doubt find infinitely annoying. Not only does he lack the temperament for the job, it's hard to imagine why he'd want it.
Bolton surely can't want the job now, with the world on notice that even the Republican Senate has its misgivings about his nomination. Bush may find it hard to back down, so Bolton should do him and his country a favor and step aside. Maybe there is a consolation prize the White House could offer him. How about ambassador to France?
Wrap....
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Make notes...
These new books will be out sometime within the next 18 months, so if you see a title you'd like,
make a note. With 50,000 books coming out every year, I sure do!
From Publishers Weekly:
Former Fulbright scholar on Persian dialects, professor at Tehran University, and director of the American Institute of Iranian Studies, Colin MacKinnon's MORNING SPY, EVENING SPY, a novel on CIA anti-terrorist activities, to Diane Reverand at St. Martin's, for publication in spring 2006, in a two-book deal, by Philip Spitzer at Philip Spitzer Literary Agency (world).
LA police officer and investigator in the anti-gang unit Will Beall's LA REX and THE LION HUNTER, two novels set in South Central LA, that present a look at the life of the police and criminal cultures of this volatile city within a city, to Julie Grau at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, by Marc Gerald at The Agency Group (world). Film rights are with Shari Smiley at CAA.marcgerald@theagencygroup.com
Author of Gil's All Fright Diner A. Lee Martinez's IN THE COMPANY OF OGRES, a humorous fantasy novel about an army officer who has the annoying habit of returning from the dead, so he's assigned to lead the army's worst unit where his unique talents just might come in handy, and A NAMELESS WITCH, about a pair of star-crossed lovers: A white knight who is dedicated to the eradication of all evil and a witch with no name who is a cannibal with an overwhelming desire to nibble on his flesh, to Paul Stevens at Tor, in a nice deal (world).Paul.Stevens@tor.com
Raelynn Hillhouse's second novel, currently untitled, a modern day spy thriller about for profit, private intelligence companies and their involvement in America's war on terror, to Eric Raab at Forge, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA).
Sharon Weinberger's HAFNIUM DREAMS: Fringe Science and National (In)Security, the "somewhat bizarre" story of how the US government got behind the development of an "isomer weapon," a futuristic device that would supposedly rival the power of a nuclear bomb, even though it was completely baseless -- just one illustrative example of how the government has been increasingly backing initiatives based on bad science, to Carl Bromley at Nation Books, in a nice deal, by Michelle Tessler at Michelle Tessler Agency (NA).michelle@tessleragency.com
Wrap.
make a note. With 50,000 books coming out every year, I sure do!
From Publishers Weekly:
Former Fulbright scholar on Persian dialects, professor at Tehran University, and director of the American Institute of Iranian Studies, Colin MacKinnon's MORNING SPY, EVENING SPY, a novel on CIA anti-terrorist activities, to Diane Reverand at St. Martin's, for publication in spring 2006, in a two-book deal, by Philip Spitzer at Philip Spitzer Literary Agency (world).
LA police officer and investigator in the anti-gang unit Will Beall's LA REX and THE LION HUNTER, two novels set in South Central LA, that present a look at the life of the police and criminal cultures of this volatile city within a city, to Julie Grau at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, by Marc Gerald at The Agency Group (world). Film rights are with Shari Smiley at CAA.marcgerald@theagencygroup.com
Author of Gil's All Fright Diner A. Lee Martinez's IN THE COMPANY OF OGRES, a humorous fantasy novel about an army officer who has the annoying habit of returning from the dead, so he's assigned to lead the army's worst unit where his unique talents just might come in handy, and A NAMELESS WITCH, about a pair of star-crossed lovers: A white knight who is dedicated to the eradication of all evil and a witch with no name who is a cannibal with an overwhelming desire to nibble on his flesh, to Paul Stevens at Tor, in a nice deal (world).Paul.Stevens@tor.com
Raelynn Hillhouse's second novel, currently untitled, a modern day spy thriller about for profit, private intelligence companies and their involvement in America's war on terror, to Eric Raab at Forge, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA).
Sharon Weinberger's HAFNIUM DREAMS: Fringe Science and National (In)Security, the "somewhat bizarre" story of how the US government got behind the development of an "isomer weapon," a futuristic device that would supposedly rival the power of a nuclear bomb, even though it was completely baseless -- just one illustrative example of how the government has been increasingly backing initiatives based on bad science, to Carl Bromley at Nation Books, in a nice deal, by Michelle Tessler at Michelle Tessler Agency (NA).michelle@tessleragency.com
Wrap.
Point of Order!!!
Here's a partial from AP...sounds good to me. Bolton would be a horror at the UN.
At least one Democratic senator, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., said he will ask for a closed session so the committee can hear from intelligence officials about information Bolton requested relating to National Security Agency communications.
According to a spokesman for Dodd, Bolton asked for and received the identities of 10 U.S. officials involved in such secret NSA intercepts during the past four years.
"It's not clear what purpose Mr. Bolton was using this information for," said Dodd spokesman Marvin Fast. "The senator is concerned because it's his understanding that this information is rarely requested, and he wants to ensure that it was for official purposes only."
Democrats also want more information about Bolton's dealings with a woman employee during his time at the Justice Department in the late 1980s. The two clashed over the woman's request for extended maternity leave.
There were repeated questions by senators at his confirmation hearing last week concerning what Bolton may have done to punish or pressure underlings who crossed him. A senior colleague called him a "serial abuser."
Bolton Said He 'Lost Confidence' in Analysts
Bolton denied he did anything improper, but said he had "lost confidence" in two intelligence analysts who disagreed with him. Bolton also acknowledged that he had asked a U.S. spy agency for details of the secretly recorded communications of other U.S. officials.
Additional stories and details surfaced after the hearing, including that John McLaughlin, then the CIA's No. 2 official, intervened in 2002 to save the job of a Latin America analyst whom Bolton wanted transferred. The case of another analyst who had tangled with Bolton also emerged after the hearing. In that instance, Bolton allegedly accused the State Department officer of insubordination.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported anonymous allegations that Bolton often blocked former Secretary of State Colin Powell from receiving sensitive information for ideological or other reasons.
The rest of the article is at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041905W.shtml
Heard part of that debate on radio, and Barbara Boxer and John Kerry w
At least one Democratic senator, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., said he will ask for a closed session so the committee can hear from intelligence officials about information Bolton requested relating to National Security Agency communications.
According to a spokesman for Dodd, Bolton asked for and received the identities of 10 U.S. officials involved in such secret NSA intercepts during the past four years.
"It's not clear what purpose Mr. Bolton was using this information for," said Dodd spokesman Marvin Fast. "The senator is concerned because it's his understanding that this information is rarely requested, and he wants to ensure that it was for official purposes only."
Democrats also want more information about Bolton's dealings with a woman employee during his time at the Justice Department in the late 1980s. The two clashed over the woman's request for extended maternity leave.
There were repeated questions by senators at his confirmation hearing last week concerning what Bolton may have done to punish or pressure underlings who crossed him. A senior colleague called him a "serial abuser."
Bolton Said He 'Lost Confidence' in Analysts
Bolton denied he did anything improper, but said he had "lost confidence" in two intelligence analysts who disagreed with him. Bolton also acknowledged that he had asked a U.S. spy agency for details of the secretly recorded communications of other U.S. officials.
Additional stories and details surfaced after the hearing, including that John McLaughlin, then the CIA's No. 2 official, intervened in 2002 to save the job of a Latin America analyst whom Bolton wanted transferred. The case of another analyst who had tangled with Bolton also emerged after the hearing. In that instance, Bolton allegedly accused the State Department officer of insubordination.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported anonymous allegations that Bolton often blocked former Secretary of State Colin Powell from receiving sensitive information for ideological or other reasons.
The rest of the article is at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041905W.shtml
Heard part of that debate on radio, and Barbara Boxer and John Kerry w
Point of Order!
Here's a partial from AP...sounds good to me. Bolton would be a horror at the UN.
At least one Democratic senator, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., said he will ask for a closed session so the committee can hear from intelligence officials about information Bolton requested relating to National Security Agency communications.
According to a spokesman for Dodd, Bolton asked for and received the identities of 10 U.S. officials involved in such secret NSA intercepts during the past four years.
"It's not clear what purpose Mr. Bolton was using this information for," said Dodd spokesman Marvin Fast. "The senator is concerned because it's his understanding that this information is rarely requested, and he wants to ensure that it was for official purposes only."
Democrats also want more information about Bolton's dealings with a woman employee during his time at the Justice Department in the late 1980s. The two clashed over the woman's request for extended maternity leave.
There were repeated questions by senators at his confirmation hearing last week concerning what Bolton may have done to punish or pressure underlings who crossed him. A senior colleague called him a "serial abuser."
Bolton Said He 'Lost Confidence' in Analysts
Bolton denied he did anything improper, but said he had "lost confidence" in two intelligence analysts who disagreed with him. Bolton also acknowledged that he had asked a U.S. spy agency for details of the secretly recorded communications of other U.S. officials.
Additional stories and details surfaced after the hearing, including that John McLaughlin, then the CIA's No. 2 official, intervened in 2002 to save the job of a Latin America analyst whom Bolton wanted transferred. The case of another analyst who had tangled with Bolton also emerged after the hearing. In that instance, Bolton allegedly accused the State Department officer of insubordination.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported anonymous allegations that Bolton often blocked former Secretary of State Colin Powell from receiving sensitive information for ideological or other reasons.
The rest of the article is at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041905W.shtml
Heard part of that debate on radio, and Barbara Boxer and John Kerry were both shouting, "Point of Order" to keep the Repubs from ramming it through.
Wrap...
At least one Democratic senator, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., said he will ask for a closed session so the committee can hear from intelligence officials about information Bolton requested relating to National Security Agency communications.
According to a spokesman for Dodd, Bolton asked for and received the identities of 10 U.S. officials involved in such secret NSA intercepts during the past four years.
"It's not clear what purpose Mr. Bolton was using this information for," said Dodd spokesman Marvin Fast. "The senator is concerned because it's his understanding that this information is rarely requested, and he wants to ensure that it was for official purposes only."
Democrats also want more information about Bolton's dealings with a woman employee during his time at the Justice Department in the late 1980s. The two clashed over the woman's request for extended maternity leave.
There were repeated questions by senators at his confirmation hearing last week concerning what Bolton may have done to punish or pressure underlings who crossed him. A senior colleague called him a "serial abuser."
Bolton Said He 'Lost Confidence' in Analysts
Bolton denied he did anything improper, but said he had "lost confidence" in two intelligence analysts who disagreed with him. Bolton also acknowledged that he had asked a U.S. spy agency for details of the secretly recorded communications of other U.S. officials.
Additional stories and details surfaced after the hearing, including that John McLaughlin, then the CIA's No. 2 official, intervened in 2002 to save the job of a Latin America analyst whom Bolton wanted transferred. The case of another analyst who had tangled with Bolton also emerged after the hearing. In that instance, Bolton allegedly accused the State Department officer of insubordination.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported anonymous allegations that Bolton often blocked former Secretary of State Colin Powell from receiving sensitive information for ideological or other reasons.
The rest of the article is at:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041905W.shtml
Heard part of that debate on radio, and Barbara Boxer and John Kerry were both shouting, "Point of Order" to keep the Repubs from ramming it through.
Wrap...
Putting his foot down!
As many of you may know, San Diego is having a hell of time since messing around with the Pension (underfunding it) to the point everybody--Feds, City Atty, et al--are raising the devil and Wall Street as well, and our Mayor, Dick Murphy has been annointed one of the three worst mayors in the nation by Time Magazine, things are not going well. So Murphy is taking steps. Just rec'd this email:
"On Mark Larson's (radio) show today:Show guest was Dick Murphy, who announced he's cancelled his subscription to Time magazine."
By damn, that's a constructive step! (About died laughing!)
Wrap...
"On Mark Larson's (radio) show today:Show guest was Dick Murphy, who announced he's cancelled his subscription to Time magazine."
By damn, that's a constructive step! (About died laughing!)
Wrap...
Monday, April 18, 2005
Write well...
...the publishers are putting together teams of people to do nothing but read blogs...looking for you bloggers whose blogs might make a publishable book with some editing. Now before you get nervous, just remember that only about one in 20,000 submissions get turned into a book. Today, USA Today did an article on the blogs to books picked so far....and that includes Colby Buzzell, I'm happy to say. So here's the article:
"Publishers put bloggers between the coversBy Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that bloggers — people who post personal stories and fiction on their Internet Web logs — would turn up their noses at the brick-and-mortar world of book publishing. After being fired for writing about her Capitol Hill sex life, blogger Jessica Cutler was offered a book deal with Hyperion.
By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY
So much for conventional wisdom. From Washington tell-alls to people on the front lines of Iraq, bloggers are jumping on the publishing bandwagon in a trend that industry insiders say benefits both writers and publishers."Anything that helps someone who is writing come to the attention of the public is going to help them on their road to being published," says Robert Miller, president of Hyperion, which in June will release The Washingtonienne, a novel by Jessica Cutler.
She's the woman who a year ago, on her short-lived blog, gained notoriety in Washington, D.C., for dishing about her sexual escapades on Capitol Hill. For publishers, Miller says, such notoriety provides a head start in attracting attention. "The hardest thing for publishers is getting any one book noticed, out of the 50,000-plus books published every year."
Another Washington blogger, Ana Marie Cox, the cheeky thirtysomething behind Wonkette (wonkette.com), also is writing a novel, Dog Days, due in October. It's a roman à clef set between the Democratic and Republican national conventions.Her publisher is Riverhead Books, where associate editor Megan Lynch says a big benefit of blogging is that it allows writers "to really hone a voice, and that's something that, to me as an editor, is very important to find."
While Cutler and Cox are turning toward narrative fiction, others are sticking with the blog form or developing traditional memoirs on blog topics:
•Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by the pseudonymous Riverbend, a twentysomething Iraqi (in stores). The book contains a year's worth of blog entries (riverbendblog.blogspot.com) about living in war-torn Baghdad.
•Anonymous Lawyer (tentative title) by Jeremy Blachman (fall 2006). The Harvard Law student's fictional blog (anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com) is the basis for a novel in blog form about life inside a law firm where a senior partner commits an indiscretion that gets blown out of proportion.
•I'm Not the New Me: A Memoir by Wendy McClure (April 26). The book covers the same territory as McClure's Web site (Poundy.com): her struggles with weight and body image.
•My War by Colby Buzzell (fall). In the memoir, the U.S. Army soldier, whose blog entries (cbftw.blogspot.com) depict the Iraq war from the G.I. point of view, will expand on his front-line reports.
•Straight Up & Dirty: A Memoir by Stephanie Klein (April 2006). Klein's book, like her Sex and the City-like blog (stephanieklein.blogs.com), will recount her life as a divorcée in New York.
********************
Gonna guess, but I think one of the things that will be keying those publishers into giving a hard look at a particular blog would be the mentions of that blog on many other blogs. That would sure as hell cause me to take a look.
Wrap..
"Publishers put bloggers between the coversBy Carol Memmott, USA TODAY
Conventional wisdom would seem to suggest that bloggers — people who post personal stories and fiction on their Internet Web logs — would turn up their noses at the brick-and-mortar world of book publishing. After being fired for writing about her Capitol Hill sex life, blogger Jessica Cutler was offered a book deal with Hyperion.
By Todd Plitt, USA TODAY
So much for conventional wisdom. From Washington tell-alls to people on the front lines of Iraq, bloggers are jumping on the publishing bandwagon in a trend that industry insiders say benefits both writers and publishers."Anything that helps someone who is writing come to the attention of the public is going to help them on their road to being published," says Robert Miller, president of Hyperion, which in June will release The Washingtonienne, a novel by Jessica Cutler.
She's the woman who a year ago, on her short-lived blog, gained notoriety in Washington, D.C., for dishing about her sexual escapades on Capitol Hill. For publishers, Miller says, such notoriety provides a head start in attracting attention. "The hardest thing for publishers is getting any one book noticed, out of the 50,000-plus books published every year."
Another Washington blogger, Ana Marie Cox, the cheeky thirtysomething behind Wonkette (wonkette.com), also is writing a novel, Dog Days, due in October. It's a roman à clef set between the Democratic and Republican national conventions.Her publisher is Riverhead Books, where associate editor Megan Lynch says a big benefit of blogging is that it allows writers "to really hone a voice, and that's something that, to me as an editor, is very important to find."
While Cutler and Cox are turning toward narrative fiction, others are sticking with the blog form or developing traditional memoirs on blog topics:
•Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq by the pseudonymous Riverbend, a twentysomething Iraqi (in stores). The book contains a year's worth of blog entries (riverbendblog.blogspot.com) about living in war-torn Baghdad.
•Anonymous Lawyer (tentative title) by Jeremy Blachman (fall 2006). The Harvard Law student's fictional blog (anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com) is the basis for a novel in blog form about life inside a law firm where a senior partner commits an indiscretion that gets blown out of proportion.
•I'm Not the New Me: A Memoir by Wendy McClure (April 26). The book covers the same territory as McClure's Web site (Poundy.com): her struggles with weight and body image.
•My War by Colby Buzzell (fall). In the memoir, the U.S. Army soldier, whose blog entries (cbftw.blogspot.com) depict the Iraq war from the G.I. point of view, will expand on his front-line reports.
•Straight Up & Dirty: A Memoir by Stephanie Klein (April 2006). Klein's book, like her Sex and the City-like blog (stephanieklein.blogs.com), will recount her life as a divorcée in New York.
********************
Gonna guess, but I think one of the things that will be keying those publishers into giving a hard look at a particular blog would be the mentions of that blog on many other blogs. That would sure as hell cause me to take a look.
Wrap..
Sunday, April 17, 2005
2,000 years?!!!
From: http://news.independent.co.uk :
"Among treasures already discovered by a team from Oxford University are previously unseen writings by classical giants including Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. Invisible under ordinary light, the faded ink comes clearly into view when placed under infra-red light, using techniques developed from satellite imaging.
The Oxford documents form part of the great papyrus hoard salvaged from an ancient rubbish dump in the Graeco-Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus more than a century ago. The thousands of remaining documents, which will be analysed over the next decade, are expected to include works by Ovid and Aeschylus, plus a series of Christian gospels which have been lost for up to 2,000 years. "
!!! "...for up to 2000 years"?!!! "...a series of Christian gospels..." I do believe the Fundies aren't gonna like this one bit. As for the rest of the religions, don't think they'll like this much either. In fact, there will be, without doubt, one battle royal. If these are gospels, will they change the text of the Bible? They don't want the blasted text changed. All their religions are based on what's there now...not the parts missing for 2000 years.
I'll look forward to hearing just what those long-missing gospels have to say, I kid you not. Makes me laugh.
Wrap...
"Among treasures already discovered by a team from Oxford University are previously unseen writings by classical giants including Sophocles, Euripides and Hesiod. Invisible under ordinary light, the faded ink comes clearly into view when placed under infra-red light, using techniques developed from satellite imaging.
The Oxford documents form part of the great papyrus hoard salvaged from an ancient rubbish dump in the Graeco-Egyptian town of Oxyrhynchus more than a century ago. The thousands of remaining documents, which will be analysed over the next decade, are expected to include works by Ovid and Aeschylus, plus a series of Christian gospels which have been lost for up to 2,000 years. "
!!! "...for up to 2000 years"?!!! "...a series of Christian gospels..." I do believe the Fundies aren't gonna like this one bit. As for the rest of the religions, don't think they'll like this much either. In fact, there will be, without doubt, one battle royal. If these are gospels, will they change the text of the Bible? They don't want the blasted text changed. All their religions are based on what's there now...not the parts missing for 2000 years.
I'll look forward to hearing just what those long-missing gospels have to say, I kid you not. Makes me laugh.
Wrap...
Fun, fun, fun...
Oh, will this ever be interesting if it flies! Vietnam Vet, Medal of Honor winner, former Navy SEAL Lt., former Dem Senator, present head of NYC's New School, Bob Kerrey says: "Asked about reports from other Democrats that he had talked to associates about possibly running against Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Kerrey at first said he was inclined not to run for mayor. But a moment later, in what turned out to be an expansive conversation, he said, "You know me: I am just crazy enough to do this." Check the Drudge Report on www.fastpolitics.com for the rest of that story!
Truer words were never spoken. Kerrey is indeed "crazy enough" to do that. He's a take no prisoners guy and just smart and tough as hell. Gonna keep an eye on that guy's next moves, knowing that in Vietnam, nobody told the SEALs what to do or how to do it. They designed and ran their own ops...and wore Levi jeans...while they did them.
At breakfast this morn on Marie's patio, former Green Beret, Vince had returned, so was finally able to pass along a signed copy of Ed Fitzgerald's hilarious novel, Bank's Bandits, about the original Green Berets--a much honored group, by the way. Shortly came an email from Vince. He's reading away and says he can't put the book down. Ed writes from his own experience as one of that original group...who had no idea what they'd volunteered for.
Things are changing at Ft Bragg... Some part of it is going to be somewhere else. Gonna have to do a bit of research on that one.
Wrap.
Truer words were never spoken. Kerrey is indeed "crazy enough" to do that. He's a take no prisoners guy and just smart and tough as hell. Gonna keep an eye on that guy's next moves, knowing that in Vietnam, nobody told the SEALs what to do or how to do it. They designed and ran their own ops...and wore Levi jeans...while they did them.
At breakfast this morn on Marie's patio, former Green Beret, Vince had returned, so was finally able to pass along a signed copy of Ed Fitzgerald's hilarious novel, Bank's Bandits, about the original Green Berets--a much honored group, by the way. Shortly came an email from Vince. He's reading away and says he can't put the book down. Ed writes from his own experience as one of that original group...who had no idea what they'd volunteered for.
Things are changing at Ft Bragg... Some part of it is going to be somewhere else. Gonna have to do a bit of research on that one.
Wrap.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Uh...the endstate?....
We're winning the "war on terrorism" says Bush. U-huh. Right. Check this out!
Bush Administration Eliminating 19-year-old International Terrorism Report By Jonathan S. Landay Knight Ridder Newspapers
Friday 15 April 2005
Washington - The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.
Several US officials defended the abrupt decision, saying the methodology the National Counterterrorism Center used to generate statistics for the report may have been faulty, such as the inclusion of incidents that may not have been terrorism.
Last year, the number of incidents in 2003 was undercounted, forcing a revision of the report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism."
But other current and former officials charged that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office ordered "Patterns of Global Terrorism" eliminated several weeks ago because the 2004 statistics raised disturbing questions about the Bush's administration's frequent claims of progress in the war against terrorism.
"Instead of dealing with the facts and dealing with them in an intelligent fashion, they try to hide their facts from the American public," charged Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and State Department terrorism expert who first disclosed the decision to eliminate the report in The Counterterrorism Blog, an online journal.
**********************
Condi, the faithful and loyal, continues to do her duty.....
Wrap..
Bush Administration Eliminating 19-year-old International Terrorism Report By Jonathan S. Landay Knight Ridder Newspapers
Friday 15 April 2005
Washington - The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.
Several US officials defended the abrupt decision, saying the methodology the National Counterterrorism Center used to generate statistics for the report may have been faulty, such as the inclusion of incidents that may not have been terrorism.
Last year, the number of incidents in 2003 was undercounted, forcing a revision of the report, "Patterns of Global Terrorism."
But other current and former officials charged that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's office ordered "Patterns of Global Terrorism" eliminated several weeks ago because the 2004 statistics raised disturbing questions about the Bush's administration's frequent claims of progress in the war against terrorism.
"Instead of dealing with the facts and dealing with them in an intelligent fashion, they try to hide their facts from the American public," charged Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA analyst and State Department terrorism expert who first disclosed the decision to eliminate the report in The Counterterrorism Blog, an online journal.
**********************
Condi, the faithful and loyal, continues to do her duty.....
Wrap..
America....
Was just skimming down the posts on Goddard's Political Wire when what do I see but this:
"Though President Bush is certainly better dressed than Bolton, it doesn't seem to mean much to the world's women. Reuters notes that "in a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Bush's sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America's commander-in-chief failed to register much more than a two."
Guess Laura Bush has zip to worry about...George is not gonna be unfaithful cause nobody will have him. 2% tops?!!! Gawd, but that's funny. I'm laughing here.
Just ran out to see and hear Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful" while ice skaters sang it with their incredibly graceful bodies. Love that song and love how Ray Charles sings it. Do I have his CD, "Genius Loves Company"? Bet your ass I do. If I had my way, that would be our national anthem because it really speaks to the nation we want to be, strive to be, and for our love of this country. When Ray Charles sings it, there isn't any red/blue division...we are one.
I suspect the Iraqis have a similar song. Wonder what it is....
Tomdispatch.com had an article this morning, written by Steven Bodzin. Bodzin, referring to the "War on Terror" wants to know what BushCo's "endstate" is. That is, what will designate victory? How will we know when this war is won? Have they ever indicated what will signify that win? So he went looking. Looked at the State Dept's papers, looked at the CIA's papers. Found nothing. Looked everywhere he could think of for that one statement: the war will be considered won when.... But nothing. Apparently there will never be a win...a victory over terrorism. Therefore, we are in a state of endless war.
And if that's the case and we run out of troops, there will be a draft. Can't fight a war without troops. To which possibility, Morialefaka says the Vietnam protests will be nothing to compare with the way the citizenry will react if that draft is instituted.
Traffic pours in a continuous stream, 7 days a week and damned near 24 hours a day, going south on Interstate 5, then in San Diego, it splits. Some bear left on Interstate 805, the rest stays on I-5 all the way to the border. So what do they do? They close all but one lane of I-5 going south, before you reach I-805. About five lanes go each way..north or south. That's the kind of traffic that's there. More, it's likely to stay closed all the day. There's a too big dip in the road and they plan to fix it. I don't even want to think what's going on with traffic over there by now. Man! Probably backed up the full 120 miles to the center of Los Angeles. Photogs will be out there documenting this one for papers and tv both.
Enjoy and be glad you're not on that freeway!
Wrap.
"Though President Bush is certainly better dressed than Bolton, it doesn't seem to mean much to the world's women. Reuters notes that "in a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Bush's sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America's commander-in-chief failed to register much more than a two."
Guess Laura Bush has zip to worry about...George is not gonna be unfaithful cause nobody will have him. 2% tops?!!! Gawd, but that's funny. I'm laughing here.
Just ran out to see and hear Ray Charles singing "America the Beautiful" while ice skaters sang it with their incredibly graceful bodies. Love that song and love how Ray Charles sings it. Do I have his CD, "Genius Loves Company"? Bet your ass I do. If I had my way, that would be our national anthem because it really speaks to the nation we want to be, strive to be, and for our love of this country. When Ray Charles sings it, there isn't any red/blue division...we are one.
I suspect the Iraqis have a similar song. Wonder what it is....
Tomdispatch.com had an article this morning, written by Steven Bodzin. Bodzin, referring to the "War on Terror" wants to know what BushCo's "endstate" is. That is, what will designate victory? How will we know when this war is won? Have they ever indicated what will signify that win? So he went looking. Looked at the State Dept's papers, looked at the CIA's papers. Found nothing. Looked everywhere he could think of for that one statement: the war will be considered won when.... But nothing. Apparently there will never be a win...a victory over terrorism. Therefore, we are in a state of endless war.
And if that's the case and we run out of troops, there will be a draft. Can't fight a war without troops. To which possibility, Morialefaka says the Vietnam protests will be nothing to compare with the way the citizenry will react if that draft is instituted.
Traffic pours in a continuous stream, 7 days a week and damned near 24 hours a day, going south on Interstate 5, then in San Diego, it splits. Some bear left on Interstate 805, the rest stays on I-5 all the way to the border. So what do they do? They close all but one lane of I-5 going south, before you reach I-805. About five lanes go each way..north or south. That's the kind of traffic that's there. More, it's likely to stay closed all the day. There's a too big dip in the road and they plan to fix it. I don't even want to think what's going on with traffic over there by now. Man! Probably backed up the full 120 miles to the center of Los Angeles. Photogs will be out there documenting this one for papers and tv both.
Enjoy and be glad you're not on that freeway!
Wrap.
Friday, April 15, 2005
Choo-choo...
I'm seriously wanting to know why...about every two weeks or so...a freight train somewhere in the nation derails. I don't know when I've ever seen so many derailments in so many states. And another thing...I don't see many explanations as to just what the hell caused them.
Another went today. Fire everywhere. Area evacuated because of chemical tankers on that train. Are the tracks not being properly maintained? Are the train wheels defective? Or is there sabotage? Or all of the above?
We're sure having a lot of train troubles lately--both freight and Amtrak. I flat don't like it one bit.
Just waiting for one of those or the trolley to derail in downtown San Diego. Their tracks run side by side along Pacific Hwy, then left up Harbor Drive, between Petco Park and the Conv Ctr and on into the yards. Been surprisingly few accidents here though. Mostly accidents concern the trolley and cars on the track.
I love the sound of train whistles...especially at night. Always have, always will. Magical sound that speaks of other places far away....
Wrap.
Another went today. Fire everywhere. Area evacuated because of chemical tankers on that train. Are the tracks not being properly maintained? Are the train wheels defective? Or is there sabotage? Or all of the above?
We're sure having a lot of train troubles lately--both freight and Amtrak. I flat don't like it one bit.
Just waiting for one of those or the trolley to derail in downtown San Diego. Their tracks run side by side along Pacific Hwy, then left up Harbor Drive, between Petco Park and the Conv Ctr and on into the yards. Been surprisingly few accidents here though. Mostly accidents concern the trolley and cars on the track.
I love the sound of train whistles...especially at night. Always have, always will. Magical sound that speaks of other places far away....
Wrap.
Checkin' it twice...
After the FCC was hit with "tens of thousands of requests", BushCo's people won't be able to fake news releases reported by fake reporters--propaganda--any longer. Oh, they can create those phony new segments, but the media have now been warned by federal regulators that they had better make sure the public knows they're a government product and just which part of government is responsible for them.
Have no idea what they'll try to run past us next. Just don't believe everything you read, see or hear.
And then there's the astounding regular folk on the streets. Astoundingly... unaware? Uneducated? Oblivious? About noon (PT) on TV is a show named, Street Smart. Two contestents in the studio try to guess whether the person encountered on the street will know the word needed to fill in a blank. Here are a couple of examples:
Q: Adam and Eve were evicted from the _______of Eden.
A: "Apple."
Q: At graduations the song, Pomp and ________is often played.
A: "Grind."
Q: Our Embassy in France is in the city named_________?
A: "Beijing."
Enough said about that!
Wrap...
Have no idea what they'll try to run past us next. Just don't believe everything you read, see or hear.
And then there's the astounding regular folk on the streets. Astoundingly... unaware? Uneducated? Oblivious? About noon (PT) on TV is a show named, Street Smart. Two contestents in the studio try to guess whether the person encountered on the street will know the word needed to fill in a blank. Here are a couple of examples:
Q: Adam and Eve were evicted from the _______of Eden.
A: "Apple."
Q: At graduations the song, Pomp and ________is often played.
A: "Grind."
Q: Our Embassy in France is in the city named_________?
A: "Beijing."
Enough said about that!
Wrap...
Honk, honk....
Drove over to Jack-In-The-Box this afternoon because C had a taste for their food. Wasn't sure what, so we stopped at the menu before the ordering box. That's a one narrow lane place...and sure enough, before C had decided, a car pulls in behind us and in less than 30 seconds the driver began honking and gesturing to his passenger. I made a sharp "back off!!!" gesture out the window and he shut up. About five seconds later, we pulled on to the box and ordered...him tail-gating all the way. At the window, out came most of the food, so we're waiting for the rest and got told to pull up to the front door and they'd bring it out. Do I need to tell you that within a minute here's that guy behind us, honking again. Gave him the benefit of the doubt--maybe he was late getting somewhere or whatever--and drove up and made another round behind three cars. Better that than leave the car to "speak" to that s.o.b. and make a bad situation worse. I do think it would be a good idea to put the menu board back enough that other cars can pass if one needs to read it. It's damned hard to stay the hell in the car under those circumstances.
And thus the weekend begins.
Thank heavens for breakfast on the hotel patio first. Sandy, the head housekeeper, is in charge of the monthly employee party and today was their day. That gal could be the most in-demand party consultant in town if she ever decides to change occupations. Today, the theme is baseball. Last J and I saw, one of the guys was wheeling out the hotel's barbeque...and it's a beaut. Hot dogs and hamburgers and all the trimmings...including decorations. They have a terrific staff at that hotel and this is just one of the ways the hotel thanks them.
So the weekend begins...Party on!!!
Wrap..
And thus the weekend begins.
Thank heavens for breakfast on the hotel patio first. Sandy, the head housekeeper, is in charge of the monthly employee party and today was their day. That gal could be the most in-demand party consultant in town if she ever decides to change occupations. Today, the theme is baseball. Last J and I saw, one of the guys was wheeling out the hotel's barbeque...and it's a beaut. Hot dogs and hamburgers and all the trimmings...including decorations. They have a terrific staff at that hotel and this is just one of the ways the hotel thanks them.
So the weekend begins...Party on!!!
Wrap..
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Surely you jest!
No. They're not. All Neil Morgan, writing his column for www.voiceofsandiego.com (or .org, I forget), wanted to do was get home to San Diego from LA. That's 120 miles. So he's looking at plane fares:
"Here are today's fare listings:
American Airlines, Los Angeles to San Diego: $237; by American Eagle: $230.20. (What great mind thought up the twenty cents?)
Alaska Airlines, Los Angeles to San Diego: $232.
United Airlines, Los Angeles to San Diego: $237.
I'm not saying this similarity constitutes illegal collusion to fix fares, mind you, just market adjustments. I'm only looking for a 120-mile ride down the coast to home.
There are other opportunities, of course:
America West offers a Los Angeles-San Diego service via Phoenix, with a one hour, 44 minute layover in Phoenix, at $105.
The really smashing bargain on this little route, for those with a yen to see more of California, is an American Eagle flight from Los Angeles to San Diego via San Jose with only an 81-minute layover in San Jose, at $118.40. Total elapsed time: 4 hours, 42 minutes."
I'm thinking, Neil, it's cheaper to rent a car. Probably cheaper to get on Amtrak. Definitely cheaper to hitch-hike, but not advised. On the other hand, flying United for $237 is a bit less than $2.00 a mile. What's that? About $31 worth of gas? At $2.65 per gallon. Oh, hell. Math was never my strong suit. :))) Let's just say that driving is expensive too.
Wrap...
"Here are today's fare listings:
American Airlines, Los Angeles to San Diego: $237; by American Eagle: $230.20. (What great mind thought up the twenty cents?)
Alaska Airlines, Los Angeles to San Diego: $232.
United Airlines, Los Angeles to San Diego: $237.
I'm not saying this similarity constitutes illegal collusion to fix fares, mind you, just market adjustments. I'm only looking for a 120-mile ride down the coast to home.
There are other opportunities, of course:
America West offers a Los Angeles-San Diego service via Phoenix, with a one hour, 44 minute layover in Phoenix, at $105.
The really smashing bargain on this little route, for those with a yen to see more of California, is an American Eagle flight from Los Angeles to San Diego via San Jose with only an 81-minute layover in San Jose, at $118.40. Total elapsed time: 4 hours, 42 minutes."
I'm thinking, Neil, it's cheaper to rent a car. Probably cheaper to get on Amtrak. Definitely cheaper to hitch-hike, but not advised. On the other hand, flying United for $237 is a bit less than $2.00 a mile. What's that? About $31 worth of gas? At $2.65 per gallon. Oh, hell. Math was never my strong suit. :))) Let's just say that driving is expensive too.
Wrap...
Apologize!!!
Because of this: ATLANTA -- Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty Wednesday to carrying out the deadly bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three other attacks.
Every television station, every newspaper, every pundit, all gov agencies involved, every radio news station... Every damned one of them ought to publish a huge apology to Security Guard Richard Jewell, working at the Atlanta Olympics, trying to just do his job, for chiming in to accuse him of being the bomber and thereby ruining that innocent man's life. But has any one of them even so much as acknowledged their error? No.
And pay attention...the murderer Rudolph is yet another religious fanatic...another one of the right's Fundies. Pay attention: RELIGIOUS FANATICS ARE DANGEROUS!!! And the prez, plus many members of the GOP are in their pockets. Rudolph has just done a plea bargin that will give him four life terms in prison instead of the death penalty. So easy to murder someone else...but he's scared to die. One-sided? One more nut case. And who else will become a fanatic through contact with him in prison and then be released?
That's the way it works, you know if you've been paying attention. Go to prison, find Jesus, get out and, like the righteous bastards they are, go to work contaminating others. There is a major cancer in our midst.
Wrap...
Every television station, every newspaper, every pundit, all gov agencies involved, every radio news station... Every damned one of them ought to publish a huge apology to Security Guard Richard Jewell, working at the Atlanta Olympics, trying to just do his job, for chiming in to accuse him of being the bomber and thereby ruining that innocent man's life. But has any one of them even so much as acknowledged their error? No.
And pay attention...the murderer Rudolph is yet another religious fanatic...another one of the right's Fundies. Pay attention: RELIGIOUS FANATICS ARE DANGEROUS!!! And the prez, plus many members of the GOP are in their pockets. Rudolph has just done a plea bargin that will give him four life terms in prison instead of the death penalty. So easy to murder someone else...but he's scared to die. One-sided? One more nut case. And who else will become a fanatic through contact with him in prison and then be released?
That's the way it works, you know if you've been paying attention. Go to prison, find Jesus, get out and, like the righteous bastards they are, go to work contaminating others. There is a major cancer in our midst.
Wrap...
A fine job???...
S, one of the writers, emailed this this morn:
From the Sunday Oregonian's "Short & Sweet" column: "Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and, now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives." --CraigCarter
So long as citizens can be distracted into paying attention to others' personal business, that's how long BushCo can keep us from thinking about nationally and internationally important affairs...and especially their screw-ups, which are many and consistent...and their lies, which are also many and consistent.
With despicable characters like DeLay still running loose--to say nothing of the craven GOP members of Congress backing him to their own detriment--corruption abounds. More they can ram outrageous and citizen hostile bills through...like Bush's Social Security no-plan, the bankruptcy bill, and many others. None of which will do us any good, but a hell of a lot of bad. They really really do most heartily desire to eliminate all evil doers and nay-sayers and opposition of all kinds so they can run things their way whether we like it or not.
Just keep electing them to office and you'll get more than you're asking for...
Wrap...
From the Sunday Oregonian's "Short & Sweet" column: "Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and, now, die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives." --CraigCarter
So long as citizens can be distracted into paying attention to others' personal business, that's how long BushCo can keep us from thinking about nationally and internationally important affairs...and especially their screw-ups, which are many and consistent...and their lies, which are also many and consistent.
With despicable characters like DeLay still running loose--to say nothing of the craven GOP members of Congress backing him to their own detriment--corruption abounds. More they can ram outrageous and citizen hostile bills through...like Bush's Social Security no-plan, the bankruptcy bill, and many others. None of which will do us any good, but a hell of a lot of bad. They really really do most heartily desire to eliminate all evil doers and nay-sayers and opposition of all kinds so they can run things their way whether we like it or not.
Just keep electing them to office and you'll get more than you're asking for...
Wrap...
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Readers' news...
Publishers' Lunch emails about books that publishers have just bought the right to publish. This means that the books now have a publisher...but it's gonna be awhile--up to 18 months--before these books hit the bookshelves. So consider this an advance notice of what's coming.
PaperbackDennis Cooper's THE SLUTS, an explicit, comic novel about a gay male hustler and his clients's obsessions with him, to Don Weise at Carroll & Graf, by Ira Silverberg at Donadio & Olson (NA).don.weise@avalonpub.com (This should be one hilarious novel!)
History/Politics/Current AffairsLAT White House reporters Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten's ONE-PARTY COUNTRY: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century, an account of the plan that could "do as much to redraw the fault lines of American democracy as the emancipation of slaves, the voting rights laws, and the New Deal," to Eric Nelson at Wiley, in a very nice deal, by Sandra Dijkstra of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (US). (Sandy Dijkstra lives in Del Mar and is a very good and very picky literary agent. So, the question is, how much damage to the nation's democracy do you want these guys to have the ability to inflict? Damned well better learn what they're trying to pull off so you'll know it when you see it.)
Narrative: Sergeant Frank Antenori, US Army (Ret.) and Hans Halberstadt's ROUGNECK NINE ONE: An A-Team at War, a war tale of bravery and survival and a look inside an A-Team (12 man special forces unit) as it recruits, organizes, trains for combat and, in this case, fights a pitched battle against a tremendous opposing force in Iraq, to Marc Resnick at St. Martin's, in a good deal, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA).smiller@tridentmediagroup.commarc.resnick@stmartins.com
The special forces that compose an A-Team, in case you didn't know, are Green Berets. Good not to fool with these guys!
Wrap...
PaperbackDennis Cooper's THE SLUTS, an explicit, comic novel about a gay male hustler and his clients's obsessions with him, to Don Weise at Carroll & Graf, by Ira Silverberg at Donadio & Olson (NA).don.weise@avalonpub.com (This should be one hilarious novel!)
History/Politics/Current AffairsLAT White House reporters Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten's ONE-PARTY COUNTRY: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century, an account of the plan that could "do as much to redraw the fault lines of American democracy as the emancipation of slaves, the voting rights laws, and the New Deal," to Eric Nelson at Wiley, in a very nice deal, by Sandra Dijkstra of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (US). (Sandy Dijkstra lives in Del Mar and is a very good and very picky literary agent. So, the question is, how much damage to the nation's democracy do you want these guys to have the ability to inflict? Damned well better learn what they're trying to pull off so you'll know it when you see it.)
Narrative: Sergeant Frank Antenori, US Army (Ret.) and Hans Halberstadt's ROUGNECK NINE ONE: An A-Team at War, a war tale of bravery and survival and a look inside an A-Team (12 man special forces unit) as it recruits, organizes, trains for combat and, in this case, fights a pitched battle against a tremendous opposing force in Iraq, to Marc Resnick at St. Martin's, in a good deal, by Scott Miller at Trident Media Group (NA).smiller@tridentmediagroup.commarc.resnick@stmartins.com
The special forces that compose an A-Team, in case you didn't know, are Green Berets. Good not to fool with these guys!
Wrap...
W came late..here's why...
He was caught in a traffic jam on I-8 in Mission Valley because:
SAN DIEGO -- A truck hauling 80,000 pounds of frozen chicken spilled its load in Mission Valley Wednesday, causing a traffic jam during the morning commute.
IMAGES: Chicken Spills On Freeway
The accident happened before 6 a.m. in westbound Interstate 8 at the transition ramp to southbound Interstate 805. The ramp curves but the driver continued straight, according to California Highway Patrol investigators. The entire load of poultry spilled out of the truck and was a total loss, but the driver was not hurt, CHP investigators said.
The chickens were being trucked from Texas to Chula Vista. They didn't block the roadway, but drivers slowed down to watch the cleanup, the CHP said. Even veteran patrol officers found the sight unusual.
"I've seen baby food and a few other interesting things but not this much chicken," CHP Sgt. Tress Polet said. "We got whole chickens, buffalo wings, we got breasts -- you name it."
Caltrans workers forced to clean up the mess said they would be washing their hands and clothes extra carefully when the job was done. Many said they were not likely to have chicken for dinner soon.
"Oh, we're all switching to vegetarians around here," one worker said with a smile.
The accident and the chicken were cleared off the freeway by 10 a.m.
Copyright 2005 by NBCSandiego.com.
Wrap...
SAN DIEGO -- A truck hauling 80,000 pounds of frozen chicken spilled its load in Mission Valley Wednesday, causing a traffic jam during the morning commute.
IMAGES: Chicken Spills On Freeway
The accident happened before 6 a.m. in westbound Interstate 8 at the transition ramp to southbound Interstate 805. The ramp curves but the driver continued straight, according to California Highway Patrol investigators. The entire load of poultry spilled out of the truck and was a total loss, but the driver was not hurt, CHP investigators said.
The chickens were being trucked from Texas to Chula Vista. They didn't block the roadway, but drivers slowed down to watch the cleanup, the CHP said. Even veteran patrol officers found the sight unusual.
"I've seen baby food and a few other interesting things but not this much chicken," CHP Sgt. Tress Polet said. "We got whole chickens, buffalo wings, we got breasts -- you name it."
Caltrans workers forced to clean up the mess said they would be washing their hands and clothes extra carefully when the job was done. Many said they were not likely to have chicken for dinner soon.
"Oh, we're all switching to vegetarians around here," one worker said with a smile.
The accident and the chicken were cleared off the freeway by 10 a.m.
Copyright 2005 by NBCSandiego.com.
Wrap...
Dangling threads..
Last Sat, I reported losing my lighter. Sun morn, I found it lying on the driver's seat in the car. Sheesh!
Esquire mag for May won't be out on the newstands until April 20th, when I will immediately buy it to continue reading Colby Buzzell's series of articles on his experiences in Mosul, Iraq as part of the Stryker Brigade.
Meanwhile, W, Sgt in the San Diego Police Dept, joined J and I for breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. He has a terrific cop novel under way. Novel is due at his agent's come April 30, so he's writing like a fiend to finish the first draft. Next Wed morn he says, he'll be bringing three more chapters for J, B, and I to comment on. We're trying to catch any glitches that would stop an agent or editor as they read. Can't have them jerked out of the story because of minor stuff like the use of too many "it's". Every writer has a favorite word that is overused, and W's is "it's".
About that time, T, the Chief Engineer at the hotel, and parttime bouncer at night clubs downtown, came over to confer with W about the problem with the indigent--belligerant guy--who has been raising hell on hotel grounds, and how best to handle him. When they'd developed a way to go with that guy, T took off to go handle something else.
And M strolled in to join us and have some "beans" as he calls coffee. He's optioned J's, another SDPD guy, book for a short TV series and has been working on that script while his partner works on which studio is gonna get to produce it. It's pretty much come down to an auction situation. At the same time, M and W are working like crazy on the next writers' conf out in Palm Springs.
Speaking of writers' conferences, L emailed me the advance info on the Romance Writers' Conference. I forget where it's gonna be held, but Catherine Coulter will be there. I'm reading her FBI novel, Blow Out, right now...and it ain't no romance as we'd think of one. Straight out mystery. As for L, her agent is busy trying to find a publisher for her latest novel...and she'd best do it pretty quick because another major agent is wanting L as her client. Hoo-boy!
On Tues, April 12, 1981, the first US space shuttle was launched, according to the note on my calendar. And ever since, NASA has had one hell of a time doing all they've done. And we've benefitted mightily through their scientific discoveries and inventions. So here we are, one day away from "Earth Day" on Friday just abusing the earth something terrible and thereby cutting our own throats. 60% of what we need to stay alive, we've managed to destroy. There is no end to stupidity and lack of forward thinking, nor an end to greed and the lust for power of major proportions.
So we come to greed and power...best illustrated by watching the money flow and who gets that cash in DC. Between the Bush admin, the religious fanatics and DeLay, I don't know who can claim the most corruption. On a more minor scale, San Diego's admin can hold their own when it comes to stupidity and corruption. And as always, it will be the citizens who have to bail the city out of the financial mess it's in. But the citizens are short-sighted and cheap enough thinking that they voted against an increase in the hotel room tax (and ours is the smallest of any major city), and would probably vote against a reasonable charge--maybe $6 or $7 a month to pay for trash pick-up...which we're not charged for now but should be. I could go on for a considerable time here, but it's a very pretty day, so I won't.
As the man said, "Sufficient unto the day...."
Wrap...
Esquire mag for May won't be out on the newstands until April 20th, when I will immediately buy it to continue reading Colby Buzzell's series of articles on his experiences in Mosul, Iraq as part of the Stryker Brigade.
Meanwhile, W, Sgt in the San Diego Police Dept, joined J and I for breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. He has a terrific cop novel under way. Novel is due at his agent's come April 30, so he's writing like a fiend to finish the first draft. Next Wed morn he says, he'll be bringing three more chapters for J, B, and I to comment on. We're trying to catch any glitches that would stop an agent or editor as they read. Can't have them jerked out of the story because of minor stuff like the use of too many "it's". Every writer has a favorite word that is overused, and W's is "it's".
About that time, T, the Chief Engineer at the hotel, and parttime bouncer at night clubs downtown, came over to confer with W about the problem with the indigent--belligerant guy--who has been raising hell on hotel grounds, and how best to handle him. When they'd developed a way to go with that guy, T took off to go handle something else.
And M strolled in to join us and have some "beans" as he calls coffee. He's optioned J's, another SDPD guy, book for a short TV series and has been working on that script while his partner works on which studio is gonna get to produce it. It's pretty much come down to an auction situation. At the same time, M and W are working like crazy on the next writers' conf out in Palm Springs.
Speaking of writers' conferences, L emailed me the advance info on the Romance Writers' Conference. I forget where it's gonna be held, but Catherine Coulter will be there. I'm reading her FBI novel, Blow Out, right now...and it ain't no romance as we'd think of one. Straight out mystery. As for L, her agent is busy trying to find a publisher for her latest novel...and she'd best do it pretty quick because another major agent is wanting L as her client. Hoo-boy!
On Tues, April 12, 1981, the first US space shuttle was launched, according to the note on my calendar. And ever since, NASA has had one hell of a time doing all they've done. And we've benefitted mightily through their scientific discoveries and inventions. So here we are, one day away from "Earth Day" on Friday just abusing the earth something terrible and thereby cutting our own throats. 60% of what we need to stay alive, we've managed to destroy. There is no end to stupidity and lack of forward thinking, nor an end to greed and the lust for power of major proportions.
So we come to greed and power...best illustrated by watching the money flow and who gets that cash in DC. Between the Bush admin, the religious fanatics and DeLay, I don't know who can claim the most corruption. On a more minor scale, San Diego's admin can hold their own when it comes to stupidity and corruption. And as always, it will be the citizens who have to bail the city out of the financial mess it's in. But the citizens are short-sighted and cheap enough thinking that they voted against an increase in the hotel room tax (and ours is the smallest of any major city), and would probably vote against a reasonable charge--maybe $6 or $7 a month to pay for trash pick-up...which we're not charged for now but should be. I could go on for a considerable time here, but it's a very pretty day, so I won't.
As the man said, "Sufficient unto the day...."
Wrap...
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Bad seeds...
Well, talk about a hilarious, and most aggravated, librarian! Hop on over to http://miss-information.blogspot.com and this is the start of what you'll read on today's post:
"Miss Information is annoyed by parents
It is Screaming Child Day at the library. And Miss Information totally forgot to attend Screaming Child Eve festivities. Slipped her mind completely.Right this minute a screaming toddler is sitting opposite the Reference Desk where Miss Information is doomed to spend the rest of her natural life. ..."
I sympathize totally. Just a couple of days ago, during breakfast on the hotel patio, J, B and I were happily talkin' away when two families, both with little ones, were seated just a table away.
One of those kids, in a highchair, just opened his/her mouth and began to scream at the top of his/her voice. Did it at the top of his/her range too. And was ignored by both parents. Wasn't crying, either. Just this on and on piercing scream.
Was a man, one table over, who left behind half his breakfast, picked up his check and headed inside the dining room to pay and get the hell out of there.
Of course this screaming kid set off another kid at the 2nd family's table, who didn't scream but yelled. Parents did nothing.
What a monster contrast to the families of previous weeks, whose kids were superbly raised to be little ladies and gentlemen. Those kids were a pleasure to behold...and we admired them and their parents no end.
So, yes. I absolutely do sympathize with Miss Information.
Wrap...
"Miss Information is annoyed by parents
It is Screaming Child Day at the library. And Miss Information totally forgot to attend Screaming Child Eve festivities. Slipped her mind completely.Right this minute a screaming toddler is sitting opposite the Reference Desk where Miss Information is doomed to spend the rest of her natural life. ..."
I sympathize totally. Just a couple of days ago, during breakfast on the hotel patio, J, B and I were happily talkin' away when two families, both with little ones, were seated just a table away.
One of those kids, in a highchair, just opened his/her mouth and began to scream at the top of his/her voice. Did it at the top of his/her range too. And was ignored by both parents. Wasn't crying, either. Just this on and on piercing scream.
Was a man, one table over, who left behind half his breakfast, picked up his check and headed inside the dining room to pay and get the hell out of there.
Of course this screaming kid set off another kid at the 2nd family's table, who didn't scream but yelled. Parents did nothing.
What a monster contrast to the families of previous weeks, whose kids were superbly raised to be little ladies and gentlemen. Those kids were a pleasure to behold...and we admired them and their parents no end.
So, yes. I absolutely do sympathize with Miss Information.
Wrap...
Monday, April 11, 2005
Here's why gas is so high...
From Independent Clearing House--Part of Lindoff's article:
"In fact the real culprit behind these higher oil prices is the Bush Administration, which, thanks to its massive deficits and tax give-aways to the rich and corporations, to its war spending, and to its failure to combat unprecedented and ever-larger trade deficits, has been causing the dollar to plunge in value.
Oil is a commodity and it is priced in dollars. If dollars decline in value, then the price of oil will rise in inverse proportion.
One need only look at Europe to see what this means.
Over the period from February 1, 2003, just before the start of the Iraq War, when oil prices began to rise in earnest, to Feb. 1, 2005, the price of a barrel of oil in dollars rose about 30 percent, from $30.13 a barrel to $42.91 a barrel. But over that same period of time, the Euro, Europe's new combined currency, rose 21 percent against the U.S. dollar, from .93 Euros to the dollar in February, 2003 to just .77 to the U.S. dollar in February, 2005.
For Europeans, then, the net rise in oil prices over the two years of the Iraq War has been just 9 percent, or less than 5 percent per year-hardly the kind of energy inflation that would cause economic problems.
And this situation is likely to get only worse. Some Wall Street oil industry analysts are now predicting that oil could, before too long, hit $100 a barrel. What they are saying really is that the dollar is likely to fall in value by 50 percent.
Should that happen, though, the OPEC states would likely at some point along the way decide that it is ridiculous for them to continue pricing oil in dollars, since the piles of dollars filling their bank vaults will be losing value faster than their oil wells are emptying. At some point, the oil producing states, including Russia and Norway, will inevitably switch to pricing their oil in a basket of currencies-a basket that would prominently feature the Euro and probably the Japanese Yen.
At that point there would be little left to prop up the dollar, and it could end up becoming little better than a Third World currency.
That's something to chew on next time you're filling your car with $2.25/gallon or $2.50/gallon gas at the local pump.
It's not oil sheiks or even oil executives (though they're certainly raking in the dough!); it's Bush economic policy, stupid."
Plain to see that hard right religious conservatives--Bush's precious base for whom he will say anything...and might even do some things--and his financiers--the extremely wealthy--will take care of their own interests and to hell with the nation's. Love of money, love of power, will sink us all. Bush's and the Repubs' terms in office cannot end too soon.
But hark! The 2006 election is not all that far away. Are the voting machines fixed and will they produce a paper trail? No. Have steps been taken so that ALL voters have an even shot at the polling places? No. John Kerry is trying, but he needs serious support from not only the public, but the rest of Congress and the Judiciary. Otherwise, we're screwed again.
Wrap...
"In fact the real culprit behind these higher oil prices is the Bush Administration, which, thanks to its massive deficits and tax give-aways to the rich and corporations, to its war spending, and to its failure to combat unprecedented and ever-larger trade deficits, has been causing the dollar to plunge in value.
Oil is a commodity and it is priced in dollars. If dollars decline in value, then the price of oil will rise in inverse proportion.
One need only look at Europe to see what this means.
Over the period from February 1, 2003, just before the start of the Iraq War, when oil prices began to rise in earnest, to Feb. 1, 2005, the price of a barrel of oil in dollars rose about 30 percent, from $30.13 a barrel to $42.91 a barrel. But over that same period of time, the Euro, Europe's new combined currency, rose 21 percent against the U.S. dollar, from .93 Euros to the dollar in February, 2003 to just .77 to the U.S. dollar in February, 2005.
For Europeans, then, the net rise in oil prices over the two years of the Iraq War has been just 9 percent, or less than 5 percent per year-hardly the kind of energy inflation that would cause economic problems.
And this situation is likely to get only worse. Some Wall Street oil industry analysts are now predicting that oil could, before too long, hit $100 a barrel. What they are saying really is that the dollar is likely to fall in value by 50 percent.
Should that happen, though, the OPEC states would likely at some point along the way decide that it is ridiculous for them to continue pricing oil in dollars, since the piles of dollars filling their bank vaults will be losing value faster than their oil wells are emptying. At some point, the oil producing states, including Russia and Norway, will inevitably switch to pricing their oil in a basket of currencies-a basket that would prominently feature the Euro and probably the Japanese Yen.
At that point there would be little left to prop up the dollar, and it could end up becoming little better than a Third World currency.
That's something to chew on next time you're filling your car with $2.25/gallon or $2.50/gallon gas at the local pump.
It's not oil sheiks or even oil executives (though they're certainly raking in the dough!); it's Bush economic policy, stupid."
Plain to see that hard right religious conservatives--Bush's precious base for whom he will say anything...and might even do some things--and his financiers--the extremely wealthy--will take care of their own interests and to hell with the nation's. Love of money, love of power, will sink us all. Bush's and the Repubs' terms in office cannot end too soon.
But hark! The 2006 election is not all that far away. Are the voting machines fixed and will they produce a paper trail? No. Have steps been taken so that ALL voters have an even shot at the polling places? No. John Kerry is trying, but he needs serious support from not only the public, but the rest of Congress and the Judiciary. Otherwise, we're screwed again.
Wrap...
The super rich & the rest of us...
Consider this:
Because the news media focus on what politicians say about the tax system, rather than how it actually operates, few Americans realize that:
Corporate income tax laws reward companies that move jobs offshore, allowing them to earn untaxed profits as long as the money stays offshore.
Widespread cuts in health insurance and pensions for the rank-and- file are driven by a special law that lets top executives defer paying taxes for years, in a way that adds 35 percent to the cost of their bloated pay.
The 2001 Bush tax cuts included a stealth tax increase on the middle class and upper-middle class that will cost them a half trillion dollars in the first 10 years and, for 35 million families, wiping out part or all of their Bush tax cuts.
The stealth tax boost on people making $30,000 to $500,000 was explicitly used to make sure that the super rich would get their entire Bush tax cuts.
A California couple who make $75,000 to $100,000 and have two children face a 97 percent chance of losing part of their Bush tax cuts to this stealth tax increase and overall will lose 42 percent of their Bush tax cuts by next year.
If your child becomes seriously ill, Congress, under this same law, will raise your income taxes if you spend more than 7.5 percent of your income trying to keep your child alive.
Since 1983, under a plan devised by Alan Greenspan, Americans have paid $1.8 trillion more in Social Security taxes than have been paid out in benefits, money that is used to finance tax cuts for the super rich while robbing the middle class of their capacity to save.
A family earning $50,000 this year will have about $1,500 of its money funneled to the super rich because of the Greenspan plan.
Since 1993, the income tax burden on the 400 highest-income Americans has been cut 40 percent when measured the way that President Bush prefers, which is by counting how many pennies out of each dollar go to income taxes. In 1993 the top 400 paid 30 cents out of each dollar in federal income taxes. By the end of the Clinton administration in 2000 they were down to 22 cents. Under Bush, their burden is less than 18 cents. Everyone else felt their tax bite rise to 15 cents on the dollar from an average of 13 cents.
For the rest of this article, go to: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/04/11/INGV560VO41.DTL
Like the man says...follow the money...and see who benefits. And while you're at it, look at the munificent funds supplied to George W Bush and other congresspeople. Whatever amount they've been bought for, we're paying for it the hard way. Torques me something fierce.
Wrap...
Because the news media focus on what politicians say about the tax system, rather than how it actually operates, few Americans realize that:
Corporate income tax laws reward companies that move jobs offshore, allowing them to earn untaxed profits as long as the money stays offshore.
Widespread cuts in health insurance and pensions for the rank-and- file are driven by a special law that lets top executives defer paying taxes for years, in a way that adds 35 percent to the cost of their bloated pay.
The 2001 Bush tax cuts included a stealth tax increase on the middle class and upper-middle class that will cost them a half trillion dollars in the first 10 years and, for 35 million families, wiping out part or all of their Bush tax cuts.
The stealth tax boost on people making $30,000 to $500,000 was explicitly used to make sure that the super rich would get their entire Bush tax cuts.
A California couple who make $75,000 to $100,000 and have two children face a 97 percent chance of losing part of their Bush tax cuts to this stealth tax increase and overall will lose 42 percent of their Bush tax cuts by next year.
If your child becomes seriously ill, Congress, under this same law, will raise your income taxes if you spend more than 7.5 percent of your income trying to keep your child alive.
Since 1983, under a plan devised by Alan Greenspan, Americans have paid $1.8 trillion more in Social Security taxes than have been paid out in benefits, money that is used to finance tax cuts for the super rich while robbing the middle class of their capacity to save.
A family earning $50,000 this year will have about $1,500 of its money funneled to the super rich because of the Greenspan plan.
Since 1993, the income tax burden on the 400 highest-income Americans has been cut 40 percent when measured the way that President Bush prefers, which is by counting how many pennies out of each dollar go to income taxes. In 1993 the top 400 paid 30 cents out of each dollar in federal income taxes. By the end of the Clinton administration in 2000 they were down to 22 cents. Under Bush, their burden is less than 18 cents. Everyone else felt their tax bite rise to 15 cents on the dollar from an average of 13 cents.
For the rest of this article, go to: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/04/11/INGV560VO41.DTL
Like the man says...follow the money...and see who benefits. And while you're at it, look at the munificent funds supplied to George W Bush and other congresspeople. Whatever amount they've been bought for, we're paying for it the hard way. Torques me something fierce.
Wrap...
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Sunday evenin' comin' down....
The sun has set and there's just the afterglow now. Perfect time for inserting into enemy territory if there's a night op planned. My night op will occur about an hour from now. Have to take a shower, then cover my bod with a cream from the neck down. This is the result of a visit to a nurse practitioner this afternoon to find out what the hell is the itchy--might as well have fallen into a patch of poison ivy--rash I developed on legs and arms. It seems that earlier this week while out and about I ran into mites, for god's sake. Last thing in the world I needed to hear, but apparently easy to deal with. So on goes this one-time-only cream tonight, then at least 8 hours later--morning--back in the shower to wash the cream off. And then the pain in the ass stuff...launder all bedding and whatever clothes. So that should kill off the mites. Then a pill--no driving cause it causes drowsiness--just before sacking out tomorrow night to stop the itchiness. I tell you, it's a bitch to itch all the time. About a week and that will be done with. And, have to run out and spray the driver's seat of my car and floor mats, just in case, with Lysol. My name for this: creepin' crud. I am not a happy camper, but what the hell...if nothing worse ever happens to me, I'll be fine.
Full dark now. That was quick.
Between Bush, Santorum, and DeLay.... Those individuals are gonna drive me nuts yet. Heard on the radio this morn that, very quietly, Bush addressed the far right religious Crystal Cathedral denizens. Most probably by video link. No publicity whatsoever. Too early. Somewhere around 6 this morning, Pacific time, since they're up in LA. If he'd made it to his ranch, it would be 8 his time. Guess the CC people had some kind of anniversary thing going. The man lives to shore up his base and show his religiosity, so long as it's mostly words.
Still have not a clue who that guy behind Bush 41 was in the photo of Bush 43's official delegation, shot as they stood beside the Pope paying their last respects . Seems Fr. mentioned had to do with his being a SNL character. Just a joke. Damn. Probably will never know.
So back to finishing reading the LA Times...
Wrap.
Full dark now. That was quick.
Between Bush, Santorum, and DeLay.... Those individuals are gonna drive me nuts yet. Heard on the radio this morn that, very quietly, Bush addressed the far right religious Crystal Cathedral denizens. Most probably by video link. No publicity whatsoever. Too early. Somewhere around 6 this morning, Pacific time, since they're up in LA. If he'd made it to his ranch, it would be 8 his time. Guess the CC people had some kind of anniversary thing going. The man lives to shore up his base and show his religiosity, so long as it's mostly words.
Still have not a clue who that guy behind Bush 41 was in the photo of Bush 43's official delegation, shot as they stood beside the Pope paying their last respects . Seems Fr. mentioned had to do with his being a SNL character. Just a joke. Damn. Probably will never know.
So back to finishing reading the LA Times...
Wrap.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
This 'n that...
C and I went to breakfast on Marie's patio this morn, but didn't linger. Though a day with blue skies and puffy clouds, the damned wind is mighty chilly. Comes straight in from the Pacific and that ocean is damned icy and unfriendly 90% of the time. There are reasons the surfers wear wet suits most of the year.
So, Prince Charles and Camilla are finally wed. This is good. Horrid to be part of the royal family. Talk about having to go through contortions to get anything done! Only took them 30 years from the time they met to finally get permission to marry and then actually get married. Good for them and may their marriage be happy for the rest of their days.
And the Pope is finally, as per his wishes, buried in the ground...but inside 4 different coffins. That's fine. That's custom. Today is the first of the official nine days of mourning, and then the Cardinals are locked up in conclave until they can elect the next Pope. That they have will be marked by bells and white smoke. Whereupon the new Pope will be presented and everyone will be waiting to see what name he chooses. More ceremonies, and finally things will begin to settle down again.
Meanwhile, today is the 2nd anniversary of the pulling down of Saddam's statue, so people are celebrating in Iraq. Sadr's Sunni faction...plus others, I'm sure, are demonstrating and yelling for the US and allies to leave their country. Of course the US and allies won't, much as the men and women themselves would like to. There are oil deals to be secured. The new Iraqi government has to be up and running and the new Iraqi Constitution written and agreed to. They also have to get their congress and judiciary put together, and security established. Big job.
S gave me a pad of post-it notes. This is no common pad. CCDC (Center City Development Corp) is enamored of his photos of the downtown city skyline, as shot from across the harbor on a Coronado beach. And that photo is on all four sides of the pad. Very cool! I have it sitting atop my CPU here so I can admire it from time to time. Makes me grin. Of course I'm not gonna use it or even remove it from its shrink wrap. Every sheet torn off will reduce the size of that photo, beginning with the sky. Not gonna do it. This is a keeper.
Vince was most probably out in the desert shooting today since he was a no-show on the patio this morn. So put Ed Fitzgerald's Green Beret novel, Bank's Bandits, back in the trunk until tomorrow morn. If Vince is there, I'll give it to him. Otherwise I'll just haul it around in the trunk until he shows. There's no hurry here. For somebody as impatient as I, these kinds of things I can be patient as all hell about.
And yes, I did indeed get to read the front section of the LA Times this morn. C had a book in hand, so read that while I read the paper which is our usual habit at Marie's. Lost my lighter. Probably dropped it somewhere on the patio or near the car. Just a Bic, so no sweat. Stopped by the cigarette shop while C went in for a carton of smokes and C picked up a new lighter for me. I have about a dozen really nice lighters but all have to be filled with fluid. That's a pain. Don't want to lose one of those, so Bics do nicely. And now for the rest of the paper.
Wrap...
So, Prince Charles and Camilla are finally wed. This is good. Horrid to be part of the royal family. Talk about having to go through contortions to get anything done! Only took them 30 years from the time they met to finally get permission to marry and then actually get married. Good for them and may their marriage be happy for the rest of their days.
And the Pope is finally, as per his wishes, buried in the ground...but inside 4 different coffins. That's fine. That's custom. Today is the first of the official nine days of mourning, and then the Cardinals are locked up in conclave until they can elect the next Pope. That they have will be marked by bells and white smoke. Whereupon the new Pope will be presented and everyone will be waiting to see what name he chooses. More ceremonies, and finally things will begin to settle down again.
Meanwhile, today is the 2nd anniversary of the pulling down of Saddam's statue, so people are celebrating in Iraq. Sadr's Sunni faction...plus others, I'm sure, are demonstrating and yelling for the US and allies to leave their country. Of course the US and allies won't, much as the men and women themselves would like to. There are oil deals to be secured. The new Iraqi government has to be up and running and the new Iraqi Constitution written and agreed to. They also have to get their congress and judiciary put together, and security established. Big job.
S gave me a pad of post-it notes. This is no common pad. CCDC (Center City Development Corp) is enamored of his photos of the downtown city skyline, as shot from across the harbor on a Coronado beach. And that photo is on all four sides of the pad. Very cool! I have it sitting atop my CPU here so I can admire it from time to time. Makes me grin. Of course I'm not gonna use it or even remove it from its shrink wrap. Every sheet torn off will reduce the size of that photo, beginning with the sky. Not gonna do it. This is a keeper.
Vince was most probably out in the desert shooting today since he was a no-show on the patio this morn. So put Ed Fitzgerald's Green Beret novel, Bank's Bandits, back in the trunk until tomorrow morn. If Vince is there, I'll give it to him. Otherwise I'll just haul it around in the trunk until he shows. There's no hurry here. For somebody as impatient as I, these kinds of things I can be patient as all hell about.
And yes, I did indeed get to read the front section of the LA Times this morn. C had a book in hand, so read that while I read the paper which is our usual habit at Marie's. Lost my lighter. Probably dropped it somewhere on the patio or near the car. Just a Bic, so no sweat. Stopped by the cigarette shop while C went in for a carton of smokes and C picked up a new lighter for me. I have about a dozen really nice lighters but all have to be filled with fluid. That's a pain. Don't want to lose one of those, so Bics do nicely. And now for the rest of the paper.
Wrap...
Friday, April 08, 2005
Friday nite...
Another hour and it will be midnight, and I still haven't read the morning papers. That is the damndest thing. Take them with me to breakfast on the hotel patio every morning, Mon-Fri, without fail. Sit down, waiter or waitress brings that pot of coffee, I light a smoke, prop the front section of the LA Times on the table against the coffee pot...and if I'm lucky, may get to see what the main headlines say. Then another writer or six shows up--if one isn't already there before me, and eventually, time to leave. Gather the papers back up, bring them home, put them on the footstool in front of my reading chair in here, and there they sit. I always read that front section before calling it a day though. By then, I've read the NY Times and the Wash Post online. But always, the LA Times has something more to offer, so I don't hit the sack until I've read it.
There are times when there are just B, J, and me...and we're all looking at something in one or other of the papers. J will check Fry's full page ads for various computer or other electronic gear and B grabs USA Today on his way in. Hell, I'd rather have their conversation than read anyway. Writers know the damndest things...a result, I think, that comes from always researching some one thing or the other, so when they get talking, it gets interesting real fast.
The large front page picture on the San Diego Union-Tribune (and everyother major paper in the nation it seems) got us going yesterday. From left to right, there were Bush 43, Laura, Bush 41, Clinton, Condi, and Card in front of the Pope's body. Behind Bush 43 sits a guy that J is convinced is Rudy Guiliani. B and I don't think that's who it is. The guys to the left and right of him in that row are all wearing red beanies, so B and I think he's one of the clergy or a Vatican person. I think he has a white brushy mustache. J thinks it's Guiliani and no mustache but a trick of the light. So I dug out a small magnifying glass (I carry strange things) and we took turns examining the guy. Didn't help. Now we all want that individual's identity, but doubt if there's a way to get it. At least not a simple fast way. And, was surprised to see Card (Bush's Chief of Staff) there. Huh.
Wrap...
There are times when there are just B, J, and me...and we're all looking at something in one or other of the papers. J will check Fry's full page ads for various computer or other electronic gear and B grabs USA Today on his way in. Hell, I'd rather have their conversation than read anyway. Writers know the damndest things...a result, I think, that comes from always researching some one thing or the other, so when they get talking, it gets interesting real fast.
The large front page picture on the San Diego Union-Tribune (and everyother major paper in the nation it seems) got us going yesterday. From left to right, there were Bush 43, Laura, Bush 41, Clinton, Condi, and Card in front of the Pope's body. Behind Bush 43 sits a guy that J is convinced is Rudy Guiliani. B and I don't think that's who it is. The guys to the left and right of him in that row are all wearing red beanies, so B and I think he's one of the clergy or a Vatican person. I think he has a white brushy mustache. J thinks it's Guiliani and no mustache but a trick of the light. So I dug out a small magnifying glass (I carry strange things) and we took turns examining the guy. Didn't help. Now we all want that individual's identity, but doubt if there's a way to get it. At least not a simple fast way. And, was surprised to see Card (Bush's Chief of Staff) there. Huh.
Wrap...
Yep...it's tomorrow...
Do NOT ask me how Blogger has managed to move my posts way the hell down under the side list of previous posts on the left of the page. Tried to find out and Blogger techs say that sometimes the post is too wide and then all posts slide to bottom. Well fine. That's all well and good, but dammit, how does one get them the hell back up where they're supposed to be? And which is the too long, errant sentence? And what good does it do if one finds it, since there's no way short of removing that entire post to shorten said sentence? More, what happened to the wrap-around sentence? Isn't that supposed to be automatic? Boy, am I glad I'm not a Blogger computer tech!Well hell...wrote this early this afternoon and still am not able to post on Blogger. It's 10 to 9PM. Whatever the problem is, they've really got one this time. Might not be able to post until tomorrow!Wrap...
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Babbling on...
Just finished reading a novel by Robert Ludlum, written by a ghostwriter. Had to be, since Ludlum passed away about a year or so ago. Besides, this writer has a style all of his own. Really knows his history. Either that, or he's like the writer who spent 36 years researching. His editor told him they'd decided they'd have to publish after he'd died. They'd been waiting for years...while he kept on researching. And after all that, when the guy did publish, another publisher offered more money and so he left the publisher who'd been faithfully waiting to get that cash. No doubt more to the story than that, but that's the gist of it.
All media focused on the Pope's funeral, etc. Still managing to put some heat on Tom DeLay's latest problems come to light. That individual has the ethics of a barnyard dog. Come to think of it, those dogs undoubtedly use more ethics in the natural course of things than DeLay ever possessed. I doubt the dogs are corrupt. And yet a great many of his fellow Repubs continue to support him...which says more about them than him. Pathetic. They'll do well displaying themselves in Rome at the Pope's funeral. Gawd.
And so to all a good night.
Wrap..
All media focused on the Pope's funeral, etc. Still managing to put some heat on Tom DeLay's latest problems come to light. That individual has the ethics of a barnyard dog. Come to think of it, those dogs undoubtedly use more ethics in the natural course of things than DeLay ever possessed. I doubt the dogs are corrupt. And yet a great many of his fellow Repubs continue to support him...which says more about them than him. Pathetic. They'll do well displaying themselves in Rome at the Pope's funeral. Gawd.
And so to all a good night.
Wrap..
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Tues eve and rollin'....
Right off, take a look at the next venue DeLay plans to put his stamp of approval on. That jackass would cancel anything to get his face in front of the cameras... even a speech to take down the judges. From the NY Times:
"Mr. DeLay has for years been outspoken in criticizing what he sees as judicial activism, and he has led legislative efforts to limit the jurisdiction of federal judges in some areas. Before he changed plans to attend the pope's funeral, Mr. DeLay had been scheduled to be a headline speaker this week at a conservative conference, "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith," sponsored by the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration. "
And of course it's Tues eve, therefore gathering time with the writers. One of them, S, was out this weekend protesting...doing "freeway blogging", which entails holding banners on bridges above the freeways. His said something like: First Defenders...Police Departments. Since their bridge was above a rather tight place on the freeway below, here came the police...and when they saw S's sign, laughed and told the group about the safer better places they could go. S said the greatest number of vehicles below honked in approval and there were very few middle fingers held up.
So M was looking for a subject for his weekly newspaper column and S's freeway blogging made a great one. And since we celebrated three birthdays tonight--J, M, and B--B had brought an absolutely gorgeous chocolate on chocolate three-layer cake. We managed to eat but half. The rest went to the staff at the restaurant.
Got to wondering, if Schiavo's parents had gained control of her, just how many more years would they have continued letting her lie there on that bed? Consensus was that once they died, the brother and sister would have kept her there until either they or she finally died. And if she still was alive after both of them, then..... ? DeLay? Hah. Jeb? Hah. Any of those guys? Hah. She'd have outlived her usefulness, so bye-bye.
And so the gathering went...on to a dozen other subjects. On a warm summer's night. Was 80 degrees in downtown San Diego today... and working day or not, the beaches got hit.
Wrap.
"Mr. DeLay has for years been outspoken in criticizing what he sees as judicial activism, and he has led legislative efforts to limit the jurisdiction of federal judges in some areas. Before he changed plans to attend the pope's funeral, Mr. DeLay had been scheduled to be a headline speaker this week at a conservative conference, "Confronting the Judicial War on Faith," sponsored by the Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration. "
And of course it's Tues eve, therefore gathering time with the writers. One of them, S, was out this weekend protesting...doing "freeway blogging", which entails holding banners on bridges above the freeways. His said something like: First Defenders...Police Departments. Since their bridge was above a rather tight place on the freeway below, here came the police...and when they saw S's sign, laughed and told the group about the safer better places they could go. S said the greatest number of vehicles below honked in approval and there were very few middle fingers held up.
So M was looking for a subject for his weekly newspaper column and S's freeway blogging made a great one. And since we celebrated three birthdays tonight--J, M, and B--B had brought an absolutely gorgeous chocolate on chocolate three-layer cake. We managed to eat but half. The rest went to the staff at the restaurant.
Got to wondering, if Schiavo's parents had gained control of her, just how many more years would they have continued letting her lie there on that bed? Consensus was that once they died, the brother and sister would have kept her there until either they or she finally died. And if she still was alive after both of them, then..... ? DeLay? Hah. Jeb? Hah. Any of those guys? Hah. She'd have outlived her usefulness, so bye-bye.
And so the gathering went...on to a dozen other subjects. On a warm summer's night. Was 80 degrees in downtown San Diego today... and working day or not, the beaches got hit.
Wrap.
Very damned strange...
Just found a note I'd jotted down in red ink, slid under the keyboard here. And it says...
29 Palms
Marine on night patrol
Radar: 500 meters...moving objects
Night vision saw nothing
Others saw Marines...
From Korea, WWII...
Marching with live and real Marines...
Have no idea when I wrote that, whether someone was telling me, if I read it, heard it...what?
Wrap.
29 Palms
Marine on night patrol
Radar: 500 meters...moving objects
Night vision saw nothing
Others saw Marines...
From Korea, WWII...
Marching with live and real Marines...
Have no idea when I wrote that, whether someone was telling me, if I read it, heard it...what?
Wrap.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Constitution & religion....Bit of history...
"Now be it known, That I John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof. And to the End that the said Treaty may be observed and performed with good Faith on the part of the United States, I have ordered the premises to be made public; And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office civil or military within the United States, and all others citizens or inhabitants thereof, faithfully to observe and fulfil the said Treaty and every clause and article thereof" (p. 383).
The official 1797 Treaty with Tripoli which President John Adams signed and "ordered the premises [propositions] to be made public" included Article 11 in the English language. As for the Treaty in Arabic, not one Senator read it. The only Treaty which mattered to the Senators and the President was the one in English. The official treaty, in plain English, says: "The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." The United States Senators read and ratified it, and President John Adams read and signed it. They knew exactly what it said. To assert otherwise is dishonest.
Copyright 1997, 2005 Gene Garman
Seems to me that's plenty clear.
Wrap...
The official 1797 Treaty with Tripoli which President John Adams signed and "ordered the premises [propositions] to be made public" included Article 11 in the English language. As for the Treaty in Arabic, not one Senator read it. The only Treaty which mattered to the Senators and the President was the one in English. The official treaty, in plain English, says: "The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." The United States Senators read and ratified it, and President John Adams read and signed it. They knew exactly what it said. To assert otherwise is dishonest.
Copyright 1997, 2005 Gene Garman
Seems to me that's plenty clear.
Wrap...
Miss B went to work and...
I googled that title and found what looks like the bill at:http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/HR3799ConstitutionRestorationAct.htmlI've bolded the outrageous part. Well, I started then hit the wrong button and sent it early.This in my opinion is tantamount to an overthrow of the government as it now stands under the constitution and therefore constitutes treason. At the very least, I think this would require a constitutional amendment, and I don't think one would pass.This Act may be cited as the `Constitution Restoration Act of 2004'.TITLE I--JURISDICTIONSEC. 101. APPELLATE JURISDICTION.(a) IN GENERAL-(1) AMENDMENT TO TITLE 28- Chapter 81 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:`Sec. 1260. Matters not reviewable`Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an element of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official personal capacity), by reason of that element's or officer's acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.'.(2) TABLE OF SECTIONS- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 81 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:`1260. Matters not reviewable.'.(b) APPLICABILITY- Section 1260 of title 28, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall not apply to an action pending on the date of enactment of this Act, except to the extent that a party or claim is sought to be included in that action after the date of enactment of this Act.SEC. 102. LIMITATIONS ON JURISDICTION.(a) IN GENERAL-(1) AMENDMENT TO TITLE 28- Chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end of the following:`Sec. 1370. Matters that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to review`Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the district court shall not have jurisdiction of a matter if the Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction to review that matter by reason of section 1260 of this title.'.(2) TABLE OF SECTIONS- The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 85 of title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:`1370. Matters that the Supreme Court lacks jurisdiction to review.'.(b) APPLICABILITY- Section 1370 of title 28, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall not apply to an action pending on the date of enactment of this Act, except to the extent that a party or claim is sought to be included in that action after the date of enactment of this Act.TITLE II--INTERPRETATIONSEC. 201. INTERPRETATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.In interpreting and applying the Constitution of the United States, a court of the United States may not rely upon any constitution, law, administrative rule, Executive order, directive, policy, judicial decision, or any other action of any foreign state or international organization or agency, other than the constitutional law and English common law.TITLE III--ENFORCEMENTSEC. 301. EXTRAJURISDICTIONAL CASES NOT BINDING ON STATES.Any decision of a Federal court which has been made prior to or after the effective date of this Act, to the extent that the decision relates to an issue removed from Federal jurisdiction under section 1260 or 1370 of title 28, United States Code, as added by this Act, is not binding precedent on any State court.SEC. 302. IMPEACHMENT, CONVICTION, AND REMOVAL OF JUDGES FOR CERTAIN EXTRAJURISDICTIONAL ACTIVITIES.To the extent that a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States or any judge of any Federal court engages in any activity that exceeds the jurisdiction of the court of that justice or judge, as the case may be, by reason of section 1260 or 1370 of title 28, United States Code, as added by this Act, engaging in that activity shall be deemed to constitute the commission of--(1) an offense for which the judge may be removed upon impeachment and conviction; and(2) a breach of the standard of good behavior required by article III, section 1 of the Constitution.END
Many thanks, Miss B.
Wrap...
Many thanks, Miss B.
Wrap...
Now this is ugly...
From www.morialekafa.blogspot.com :
The Constitution Restoration Act
If you have not heard of The Constitution Restoration Act you have better "listen up." (Wherever did such a disgusting phrase originate?). In brief, this bill will replace the idea of "we the people" as the source of law and justice with a Christian deity as the "sovereign source" of all our laws. This is not a joke. On March 3rd this was filed as Senate bill S. 520. The House version is H.R. 1070. The primary sponsor is Senator Richard Selby (Alabama, wouldn't you know), who claims to have 28 sponsors and "enough votes for passage." The implications of this are so frightening it is difficult to believe it could happen. See Znet of this day for more.
This is damned well insane to even think of such an alteration. What is wrong with Selby, et al?
Wrap.
The Constitution Restoration Act
If you have not heard of The Constitution Restoration Act you have better "listen up." (Wherever did such a disgusting phrase originate?). In brief, this bill will replace the idea of "we the people" as the source of law and justice with a Christian deity as the "sovereign source" of all our laws. This is not a joke. On March 3rd this was filed as Senate bill S. 520. The House version is H.R. 1070. The primary sponsor is Senator Richard Selby (Alabama, wouldn't you know), who claims to have 28 sponsors and "enough votes for passage." The implications of this are so frightening it is difficult to believe it could happen. See Znet of this day for more.
This is damned well insane to even think of such an alteration. What is wrong with Selby, et al?
Wrap.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Juanita's Dangerous Beauty Shop...
http://www.brazosriver.com/ ...can be found right there. This gal nothing but reams Tom DeLay several new ones in fine style. And she should know. She lives in Sugarland TX, his district. Further, she has chapter and verse on his disgusting behaviors.
Wrap.
Wrap.
Humane? Don't think so....
This is one horrendous film. And it's of US prisons, not Iraqi.
Torture Inc. Americas Brutal PrisonsSavaged by dogs, Electrocuted With Cattle Prods, Burned By Toxic Chemicals, Does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq?By Deborah DaviesThey are just some of the victims of wholesale torture taking place inside the U.S. prison system that we uncovered during a four-month investigation for BBC Channel 4 . It's terrible to watch some of the videos and realise that you're not only seeing torture in action but, in the most extreme cases, you are witnessing young men dying.Warning this video contains images and descriptions of violent and degrading treatment, which may distress some viewers. Click here to watch this documentary. Windows Media.http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8451.htm
Wrap...
Torture Inc. Americas Brutal PrisonsSavaged by dogs, Electrocuted With Cattle Prods, Burned By Toxic Chemicals, Does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq?By Deborah DaviesThey are just some of the victims of wholesale torture taking place inside the U.S. prison system that we uncovered during a four-month investigation for BBC Channel 4 . It's terrible to watch some of the videos and realise that you're not only seeing torture in action but, in the most extreme cases, you are witnessing young men dying.Warning this video contains images and descriptions of violent and degrading treatment, which may distress some viewers. Click here to watch this documentary. Windows Media.http://informationclearinghouse.info/article8451.htm
Wrap...
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Just when I thought...
...I was through having anything more to say about Schiavo, I read that Michael Schiavo has had to go into hiding with police protection after serious death threats. He may leave his home in Florida altogether. There's more in the Pinella, Florida newspaper. You can also find a link at www.rawnews.com Anyone who thinks we don't have terrorists in the US had better think again.
Wrap.
Wrap.
Important Blog.
http://lanl-the-real-story.blogspot.com/ Written by a guy at Los Alamos nuclear lab. Be sure to click on "Petition to remove Director Lanos" on the right side. Enough to stand your hair on end, I kid you not. Remember the scientist, Wen Ho Lee? Here you go.
Wrap.
Wrap.
Time for change...
...in more ways than one. Massive protocol requirements all the way from services for the Pope, to choosing a new one. Daylight savings time--don't forget to set your clocks ahead. Prince Ranier of Monaco, now in his 80's, is close to death--heart and kidneys failing, respiratory problems, his son told to take over. Autopsy on Terri Schiavo done, so now the cremation and burial of her ashes. Autopsy results will follow after a few weeks or so.
LA elects a Mayor on May 17th. Meanwhile, San Diego has not yet settled our Mayoral problem since the vote in Nov 2004, and the last trial date...well the court has not set a trial date. Wonderful.
Abu Ghraib prison was fiercely attacked, but that's over and the insurgents or whatever you want to name them have been run off.
And in Arizona, the "Minutemen" gathered in Tombstone near the OK Corral today. The Border Patrol is so pissed at having to deal with them as well as illegal immigrants crossing...or trying to cross...the border, even though the "Minutemen" have been told by the organizer to not interfere nor in any way contact the illegals crossing, but just to notify the Border Patrol. I guess some of those "Minutemen" are packing heat in case they have to shoot a rattlesnake or whatever out there in the desert.
Saw "Miss Congeniality 2" at the movies today. Predictable, but fun anyway. Still thinking about that awesome film, "Downfall", about Hitler's last days. Don't expect to see another film that good anytime soon. Taking with B about it yesterday morning at breakfast on the hotel patio, neither of us could recall whether the actor who played Hitler talked English or whether he and the subtitles did the job so well that they became one. Just an amazing film! Also want very much to see "Palace Gunner". Sure hope it doesn't leave town before I can get over to Hillcrest, where it's playing.
So down at the Conv Ctr there are 18,000 people...biologists...convening. And so what does S see? One of our Harbor Patrol officers, on duty, riding his bike right through the lobby! S, safety conscious as he is (and it's his duty to be) stopped him, told him he couldn't do that, told him it was unsafe, went into his former military personna, and ordered him to "ground it" and "take it outside". Which the Harbor Patrol officer did. At the same time, S radioed his boss to inform him of the situation and how he was handling it. Little did he know that his boss, at the time, was standing at Base with Harbor Patrol higher ups, and though they heard everything, they had not a word of objection. Me, I cannot imagine what that Harbor Patrol officer thought he was doing! If anyone should be able to recognize an unsafe situation, he should.
Since today is Saturday, C and I headed to breakfast on Marie Callendar's patio. It's only five minutes away, after all. And since we breakfast there every weekend, unless it's raining, we know the staff and the staff knows us so well that when I order, all I have to say is that I'd like the sandwich. The sandwich doesn't exist on their menu, but Juan, the chef, knows exactly what it is and how I like it and so does the staff. OK. Toasted hamburger bun. One egg over hard. Cheese on it. Extremely crisp bacon on it. A bit of mayo. Perfect. He cuts it in half. Perfect. Don't have to deal with anything except to eat it while I read the LA Times. Toxic amounts of coffee. Ashtray ready. Perfect.
What a great way to start the day!
Wrap.
LA elects a Mayor on May 17th. Meanwhile, San Diego has not yet settled our Mayoral problem since the vote in Nov 2004, and the last trial date...well the court has not set a trial date. Wonderful.
Abu Ghraib prison was fiercely attacked, but that's over and the insurgents or whatever you want to name them have been run off.
And in Arizona, the "Minutemen" gathered in Tombstone near the OK Corral today. The Border Patrol is so pissed at having to deal with them as well as illegal immigrants crossing...or trying to cross...the border, even though the "Minutemen" have been told by the organizer to not interfere nor in any way contact the illegals crossing, but just to notify the Border Patrol. I guess some of those "Minutemen" are packing heat in case they have to shoot a rattlesnake or whatever out there in the desert.
Saw "Miss Congeniality 2" at the movies today. Predictable, but fun anyway. Still thinking about that awesome film, "Downfall", about Hitler's last days. Don't expect to see another film that good anytime soon. Taking with B about it yesterday morning at breakfast on the hotel patio, neither of us could recall whether the actor who played Hitler talked English or whether he and the subtitles did the job so well that they became one. Just an amazing film! Also want very much to see "Palace Gunner". Sure hope it doesn't leave town before I can get over to Hillcrest, where it's playing.
So down at the Conv Ctr there are 18,000 people...biologists...convening. And so what does S see? One of our Harbor Patrol officers, on duty, riding his bike right through the lobby! S, safety conscious as he is (and it's his duty to be) stopped him, told him he couldn't do that, told him it was unsafe, went into his former military personna, and ordered him to "ground it" and "take it outside". Which the Harbor Patrol officer did. At the same time, S radioed his boss to inform him of the situation and how he was handling it. Little did he know that his boss, at the time, was standing at Base with Harbor Patrol higher ups, and though they heard everything, they had not a word of objection. Me, I cannot imagine what that Harbor Patrol officer thought he was doing! If anyone should be able to recognize an unsafe situation, he should.
Since today is Saturday, C and I headed to breakfast on Marie Callendar's patio. It's only five minutes away, after all. And since we breakfast there every weekend, unless it's raining, we know the staff and the staff knows us so well that when I order, all I have to say is that I'd like the sandwich. The sandwich doesn't exist on their menu, but Juan, the chef, knows exactly what it is and how I like it and so does the staff. OK. Toasted hamburger bun. One egg over hard. Cheese on it. Extremely crisp bacon on it. A bit of mayo. Perfect. He cuts it in half. Perfect. Don't have to deal with anything except to eat it while I read the LA Times. Toxic amounts of coffee. Ashtray ready. Perfect.
What a great way to start the day!
Wrap.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Thinking about it...
Like everyone else, I'm keeping track of what's happening with the Pope, and expecting a news flash to show up on my email any second, since his body is shutting down little by little, but steadily. I'm told that the very first sign that he has died will be at a pair of open bronze doors: one of them will be closed. Fox News jumped the gun, earlier, and based on a false report, announced the Pope was dead. Immediately upon learning of their error, they went to pains to acknowledge that fact and explain how it had occured. I'm sure they're extremely embarassed and regretful. It truly was an accident.
I'm disgusted with the false information flying around concerning the Schiavo situation. And especially with Rep Tom DeLay's part in it. As well as Jesse Jackson's, Terri Schiavo's parents, various religious fundamental nutcases like Randall Terry, docs in bad odor, et al. So many people are so badly misinformed that it's just pathetic...but those same people pass on this bullshit just as fast as they can.
I wonder if they will have the decency to admit they were wrong when they learn the truth. For instance, I've just read a post on a blog where a comment was made that Michael Schiavo was having Terri's body cremated because he wants to cover up evidence that he'd abused her (he hadn't) and evidence that she wasn't as bad off as he and the doctors said. Well, no. Right now her body is at the coroners where a very extensive and well documented and witnessed autopsy will be done so that there will be no question of her condition at time of death. Then and only then will her body be cremated.
More, she felt no pain. Not only was she not able to be cognizant enough to feel pain, they made damned sure she couldn't. She's been getting morphine for some time now. 14 years in that state of nothingness, while her body began to contort, and her brain turn to liquid. That consciousness which was Terri Schiavo alive was long, long gone. I cannot imagine being left for 14 years in that state...and have made sure I won't be. I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy. I certainly wouldn't allow that to happen to my loved ones either.
But to turn her disaster into a political and religious football and make money because of it is, in my opinion about as despicable a set of behaviors as I've ever had the misfortune to see. Talk about disgracing yourself in the worst kind of ways. Absolutely shameful. Those people should be shunned.
Wrap.
I'm disgusted with the false information flying around concerning the Schiavo situation. And especially with Rep Tom DeLay's part in it. As well as Jesse Jackson's, Terri Schiavo's parents, various religious fundamental nutcases like Randall Terry, docs in bad odor, et al. So many people are so badly misinformed that it's just pathetic...but those same people pass on this bullshit just as fast as they can.
I wonder if they will have the decency to admit they were wrong when they learn the truth. For instance, I've just read a post on a blog where a comment was made that Michael Schiavo was having Terri's body cremated because he wants to cover up evidence that he'd abused her (he hadn't) and evidence that she wasn't as bad off as he and the doctors said. Well, no. Right now her body is at the coroners where a very extensive and well documented and witnessed autopsy will be done so that there will be no question of her condition at time of death. Then and only then will her body be cremated.
More, she felt no pain. Not only was she not able to be cognizant enough to feel pain, they made damned sure she couldn't. She's been getting morphine for some time now. 14 years in that state of nothingness, while her body began to contort, and her brain turn to liquid. That consciousness which was Terri Schiavo alive was long, long gone. I cannot imagine being left for 14 years in that state...and have made sure I won't be. I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy. I certainly wouldn't allow that to happen to my loved ones either.
But to turn her disaster into a political and religious football and make money because of it is, in my opinion about as despicable a set of behaviors as I've ever had the misfortune to see. Talk about disgracing yourself in the worst kind of ways. Absolutely shameful. Those people should be shunned.
Wrap.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Well...
I guess the thing to do is copy my latest and paste it into an email to myself. Just did write a post and up came a notice that said, in big red letters, ERRORS. Clicked on the Details link and there was a short line of code that was nothing I could understand. Nothing suggested for what I could do. Flaw in Blogger's getalong, I guess. Pity. Gonna try to post this.
Wrap.
Wrap.
Whitewash...
Finally Bush's handpicked members of the committee charged with investigating why the intel on Iraq--before--was so dead wrong has come back with their report. Everything was the intel agencies' fault. Bush and Cheney and the rest of the neocons' responsibility came out clean as the driven snow. Not a word about how they'd planned to go to war with Iraq long before 9/11, nor about their PNAC schemes, nor about Rumfeld's, Wolfowitz's, et al Office of Special Plans, nothing about Chalabi's giving them bullshit intel from lying agents. One hell of a fine whitewash and Bush has pronounced himself very pleased. Problem is, the report is a blatant whitewash and it's just laughable because people who have paid attention know that once again, they lie by omission. Something they're expert at doing and continue to do.
It's always what they don't say and aren't about to say that allows them to keep right on snowing people. If it works--and trust me, it works big time for them--why change? Think my dad was right when he said that there are some people who need to be hit across the head with a board before they'll pay any attention. Like a bit over 50% of our fellow citizens. Certainly the 29% who are religious fanatics--and want the nation run according to their beliefs--could use at the very least a kick in the ass that will make their noses bleed, cause they're completely oblivious to the harm they're doing as they work their tails off to turn our Republic into a Theocracy...with all kinds of encouragement from the Bushies...who don't give two hoots in hell about them except at voting time. That 50+% seem blind to the fact that good ole boy Bush and his cronies simply talk the talk while stripping them bare, running a scams of major proportions, sending them off to die in about every way one can think of. They cannot seem to understand they're dealing with hypocrites of major proportions. Just infuriates me.
Well, it's said that one gets what one pays for...and they're gonna pay for voting that arrogant liar into office, and so are the rest of us, dearly. We already are, but it just doesn't seem to register with Bush supporters, or else they're in a state of denial the likes of which is seldom seen. It's downright pathetic...pitiful. Reminds me of people playing charades at the foot of a mountain, completely unconscious of the avalanche up top that's picking up speed, but slowly, so those at the bottom won't notice until it's far too late that there's nothing they can do now to help themselves.
Wrap...
It's always what they don't say and aren't about to say that allows them to keep right on snowing people. If it works--and trust me, it works big time for them--why change? Think my dad was right when he said that there are some people who need to be hit across the head with a board before they'll pay any attention. Like a bit over 50% of our fellow citizens. Certainly the 29% who are religious fanatics--and want the nation run according to their beliefs--could use at the very least a kick in the ass that will make their noses bleed, cause they're completely oblivious to the harm they're doing as they work their tails off to turn our Republic into a Theocracy...with all kinds of encouragement from the Bushies...who don't give two hoots in hell about them except at voting time. That 50+% seem blind to the fact that good ole boy Bush and his cronies simply talk the talk while stripping them bare, running a scams of major proportions, sending them off to die in about every way one can think of. They cannot seem to understand they're dealing with hypocrites of major proportions. Just infuriates me.
Well, it's said that one gets what one pays for...and they're gonna pay for voting that arrogant liar into office, and so are the rest of us, dearly. We already are, but it just doesn't seem to register with Bush supporters, or else they're in a state of denial the likes of which is seldom seen. It's downright pathetic...pitiful. Reminds me of people playing charades at the foot of a mountain, completely unconscious of the avalanche up top that's picking up speed, but slowly, so those at the bottom won't notice until it's far too late that there's nothing they can do now to help themselves.
Wrap...
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
"Downfall"
B and I wandered up to La Jolla Village Square this afternoon to catch the 1:30PM showing of "Downfall"...Hitler's last days. Being a German film, it was all spoken in German with subtitles. Didn't matter. The man who played Hitler was magnificent. Another thing...if you've ever wondered just what being in the center of full out war looks, feels and sounds like, this is the film to see, I kid you not. "Saving Private Ryan" was a tough film, but nothing compared to "Downfall" when it comes to portraying war. At one point, I said to B, "There's Fallujah", and he said, "Yes". Incredible examination of the people who stayed to the death with Hitler in that bunker....and their reasons for doing so. And Hitler became mad. Totally out of touch with reality sometimes and sometimes lucid. Sometimes gentle and soft spoken and caring, and other times merciless. He was very very big on loyalty. Oh yeah. Loyalty was the number one thing. Truly a film to behold. B and I will have one hell of a lot to talk about when next we meet. I wouldn't have missed seeing this film for anything and am glad he was there to share it.
So a Santa Ana moved in today, and we're having one hell of a sunstorm. A total blue and gold day with not a cloud anywhere. All have been blown out to sea, since the wind is blowing out of the desert and toward the Pacific.
W joined J and I for breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. B dropped in just long enough to double check that we'd meet in front of the theater...and when I got there, he was already pacing back and forth outside.
Anyway, T, the head maintenance guy at the hotel stopped to talk to W, J and I. Had him tell W about the haunted places downtown in the Gaslamp, and W talked about one up in Normal Hts that he'd encountered. Fascinating.
Wrap...
So a Santa Ana moved in today, and we're having one hell of a sunstorm. A total blue and gold day with not a cloud anywhere. All have been blown out to sea, since the wind is blowing out of the desert and toward the Pacific.
W joined J and I for breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. B dropped in just long enough to double check that we'd meet in front of the theater...and when I got there, he was already pacing back and forth outside.
Anyway, T, the head maintenance guy at the hotel stopped to talk to W, J and I. Had him tell W about the haunted places downtown in the Gaslamp, and W talked about one up in Normal Hts that he'd encountered. Fascinating.
Wrap...
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
YAAYYYY!
It's amazing! All those duplicate posts have gone away. Blogger did it, somehow. This is good.
Wrap.
Wrap.
Down All Over...
Talking about a feeding tube for the Pope, since his breathing tube make it difficult for him to eat. Funny thing is, just read on Billmon that some time ago, the Pope told his people that he did not want any extraordinary measures taken....
And there's the Rev Fallwell in serious condition in hospital...2nd pneumonia attack...
Johnny C, OJ's lawyer, died today...
And somebody else is down too, but I forget who.
Suppose somebody is trying to tell somebody something? Sheesh!
Worse, Terri Schiavo's parents have sold the list of the names and email addresses of all those folks who donated money to help them and now those same folks are gonna be spammed like crazy by the right to lifers and heaven only knows who all else. And they talk about Michael Schiavo being after money? Gawd.
So, it being Tues, the writers gathered down in Old Town. Was great fun, as always.
Wrap.
And there's the Rev Fallwell in serious condition in hospital...2nd pneumonia attack...
Johnny C, OJ's lawyer, died today...
And somebody else is down too, but I forget who.
Suppose somebody is trying to tell somebody something? Sheesh!
Worse, Terri Schiavo's parents have sold the list of the names and email addresses of all those folks who donated money to help them and now those same folks are gonna be spammed like crazy by the right to lifers and heaven only knows who all else. And they talk about Michael Schiavo being after money? Gawd.
So, it being Tues, the writers gathered down in Old Town. Was great fun, as always.
Wrap.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Just a bowl of cherries...
Damn! Seven of the same post! What cracks me up is the title I gave that post before it duplicated. Finally found the instructions for deleting a post. Followed them. Not sure whether Blogger added another copy, but I know none were deleted. Seems Atrios lost another post too...or many posts. Like me, he's gonna hang in there because the tech guys at Blogger will fix whatever's wrong. Sooner or later. Bet they're up all night, poor devils.
Wrap...
Wrap...
Just Observing
Just Observing
Sorry about that! Seems Blogger decided to publish the "No end to this" blog twice! Well, better than not publishing the post at all!
Wrap.
Sorry about that! Seems Blogger decided to publish the "No end to this" blog twice! Well, better than not publishing the post at all!
Wrap.
No end to this...
THEOCRACY RULES:
...absolute foolishness and idiocy. So the guy raped and killed the waitress. Off to trial at the Colorado Supreme Court. And what does the jury do? They get a Bible and try to ascertain whether the guy gets life or death. See NY Times today:
(March 28, 2005Death Sentence Thrown Out Because of Jury's Bible ReadingBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Then, from R in Florida, comes an audio: Seems this female up in Northern Calif is at a drive-through fast food place and she phones the police, gets the dispatcher. Wants the police to come immediately. Fast food place is mopping the kitchen floor. Gal wants her Western Cheeseburger. They give her some other cheeseburger...twice. She won't drive away from the window, they won't give her that Western so she wants the police. Takes the dispatcher awhile to tell her she's not dispatching a squad car to deal with a cheeseburger. Period. Tells the gal to get her money back and go elsewhere. That gal thinks "protect and serve" means just that...even for a sandwich.
A, J, and I all at breakfast this morn on the hotel patio...along with several small families. Best behaving kids we've seen in a long time. Only two Fruit Loops escaped to the floor where one little guy sat...and soon as they left, the chickadees got 'em both. So A is off to NYC tomorrow at 0-dark-hundred. Doing a powerpoint presentation to some gov. group there. J finished some long court tape and so has a short break. I stopped in at the cleaners, then walked next door to check out another shop's CD sale. So gal--big blond hair, all curly, much makeup--is proprietor. She's listening to Dr Laura on radio. Ask her if she's a regular listener. Yep. I ask what she likes about Dr Laura. Well, she says, Dr Laura is sensible and plain talking, and she doesn't approve of stuff like unmarried mothers either. Uh-huh. And I'm thinking, wonder if the good doc approves of unmarried fathers too? Gawd.
Got back here, have chocolate cookies. Soothing my temper.
Wrap.
...absolute foolishness and idiocy. So the guy raped and killed the waitress. Off to trial at the Colorado Supreme Court. And what does the jury do? They get a Bible and try to ascertain whether the guy gets life or death. See NY Times today:
(March 28, 2005Death Sentence Thrown Out Because of Jury's Bible ReadingBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Then, from R in Florida, comes an audio: Seems this female up in Northern Calif is at a drive-through fast food place and she phones the police, gets the dispatcher. Wants the police to come immediately. Fast food place is mopping the kitchen floor. Gal wants her Western Cheeseburger. They give her some other cheeseburger...twice. She won't drive away from the window, they won't give her that Western so she wants the police. Takes the dispatcher awhile to tell her she's not dispatching a squad car to deal with a cheeseburger. Period. Tells the gal to get her money back and go elsewhere. That gal thinks "protect and serve" means just that...even for a sandwich.
A, J, and I all at breakfast this morn on the hotel patio...along with several small families. Best behaving kids we've seen in a long time. Only two Fruit Loops escaped to the floor where one little guy sat...and soon as they left, the chickadees got 'em both. So A is off to NYC tomorrow at 0-dark-hundred. Doing a powerpoint presentation to some gov. group there. J finished some long court tape and so has a short break. I stopped in at the cleaners, then walked next door to check out another shop's CD sale. So gal--big blond hair, all curly, much makeup--is proprietor. She's listening to Dr Laura on radio. Ask her if she's a regular listener. Yep. I ask what she likes about Dr Laura. Well, she says, Dr Laura is sensible and plain talking, and she doesn't approve of stuff like unmarried mothers either. Uh-huh. And I'm thinking, wonder if the good doc approves of unmarried fathers too? Gawd.
Got back here, have chocolate cookies. Soothing my temper.
Wrap.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Blogger Down...
Notice from Blogger. We'll be shut down this afternoon for a couple of hours starting at 3PM (Pacific time) for tech stuff. Has to do with "a whole new design" that will be released May 8th...for Mother's Day! Yep. That's what they said. Of course my curiosity level has racheted right up there...but will have to wait till May to actually see what they've done.
Dropped C off at the movies after breakfast on Marie's patio this morn. Wants to see "Ice Princess".
V, the former Green Beret was at Marie's for breakfast this morn too. Said he goes shooting only one morning on weekends. It's 100 mile drive out there, and with the price of gas....
Hazy, but warm day. S grabbed his camera gear and headed downtown to do some shooting first thing this morn. Don't expect a return for hours.
Me, I'm gonna finish the Sunday papers, then jump back into Hunter's most excellent novel. Didn't put it down until 2 this morn when I realized I was falling asleep in place.
Had an email from B this morn, wondering why, with all the churchs' political activity they weren't losing their tax exempt status. Damned good question. Somebody should file a lawsuit and see just how fast BushCo can legislate to get rid of present law, since BushCo depends on churches to spread the word among his grassroots...get Fundies voted into all kinds of local positions...school boards, city councils, mayors, etc, so the Repubs can hold onto power. Can't have the Moral Majority on the seats of power without those churches preaching to their folds.
Wrap...
Dropped C off at the movies after breakfast on Marie's patio this morn. Wants to see "Ice Princess".
V, the former Green Beret was at Marie's for breakfast this morn too. Said he goes shooting only one morning on weekends. It's 100 mile drive out there, and with the price of gas....
Hazy, but warm day. S grabbed his camera gear and headed downtown to do some shooting first thing this morn. Don't expect a return for hours.
Me, I'm gonna finish the Sunday papers, then jump back into Hunter's most excellent novel. Didn't put it down until 2 this morn when I realized I was falling asleep in place.
Had an email from B this morn, wondering why, with all the churchs' political activity they weren't losing their tax exempt status. Damned good question. Somebody should file a lawsuit and see just how fast BushCo can legislate to get rid of present law, since BushCo depends on churches to spread the word among his grassroots...get Fundies voted into all kinds of local positions...school boards, city councils, mayors, etc, so the Repubs can hold onto power. Can't have the Moral Majority on the seats of power without those churches preaching to their folds.
Wrap...
Saturday, March 26, 2005
You know?
I ended up with 7 out of 11 right. And had fun trying to answer these most unusual questions.
http://fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf
Neat afternoon. C and I went off to Bookstar. Few things I like better than bookstores. Got about four hardcovers...one of my favorite writers, Stephen Hunter. He writes about snipers like nobody else, and have already gotten right into it. Just excellent, as always.
Stopped at Marie's patio on the way back for coffee and bean soup and pie. Guy was there that usually is there for breakfast. Built solid, that man, and after spending a few months just exchanging helloes, but watching him, I had an idea he was Special Forces or had been. So for the first time, we somehow started a conversation and sure enough, former Green Beret. Hadn't made breakfast because he goes out shooting in the desert on weekends and that's where he'd been this morn. So we talked weapons awhile--he likes long rifles--and eventually he told me he'd commanded an A -Team, and that he was the only one of the team left. The rest were dead. Killed in various ops. Hell of a thing, and really sad. As he said, they were like family. In any case, he's a good guy. Talked about the 50 cal sniper rifle. He knew a guy who hit a target that was two miles away. Only time he'd ever seen that, didn't think it could be done, thinks it was accidental. Laughed when he said that. Doesn't like the idea that people can just walk in and buy 50 cals. Said that unless they were in combat, they didn't need a weapon so powerful. I damned sure agree.
Wrap.
http://fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf
Neat afternoon. C and I went off to Bookstar. Few things I like better than bookstores. Got about four hardcovers...one of my favorite writers, Stephen Hunter. He writes about snipers like nobody else, and have already gotten right into it. Just excellent, as always.
Stopped at Marie's patio on the way back for coffee and bean soup and pie. Guy was there that usually is there for breakfast. Built solid, that man, and after spending a few months just exchanging helloes, but watching him, I had an idea he was Special Forces or had been. So for the first time, we somehow started a conversation and sure enough, former Green Beret. Hadn't made breakfast because he goes out shooting in the desert on weekends and that's where he'd been this morn. So we talked weapons awhile--he likes long rifles--and eventually he told me he'd commanded an A -Team, and that he was the only one of the team left. The rest were dead. Killed in various ops. Hell of a thing, and really sad. As he said, they were like family. In any case, he's a good guy. Talked about the 50 cal sniper rifle. He knew a guy who hit a target that was two miles away. Only time he'd ever seen that, didn't think it could be done, thinks it was accidental. Laughed when he said that. Doesn't like the idea that people can just walk in and buy 50 cals. Said that unless they were in combat, they didn't need a weapon so powerful. I damned sure agree.
Wrap.
So far, so good...
Now here's a plain talking guy from down in the south. Take 5 and consider.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar05/Bageant0322.htm
C and I breakfasted on Marie's patio this morn, it being FINALLY a warm, sunny day, and not pouring rain or with icy winds sweeping in off the Pacific. It's warm enough that everybody and their brother is gonna be down at one beach or the other. Make a dip in that sand, throw your towel or blanket in it, and stretch out and bask and listen to the sound of the surf. Don't know how many times I've done just that. Did it once on a cloudy day and ended up with the worst damned sunburn I've ever had. But that was when I first hit San Diego and didn't know any better. Tanning rays of that sun hit the ground and all on it, clouds or no.
Just silently digressed...wonder what's happening in other parts of town about now? Like Normal Heights neighborhood. On Adams Ave in particular. There's an older guy there who, for 30 years has owned and run Lou's Records. Just a small storefront...and he lives there too. That man has about every record ever produced, I swear. Great community man...got the big Adams Ave Street Fair off to a start and has kept it running since. And now he's been given 30 days notice to vacate the premises. It's ended up with him going nuts until he finally found he'd have to rent two places...one for the store and another to live in. Have no idea where the new place is. Neighborhood people are not happy with the building owner, lemme tell you.
Same thing has happened to B's hair salon. 30 days and out...to where? The salon has been there, like Lou's Records, for years and years. Most clientel are older and they just don't drive in downtown San Diego. Have to find a place with parking and in a quiet part of town like the salon is now. What's gonna happen to the wonderful old house the salon is in? Well of course the landlord is gonna demolish it and build condos or apartments or some damned thing there. It's all about $$$$ and always is. Them as got it, rules.
That damned BushCo...it's not enough that he rule the United States. He and his neocon buddies intend to rule the world. Period. Like he said, it's my way or the highway. And force awaits if it doesn't go his way. He's a bully and so are the rest of his gang. It's all he knows, all he's ever operated by. Does it occur to him that Hitler and Stalin have already tried this bullshit? And failed? My dad used to say, "No matter how big you are, there's always somebody bigger". So who's bigger? Asia. We have millions of citizens. China, for instance, has billions of same...and they've got their military-industrial-electronic complex up and running. What do we have? Oceans on each side. In our wisdom, we've outsourced most of the rest.
Even McDonald's is testing the idea of people driving up to their order window and somebody in India taking that order and transmitting it to the kitchen here. So, people lose jobs, lose the skills, the knowledge, the abilities. Is that smart or what?
Wrap.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Mar05/Bageant0322.htm
C and I breakfasted on Marie's patio this morn, it being FINALLY a warm, sunny day, and not pouring rain or with icy winds sweeping in off the Pacific. It's warm enough that everybody and their brother is gonna be down at one beach or the other. Make a dip in that sand, throw your towel or blanket in it, and stretch out and bask and listen to the sound of the surf. Don't know how many times I've done just that. Did it once on a cloudy day and ended up with the worst damned sunburn I've ever had. But that was when I first hit San Diego and didn't know any better. Tanning rays of that sun hit the ground and all on it, clouds or no.
Just silently digressed...wonder what's happening in other parts of town about now? Like Normal Heights neighborhood. On Adams Ave in particular. There's an older guy there who, for 30 years has owned and run Lou's Records. Just a small storefront...and he lives there too. That man has about every record ever produced, I swear. Great community man...got the big Adams Ave Street Fair off to a start and has kept it running since. And now he's been given 30 days notice to vacate the premises. It's ended up with him going nuts until he finally found he'd have to rent two places...one for the store and another to live in. Have no idea where the new place is. Neighborhood people are not happy with the building owner, lemme tell you.
Same thing has happened to B's hair salon. 30 days and out...to where? The salon has been there, like Lou's Records, for years and years. Most clientel are older and they just don't drive in downtown San Diego. Have to find a place with parking and in a quiet part of town like the salon is now. What's gonna happen to the wonderful old house the salon is in? Well of course the landlord is gonna demolish it and build condos or apartments or some damned thing there. It's all about $$$$ and always is. Them as got it, rules.
That damned BushCo...it's not enough that he rule the United States. He and his neocon buddies intend to rule the world. Period. Like he said, it's my way or the highway. And force awaits if it doesn't go his way. He's a bully and so are the rest of his gang. It's all he knows, all he's ever operated by. Does it occur to him that Hitler and Stalin have already tried this bullshit? And failed? My dad used to say, "No matter how big you are, there's always somebody bigger". So who's bigger? Asia. We have millions of citizens. China, for instance, has billions of same...and they've got their military-industrial-electronic complex up and running. What do we have? Oceans on each side. In our wisdom, we've outsourced most of the rest.
Even McDonald's is testing the idea of people driving up to their order window and somebody in India taking that order and transmitting it to the kitchen here. So, people lose jobs, lose the skills, the knowledge, the abilities. Is that smart or what?
Wrap.
cie la vie....
Last night's post bit the dust. I know this because of its not appearing on this blog. Guess I might as well assume that either I've screwed up or Blogger has screwed up or, as S often says, "Anything mechanical can fail at any time", and apply that to electronics as well. In any case, it torques me every damned time.
I guess, too, that Terri Schiavo still lives, else my "front page" on this machine, the NY Times, would have opened with a huge blaring banner headline: "Schiavo dead" or something to that effect.
And with that, I'm off to check on the email....and see if this post posts.
Wrap....
I guess, too, that Terri Schiavo still lives, else my "front page" on this machine, the NY Times, would have opened with a huge blaring banner headline: "Schiavo dead" or something to that effect.
And with that, I'm off to check on the email....and see if this post posts.
Wrap....
Friday, March 25, 2005
Man oh man...
Just finished reading Murray Smith's espionage novel, "Devil's Juggler". Was his first book, published in 1993. Absolutely horrifying, the story he wrote. Left me feeling as though I'd been hit with a mental baseball bat. Stunned to a full stop. A rare experience.
So finally come over here and there in my email is a piece J sent, written by Joe Bageant, entitled "Finding Jesus At the Cracker Barrel". As I read it, I realize that here is the explanation for just how fundamentalist religion seeped into the nation and began to take over and stain everything in sight with its bloody dark beliefs. Don't know where J found it. Could probably Google and find out.
That does it for me tonight. I'm hitting the sack.
Wrap.
So finally come over here and there in my email is a piece J sent, written by Joe Bageant, entitled "Finding Jesus At the Cracker Barrel". As I read it, I realize that here is the explanation for just how fundamentalist religion seeped into the nation and began to take over and stain everything in sight with its bloody dark beliefs. Don't know where J found it. Could probably Google and find out.
That does it for me tonight. I'm hitting the sack.
Wrap.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
In addition...
Former Lt Commander, Keith Taylor, writes for www.voiceofsandiego.com a new online newspaper for San Diego. He has an article in V of SD's "People" section on a sailor here who refused to board his ship...which was carrying Marines to Iraq. Worth reading...the question is, what will the Navy do to this young sailor?
Wrap...
Wrap...
"Mooning Amtrak"
The San Diego Union-Tribune has a column by a former legislator, Lionel Van Deerlin. Now Van, as friends call him, is not one bit happy that BushCo has cut off funding for Amtrak in his budget--which nobody is paying attention to, distracted as they are by Schiavo, Jackson, et al--and he devoted his column to saying so.
Additionally, it seems that some years ago, a bunch of guys once decided to leave the bar they were in and moon Amtrak as it passed. It is now a yearly ritual...and Amtrak slows down so the passengers can enjoy those bared behinds as they pass. Mr Van Deerlin thinks it's only right that since BushCo et al has, by cutting off funding, mooned Amtrak in his budget, they should also come out, line up with the guys, and moon Amtrak and passengers in person on July 9th.
Sounds like a plan to me. If that wouldn't show Amtrak riders what BushCo et al thinks of them, nothing would. The rest of his column can be found at www.signonsandiego.com It's a good read, as always.
And so is Bob Herbert's column for tomorrow in the NY Times. Don't miss it.
J and I left the hotel patio about 10 minutes early today. I had to make a fast run, first to Chrome to pick up 35mm slides, then downtown to the SD Conv Ctr to drop them off before S left the place for Poway to meet with another photographer. So, okay, dropped them. Wanted to continue down Harbor Dr and hang a left on 5th Ave, so pulled into the left turn lane just in time to see the bars come down and hear the bells ringing cause here came the Santa Fe freight train. Hell with that. When the lights went green, I swung outta the turn lane and continued down Harbor Dr till I could hang a U-Turn and head parallel to the train tracks and turn right on Pacific Hwy and just cruise on back here.
In pouring rain. That started the second I'd done the U-turn...and continued all the way home. Supposed to be raining still in the morning, then 74 degrees and sunny on Sat and Sun. Hah. I'll believe it when I see it. Snow in the mountains today and tonight too. But down here on the coast, there are the most gorgeous flowers everywhere you look. Grass is green, trees are green, it's a sight to behold. And way out on the horizon over the Pacific lies one huge ship. Been there for three days now. Not sure if it's a cargo ship or an aircraft carrier. It's so far out its silhouette is faint, so can't tell. I check on it every morning on the way to breakfast.
Wrap.
Additionally, it seems that some years ago, a bunch of guys once decided to leave the bar they were in and moon Amtrak as it passed. It is now a yearly ritual...and Amtrak slows down so the passengers can enjoy those bared behinds as they pass. Mr Van Deerlin thinks it's only right that since BushCo et al has, by cutting off funding, mooned Amtrak in his budget, they should also come out, line up with the guys, and moon Amtrak and passengers in person on July 9th.
Sounds like a plan to me. If that wouldn't show Amtrak riders what BushCo et al thinks of them, nothing would. The rest of his column can be found at www.signonsandiego.com It's a good read, as always.
And so is Bob Herbert's column for tomorrow in the NY Times. Don't miss it.
J and I left the hotel patio about 10 minutes early today. I had to make a fast run, first to Chrome to pick up 35mm slides, then downtown to the SD Conv Ctr to drop them off before S left the place for Poway to meet with another photographer. So, okay, dropped them. Wanted to continue down Harbor Dr and hang a left on 5th Ave, so pulled into the left turn lane just in time to see the bars come down and hear the bells ringing cause here came the Santa Fe freight train. Hell with that. When the lights went green, I swung outta the turn lane and continued down Harbor Dr till I could hang a U-Turn and head parallel to the train tracks and turn right on Pacific Hwy and just cruise on back here.
In pouring rain. That started the second I'd done the U-turn...and continued all the way home. Supposed to be raining still in the morning, then 74 degrees and sunny on Sat and Sun. Hah. I'll believe it when I see it. Snow in the mountains today and tonight too. But down here on the coast, there are the most gorgeous flowers everywhere you look. Grass is green, trees are green, it's a sight to behold. And way out on the horizon over the Pacific lies one huge ship. Been there for three days now. Not sure if it's a cargo ship or an aircraft carrier. It's so far out its silhouette is faint, so can't tell. I check on it every morning on the way to breakfast.
Wrap.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Eatin' Chocolate...
Now that all the 451 emails are gone except for two, things are looking up. Well, they were until Musicmatch popped up to say they had an upgrade that provided better security. So I clicked on "okay" and the shit hit the fan. Ended up uninstalling Musicmatch twice and trying to get it installed three times...with not once being able to get a clean install. Then realized that Windows had blocked it. So, one more uninstall, then reinstall but first telling Windows to leave it the hell alone. Sheesh! Once I saw that, I had a chunk of chocolate.
Lingered over breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. Started out with just J and I, then came W, then M, then B! Much discussion about conference workshop leaders, 3-day tracks, conferees and so forth. Then, because W is SD police, some hilarious tales of policing our infamous border...the one between the US and Tijuana Mexico...concerning the antics of our citizens who stagger back about 4AM. From there to B and a conversation about our Catholic Bishop who sent out orders to all churches forbidding them from holding funeral mass for a gay niteclub owner because the Bishop didn't approve of his business!!! So funeral services were held in an Episcopalian church and almost immediately the Bishop apologized and said he'd personally say a mass for the dead man. We have one large and active gay community here and they promised they'd all stop donating to the church...among other things. Tony Perry reported on that situation in the LA Times this morn. From there it was Teri Shiavo and her feeding tube. We liked to never got finished drinking toxic amounts of coffee, smoking and talking. Was great.
Drove over to pick up a receipt from Peter for his computer work, stopped for eggs, headed home, and immediately had chocolate.
Got on the computer, read a blast of news. Iraq, Shaivo, Afghanistan, Soc Sec, budget, taxes, and went for chocolate.
On to the blogs...cracked a new pack of smokes, and very shortly more chocolate...and coffee.
Thus it has gone, all the day and into this evening. The world is not lookin' good.
Wrap.
Lingered over breakfast on the hotel patio this morn. Started out with just J and I, then came W, then M, then B! Much discussion about conference workshop leaders, 3-day tracks, conferees and so forth. Then, because W is SD police, some hilarious tales of policing our infamous border...the one between the US and Tijuana Mexico...concerning the antics of our citizens who stagger back about 4AM. From there to B and a conversation about our Catholic Bishop who sent out orders to all churches forbidding them from holding funeral mass for a gay niteclub owner because the Bishop didn't approve of his business!!! So funeral services were held in an Episcopalian church and almost immediately the Bishop apologized and said he'd personally say a mass for the dead man. We have one large and active gay community here and they promised they'd all stop donating to the church...among other things. Tony Perry reported on that situation in the LA Times this morn. From there it was Teri Shiavo and her feeding tube. We liked to never got finished drinking toxic amounts of coffee, smoking and talking. Was great.
Drove over to pick up a receipt from Peter for his computer work, stopped for eggs, headed home, and immediately had chocolate.
Got on the computer, read a blast of news. Iraq, Shaivo, Afghanistan, Soc Sec, budget, taxes, and went for chocolate.
On to the blogs...cracked a new pack of smokes, and very shortly more chocolate...and coffee.
Thus it has gone, all the day and into this evening. The world is not lookin' good.
Wrap.
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