May 13 2008
Yo, Dusty. The Cubs/Padres series begins tonight at 7:05 PM. Cubbies have won their last four, and are in first place in their division. I’m getting my broom ready for the sweep. 
May 13 2008
which is not really the right wording- but i didn’t want to scare folks. based on what i know of world events- the fact that there are current food shortages and droughts ravaging the planet and the fact that the corporatocracy of this country and elsewhere is basically doing bupkus to even address the issue of global climate change- i am not terribly optimistic that the 6+ billion folks on this planet are all going to make it. here in the land of plenty, it is inconceivable to us that the drought and famine would ever touch us- but it’s coming. there are parts of the south and southwest that have been in drought conditions for years- hell, georgia and tennessee are already battling over water rights. so, what can we do?
it isn’t easy to do over night- and i began last year trying stuff out- but my plan is to grow as much food as i can at my home. the meat thing is for another post- but the short answer- when possible buy from local farmers. again, that will be another post. i have invested in heirloom seeds but hey, if you don’t want to do that- go to your local nursery or garden center and pick up a few packets of the basics. i intend to save seeds from my plants from year to year- and since i haven’t had time to devote to really looking into how- i will save that for another post too. i am lucky to have a backyard at my disposal at my mom’s house and i tilled up a patch for a garden this year- and i will get into tilling versus no till methods– yep. another post
May 13 2008
I read this entire article through, and really, while not what you hope to see, hardly surprising. That’s something Progressives would do well to factor. It’s not a Southern thing, it’s an American thing, and anybody who has had the good fortune to live in more than one area of our country is well aware of, racism is region-blind.
Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: “It wasn’t pretty.” She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn’t possibly vote for Obama and concluded: “Hang that darky from a tree!” - Wapo
Overt racism is easier to deal with; more of us are distressed by it than condone it. Once out, it just lays there like a big pile of reeking poop, needing attention. When the campaign gets reactions like this, I’m actually pretty happy. It shakes people up, reminds them what racism actually IS. It puts it back into their faces. When you drive by a traffic stop that was the result of racial profiling, without seeing the intent, knowing the ugly, you can drive by with your psyche unmolested. Hearing people yell “niggers” at campaign volunteers on primary election day is a lot harder to rationalize away. This is where a lot of us are. We want racism gone, and as long as it isn’t in OUR faces, it pretty much is. That is about to change; we’re going to see a lot more overt racism between now and November. I never thought I’d consider hate healthy, but this country needs this. We need to stop seeing sparkle ponies and get a grip.
Sphere: Related ContentMay 13 2008
It wasn’t easy to read this article. I have an over-powering hatred for the man. The following section just made my blood run cold:
It seems grotesque, doesn’t it? To sit in a comfortable classroom as the future lawyers of America clack away on their laptops, parsing definitions with the man whose legal mind turned America into a torturing nation?
Grotesque doesn’t even begin to cover it pal. That is sumbitch actually gets to enjoy his 15 minutes of fame smacks of hell on earth to me. Why isn’t he on trial? Why isn’t he explaining this shit in front of a whole bunch of Congress critters? Why in the blue hell isn’t he languishing in a cell like the people in Gitmo..without due process?
Yoo is evil..pure unadulterated evil. That we would torture people who have done nothing blows apart everything we stand for as a nation. That we would torture them without even providing them due process is enough to get Yoo and his cronies into the final level of Dante’s Inferno.
Sphere: Related ContentMay 13 2008
So much to do, so little time. But, I made plenty of time for today’s Ten Post Round-Up:
1: Missouri is trying to imitate Indiana’s faulty voter ID law….
2: It’s official, Bob Barr is running for president on the Libertarian ticket…
3: Why does GWB hate the American consumer?…
The Bush administration tries to block Mad Cow testing by Meat packers–Crooks and Liars
4: Life is not only unfair, it’s cruel…
Dungeon monster dad Josef Fritzl’s luxury life in jail revealed–The Daily Record
5: I guess the parents just have to take the school’s word for it…
Sphere: Related ContentBoy suspended for fight on bus, the school claims they have video proof, but refuses to let it be reviewed by the accused–Libertarian Party of Colorado
May 12 2008
From Moyers: 10% of the people own 60% of the wealth and 70% of Americans aren’t worth SHIT!..ok..he didn’t say shit..but you hopefully get his drift.
Sphere: Related ContentMay 12 2008
ACT LIKE A MAN
Based on “Run For Your Life”
By John Lennon and Paul McCartney
New Lyrics by PretorOneac
Well you’re nothing but a brat little George
You’re a punk with a pompous gait
You’re an attitude on feet little George
With a heart that’s filled with hate
CHORUS:
You better act like a man if you can little George
Tell the truth maybe once little George
When yah gonna get a spine
You’re a coward, little George
Well you prove that you’re a wicked guy
You were born with an evil mind
You let the servant in your life
Take the blame for all your crimes
CHORUS
Never learn a lesson
Never shame for what’s been done
George you’re psycho and a sadist
Perversion had a run
CHORUS
No you haven’t got a spine to lead
You’re a wimp like your dear old dad
You brag and boast you let others bleed
And the people, they were had
CHORUS
Oh no no no
No no no
No no no
(REPEATING AND FADING)
May 12 2008
After watching this relative unknown, at least to us here in America, win the Oscar for best actress, I knew I had to watch this film. Always intrigued by Billy Holiday and other unique voices, one name stands alone for me… Edith Piaf. Even with no understanding of French, some voices cross all language barriers and hers certainly does so.
The director, Olivier Dahan, chose to read all he could find about “the Little Sparrow”, both published and unpublished, and make an impression of her tragic life rather than an actual bio picture. So many great artists are tragically flawed, suffer much and yet overcome all to rise to heights we can only dream of. Such was Edith Piaf. Marion Cotillard, as Piaf, does an amazing job of aging from 15 to 47 and manages to capture the essence of the chanteuse. Abandoned several times by her parents, raised in a brothel, singing on the streets that lead to her big break at a Paris nightclub, losing the love of her life and her subsequent addiction are the tragedies, yet there was always someone there to help her, someone to focus her on her art~ that voice.
The film weaves in and out of the early times, then her later years, leaving you with a melody that lingers in your ears.
Peace as always and in all ways~Sage
Sphere: Related ContentMay 12 2008
My mother died in 1984 from ovarian cancer. The year was hellish on many levels. My mother and I had never been close; she was cold, a hypochondriac, paranoid, fearful. She self-medicated with pills and alcohol, and did not get the help she so desperately needed. There were circumstances that drove her to the mental state she lived, but suffice it to say that, as one of ten children, she struggled for attention and never had the tools to properly nurture. Far from it; at one point, she told me that if I had been a better daughter, she would never have gotten ovarian cancer.
My father died in 1996 from pulminary fibrosis, a calcifying of the lungs which causes suffocation. He’d had lung cancer 25 years before, and this pulminary fibrosis developed eventually because of the aggressive treatment he’d had for the lung cancer. Pa was one of seven, but not as cleanly as my mother was. My father’s mother and father were Continue Reading »
Sphere: Related ContentMay 12 2008
| Pearl Jam -No More… |
This is a live version of “No More” from the new documentary Body of War. Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam perform. The movie opens nationwide this month.
Sphere: Related ContentMay 12 2008
Yesterday, was a real mother of a day, but there was no shortage of news for today’s Ten Post Round-Up:
1: Monsanto helping to bring down India’s farmers….
2: Myanmar cyclone almost takes down the 2008 Republican National Convention…
3: Is Florida being punished for the outcome of the last two general elections?…
4: Apparently, there really IS “a sucker born every minute”…
5: Our Constitutional democracy is in grave danger…
Sphere: Related Content
May 11 2008
Mother’s are special. You realize all the more how much goes into Mothering when you become one. Suddenly your whole world revolves around the care & entrusting of bringing up a child. It is one of the most difficult jobs you could ever love. Because there are no breaks from it, really, and you are committed pretty much like the traditional wedding vows-for better or worse, in sickness & in health, rich or poor. Now that I think about it, many parent child relationships actually uphold those vows longer & stronger, than marriage vows. Although there are tons of books on parenting, much of it is learn as you go. In the early years especially, it seems once you have figured out a workable routine or solution, the child evolves to something new & different.
May 11 2008
THE TURD, ROVE
Based on “The Word”
By John Lennon and Paul McCartney
New Lyrics by Sweet Pea
Speak a lie and be like me
Let my power set you free
hear the story that I wove
Gave you heard the spinner Rove?
I’m so fine! It’s all mine!
I’m the turd, Rove
In the beginning you misunderstood
I run the show and I drain all the good
(I’m The Turd, Rove!)
Spread the lie, and be like me
Take your rights to make you free
Hear the hate that i have wove
Have you heard the spinner ROve
I’m so great, it’s too late
I’m The Turd, Rove
When I go ut I hear people say
He baits the homos but his step dad was hay
(I’m The Turd, Rove)
May 11 2008
All of whom are women. From the VOA writeup:
Police in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu say they have detained more than 560 Tibetan protesters Sunday, all of them women.
It was the all female demonstration against China’s crackdown in Tibet since violence erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in March.
Since then, Tibetan exiles have taken part in anti-China protests nearly every day. Nepal is home to about 20,000 Tibetan refugees.
Power to the people…Buddha please keep them safe.
Sphere: Related ContentMay 10 2008
Choosey Mutha’s choose….PEACE
Eight children a day are killed by guns in our country — for a total of almost 3,000 a year — and another 13,000 a year are wounded. Nearly 1.7 million children under the age of 18 live in homes with firearms that are both loaded and unlocked.
The Million Mom March will be focusing on this topic on Mother’s Day.
8 CHILDREN KILLED A DAY ~ NO WAY!
Sphere: Related ContentMay 10 2008
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wants to read the 2002 CIA torture memo. He wants to read it in order to decide whether or not to grant the ACLU request to make it public. From the CommonDreams writeup:
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein issued the order after he had earlier said the 18-page memo did not have to be turned over to the American Civil Liberties Union because it was protected by attorney-client privilege. The ACLU said it believes the memo includes a section addressing the subject of waterboarding, which simulates drowning.
Hellerstein said he reconsidered his ruling after hearing from both sides again on the subject. The CIA must turn the item over for review on Monday.
Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for government lawyers representing the CIA, said the government had no immediate comment.
Hellerstein said he realized he did not give sufficient consideration to an earlier court ruling related to the legal issue and to ACLU evidence indicating all or parts of the memo may have been incorporated into or used to justify official practice and policy.
Thanks to the work of the ACLU, over 100,000 pages of government documents have been released concerning the treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody abroad. The Freedom of Information act, FOIA, is what has enabled the ACLU and others to request access to all types of records. 
May 09 2008
Barack Obama visited Eugene, Oregon today. I decided not to attend for a number of reasons- mainly because the local news live streamed the entire speech.
In any case, Obama was down to earth, eloquent, humble, and genuine all at once. I heard someone call him “a real human being” he does come across as someone who is not tainted, jaded and corrupt. He genuinely cares, and he hit on points I feel are key:
• He will uphold the Constitution. (He taught College level Constitution classes). He embraces & respects the Constitution.
• Shut down Guantanamo– Music to my ears.
• Restore Habeus Corpus– Hooray!
• Honor due process–Hello
• Bring them home- get our troops out of Iraq & Afghanistan
• Start spending $10 billion month in the US, not Iraq.
• Get up to speed on the environmental front- or as he put it, enough with the combustion engine already.
• Fund education
• Fund Healthcare
He said it’s not about *him*, that he is imperfect- his wife could have told us that long ago.
The times he’s most proud of, are running a positive campaign. Sometimes after getting lambasted enough you have to fight back, but he does not want to stoop to those levels. He dislikes all the distractions- flag pins, bowling scores, former ministers….. that none of that really matters to the people and how to fix the troubles & problems & needs of this country.
Amen & Right On
Sphere: Related ContentMay 09 2008
In May, 1908, the Chicago Cubs were riding high. They were the defending World Champions, having beaten the Detroit Tigers in 1907’s World Series 4 games to 0 - there was one tie, a game called on account of darkness. It has been 100 years of suffering for Chicago Cubs diehard fans, like myself. We’ve not won a series; and worse, we’ve not even BEEN to the series since 1945 - and then the Curse of the Billy Goat was placed upon the team. Continue Reading »
Sphere: Related ContentMay 09 2008
Get a job…ANY job! Don’t wait for a job in your college degree set.
That’s the advice being given to current college graduates. With the current job market already tight and with new grads competing for choice jobs against folks with already established career experience, new college graduates are being told to face reality and get a job so that they can support themselves and not to wait for that dream job to come available. At least, not right now.
Sphere: Related ContentMay 09 2008
making good mondays- carol gee- has a post up on childhood poverty. i find it interesting- but not surprising- that the south dominates the childhood poverty rates. it is appalling to me with my tax rate that new york is also in that category.
May 09 2008
There’s no rest for the wicked. Let’s see what wickedness is afoot in today’s Ten Post Round-Up:
1: Pentagon threatens soldier’s pay over emergency war funding bill….
2: Maybe Iraq could help pay for its reconstruction with their oil revenues?…
With House Poised to Spend $163 Billion, More Argue Iraq Should Use Oil Money to Pay for Reconstruction–AlterNet
3: Looks like GWBs “surge” strategy is being put to the test…
4: China is helping to fund GWBs presidential library…
Let’s See Who’s Funding The Bush Presidential Library–duckplops
5: Nevada governor is fighting to get back in the Governor’s mansion and oust his wife, in divorce dispute…
Sphere: Related ContentGovernor wants back in mansion: Court battle brewing as Gibbons seeks to oust wife from official residence–Elko Daily Free Press
May 08 2008
Such farkwittery here folks. The audacity of Special Counsel Scott Bloch and his minions just slays the hell out of me. From AP via TO:
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel last year shut down a previously undisclosed investigation into the federal prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, according to an internal memo made public Wednesday.
The investigation was being conducted by a task force formed at the agency a year ago to pursue high-profile political investigations in Washington, most notably whether the White House played politics in firing U.S. attorneys. It began gathering information on the Siegelman case in September and was planning to request documents from the Justice Department in October before Special Counsel Scott Bloch ordered the case closed, according to the Jan. 18 draft memo, made public by the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group.
Why do they think its ok? Common sense would dictate otherwise, wouldn’t it? As Siegelman says, the most important issue now is:
“The question is who told them to shut it down,”
Sphere: Related Content
May 08 2008
IN OUR STRIFE
Based on “A Day In The Life”
By John Lennon and Paul McCartney
New Lyrics by Matthew5
There’s a truth, it goes unspoken
In the strife
The lies have changed
They go on and on forever
Crudely made, they seem too strange
But his half truths had a purpose
His quest for power, he deceived us all
We believed him, that’s our failing
The phony God will surely fall
But in all his mass deception
There is no lie compares to this
If you only try and trust me
I’ll show you pain can be your bliss
Though we know he won’t forgive defection
Of kind-hearted folk who see the lie
We know he wants to male them suffer
In the strife he let’s more die
Though we know he’ll never be forgiven
For walking away from warfare whores
We know the man who’s mad will try and stop us
Madmen love the pain much more
Madmen love the pain much more
May 08 2008
I recently joined J-Street, the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-Peace movement. J-Street was founded to create meaningful American leadership to bring a peaceful end to the Arab/Israeli and Palestinian/Israel conflicts.
J Street represents Americans, primarily but not exclusively Jewish, who support Israel and its desire for security as the Jewish homeland, as well as the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state of their own - two states living side-by-side in peace and security. We believe ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is in the best interests of Israel, the United States, the Palestinians, and the region as a whole.
Today, I received an email from founder Jeremy Ben Ami, with the text of an article he’d written in a recent Washington Post issue. I print it in full:
5 Myths About Being ‘Pro-Israel’
By Jeremy Ben Ami
Six decades ago, my father fought alongside Menachem Begin for Israel’s independence. If you’d have told him back then that politicians in the world’s last superpower would be jockeying today to see who can be more “pro-Israel,” he would have laughed at you. Grateful as I am for decades Continue Reading »
Sphere: Related ContentMay 08 2008
I received a call tonight- it was Chelsea Clinton- well a recording of Chelsea, with a very tired sounding voice, asking me to vote for her Mom. The verbiage was actually something like “vote for my Mom. My Mom will NOT GIVE UP!”. She sounded like she had to refrain from adding “dammit anyway” to that sentence.
I also saw the new kinder, gentler commercial ads- Hillary dressed in pink, with some gawdy pink necklace, going on about how she understands Oregonians- she has children & babies 6 in all- 5 are clean cut upper crust white kids & one token black child. She talks about how she will be a tough fighter, and closes with a shot of an infant holding her fingers. Or is she trying to pry money out of the baby’s hand?
Sphere: Related ContentMay 08 2008
May 08 2008
After yesterday’s shellacking, Hill has decided to abandon all of the heretofore subtle panders to Klanservatives, and openly put on the white sheet.
In what appear to be the New York senator’s most blunt comments to date regarding a racial division in the Democratic presidential race, Hillary Clinton suggested Wednesday that “White Americans” are increasingly turning away from Barack Obama’s candidacy.
“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” Clinton said in an interview with USA TODAY.
Clinton cited an Associated Press poll “that found how Senator Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
“There’s a pattern emerging here,” she said.
There sure is, Hill. From about the time your husband talked about how Obama is “like Jesse Jackson” on, you’ve been sending the message that you are the white choice for President. Couple that with your “elitist” slurs and your crass pandering on the gas tax issue, and even the Chimpletons were bound to take notice. But that’s what you intended, isn’t it?
I don’t have the greatest of educations, but I can tell when I’m being played for a fool. Racist pandering is what keeps guys like Chimpy viable in elections. The fact that you’re now doing it tells us much more about you than you could ever tell us in your own words.
—- off, Hill.
May 08 2008
So much news, so little coffee. Jump start the ol’ gray matter with today’s Ten Post Round-Up:
1: Pretty soon, heart patients be able to say that they are “serious as a heart attack” about their Bluetooth….
New wi-fi devices warn doctors of heart attacks–BlackListedNews.com
2: Along with the right to marry, other rights for homosexuals disappear with same-sex marriage bans…
Oops, That Ban On Gay Marriage Took Away Other Rights–Bring It On!
3: Driving lifestyles altered by higher gas prices…
High Gas Prices Force People to Alter Lifestyles–Colorado Confidential
4: So much for McCain paying for likely breaking campaign finance laws…
5: Libertarian presidential (formerly, Democratic) candidate, Mike Gravel attempts to woo Obama Girl by doin’ “…Dat Soulja Boy”…
Sphere: Related Content
May 08 2008
The MSM seems to have Alzheimer’s when it comes to McCain’s ’spiritual guide’ Ron Parsley. Thanks to Mother Jones and Brave New Films, we get to see Parsley in all his..um…glory, at work preaching the …cough…word..of God. From the BNF site:
You may have heard of Rev. John Hagee, the McCain supporter who said God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its homosexual “sins.” Well now meet Rev. Rod Parsley, the televangelist megachurch pastor from Ohio who hates Islam. According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Parsley has called on Christians to wage war against Islam, which he considers to be a “false religion.” In the past, Parsley has also railed against the separation of church and state, homosexuals, and abortion rights, comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazis.
Sphere: Related Content
May 07 2008
The cost of the Forever stamp goes up on Monday. So I am throwing my .01¢ worth of thoughts on this matter.
The cost of sending a first-class letter will rise a penny to 42 cents on May 12, but the Forever stamps — currently selling for 41 cents — will remain valid for full postage after the increase.
Forever stamps were introduced last year and since then more than six billion have been sold, people are stocking up as the rate increase nears.
The post office sold $267,696,023 in Forever stamps in March, up from $207,900,132 in February and $115,303,031 in January.
