Random Flickr Blogging IMG_2193

Random Flickr-blogging explained.



The life of a crime fighter was lonely, but Hong Kong Phooey knew the world was a little safer because he was on the job.

Melamine Story Update

I'm sure that at least 90% of the people who read my site read Litbrit either at her own site or at Shakesville, but if you don't you should.

She has been doing an unbelievable job of following and posting about the broader story of contaminated food from China and the FDA's inability to correct it.

If you eat, you owe it to yourself to go read her here.

And here.

FSM bless you Litbrit, thank you for your perseverance in this matter.

Will She Sing?

The New York Times is reporting today about the pending testimony of Monica Goodling. Goodling was granted partial immunity this week. I for one will be looking forward to hearing what she has to say.

What I don’t know, is how far her immunity goes, and what it covers. I will be digging around and looking when I have time. (Unfortunately, I have a project due Monday, so I have to go into work today.)

The thing I bring away from this article is that it sounds like the Party and the Justice Dept. are going to set her up as the fall guy. I think she will be portrayed as a loose canon that was acting out of her own heartfelt conviction and not on any orders from above.

Time will tell if I’m right, but I’ll bet I am.

An Interesting Mix

Where'd the Upper Midwestern come from?

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English 25% Dixie 15% Yankee 5% Upper Midwestern 0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Dream A Little Dream ....

We can all dream can't we?



CNN had this on air for about 12 (blissful) seconds before they saw the error.

Damn!

Something is Missing Here...

I have a sick kid.

#2 son has missed the last two days of school with a fever and cough.

What does this have to do with Tom and Jerry you ask?

Thanks for asking.

I’ll tell you.

I normally do not have the TV on at lunch. In fact, I usually only stay home at lunch long enough to check the mail or unload the dishwasher. But, since he is home on the sofa, the TV is on when I get home, and at 12:00 noon, Tom and Jerry is on.

Today was an episode where they were tearing up the house and the black housekeeper was getting onto Tom and eventually threw him out of the house. This is what I noticed; the housekeeper’s voice has been dubbed. Those of us old enough to remember these cartoons will remember the voice was a stereotypical “mammy” voice. It has been re-dubbed and it didn’t sound black at all. In fact, the words were probably changed altogether.

How long has this been going on? Is it a good thing? Is it bowing down to the big bad “P.C.” police?

I can see where the “Mammy” voice could be offensive, yet the picture still clearly showed the large black, apron wearing housekeeper, only with a June Cleaver voice. It was discerning.

Please, discuss. How do you feel about this? Are these clearly dated cartoons racist? Offensive? I know Disney’s Song Of The South is unavailable in the USA, but apparently is available overseas. (I bought a DVD from China – don’t ask) Should they be removed from view? Should they be left alone?

It is hard for me, as a white male to write about race issues. If someone is offended, I understand and would generally want to err on the side of caution. Is this any different than a Christian being offended by a “racy” cartoon? There is always the option of simply not watching. Does it being a children’s program make the rules different?

Good questions. I don’t claim to have the answers, but if they are going to show it, I wish they would leave it uncut. I was never offended by Mammy Two Shoes, but then I guess that’s the point. I wouldn’t be.

UPDATE - The voice has been dubbed in America for several years by veteran voice actress June Foray.

Well, ..Just, ..Hell!!

It turns out, even skinny people are fat!

Who knew? Even people who appear thin may have hidden fat deposits around vital organs, which can still lead to heart disease and diabetes according to a recent study at Imperial College, London.

According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. "The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined," said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain's Medical Research Council.

Here's the kicker -

"Even people with normal Body Mass Index scores -- a standard obesity measure that divides your weight by the square of your height -- can have surprising levels of fat deposits inside."

So all you skinny people can start to worry like the rest of us. Even naturally thin people need to exercise.

UPDATE* The Chocolate Gods Have Smiled on Me ….

The chocolate was blended …. And it was GOOD!!!!

Oh my (insert deity of your choice)!!!! WOW!!

Did I find the quickest, easiest recipe for a dreamy chocolate mouse I have ever, ever, EVER seen?

Well, yes thank you, I did.

This was in the April issue of Bon Appetite, and it ROCKS!!!

Blender Chocolate Mousse

1 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips. (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao)

¾ cup water

2 Tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon instant espresso or coffee (I can’t find instant espresso here, I used coffee)

3 large egg whites.

Place chocolate in blender.

Bring water sugar and espresso powder to simmer in small saucepan. Stir to insure sugar is dissolved.

Pour water mixture over chocolate. COVER BLENDER and blend for 5 seconds.

Add egg whites and blend for 1 minute.

Pour into 4 prepared cups. (I used martini glasses)

Chill for about 2 hours.

Eat.

Freak your ass out over how easy and delicious it is.

It should also be fairly low cal, and very low fat.

I suppose I might try it with cream instead of the water just to see, but it’s pretty damn good like it is.

Wow.

UPDATE, 5-14-07 - My kids aren't crazy about dark chocolate, so this weekend at some friends house we tried this with milk chocolate morsels. It didn't work, it separated in the glass and never set up.

You Ate What?

It always amazes me what some people eat.

Growing up in South Texas, we ate what I considered regular American food. Of course, we had an abundance of Mexican restaurants, B-B-Q joints, and plenty of places to buy seafood, almost always fried. It wasn’t until my Junior High years that I realized not everybody ate the same as us. I now know that our local cuisine was perhaps one of the more blended regions in the country. The Gulf Coast of South Texas is the meeting point for Southern, Mexican, German, Cajun, and Southwestern cuisine. (But that’s another post.) Now before you scoff at my ignorance, remember I grew up in a small town in the pre-cable TV era. If you are old enough to remember that time, regional differences were much more pronounced back then. We had no MTV to tell us what was cool to wear or listen to, nor any Food Network to tell us what to eat. Of course, we traveled some and experienced new things, but other than ethnic food, the only real regional cuisine I was aware of other than my own was Cajun.


I remember the day I had my epiphany. It was in the summer of 1975. I was 13 and we had a boy from Kansas staying with us as part of an exchange program. My Dad always had a vegetable garden and one of my favorite things from his garden was okra. During the summer we ate okra almost every day. That night my mom made fried okra. Our exchange student had never eaten okra. He had never even heard of okra. That was the beginning of my fascination with other cultures and cuisines. That night at our table, I realized I was probably just as unaware of what other people were eating as he was of what was a staple food of my childhood.

Since then, I have become obsessed with food and what different cultures eat. If I had it to do all over again I would probably become a nutritional anthropologist. Of course back then, I didn’t even know what that was. Whenever I travel, one of the first things I want to do is go to the grocery store. You can learn a lot about the community, (or even the neighborhood for that matter), you are in by looking around the grocery store.

So what is the point of this rambling post?

This article in the New York Times about Kool-Aid Pickles just started me thinking about it. Now the Deep South eats some funky stuff, I can tell you – but damn! Kool-Aid pickles? Apparently these started showing up around the mid 90’s. I’ve never heard of them. And yes, I’m going to try them!! I’ll keep you posted on what they taste like. I’m betting my kids love them.

So what freaky thing do you eat?

My Dad used to have a favorite late night snack which consisted of a glass of milk with leftover cornbread crumpled up in it, and in my house cornbread was never sweet. I don't know what I eat that some may find strange. Whenever I go to New England I always stock up on Moxie. My kids hate it, but I think it is the nectar of the Gods.

Meanwhile – enjoy this site. It is along the same line of thought- but hilarious.
Steve – Don’t Eat It!

Baseball, Apple Pie, and RUBBER GLOVES???

I'm guessing there will be plenty of Standing room only tickets sold.
(Click the picture if you can't read it.)

Welcome To Planet Hummer

My daily lunch routine is pretty set.

I run by the house to check the mail, I do errands, sometimes I actually get to eat, I go back to work.

There are a set of railroad tracks that I must cross to get home. Today, as I came to them I was behind one of these.




The woman driving it slowed down to a freaking crawl to cross the tracks.

Hello??

You have the baddest, toughest vehicle on the planet, but you can't go over a railroad track? A very smooth, well maintained set of tracks at that. That would be bad enough.

There's more.

Today also happens to be my bank day, so after checking the mail, I went to the drive through. Guess who's in front of me? Yep, Ms. Hummer. She apparently can't reach the tube from her lofty perch, so she throws it in reverse and starts backing up. Never looked back. No warning. I (barely) avoided getting rolled over. She has to get out of her bus and walk to the tube. She finishes, gets in and proceeds to cut her corner too close and runs over the curb on the way out.

It gets better.

She is still at the light when I exit the bank so I get behind her. The light changes and she takes off. She turns into Sonic. There is one empty spot. She tries three times to pull into the spot. She can't do it. She throws it into reverse (this time I was ready, and yes, I'm following her for the perverse pleasure of it now.) She goes next door to McDonald's and gets into line with no further damage. Since I have no reason to poison myself, I use the parking lot to make my turn and I get to see her vehicle from the front. There is what appears to be part of an oleander bush stuck in the front, pink blooms still intact.

I went back to work feeling much better about myself.

Ewww!

Ewww!

Ok the yuck factor on this one is pretty high.

I’m not generally one to get creeped out by crawly things like bugs and snakes and rodents. I will pluck beetles off my tomato plants, or caterpillars off the herbs, no big whoop. Spiders, on the other hand …. Uhg! I know they are beneficial, and yes I adored Charlotte’s Web, but they just give me the willies. Sorry.

So you can imagine the nightmares this story is going to give me.

Nine year old Jesse Courtney’s earache turned out to be two spiders living in his ear.

Go read it. Look at the pictures. Be grossed out all day.

UPDATE!!* Random Flickr Blogging IMG_3655

IMG_3655
Originally uploaded by Scott Joyce.

Random Flickr-blogging explained.

The people of Chapelfield had no idea their "sculpture" was in reality a General Products Hull #2.

Too obscure?

*Update: Explanation here.

General Explanation at top of page, a few paragraphs down the specifics of a #2.

Sorry for my geekdom. I read this book about 40 times when I was about 16-19.

Gone, But Not Forgotten

I was sad to see this morning that one of my daily readings is gone.

Martini Republic has gone down.

Farewell old friend, you were a wonderful mix of politics, news, and of course spirits.

I will miss you.

But this site looks promising:

Martini Revolution

How Can This Happen?

I am so blinded by rage at this article that this post probably won’t even make sense.

As I have mentioned before. I am a single father. The minefield that is post-divorce child-rearing, visitation, dealing with the ex is my daily fare. I live in constant fear that the slightest accident or misstep will mean another trip to family court and the kids going to their mother. The logical part of my brain knows this is highly unlikely, but the fear is so deep rooted that it is impossible to dispel.

Then this.

Deployed soldiers are losing custody of their children while they are gone fighting the war. I just really can’t write anymore about this. Go read it, and get pissed off.

Update On The Castle Grounds

As I mentioned before (see Comments), I had a loquat tree that was severely needing to get out of its pot and into the ground.

Well, I finally got it planted this morning.

So here is the newest member of the Brave Sir Robin Orchard.

Loquats are small evergreen trees that have dark glossy thick leaves. They are highly ornamental, and do very well here where I live. I have several friends that grow them and the fruit is quite yummy.

Karma's a Bitch........... Ain' It?

I suppose I should feel guilty that this makes me happy.

Paris Hilton sentenced to jail.

But I don't.

I hope she likes chicken.

That's Hot!

I'm Houston Proud

I lived in Houston for about 9 years in the 80’s and early 90’s. I still go there between once and 10 times a month, depending on various factors.

I like Houston. It is not as aesthetically pleasing as say, San Francisco, or Vancouver, but it has quite a bit of beauty, if you know where to look. It doesn’t get the press that Dallas gets, but having spent a lot of time in each city, I can tell you it is friendlier, has better freeways, and YES, the arts scene is much, much better in Houston.

Still, Houston doesn’t get much repect as big cities go. It is the fourth largest city in America, but rarely gets much good press.

All that being said, I was very pleased to see this excellent little article on traveling to Houston on National Geographic’s website.

Peruse it, enjoy it, and don’t believe all the bad press, weather aside, Houston is a great city, and getting better all the time.

The One Where I Succumb To Peer Pressure

Ok, many of the blogs I read do a "Friday Cat Blogging" thing. I'm not sure who started it, but I don't think Cappuccino has made an appearance here yet, so here he is.



I'll call this one "Disturb me here again and I'll go back to sleeping on the pool table"

Not So Random?

Have you noticed the phenomenon I'll call Ipod patterning?

You set your Ipod on shuffle, which is supposedly random, but the songs seem anything but random?

I while back I posted that my Ipod was conspiring against me because song after song after song was a song about love gone bad, breakups, or one of our songs.


Well, today wasn't like that, but here is my list, first 12 played:

1. Readymade – Red Hot Chili Peppers

2. M-O-N-E-Y (live)– Lyle Lovett

3. The Nearness Of You – Norah Jones

4. Eruption – Van Halen

5. No Woman no Cry - Bob Marley

6. The Refugee – U2

7. Nothing Compares To You – Prince

8. She’s Only 18 – Red Hot Chili Peppers

9. Could You Be Loved – Bob Marley

10. I Shot The Sheriff – Bob Marley

11. Reelin’ In The Years – Steely Dan

12. Redemption Song - Bob Marley

Notice anything strange?

4 Bob Marley Songs and 2 Red Hot Chili peppers.

Ok, I have 1023 songs on my Ipod. 14 of them are by Bob Marley. That's 1.3%* Yet 4 come up in the first 12?

What about the Chili Peppers? I have a few more by them (43), with 5 albums represented, yet both songs came from the same album.

I know mathematicians will tell me I'm just looking for a pattern where none exists, but damn. That doesn't seem very random to me.

Anyone else experience this?

*Update: I screwed up the decimal place in the original post. It is now corrected!

h/t to Camera Obscura.

The Real Scandal

Josh over at Talking Points Memo has been keeping excellent track of the Attorney-Gate scandal.

He has a post today about former Deputy Attorney General James Comey’s testimony regarding Milwaukee US Attorney Steven Biskupic.

Biskupic, you may recall was on the list, and then got taken off the list, just about the time he brought a case against the Democratic governor's administration.

As Josh puts it:

But then he got pulled off the list. That's made people take a second look at his prosecution of a bureaucrat in Wisconsin's Democratic governor's administration. That conviction got overturned by an appeals court last month. And not just overturned, but judged "beyond thin" and "preposterous" and sent back for a directed acquital.

Now, whether or not Biskupic was trying to save his job or not, I can’t say, and he seems to have some pretty trustworthy people vouching for him. My point is; this is the side of the scandal that is to me, much more troubling. We know about the 7 that were fired, what about the 86 that kept their jobs? We now what what Rove’s criterion was to keep your job. Do we have 86 political hacks willing to do Rove’s dark bidding in charge of meeting out justice across the land?

I’d say the odds are pretty good that at least a good majority of them fit that bill.

That my friends is the real scandal.

Come Back Here and I'll Bite Your Legs Off!

Best Political Analogy ever!!

Rock on Mr. Shakes!!

It Will Take a Miracle

It should come as no surprise to those of you who read this page that I am a supporter of the little guy. I champion the cause of those who are perpetually victims of the powerful and the privileged.

Such is this case.

Meet Tom Szaky. He is 25 and CEO of a company that had 1.5 million dollars in sales last year. Aha! You may think - who did this rascal, this Ivy League entrepreneur take advantage of? Well, I’ll tell you …. He’s the victim.

Tom dropped out of Princeton in 2003 and started TerraCycle, an eco-friendly maker of organic fertilizer. So environmentally friendly is his company, that all of its products come in recycled soda bottles. He takes garbage - waste and feeds it to worms, the worms poop, he takes the poop, puts it in used soda bottles and sells it. The entire operation is taking waste, that would otherwise end up in a landfill and reusing it in an environmentally friendly way. Heck, the fertilizer it makes is even better for the environment than chemical fertilizer. Who could have a problem with that?

Oh.

TerraCycle is being sued by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, a 7 billion dollar juggernaut that racks up an impressive 59 percent share of the global fertilizer market. Their claim? Read on -

in its complaint, Scotts claims TerraCycle willfully infringed on Miracle-Gro's "distinctive and famous" look, mimicking its yellow and green packaging and including a picture of flowers and vegetables on its label. Miracle-Gro claims that the packaging similarities could lead to consumer confusion between the two companies' products.
"TerraCycle has passed off its goods as those of Scotts," the suit alleges.
The plant-food giant also accuses TerraCycle of making false and misleading advertising claims on its Web site and at point-of-purchase displays.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Let’s take a look.

Here is Scott’s product –


Here is TerraCycle –


Gee real confusing huh?

This is a classic case of the monopoly bully on the block trying to money whip the competition out of business. It disgusts me.

I must confess, I have used Scott’s product for years. I do some organic gardening, and I try very hard to avoid most pesticides, I prefer Garden’sAlive products to Scott's, but the Scott’s is cheaper and much more available, but no more. . I don’t know yet if TerraCycle is available in my area, but I am going to look for it this weekend.
Here is a company selling a viable, needed product in a very environmentally friendly way, and they are being money whipped out of business by these ass-holes at Scott’s.

I plan on running out and buying TerraCycle product immediately. Please do the same. Even if you don’t garden, it is made out of worm poop, it won't hurt anything, buy a bottle and pour it on a shrub on your way to work.

TerraCycle has set up a web page explaining the suit with excellent David vs. Goliath pictures and numbers. Please, go read it. They also have a defense fund set up. This is a company that has yet to turn a profit. Please go to their defense site and read it to the bottom.
You will be glad you did, I promise.

Let the people at Scott’s know how you feel. Don’t buy their product. And -

If you don't think Scotts should be suing TerraCycle, please write to the Scotts Board of Directors and tell them why. Separate letters should be sent to each director. The envelope should be marked "INTERESTED PARTY/SHAREHOLDER - DIRECTOR COMMUNICATION - PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL" and should be sent to each director c/o Corporate Secretary,The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, 14111 Scottslawn Road, Marysville, Ohio 43041. The Scotts directors are: Mark R. Baker, Gordon F. Brunner, Arnold W. Donald, Joseph P. Flannery, James Hagedorn, Thomas N. Kelly, Jr., Katherine Hagedorn Littlefield, Karen G. Mills, Patrick J. Norton, Stephanie M. Shern, and John J. Shiely. Please send a copy to your local newspaper and to TerraCycle at 121 New York Ave, Trenton, NJ 08638.

My letter(s) will be going out in the morning mail. I needed to use up my stamps anyway right?

Fucking Assholes.

Tomato - Better Boy

I got a really late start on my garden this year, but it is doing its best to catch up.

I took this picture last Friday (April 27).

So far I have tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet corn, radishes, basil (three kinds), mint (two kinds), marjoram, sage, thyme and rosemary.

I'll for sure add okra, and most likely bush beans.

What do you grow?

Security or Engagement?

I found this little nugget over at Candide's Notebooks. It is one of the most reasonable, compelling discussions of the school violence problem I have ever read.

Thousands of tragedies take place on a weekly basis in American schools—suicides, rapes, students cutting themselves or starving themselves, and countless other acts of intense bullying and harassment—that are all more or less preventable. Fortress mentalities don’t build security. Knowing and engaging students before they become a threat to themselves and others does.

Read the article, share the link, get people talking about it.

Grampa, Why Did You Ruin Our Country?

In two weeks, I will be 45 years old.

My oldest child just turned 16.

If his life follows the usual route I will be between 55 and 58 by the time I have a grandchild, and by the time that child will be able to rationally discuss economics I will most likely be in or close to my 70’s. I seriously doubt I will live long enough to meet my great grandchildren, much less discuss economics. I suppose I should be thankful for small blessings.

I don’t know what I would be able to tell them. What would I say when asked how my generation could leave them so saddled with debt. How can I explain the collapse of the way of life we as Americans know today? It is surely coming, and we as Americans are allowing it to happen.

As I have asked over, and over, and over, where is the outrage?

Pierre Tristam, over at Smirking Chimp, has posted an unbelievably disturbing article outlining the Bush majority’s raping of the budget. From surpluses under the Clinton administration to deficits that would make Reagan blush, he asserts that even at this point, balancing the budget isn’t enough. The problem is the mounting national debt.

[….debt depends on people willing to finance it. As of today, $5 trillion of the debt is held by the public -- individual Americans, banks and, increasingly, governments like China, Saudi Arabia, the European Union. At any point those governments could choose to invest elsewhere. If that happens, Americans, already the biggest debtors on the planet, have to make up the difference. Simply put, when Bush spends $2 billion a week on his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he's borrowing that money not only from China or Saudi Arabia, but from future Social Security and Medicare recipients, too. The Social Security trust fund, which is generating a surplus, literally lends the money to the Treasury. Government-to-government loans like that have added up to $3.8 trillion.


Balancing the budget will fix none of that any more than a household can stave off bankruptcy just by paying the interest on a mass of debt: Sooner or later a small interest rate rise or a mild economic shock collapses the arrangement. Only vast surpluses in the $200 to $300 billion range over several decades can pay down the national debt and stave off a flight of investors that would collapse the domestic economy. That's why the Clinton administration never proposed massive tax cuts when it reversed previous Republican administrations' Decade of Debt and started running surpluses in the late 1990s. Clinton knew that if the country was to meet its obligations to coming retirees and stay fiscally sound enough for investors to keep their money here, modest surpluses alone wouldn't do. Debts had to be paid. That means big budget surpluses year after year. …]

I know that with all of the other outrages the regressives have given us, the budget deficit and National debt may seem small potatoes. I know that talk of surplus and deficit isn’t as sexy as, well, sex scandals or Attorney-gate, or the pillaging of the constitution, or the war, etc….but I urge you to go read the article.

It may give you time to come up with an answer when your grandchildren or great grandchildren ask you how you could let this happen.

Random Flickr Blogging IMG_3847

Random Flickr Blogging Explained.

Even at a young age, Jim Jones displayed a certain "charisma."

Sigh

I saw her awhile ago. I was on my way home from the grocery store and stopped at a light. She passed by and pulled into the convenience store right near my house.

She never saw me. She got out and went into the store.

Where her legs really that impossibly long? Was her hair always that blond and shiny?

le sigh

I did the right thing. My children must have their father. Why can't she see that?

I Love This Lady!

Today is the 74th birthday of one of my favorite comedienne/actresses, Carol Burnett.

I loved her show as a kid. We watched it every week, and then again for years in syndication. Do you have a favorite Carol Burnett Show memory? I loved her take off on Sunset Boulevard and Gone With the Wind, but Mrs. Wiggins may have been my favorite. That show had such a cast!







She is also an accomplished stage actress. She was the original Winifred in Once upon a Mattress way back in 1959. I love that show. I played King Sextimus back in college. If you don't know the show it is a take off on the Princess and the Pea story.



She was also the original Charlotte Hayes in Ken Ludwig’s Moon over Buffalo. I directed this show back in 1998, and it is still one of my all time favorites. If you've never seen it - SHAME ON YOU! You owe it to yourself to find a production and go see it! I will warn you, it is a bit racy, so don't bother with a high school production because the Drama Police will make them cut out all the good parts. I promise, you will laugh hard and often.

She is talented, tough and classy.

Happy birthday Carol!!!

Err, What?

This is an actual letter. Sad thing is, she probably votes. To laugh or to cry? This is the republican base my friends. She and her ilk will never be won over with logic, or reason, or economic concerns.

Quickly, The Smelling Salts, I Feel a Swoon Coming On

In an announcement that should surprise exactly nobody, researchers on Monday said that abortions and miscarriages do not raise the risk of breast cancer.

Hmm, you .... gasp, choke, ....mean all those brochures, .... the ones printed with my tax dollars, .. gasp, are wrong!!!!!!?????

By the end of the day Dobson, Robertson, et all will be denouncing the scientific methods used in this research.

You know, the research done by actual scientist.

Look for an increase in the Jihad against science in our country after this announcement. This blows one of their favorite talking points.

Random Flickr blogging IMG_3318

IMG_3318
Originally uploaded by mikemunevar.

Kara recently started rethinking her decision to date only headless boys.

Happy Birthday (maybe) Bill!

Today is (maybe, we think) The 443 aniversary of the birth of the greatest English playwright ever. Ok, I will say the greatest playwright ever period, but that's just me.

That Shakespeare can continue to be relevant 391 years after his death speaks volumes as to his genius.

In his honor I offer the following sonnet. I can't really say it is my favorite, because that would be like choosing one of my children over the others, but this is the one that speaks to my current frame of mind.

Sonnet 29

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

The 50's are like OVER!!!!

I don’t usually write about race issues. It isn’t that I don’t think they’re important, or that I think racism doesn’t exist, I am acutely aware of it. It is that I don’t feel that I have anything insightful or compelling to say about the subject.

Until now.

For the first time ever, the Turner County High School prom will be integrated.

I don’t know if I should be happy for these kids or appalled by what this means. It is 2007. I mean are you freaking kidding me? 60 years after Baseball is integrated, this Georgia town finally has a school dance that allows people of different pigments to co-mingle?

I choose to be appalled.

First of all, why were these kids allowed, year after year to have their own private segregated prom? Who was financing it? These parents are disgusting. The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree you know. Is it any wonder that racism can thrive still in the South, when this kind of practice is allowed to thrive? Where was the school board, hell, where was the Governor?

I was going to say fuck these backward ass Rednecks, but that would make me as intolerant as them.

So instead I will say, fuck the people in a position to stop this who let it go on year after year after year.

And to this year’s prom attendee’s I say welcome to PostBellum America Hicks.

Avenue Q meets Fiddler on the Roof

Ok, this may well be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. If not the funniest, the damn cleverest! This is why I love Theatre people so much. If you are not a “Theatre Person”, or can’t figure out why I can’t spell T-H-E-A-T-E-R right, this may not be for you.

But trust me, this rocks!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dprUZL-QvQ


It's back up!!!!!

Yes, Exactly!

Wow, this is a must read.

It is long, and it does start just a little slow, but damn! I can't even really think of anything to add. It is a complete and utter demolition of "Compassionate Conservatism"

a few choice tidbits -

Matthew Dowd not only sold us a lying president and his prevarications about war just three years ago, but he built an entire campaign around an even more egregious lie - that his candidate was a war hero, and that the other candidate, an actual war hero, was a weak imposter. Now, as his own misdeeds loom up with the potential to bite him back hard, like some figure out of Shakespeare or a Greek tragedy, he finds doubt and regret. Doubt? Regret? I tell you what, man, you go drink down one percent of the blood you've spilled, first. You go apologize on your hands and knees to one percent of the families you've decimated. You go pay back one percent of the treasure you've wasted - money needed for healthcare and education. Then come tell us your self-serving tales of doubt and regret. Because, funny, somehow we never got that vibe from you in 2004.

And -

If it seems like conservatives are congenitally incapable of compassion until they've had to struggle with something themselves, that's because it's true. If you think the whole business of wealthy Americans demanding additional tax cuts for themselves to pay for their third yacht while others go to bed hungry is part of the same mentality, that's because it is. If you're horrified that people are capable of such rampant hypocrisy, you ought to be. This is truly a scary bunch, with the full intellectual firepower of adults, but with social ethics that could make the dynamics of a kindergarten sandbox seem positively Gandhian by comparison.

And, even better -

Right now, regressives are peddling a lovely mix of war, debt, environmental destruction, torture, division at home, hatred abroad, a tattered constitution, a shaky economy and a healthcare system in free-fall, as well as lies and corruption that could make Imelda herself blush. How is it these guys even exist? How is it they are even allowed within a hundred yards of government buildings? Is there a shortage of ankle bracelets? Even if they were Iraqi suicide bombers blowing up government they couldn't begin to equal the damage they've already done in government

This is good, good stuff. Please go read it all.

Seriously!!! WTF!!!!!!!

Have you seen this? Apparently the Federal Government has a database listing everyone who has ever been prescribed anti-depressants?

I love this observation the author makes:

We don't even have a list of gun owners, and we have a list of everyone who has been prescribed anti-depressants?

Jeebuz, does anyone know anything about this? Has it always been this way, or is it a recent aka "war on Terrorism" development?

That must be a pretty damn big list.

Another Teenager!!!!

Happy Birthday!

Today is the 13th Birthday of my third and youngest son.

I know he occasionally looks at this blog, so happy birthday son!

On this day in History –

1775 – The American Revolution started.

1824 – Lord Byron died.

1897 – The first Boston Marathon was run.

1943 – The Warsaw Ghetto uprising began.

1993 – The Branch Davidian compound goes up in flames.

1994 – You were born!!! (And a Los Angeles jury awarded $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King.)

2001 - "The Producers" opened on Broadway.

People who share your birthday –

Maria Sharapova (20)

Tim Curry (61) – can he really be that old!!!!???

Kate Hudson (28)

Hayden Christensen(26)

Troy Polamalu(26)

When You're Living in America .........

“He was a loner.”

How many times do we hear this after a tragedy such as happened this week in Blacksburg Virginia? Didn’t you just know that was coming?

So you know what I wonder? Was he (or any of the loners who commit these heinous acts), driven to become a killer because of the inherent loneliness of his life, or was he a loner because he was already messed up and capable of such an act? In other words which came first?

It strikes me as ironic that in such a populous society, people can be so lonely. I understand loneliness very well. It is a daily part of my life as well. That is not to say I don’t have friends, I do and I see them often, yet in my day to day work/kids/housework/repeat cycle I go days at a time with no true meaningful adult conversation. I’m sure that is one of the reasons I stayed in an unhealthy relationship for so long. A less than perfect relationship is better than the loneliness of no relationship.

Do you know your neighbors? I speak at least weekly to the neighbors on either side of me. If you go more than a couple of houses in any direction, I don’t know them or speak to them. I live in a small town, and I have lived in this house for over ten years. I’m sure it must be worse in large cities. Is my situation typical? I suspect so.

Jonathan Larson hit on this concept so well in RENT.

Disparate individuals creating their own community. –

What Was It About That Night?

Connection-In An Isolating Age

For Once-The Shadows Gave Way To
Light

For Once I Didn't Disengage

Why is it so easy to isolate ourselves? Do we just have so many comforts and entertainments in our homes that we don’t need to seek out our neighbors?

Does the internet and comment threads help or hurt?

I don’t know.

I know one thing, Hillary was right when she said, “It takes a village.” Would a support group of close friends have stayed Cho Seung-Hui’s hand? Maybe not, but I strongly suspect that had he felt that he “fit in” and had a group of friends to vent to, he may never have gotten to this awful breaking point.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

As today is tax day, and no doubt the evening news reports will be awash in video of long lines at the post office hoping to beat the deadline, I thought it might be appropriate to take a look at what we are paying for.

The war in Iraq seems to have taken a backseat in the news lately. Things vastly more important have been filling the airwaves. Things like the DNA test of Anna Nicole’s baby, the Imus brouhaha, Angelina’s attempt to overtake Mia Farrow in adoptions, you know, important stuff.

Of course there is the other news also, the impending testimony of A.G. Weasel Gonzales, and sadly, yesterday’s chilling rampage at Virginia Tech. But in the midst of this real news, and fluff, let’s not forget that what Americans witnessed in Blacksburg Virginia yesterday is a daily occurrence in Baghdad.

In an outstanding article printed in the Niagara Falls Reporter, Bill Gallagher recounts the consequences of our involvement in Iraq.

This is heartbreaking stuff people.

When confronted with politicians in the media selling the progress being made, the Red Cross workers took a poll of their own. They asked several Iraqi women what was "their most pressing need". One woman's answer may well stick with me for the rest of my life.

"The most important thing that anyone could do is to help collect the bodies that line the streets in front of our homes every morning. No one dares to touch them, but for us it is unbearable to have to expose our children to such images every day as we try to bring them to school."

Stop for a moment and imagine that. I am a single Dad. I worry about my kids eating right, I worry if they brush their teeth enough, I worry that are hanging out with the right crowd, but I don’t worry about them dodging corpses on the way to school. Let that sink in. She didn’t ask for electricity, or clean water, or security, she wants the corpses picked up a daily basis. This is a world I cannot fathom. This makes the worlds of Beckett and Pirandello seem safe and predictable. Yet that is what these people face every single day; Courtesy of the American Tax Payer.

Wait a minute you say, I don’t support the war, I didn’t even vote for the criminals running our country. Perhaps not, but it is our Government, our tax dollars committing these atrocities. Where are the protests? Where are the masses marching through the streets demanding an end to these crimes being done in our name?

They are at home wondering if tonight is the night Sanjaya finally gets voted off.

Wake up America, perception is reality, and the world perceives that Americans are responsible for the lives of untold thousands of civilians.

This article goes on and very adeptly summarizes the failures of our policy. Please go read it. I had meant to summarize the whole thing, but I find myself too disgusted to write rationally.

Random Flickr blogging IMG_4374

IMG_4374
Originally uploaded by stuart nolan.

The Glover family looks forward each year, to "set the baby on the snow penis day"

Sacrifice Isn't A Four Letter Word.

Via Shakes -

Do you have time to send a letter to your Senator/Representative?

Below is the letter written by Michael Dunford, whose wife is an Army Officer.

I will be sending one to my Senators and Rep. Please do the Same.

I am the husband of a currently deployed Army officer stationed in Hawaii, and with a home of record in New York. I'm writing today for two reasons: to thank you for your support of emergency war funding legislation that included a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq and to ask you to take an additional step and require that any additional funding for the current conflict be paid for immediately, through a tax increase.

When my wife was deployed in Afghanistan two years ago, I found the deployment easier to deal with than her current Iraq tour, even though she was probably in more physical danger in Afghanistan. At that time, I at least had the comfort of believing in the cause that she was fighting for. Right now, I'm not sure I even know just why she - or the rest of our troops - are there. I'm a bit of a cynic by nature, and did not expect my view of the cause to make a difference in how easy it would be to face the separation. To my surprise, I've discovered that it's much easier to make sacrifices when you know why you are being asked to make them.

This brings me to one of the reasons that I am asking that you attach a tax increase to any further war spending - sacrifice. Last night, when my wife called from the FOB she's stationed at, I mentioned that I had learned about the decision to extend Army tours through the media instead of through Army channels, but that it was nowhere near the top story of the night. A radio DJ getting fired for making insensitive and racist comments, the (criminal) innocence of college athletes, and the implications of the Anna Nicole paternity test were all apparently much more newsworthy events. My wife was surprised that this surprised me. Her response was, "Of course it isn't. Why would most people care about this."

She's right. The vast majority of the American public has little at stake in this conflict. The sacrifices are being made by the military and by military families. As retired Major General John Batiste put it last year, "Most Americans only confront this issue by deciding what color of magnet [to put] on the back end of their SUV." I think that if more Americans were being asked to make sacrifices to support this war effort, more Americans would pay closer attention to what has been (and is) going on.

Sacrifice isn't the only reason to make sure that this war is funded through taxes now. We also have a responsibility to our descendants. Right now, our two children are already being asked to sacrifice a great deal for this war effort - their mother has been away during 18 of the last 33 months. It is unfair, unreasonable, and irresponsible to ask them, when they grow up, to also pay the financial costs of the war. The current policies, unfortunately, do just that.

Please consider taking these actions, both to support the troops who are deployed now and to support those who are being asked to pay for the war later.

In addition to emailing this letter to you, I am also posting it on my blog (http://scienceblogs.com/authority). I would encourage anyone who reads it there to send a similar letter to their Representatives and Congressmen.

Thank you for your time and consideration.
Michael Dunford

If every American had to bear the sacrifice equally, we would be out of Iraq by tomorrow evening. His point about asking our children to pay for the war is an especially poignant one. Not only are we killing (both directly and indirectly) civilians, women and children, we are passing the buck to the next generation to pay for it.

Wake up America!

Free our Children's Minds (From Censorship)

Well the book banners are alive and well in Burlingame, California.

Burlingame schools Superintendent Sonny Da Marto has banned Mark Mathabane’s Kaffir Boy, which was being read and studied by four eighth grade classes. The book is an award winning depiction of Mathabane’s childhood in apartheid South Africa.

The book had been vetted by the district's "core literature committee" which consists of parents, teachers, a librarian, a student and a school board member and was successfully taught the year before.

The objectionable content involved young boys engaging in a sex for food swap with older men. The book is number 31 on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most frequently banned or challenged books. The Author, Mark Mathabane addressed the frequent banning in an essay published by the Washington Post in 1999.


In the essay, he calls "Kaffir Boy" disturbing, but not pornographic. He explains the prostitution paragraphs:

"My father, the only breadwinner in a family of nine, had been arrested for the crime of being unemployed. There was no food in our shack ... Desperate for food, one afternoon I linked up with a group of 5-, 6- and 7-year-old boys on the way to the nearby men's hostel. Their pimp, a 13-year-old boy named Mphandlani, promised that at the hostel we would get money and 'all the food we could eat' in exchange for playing 'a little game' with the migrant workers who lived there."
Mathabane writes that he was shunned by the boys for running away. He concludes that "resisting peer pressure is one of the toughest things for young people to do.
"That is the lesson of the prostitution scene. It's a lesson that seems to be lost on the people who want to censor my book."

God forbid we let our kids read anything that might actually teach them a lesson about character and dealing with adversity. I guess all class assignments should now come out of The Book of Virtues. Maybe we can get Bill Bennet to lay off the gambling and dominatrices long enough to write a sequel.

Seriously, there is very little that burns me up as much as censoring and banning books. The parents were apparently given the option to have their child read a different book, but that wasn’t good enough for these people.

I strongly urge you to go to the essay site and read the whole thing. It is a powerful explanation of the reason it is wrong to censor a book. While we are at it, go and look at the list of most frequently challenged books. Number three is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Are you kidding me? Also in the list are such classics as (5) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, (6) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, (13) The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and so on ....


I was an avid reader as a child and young adult. I grew up in a very small, ignorant, redneck town, but I was blessed with parents who gave me the freedom to read anything I wanted to. Because of that, I was able to form opinions different from those I was exposed to. I broadened my understanding of the world and what was out there. I burned with a desire and curiosity to see the world and to experience the culture of those very different from me. I would never take that chance away from a child. We see the results of an incurious, narrow mind in our Whitehouse.

Are You Fucking Kidding Me????

Why aren't these guys in Jail yet?

5,000,000 missing emails.

That is not a typo, those are 6 freaking zeros. These are not the emails from the RNC servers. These are on the official Whitehouse email system.

We are witnessing a complete and thorough collapse of the rule of law.

Nixon had less chutzpah than these pricks.

God Bless You Mr. Vonnegut!

1922-2007

Farewell to Kurt Vonnegut.

Do you have a favorite Vonnegut novel?

I will always be partial to God Bless You Mr. Rosewater.

May you find the peace that seemed to allude you in life.

Attack of the Heartless Ipod Vol. II

Then you love a little wild one
And she brings you only sorrow
All the time you know she's smilin'
You'll be on your knees tomorrow

Free Tickets!!!!!

Any of you who may be in the Houston Area this Saturday and would like to see Augustana, here is your chance.

I have two tickets to their show at the Meridian for this Saturday night. It is a small venue, and is an excellent chance to see them in a club atmosphere before they start doing arenas only.

I'm not sure how I can get them to you, but they are free to the first taker.

Do you get a squeeze of lime with that?

In a headline that Konagod can Love, agave may be good for your colon!

It doesn't involve drinking it however.

The Struggle Continues

Sorry for no posts this weekend. I am struggling pretty hard. A couple of very significant “anniversary” dates await me this week.

I also have tickets to a concert we were to attend, that I can’t even seem to give away.

I hope to be back soon.