Don't Let It Bring You Down

How We Act... How They Act...

2007-02-15T06:43:00.000-08:00

Quest to heal Iraqi boy became a final mission
11-year-old to get lifesaving heart surgery due to reservist's intervention

HILLA, Iraq - Hours before getting killed the way he feared most, Capt. Brian S. Freeman looked up and smiled when Abu Ali dropped by his office.

After nearly six months of overcoming financial and bureaucratic hurdles in a war zone, Freeman told the Iraqi man, there were promising signs that a pair of U.S. visas -- the last big step in getting Abu Ali's 11-year-old son to the United States for lifesaving heart surgery -- would be issued soon.

The Iraqi was speechless. He asked an interpreter to express his gratitude to the tall American soldier who had made saving the child's life an unofficial mission. Then he pulled out his camera, swung his arm around Freeman's broad shoulders and posed for three photographs.

Hours later, shortly before sunset Jan. 20, armed men in GMC trucks stormed into the government building in Karbala, in southern Iraq. They killed an American soldier, handcuffed Freeman and three other U.S. soldiers, hauled them into the vehicles and drove off. Freeman and the other abducted soldiers were later slain by the attackers.

2007-02-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

This Is...

2007-02-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

One of our MODERATE Arab allies

20 face lash, prison for dancing in Saudi Arabia
Judge sentences foreigners for partying, alcohol, unmarrieds mingling

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - A Saudi Arabian judge sentenced 20 foreigners to receive lashes and spend several months in prison after convicting them of attending a party where alcohol was served and men and women danced, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The defendants were among 433 foreigners, including some 240 women, arrested by the kingdom's religious police for attending the party in Jiddah, the state-guided newspaper Okaz said. It did not identify the foreigners, give their nationalities or say when the party took place.

The religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in personal lives, enjoys wide powers. Its officers roam malls, markets, universities and other public places looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling, men skipping Islam's five daily prayers and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil.

Irony...

2007-02-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

Could You Imagine...

2007-01-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

Waking up and reading about this happening at an American university? (other than after a football game, of course)...

Report: Clashes in Lebanon kill at least four
Dozens injured as government and opposition supporters battle in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Government and opposition supporters clashed at a Beirut university campus Thursday, battering each other with sticks, stones and even pieces of furniture in new violence spilling over from LebanonÂs political crisis. Four people were killed, an opposition-run television station reported.

I just watched video of STUDENTS throwing rocks at point blank range with intent to seriously injure each other... at a Beirut university. This is the kind of thing we see all the time in the middle east. Differences being solved violently! Everyone likes to say that it isn't endemic to middle eastern cultures, but I continue to look at the acceptance, acquiescence and tacit support given by the societies at large. They may not be throwing the rocks (or beheading the journalists), but they do little to stop it.

Almost every "political" group in the middle east is formed around... a militia. As Americans, we can understand that. The birth of our country is owed to a militia lead by George Washington. When George Washington was offered "unlimited power" to prosecute the war, his response was "Instead of thinking myself freed from all civil obligations by this mark of their confidence, I shall constantly bear in mind tht as the sword was the last resort for the preservation of our liberties, so it ought to be the first thing laid aside when those liberties are firmly established."

Put simply, at some point... the fight has got to stop for stability and civil society to flourish.

I have always understood middle eastern anger at our country. They feel controlled by our exploitation of the oil resource beneath their land, enraged by our support of their sworn enemy and in societies ruled by militias... impotent in the face of our military might. If I were a young man in any of those countries, I would be lead to feel the same way. The story takes a sad turn when the violence becomes sunni on shite... sunni on sunni... shite on shite... and palestinian on palestinian. Middle eastern societies never seem to advance to that point so eloquently realized by George Washington. The sword is never laid down If there isn't an oppressor to throw off... "solving" differences with violence is simply turned inward.

The kharmic justice of societies that see only violence of submission destroying themselves is sad and pathetic. All that makes it dangerous for the rest of us are the radical islamists who wish to export this "problem solving" method around the globe. Their goal has nothing to do with conversion of infidels to islam and more to do with having nothing better to do... no better cause for one's existence... than to fight. The tendancy that radical islamists (and I will always maintain that it is with at least the acquiescence and/or tacit support of majorities in the societies that spawn them) is like that age old game of "turf" wars played by small groups of American youths in neighborhoods all over this country.

The difference is that these are youthful, marginalized groups that usually outgrow the absurdity of ONLY "solving" problems with violence. Most grow up and realize that it is silly to fight over a neighborhood and start to see the commonalities they share with their former "enemies". Only the most socially retarded and immature members will carry this behavior into adulthood. As a society we reject this behavior, and at a certain point treat its continuance as criminal behavior.

Far from getting to that point, the most serious and powerful adults in middle eastern societies act no wiser than the most immature children and youths in America and never develop or evolve beyond having a reason for living other than hating those with whom they have differences and the biggest point I have been trying to make for a long time... is that it is with the passive, tacit or active support of the vast majority of ALL the citizens of the societies that spawn them. Stability and civil society are not a priority in middle eastern culture. I think part it's roots can simply be traced to the "bazaar" mentality where the haggling can go on interminably and that there is always a "winner" and a "loser".

I just wish the whole middle east could grow up. Their whole governments act the same as the most marginalized and unhealthy individual members of civil western societies. We regard as criminal or at least emotionally retarded or insane (engaging in the same action ~ violence... and expecting different results) the rationals by which whole societies are governed in the middle east. Ultimately, what little legitimacy there is for their violence against us should be overruled by the insanity of their inability to find any other solution for themselves.

Morning Fog

2007-01-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

I wish I had taken the shot from the top of the hill, but going down the hill towards Olema the view of the fog was lovely...

Yeah... Yeah We Are

2007-01-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

Glad I had my camera and took this...

A couple of days later it was gone. I thought it might be a permanent installation. This is the corner near the construction site I am working on these days. Bolinas residents ARE very lucky. Bolinas is a VERY laid back community set in an amazingly beautiful natural area. I thought this was a nice expression of gratitude and though I don't live on the coast in quite as dramatically beautiful area.. it was very easy to translate the sentiment to my life. As long as I get out of my own way and dedicate my life to going with the flow... I am L U C K Y too!

I Love This Guy...

2007-01-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

On Jan. 2, Wesley Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker, was taking his two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, to their mother’s home before he went to work. Around 1 p.m., they were waiting for the subway train at 137th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, when Cameron Hollopeter, 20, suffered a seizure and fell onto the subway tracks. The No. 1 train was fast approaching and, leaving his daughters in the care of strangers, Autrey jumped onto the tracks and covered Hollopeter with his body in a space less than two feet deep, as the train roared over them. The passing train covered Autrey’s blue knit cap with grease, but otherwise miraculously left both men untouched. Autrey refused medical help, because, he said, nothing was wrong. He did visit Hollopeter in the hospital before heading to his night shift. “I don't feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help,” Autrey said. “I did what I felt was right.”

There Is Really...

2007-01-10T21:39:00.000-08:00

Too much insanity for me to even process right now, but here is just a small start...

In October the maniac in the white house said, " Absolutely! We are winning in Iraq!!!"

A few short months later... after the November landslide against his satanic mission... tonights breathtaking, straight faced hypocrisy ~ acknowledging that we were NOT winning.

What created the insurgency in the first place was his policy of debathification and American soldiers invading neighborhoods and kicking down doors.

Now the answer is REbathification and American soldiers invading the most dangerous neighborhoods and kicking down doors backed up by the totally ineffectual Iraqi armed forces.

Where are these Iraqi forces coming from? The Iraqi "government" promises they will be available and effective.

The same Iraqi "government" that has not followed through on anything it has promised so far. Just a few months ago Iraqi leaders were actively preventing us from going after the worst offenders in the violence, but now they are dependable partners to "secure, hold and build."

There is more, but I am too tired. This is just scratching the surface of how little sense increasing American troops and not withdrawing makes! This is beyond incredible. Congress is like a deer caught in the headlights. They are saying they are against the escalation, but what are they actually going to do to change it? What are they actually doing? Don't count on them to do the right thing!!! As long as we keep going shopping instead of SCREAMING at them to do the right thing... they will just keep feeding the meatgrinder in Iraq that DOES create and strengthen our enemies and DOES NOT protect our security and national interests.

Write your representatives, especially if they are republicans!!! The republicans have failed us by giving this maniac's treasonous foriegn policy a carte blanche. ONLY if they cross the aisle and show much belated leadership to stop the insanity will the weak, sad democratic gas bags stick their necks out enough to do what is necessary. Tell them you are not only against funding more American troops... you are against funding the troops that are there!!! This is not what our troops were meant to do. They can win any conventional war against any conventional opponent in the world. Shoving them into a meatgrinder that shreds our ability to do what we really need to be doing to defend ourselves and actually strengthens our enemies is obscene misuse of one of our nations most valuable and courageous resources.

Just as only when the Iraqi government and people see American troops leaving will they be forced to fix their own problems (which I don't think they are capable of, by the way, and that is why I think we need to get out now!)... the only why this psychotic, evil policy can be put to death is IF congress DOES withhold funding FOR EVEN THE TROOPS THAT ARE THERE NOW! Only under those circumstances will the meatgrinder be turned off, true Middle East "democracy" (killing eachother until one is left standing)will run its course, and we can reload on a new strategy to deal with whoever is left.

Back At the Gas Station...

2007-01-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Nice view of Mt. Tam...

Whistling while putting the gas in the Old Volvo...

The moon...

I wish I could describe the amazingly beautiful 45 minute commute from where I live out through gorgeous valleys, huge Redwood groves and out to Bolinas on the coast. Just putt along in the Volvo enjoying a great cup of coffee and meditating. Today I saw a coyote cross the road. Neat animal. I drive real slow and enjoy the drive. I don't think it is enough that I don't hit a deer... I try to drive in a way that gives me every chance to prevent it. I think fast driving is a form of violence whether you hit anything or not. Blessings and Love...

I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!

2007-01-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

After the November elections… after the Iraq Study Group report… after the firing(?) of the disastrous don rumsfeld and the selection of the realistic Robert Gates… I actually held out some vestige of hope that sanity might prevail over the most flawed, dangerous, failed foreign policy decision in our countries history.

Far from being learned from, the mistakes of the disaster are instead being repeated with the expected announcement this week of AN INCREASE in U.S. troops being sent to Iraq. I can’t take it any more and am going to start sending letters to congress and editorial pages.

If you agree with me, I encourage you to do the same. I am attaching a copy of a letter I am sending, and here is an easy website you can use to get a mailing address for your elected (bleh… shudder…) “leaders”.

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

If you don’t agree with me, at least it might engender a little open-mindedness and honest debate.

Here is the letter...

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Christopher S. Bond, U.S. Senator
274 Russell Senate Office Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20510-2503

Sen. Bond~

I was raised in Missouri and lived there until my late thirties. I was a republican all the way back to Richard Nixon and remember wanting to vote for you as a little kid. The last ten years I have gotten sick of both parties. I am NOT against the use of American troops to defend our country and even in some extreme cases secure our national interest, but I voted democrat in the last election for the first time in my life to protest the decision by the current administration to invade Iraq and unleash its aftermath.

I am mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!

Haven’t we been here before?

Now there is a “New Way Forward”… a strategy is being proposed to militarily overcome a threat to our security and national interests in Iraq. Republicans (and even Democrats) warn of the dire consequences of inaction. Before it was “weapons of mass destruction and links to al Quaeda and 9/11”… now it is “failed state, open civil war and regional conflict”. We opened this Pandora’s box with military action. Ever since, we have been unable to mitigate the disastrous repercussions militarily. Now, more military… increasing troops… escalating the war (I refuse to use the touchy~feely, sanitized term “surge”) is being packaged by the President and his supporters as a “new strategy”.

While defenders of the administration keep denying this… it seems pretty conclusively documented (I have read and watched a TON of well sourced material about this) that what has gotten us into this mess was “cherry picking” intelligence and tailoring to fit into a predetermined plan to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Every “threat” justifying the invasion and the “evidence” supporting that conclusion (ALL of which turned out to be false) was MAXIMIZED and acted upon. Conversely, every single caution and concern expressed about invading (ALL of which have turned out to be painfully, disastrously accurate) were MINIMIZED and dismissed. This week Generals George Casey and John Abizaid who opposed more troops are out and replaced by General David Petraeus and Admiral William Fallon who support the administrations plan to increase troops.

There is a gravity in the Middle East, and you can’t defy gravity. Look at the governments that exist there. Other than Israel, which is as artificial a creation as any of the imperial lines drawn in the sand turning arbitrary sweeps of desert into “countries” ~ there is not now, nor has there ever been… anything remotely resembling a democracy we could recognize, nor has there even been the slightest vestige of societal underpinnings that could grow into one. The much referenced elections in Iraq a year ago were NOT democracy… the vast majority of Iraqis just voted for who the imam told them to. Far from being a hopeful sign of a democratic toehold, the Iraqi elections were just a headcount of the sectarian lines that are currently tearing the country apart.

The Republicans and supporters of this President, whose best judgment got us into this mess, solemnly and ominously intone about “What will happen if we do nothing?” I worry about the flip side of that coin. The same rational, sane thinking that would have predicted this disaster in the first place now counsels against continuing the mistake of applying a military solution to a hopeless project. I think the only sane response is to get out right now. There is no will in Iraqi society or the Middle East in general to solve problems through political processes… there is only the centuries old dedication to overcoming intractable differences by domination and killing. The question that should be on everyone’s mind is what do we do when the “New Way Forward” fails? The answer I have heard consistently is a serious commitment of military and economic involvement for 10 to 20 years!

How can we do that? When have we ever done that before? Afghanistan is the country which DID harbor the terrorists who actually attacked us. The chaos that nurtured our enemies was there and we dealt with it. Instead of consolidating that victory and safeguarding our national interests, we adventured militarily in Iraq… and created the chaos that nurtures our enemies there. More troops, economic aid and sustained effort would have helped in Afghanistan. It is too late for the application of those solutions in Iraq. What should we do? Make it the 51st state? Impose “democracy” at the point of a gun? FOR DECADES??? That is the option we will be left with when this latest effort goes the way of all the others before it. We cannot afford militarily or monetarily to do that!!!

The voices of moderation in Iraq, if they exist at all… hold no power or sway. We should get out completely right now. Do NOT increase the troop levels! Start the phased withdrawal of American military forces as soon as possible… two to three months… four to six months… no longer. With each division that leaves the pressure will grow on the only people who can make a difference in this disastrous situation. This isn’t about “emboldening the terrorists” or “cutting and running” or “losing”. Any thinking person could see we lost the moment our invasion succeeded. The smartest policy is to let them decide whether they want to solve things without killing each other or let them follow that hell-bent desire until the party we will be stuck dealing with is left standing.

With what little respect I can generate for a politician~

Well, At Least...

2007-01-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

After the years of Clinton scandal, he restored dignity to the office of the presidency..

White House pact cloaked visits amid scandal
Accord with Secret Service locked up records during Abramoff imbroglio

WASHINGTON - The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

The Bush administration didn’t reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

In a federal appeals court filing three weeks ago, the administration’s lawyers used the memo in a legal argument aimed at overturning the judge’s ruling. The Washington Post is suing for access to the Secret Service logs.

The five-page document dated May 17 declares that all entry and exit data on White House visitors belongs to the White House as presidential records rather than to the Secret Service as agency records. Therefore, the agreement states, the material is not subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the past, Secret Service logs have revealed the comings and goings of various White House visitors, including Monica Lewinsky and Clinton campaign donor Denise Rich, the wife of fugitive financier Marc Rich, who received a pardon in the closing hours of the Clinton administration.

The memo last spring was signed by the White House and Secret Service the day after a Washington-based group asked a federal judge to impose sanctions on the Secret Service in a dispute over White House visitor logs for Abramoff.

The chief counsel to another Washington-based group suing to get Secret Service logs calls the creation of the memo “a political maneuver couched as a legal one.”

“It appears the White House is actually manufacturing evidence to further its own agenda,” Anne Weismann, a Justice Department lawyer for 19 years and now chief counsel to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Friday.

The White House and the Secret Service declined to comment.

Last year in the Abramoff scandal, the Bush administration, in response to three lawsuits, provided an incomplete picture of how many visits Abramoff and his lobbying team made to the White House.

The task of digging out Abramoff-White House links fell to a House committee that collected the lobbyist’s billing records and e-mails. The House report found 485 lobbying contacts with presidential aides over three years, including 10 with top Bush administration aide Karl Rove.

After the scandal~ridden, unseemly pandering and sophmoric shenanigans of the clinton white house, I did actually think that bush had at least a chance to deliver on his promise to restore dignity to the office. I don't know about you guys, but I think it should be MANDATORY for ALL visitors names to the white house be in a public record. This sick, psychopathic despot masquerading as president seems oblivious to the ideal that... he works for US!!!

I hated bill clinton from the get~go, and thought that we had hit the bottom of the barrel for presidential timber. I had no trouble coming up with negative characterizations for bill clinton, but I have run out of them for bush. I cannot convey in words how sick... soul~sick he makes me. Suffice to say that I think he makes bill clinton look like he deserves to be on Mt. Rushmore! I'm sorry ,but I hate living in a country that is content to do enough shopping that it doesn't occur to millions to take to the streets SCREAMING AT A FEVER PITCH for at least the impeachment of this psychopath, if not actually trying and convicting him of treason.

I.

Just.

Don't.

Understand.

New Year's Day Hike...

2007-01-04T22:00:00.000-08:00

Enjoyed a great hike out at Pt. Reyes with my buddy Robert, who lives out there. Fantastic day. (Note: my timestamp is off... it really was New Years Day)

This Is...

2007-01-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

The street corner where I am going to be carrying my sign. These folks were out New Years day.

These are the ones I am considering...

OUT NOW!!!
They’ll kill each other now…
Or they’ll kill each other later!
NOT ONE MORE AMERICAN
SHOULD DIE IN IRAQ!!!

Is Iraq the way it is because
of the way Saddam was?
Or
Was Saddam the way he was…
Because of the way Iraq IS?!?!?
NOT ONE MORE AMERICAN
SHOULD DIE IN IRAQ!!!

OUT NOW!!!
WE DID NOT VOTE
FOR MORE TROOPS
TO DIE IN IRAQ!!!

“SURGE”?!?!?
OUT NOW!!!
NOT ONE MORE AMERICAN
SHOULD DIE IN IRAQ!!!

Democrats…
You Can’t Be “Against”
The War AND Spend
$150,000,000
To Continue It!!!

DISTRACTED FROM OUR
REAL ENEMIES...
MESS BEYOND BELIEF
IN IRAQ...
MILITARY STRETCHED
TO THE BREAKING POINT...
IMPEACHMENT!!!

There Is NO Connection...

2007-01-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

Between rap "music" and violence....

Busta Rhymes arrested in New York
Rapper charged with assault after man complains he was beaten

NEW YORK - Rapper Busta Rhymes was arrested after a man complained that the hip-hop star had beaten him up in a dispute over money, police said.

Rhymes, 34, turned himself in and was booked on a misdemeanor assault charge at a Manhattan police station Wednesday night, police Lt. John Grimpel said. The rapper was to be taken to court Thursday, Grimpel said.

One of Rhymes’ lawyers, Scott Leemon, declined to comment.

This Is A Riot...

2007-01-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

Lawmakers' January junkets curbed
Lobbyists look at other ways to educate members of Congress

WASHINGTON - The January junket to warmer climates, a postholiday tradition of sorts for some members of Congress, could be headed to the wayside. An accelerated work schedule set up by the new Democratic leadership has put a halt on many January excursions funded by lobbyists. Given that Democrats are taking over the House and Senate in part because of GOP ethics scandals, some lawmakers are fearful of the voters' wrath anyway if they go on the trips.

"I think members are looking more closely at privately funded travel, and I think ... many of them are being careful and avoiding it," said Rep. Charles Dent, R-Pa.

The last time members had to work much of January was 1995, when a newly Republican-led House took control, recalled Todd Hauptli, senior executive vice president of the American Association of Airport Executives.

For the past 21 years, except for 1995, his organization paid for members to fly to Hawaii to discuss airline issues at a conference. This January, members are declining the offer and will participate by videotape.

So in other words, the last time congress made a show working hard and rejecting lobbyists was when the republicans threw the democrats out in 1995 because the democrats were viewed as out of touch and corrupt. Now the democrats do it to the republicans.

What do you want to bet that things are back to normal by NEXT January?

This endemic to what makes me sad about the current state of our political "leadership". Sure, the republicans have been sucking, but watch the democrats. I haven't looked at it closely enough, but read it here now that pelosi and the rest of the democrats aren't up to the job. They will implode and miss every opportunity to do the right thing. They are already doing it by refusing to stand up to the request from the a.o.c. (administration on crack) for $150,000,000 to continue to fight the war they now say they are against. This is just the start. I don't know the details, but don't be surprised by the counterproductive infighting and complete failure to get their act together on anything that matters.

This Is Funny...

2006-12-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

I Shouldn't Be Surprised...

2006-12-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

I actually thought the November elections... the firing(?) of don rumsfeld... the hiring of Robert Gates... the Iraq Study Group report... were signs that the insanity of "stay the course" was finally being derailed. I didn't expect george bush to have the capacity to actually do the right thing, but I did think that at least there would be a diminished energy behind the insanity allowing space for ideas that at least make some kind of sense to grow.

With the immediate stubborn resistance to the I.S.G. report... I started to get a sinking feeling.

How will this hideous creation of his finally put to death. Because of him, there will from now forward be worse problems in Iraq than we ever faced with Saddam Hussein in power. He has given our true enemies more than they ever could have dreamt of. He has delivered it on a silver platter. The situation in Iraq cannot now be made o.k. for us. Our security has been grievously compromised by his feeble mind and testosterone laden impulses. Keeping a lid on the killing and terrorism there only forstalls its inevitability... at the cost of more billions to the American taxpayer and the tragic waste of more brave American lives. Our efforts to prop up democracy in the middle east... only forstalls the inevitable creation of a government that is a danger to us and destablilizer of the region.

We are seeing how well democracy works in the middle east with the recent events in gaza. fatah and hamas have quit shooting at israelis... TO SHOOT AT EACH OTHER!!! george bush... WAKE UP!!! THAT IS democracy in the middle east!!!!! That is as good as it is ever going to get in that part of the world.

My moment of truth is coming. If he gets his "troop surge"... if the pathetic democratic congress votes billions more to continue this insanity... I am hitting the streets with the most provocative sign I can come up with. I am going to do all I can to get others to join me. Where ever there is a demonstration against the continuation of this military involvement in Iraq... I will do my best to be there. I need help and I want ideas. What can I do besides sit here and complain about it.

If there AREN'T MILLIONS in the streets ~ I am just going to shake my head and know... that we deserve the next horrible terrorist attack against us. How can I say that? Because we have let this moron deflect us from the pursuit and destruction of those who truly threatened us, given them more strength than they ever could have imagined and has "broken" our militaries capacity to truly protect us with this wasteful wanton adventurism. If there aren't millions in the streets HOWLING

NO MORE!!!

Then they either don't care enough about the security of our nation to deserve it or actually support the strengthening of the enemies that bring the attack to our doorstep. I've said it before and it makes me sad to say it again... I'm afraid we won't pay attention until the suicide bombers are in our malls.

Bush's "Way Forward" on Iraq: More of the Same
Analysis: It now looks like the President will order a troop surge. But in most other ways, it's "stay the course" so far

By MICHAEL DUFFY

Posted Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006
George W. Bush is not expected to lay out his "new way forward" on Iraq until he gives a speech on the crisis in the first few weeks of January. But there were pretty good indications this week of where the Bush team is going next on Iraq. The President sent three strong signals in the space of several days — and each suggested that he was not only sticking with his stay-the-course strategy, he was about to become more aggressive in prosecuting it. First, an Administration official told TIME.com Friday, there is "a good likelihood" that the president will endorse a surge of up to 30,000 troops when he gives his next-steps-on-Iraq speech early next month. There is no word yet on how many troops would be involved or how long they might be there. Nor is there any indication yet on what the mission would be, though the president said there had to be one and he talked this week a lot about the security of the Iraqi people. The surge has been backed by a handful of neoconservatives in and out of the government, along with some retired generals, most of whom have been over to the West Wing in the last 10 days to talk about it. It surely helps the surge faction that CENTCOM boss Gen. John Abezaid, who had publicly opposed the idea, announced his retirement this week. And Colin Powell would not have broken a year's silence on Iraq just to oppose the surge last Sunday unless he was pretty convinced it was gaining steam.

The President also went out of his way last week to say he was inclined to favor an expansion of "end strength" in the Army and the Marine Corps in general. That decision is about Iraq but is not about a surge: Bush had a near revolt on his hands from the service chiefs, who feel the Iraq deployment has depleted readiness, hurt morale and left the U.S. with only the thinnest reserves to fight elsewhere in the world. The Army chief of staff said in public that the Army was "broken" and the Marine Corps Commandant made similar complaints. Bush had to do something to ease that condition — and he knows there is support for such an expansion in Congress. While it would take several years to recruit, train and equip the new units, Bush's inclination here underscores how much damage the war has done to force structure. My own guess is that Bush will tout this expansion regularly in the coming weeks, not so much because it would do anything to ease conditions in Iraq in the the near term — it won't — but because it implies that he is mobilizing, once again re-applying his game face.

Which brings us to the last development of the week. Bush tried to make it clear in his press conference that whatever Americans' dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war, next year would not look much different from the one that is coming to a close. This was, said the administration official, a deliberate warning to Americans not to expect a lot of change. "The year 2007 could bring many of the same challenges and sacrifices as 2006," he said. "This was designed to let people know we have a lot more fight left."

It was also plain to see last week that Bush's new approach on Iraq — if it can be called that — will include a diplomatic push by Secretary of State Condi Rice, aimed not at Iran and Syria, as the Baker Hamilton commission proposed, but at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. How sustained an effort this is likely to be is unknowable. Nor is there any word yet on what the Bush team plans to do about the political situation inside Iraq. It appears that the new Bush military strategy is likely to look a lot like the old, only more so.

It’s A Wonderful Life

2006-12-25T16:19:00.000-08:00

My Dad was a pretty strict disciplinarian. We were allowed to watch very little tv when I was young. He called it (rightly I have since learned) the boob tube. But back then it was a stinging mark of shame. First of all, we only had a black & white tv, while it seemed like EVERYONE else had a color one… with remote control! I remember sitting in fifth grade class and the teacher asked how much television the class watched nightly. She asked everyone to raise their hand who watched a half hour a night. I kind of sat there stunned. We didn’t get to watch television EVERY night… only a couple of times a week on school nights. Since I didn’t even meet the opening threshold I raised my hand to avoid embarrassment I was one of the few raised hands when she asked about an hour of television a night. To my stunned amazement she kept going all the way to a kid that asserted his parents allowed him to watch AT LEAST FOUR HOURS a night all the way through part of the “The Tonight Show”! On a school night!!!

Well, this was far beyond my experience for sure. When I was in junior high (this would be the early ‘70s), I was stunned that my parents let me keep an old, small, black & white portable tv that my Dad’s Sister gave to me. There were all kinds of restrictions about my watching it, but I remember one night on Christmas vacation turning it on with the volume down so low that my face was about a foot from the screen to hear it. There were only five channels in those days ~ the three networks, pbs and an independent station. I flipped through the channels and my eye was drawn to what was to an old black & white (you know how you can tell, even on a black & white tv) movie. I was mostly into detective and action programs those days, but the sentimental story kept me riveted. By the time the movie ended I had laughed, cried and was just sitting there in a blissful spiritual afterglow. I had never seen or heard of this movie before.

Suddenly I panicked.

This was in the days before vcrs or anykind of replay stuff. When something like “Bullitt” was on, you put everything on hold and were in front of the tv at the appointed hour because you never knew when you would see it again. All of a sudden I realized… “Oh no! When will I ever get to see this amazing movie again? I might NEVER get to see it again!!!

The movie was, of course, “It’s A Wonderful Life” which has been replayed every year (sometimes 24 hour marathon style) ever since.

I have just read recently that the movie flopped when it was first released, and was only resurrected on tv in the early 70s because a copywrite had lapsed and they could show it for free. It has since gone on to attain iconic Holiday status. Little did I know that night, I was just dropping down onto the face of a wave that would wash over every holiday for years to come!

December 23 Holiday M&M Level

2006-12-23T11:57:00.000-08:00

The last mouthful...

December 22 Holiday M&M Level

2006-12-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

Could You Imagine...

2006-12-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

And this is a MODERATE muslim country and an "ally on the war on terror"...

Lawyer works to expose Saudi legal system
Human rights attorney takes on powerful enforcers of sharia law

By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Updated: 9:20 p.m. PT Dec 22, 2006

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem said he had been waiting years for a case like this: A woman and her daughter, both accused of promiscuity, were followed by the morals police as they left a private residence on the outskirts of the capital.

The police, who enforce adherence to Saudi Arabia's strict religious laws, beat up the women's driver and drove off with them locked in the back of the car. When the car broke down half an hour later, the officers abandoned them in the stranded vehicle.

The police assumed that the women had been visiting male friends. But the two had been at the home of female relatives. And unlike the thousands who had previously been intimidated into dropping their grievances, they insisted on taking their kidnappers to court. The case, which goes to trial next week, will give Lahem a chance to finally confront the powerful morals police, whom he considers the country's worst human rights offenders.

A good Friend accused me of focusing on the problem, and not offering any solutions when I bring attention on issues like this. He also thought I had a resentment against Muslims. The latter may or may not be true. I do know that it is FAR less than it was years ago, when I just saw the world in terms of black and white, right (mine) and wrong (disagreement with me). I choose not to think that way anymore. If people disagree with me these days, I look at it as an opportunity to get over myself, open my mind and usually... learn lessons. What I do try to keep track of is whether or not a particular course of action an individual or group is taking... hurts themselve or others ~ if they are holding themselves back by their actions. If that seems to be the case, I try to take a principled objection to that behavior, all the while keeping an eye out for how I might be (or have been or could be) that way myself.

I don't think I am "resentful" at muslims as much as I am sorry for and take exception with the ways in which they hurt themselves, hurt others and hold themselves back that seem to be institutionalized in their belief system. I hardly maintain that we are right and they are wrong. There is PLENTY wrong with our country, society and way of life, but I guess I'd look at the relative freedoms we so commonly take for granted that are, sometimes literally, punishable by death in a Muslim society... and I'll take our way over theirs anytime. I think "spiritual paths" that try to deny and rigorously suppress our human frailties on balance cause much more harm than good to all who are subjected to it... including the perpetrators. Just because there is room for improvement in how we operate as a country has nothing at all to do with whether or not it is appropriate to take exception with the unhealthy behavior of another.

The other point I would bring up with my Friend is that by pointing out the seemingly insoluable differences our society (which is dependant upon Middle Eastern oil) and theirs (which sits on top of the oil) I am trying to be a part of the solution. We need to understand that, for better or worse, we are linked together ~ until we get off foriegn oil and likely until we are less onesided in our support of Israel, who in my opinion we support much less for any moral reason... than for the fact that they are a geopolitical counterpoint to the societies that control the oil with whom we have very little cultural intersection. Since we are linked together for now, we need to either take the oil, get off the oil, or learn to cooperate with those whose only material value in the worlds economy is that they just happened to live on top of the oil that they never would have known about or gotten access to without... us.

And that is ultimately what I am trying to point out. We need oil. And before you start talking about Bush... or Big Oil... or Greedy Corporations... and Corrupt Congress...

Look in the mirror.

We all think we aren't the problem, when the truth is ~ no matter how small, ecological or globally sensitive a footprint you try to make ~ if you live in this country... YOU are a part of the problem. Every Native American dreamcatcher you hang on the rearview mirror of your Prius... was brought to the store by something that burned oil! As you work your way up the ladder of your gentle, conscious, moral, spiritual consumption... connections just get more direct from there. You can say "I'm all for leaving those people alone... they have the right to exist... I'm not at fault... I don't want us to invade or do mean things... I want us to get off fossil fuel... I don't hurt anyone...", but if you live here ~ YOU are a part of the problem.

Since the solution is that we can either take it, get off it, or cooperate with the lucky goat herders (NOT a racial slur, just a fact!)... I am just trying to point out the challenges with the latter option. To solve a problem... you have to be willing to look at it from all sides. I am not necessarily arguing that the muslims on top of the oil are wrong, I'm just saying there is a huge gap of understanding that we have to start to bridge if we are going to cooperate with them. Part of that process simply involves an assessment of the differences, not only to search for common ground, but to at least recognize what we are up against.

One of...

2006-12-22T21:24:00.000-08:00

The most thoughtful, right~on articles about this mess I have read...

Living the Worst-Case Scenario
A retired Air Force officer says America won’t be able to avoid playing a military role in a wider Mideast regional conflict. And thanks to the mishandling of Iraq, that’s now a near-certainty.

Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Col. Mike Turner
Special to Newsweek
Updated: 9:25 a.m. PT Dec 20, 2006

Dec. 20, 2006 - On March 11, 2003, 10 days before the first shot was fired in what is now the war in Iraq, I wrote my first commentary for National Public Radio. It asserted that the upcoming conflict was not, as many Americans apparently believed, Desert Storm II, but actually more like America’s operation in Somalia. The war in Iraq, I wrote, would be nation-building on a grand scale, a disaster waiting to happen. I pointed out that U.S. policy represented a complete rejection of the Powell doctrine, which demands a political objective before committing U.S. troops and whose validity was proven during Desert Storm. The commentary went on to paint a horrific worst-case scenario in which the United States became bogged down in a nightmarish insurgency with American troops as occupiers, isolated from allies and unable to find any credible way out.

In subsequent commentaries and articles for NEWSWEEK, I suggested the presence of fleeting moments of opportunity to change course, establish realistic goals and involve the United Nations and regional allies in a long-term solution. In June 2004, I proposed that a federation of three independent states was the most likely long-term solution for Iraq, and that the Bush administration would do well to begin to shape that obvious outcome rather than continue to adhere to its short-sighted and irresponsibly naïve “stay the course” policy. From the very beginning, far more experienced regional experts than me were saying the same things.

And now, here we are, three-and-a-half years into the worst-case, nightmare scenario, with just under 3,000 U.S. dead, over 22,000 wounded and probably well over 100,000 Iraqi dead. The bipartisan Baker-Hamilton commission has stated flatly that “stay the course” is a failure, that catastrophe is a very real possibility, and that even if the administration adopts every one of the commission’s 79 recommendations, the United States may still fail horribly in Iraq.

America and the world will long debate the causes of our remarkably predictable descent into chaos in Iraq, but I believe one enduring truth has undermined our efforts from the start. The Bush administration and Congress since 2003 have demonstrated a breathtaking inability to rationally anticipate the likely outcomes of their actions. In particular, having repeatedly failed to plan for the worst-case scenario, they have repeatedly been forced to react as those very scenarios materialized. We simply must get out in front of this juggernaut. We are now at a critical juncture that can only be successfully negotiated if America’s leaders finally begin to anticipate and plan for what almost surely lies ahead. Ironically, and perhaps tragically, the Iraq Study Group report may actually prevent such a sea change in thinking from taking place. By offering a controversial way to “fix” Iraq, the commission report has already driven the Bush administration into a defensive, myopic crouch. This is the worst possible moment for such a response, and it means the next Congress and the new secretary of defense are very likely the only effective catalysts for change remaining in U.S. government. And what must they plan for?

It seems clear now that Iraq will very likely devolve into a full-blown civil war. If that occurs, Iran will back the Shiites and Syria will back the Sunnis. Should the principal mission of U.S. forces then be to seal the borders and try to contain the internal conflict? Or, should the United States simply withdraw and allow Iran and Syria to expend their national treasure in a protracted, regional, religious war between Shiite and Sunni? Such a wider war would certainly weaken Hezbollah’s base in Lebanon, blur Iran and Syria’s anti-American focus, and fracture the global Jihadist movement, but it could also spill into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and destabilize those nations. What approach best protects vital U.S. interests? And what of the Kurds? Will Turkey and Iran tolerate an independent Kurdish state, which would almost immediately spring up as the Iraqi government collapsed? Should the United States support such a state established by the one group in this conflict which truly does align itself with Washington?

These are not easy questions. But waiting once again for events on the ground to dictate a U.S. response—particularly after the painful lessons we’ve learned thus far from this naïve approach—would be tantamount to criminal negligence and, in my judgment, an impeachable offense. It is a cliché of the times that an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq would be a catastrophe. Perhaps. But I believe the real catastrophe will only occur if the U.S. continues to react blindly to short-term events in Iraq without developing a deliberative plan for long-term stability in a post-Iraq world. We need leaders in Washington, not followers. Leaders who understand that the war in Iraq has become a dangerous distraction from the far greater threat of a badly destabilized Southwest Asia and Middle East, which will now almost certainly happen. It is time for our new Congressional leaders to demonstrate the real courage of public service, rise above the political fray and demand action. Such leadership certainly won’t be found elsewhere.

Turner is a 24-year Air Force veteran and former fighter pilot and air-rescue helicopter pilot. He is a military analyst and commentator who spent seven years serving in U.S. Central Command and the Pentagon as a Middle East/Africa planner.

© 2006 Newsweek, Inc.

Got A Little Festive This Year

2006-12-20T21:33:00.000-08:00

December 20 Holiday M&M Level...

2006-12-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

Getting sicker.

Just noticed that the time stamp (which I'd like to turn off, but... haven't read the directions yet :-/) is a day off.

Hope everyone's Holidays are going Beautifully!!!

December 19 M&M Level

2006-12-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

Saw "Blood Diamond" tonight, and really enjoyed it.

December 18 M&M Level

2006-12-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

Ehhhhh!

Well...

2006-12-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

I got my Holiday Album cds out to family and friends at the last minute. Never again! Not the gifts, but the last minute part. The post office wasn't a nightmare like I expected... I got right in and out, but if I had mailed them last week, it would have cost $1.11 per. Because I didn't get things done in time, It cost $4.05 per. Grrrr!

December 17ths M&M Level...

2006-12-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

I am really starting to feel sick. I just walk by the damn thing and grab handfulls of these things. I just find it impossible to make it through the Holidays without over indulging in this handy chocolate delivery system.

Work...

2006-12-18T20:08:00.000-08:00

I was filling up with gas on my way out to the coast, and enjoyed a dramatic view of Mt. Tam. The fog and low clouds really do wonderful things during the winter months...

And, this is me working. Way too big a guy stuck up in a tight place. The blue in the background is a tarp we had over the whole building to protect it from the rain that was blowing in the wind...

3 1/2 Pounds of Holiday M&Ms

2006-12-16T17:17:00.000-08:00

Conversion courtesy of http://www.onlineconversion.com/

I have always been an M&M freak. They came out when I was a little kid and those talking, dancing, clowning~around little pieces of candy with legs, arms and faces hit their target... I wass hooked.

I used to buy them in the school store... a bag of plain and a bag of peanut. Pretty soon I started mixing that combo, and have continued to ever since. I have not been interested in any of the other permutations of M&Ms except the glorious day when almond came out. I still continue to mix a bag of almond with a bag of plain... always have to ask for a little courtesy cup from the person behind the counter.

If they came out with Holiday almond M&Ms, I'd go that route, but for now the plain and peanut are just fine... and have been for years. They must have come out near the time I met my exwife over 15 years ago. In Any Event, we started enjoying them early in our relationship. I remember when we must have been living together, she came home with "the combo" as we called it and joyously announced the arrival of the Holiday M&Ms. We gorged upon them until we were sick and I'm sure she showed much more sense in this area than did I.

I remember hiding a mug of them up in a cabinet while I was preparing some holiday meal or something, just so I could hit them while I created. I also remember in later years getting up at about 6:30 or so on a Saturday morning, feeding the dogs and making coffee. When I came back into the bedroom with her cup, she looked at me in amazement... "Did I hear you eating Holiday M&Ms out there?" Uh, er... yes. At 6:30 in the morning.

I also remember the first Christmas after our divorce. To kind of cope with it, I got into wrapping and mailing presents to relatives. It had been a busy deadline day at work, and I got right into the task of putting the gifts and cards together all night. I remember being up at 11pm wrapping presents and finally looking at the Holiday M&M jar and not being able to put my hand back in it. My disinterest caused a brief investigation to run across my mind. That's when I realized that all I had put into my system that day... was coffee and Holiday M&Ms!!!

Back to my ex... One October she came home and with an impish joy announced, "LOOK HONEY... Halloween M&Ms!!!" What fun! We were both overjoyed at an excuse to eat Holiday M&Ms until we were sick even earlier than December. "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!" as Ren & Stimpy (our favorites) would say. An interval of a few mere weeks and the Christmas Holiday M&Ms were out, and the joy continued.

Next year we repeated the cycle, and sometime in January, she came home and with less enthusiasm than previously announced, "Look Honey... Valentine M&Ms". We still went at it, but probably only went through one batch of "The Combo".

The next year we repeated the whole thing, but in May I will never forget her coming home and announcing almost resentfully, "They have Easter M&Ms." and slapping the bag down on the counter.

Our marriage was a little on the tough side, but there are many, many endearing moments like this that my exwife provided. When she was funny... she was VERY funny!

Happy Holidays!!!

A Christmas Carol...

2006-12-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas...

2006-12-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

Goldman Sachs will pay about 50 executives bonuses of $25 million or more.

We are such a screwed up country.

I am all for the free market system, but there is such an obscene disproportion practiced in this country that it breaks my heart.

Thank You...

2006-12-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

Joe Biden is one of the biggest morons ever to be a senator, but even he has a lucid moment from time to time. This guy Gordon Smith is pretty dead on.

One of the things I am mad about, though is all the consternation, outrage, handwringing and demands for action from Congress after this election. As Lee Hamilton pointed out... where the hell have these people been while the rest of us have seen the obscenity of this invasions aftermath for years now. Yeah, they're all real brave now talking about "changing course", but why haven't they been hammering away about this for years? Because they are all chicken shits, that's why. They've been working their 3 day work weeks and spending all their time raising money for the next election instead of standing up for what they now all agree is right... some kind of drastic change in "our Iraq policy".

That brings me to a second point ~ "changing course" doesn't mean saying you are against the war...

AND THEN FUNDING IT'S CONTINUATION!!!

under the silly political cover that they "support the troops" and don't want to "politicize what the troops need" and all that other crap. You cannot be against this war and vote to continue it at the same time. There is one Presidential candidate who is making that point and calling for the only funding to be to bring the troops home. I have laughed at him most of my life, but I AM GOING TO VOTE FOR HIM IN 2008... Dennis Kucinich!!!

I say, support the troops by bringing them home immediately. They work for US!!! It's doesn't matter whether they want to stay there or not! We tell them to come home... THEY COME HOME!!! There is no mission for them to win anymore. It is illogical to say that bringing them home... doesn't support them. Sane people recognize that you don't honor those who have already lost their lives... by losing more lives, especially for a losing cause that cannot be reversed militarily and does nothing to further our national security!

And that brings me to point #4. The ridiculousness of the argument that Iraq will descend into a worse bloodbath than now if we leave. Yes, it will... and guess what? That is the ONLY way this is going to get solved. These people want to kill each other like nobody's business. Massacres, NOT democracy are how things are solved in the Middle East... unless, of course, there is a despotic strongman like Saddam Hussein to keep them in check. At some point, more and more sane people who can effect change in our government are going to state the obvious... this thing will only be decided BY A BLOODBATH. As horrible as that is, it will result in a "winning" side, and the kind of government iraqis want and deserve can begin to pick up the pieces. It will likely be a horrible sort of government that is a pain in our ass, destablizes it's neighbors and may well be a haven of terrorism, but guess what...

It is TOTALLY OUR FAULT for opening that pandora's box AND more American servicemen and women dying... WON'T CHANGE THAT!!! We will NEVER get the kind of government there we would like to see, and we might as well start dealing with the reality as soon as possible.

I am glad that some sanity is finally being applied to the national discourse on the foolhardiness of our post~invasion policy (which in my opinion is inextricably linked to the decision to invade in the first place), but I am furious that all of this attention and energy hasn't been a constant, loud drumbeat for years now. And point #5... I am completely skeptical that bush will do anything, but declare defacto martial law and overrule the clear wishes of the American public by, after all this... "staying the course" and "we won't lose, unless we leave too soon." I only hope that his insanity ignites a howl of protest by millions in the streets of this country that gives the democrats the backbone they don't have on their own... to do the right thing!

Holy Freakin' Toledo!!!

2006-12-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Blogs Are...

2006-12-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

Useful, creative, interesting things... and then, sometimes they are just places to put random stuff of questionable value. I was on the phone with my best friend back in St. Louis. We were emailing eachother photos and then talking about them. He was watching a small clip about the Christmas lights I put up this year and I...

There Is Something...

2006-12-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

About the battered condition of this sign...

That makes me nervous!

The Job Site

2006-12-09T14:36:00.000-08:00

This is the view from the second floor of the home I'm helping to build out in Bolinas. (The ocean is just a few hundred yards behind me.) It is a part time job to fill in when I am not doing stagehand things. I am lucky to have "outside" work like this at all, but particularly at this time of year. Stagehand related work really drops off from December through February.

The beginning of this year was the worst since 9/ll for the union. I bascially only worked about 2 out of the first 6 months of this year. Hard on the pocket book, but I'll tell you what... I could sure handle being retired!!! It was great to just wake up and do whatever I wanted to do. Hard on the pocket book, though and kind of ironic that it just served to push back the day when I can actually retire. At this rate, chances are good that I am going to end up as one of those old guys who supplements his retirement income by "guarding" the paintings in a museum from the fingerprints of kids.

It's funny... I used to feel so sorry for them when I was a kid, and it might actually become my fate. Shouldn't have thought so much about it back then. Probably started some kind of karmic chain reaction.

In any event, this side job in Bolinas is Awesome!!! I drive from my sweet little town at the foot of Mt. Tam through the beautiful San Geronimo valley as the sun is rising, coffee and pastry in hand. I turn south towards Bolinas/Stinson Beach and travel though a valley that runs right on top of the San Andreas fault. The scenery is so Beautiful it is hard for me to describe. The whole drive is like a deeply Spiritual meditation on Nature.

Then I arrive at the jobsite pictured above and get to work with hands down one of the most wonderful groups of guys I have ever encountered. They are real anomalies in the construction world... cooperative, patient and appreciative of my efforts... no competitive, macho, negative energy... and each guy has a great personality and all kinds of interests and views that make the on~the~job talk a pleasure. All this while I learn more about how to build things (something I had no experience doing before 2002).

I have always tried to make the best of it, but after being dissatisfied more or less with every other job I have had in my life... this stagehand thing and my side job with the Bolinas crew is...

I just have to keep pinching myself, as I encounter work situations in which I say to myself, "I love my job... I love my life!"

p.s. Actually just joking about the museum thing... if that is what I end up doing when I "retire" ~ I'll feel the same way about that.

Nice Sunrise

2006-12-09T12:43:00.000-08:00

Getting to stay out at Muir Beach again and working just up the coast helping build a house in Bolinas. This is what greeted me Friday morning as I left for work.

More...

2006-12-04T23:11:00.000-08:00

of the same. I might actually DIE if I watch the woman on the motorcycle again...

Sorry, but...

2006-12-04T23:01:00.000-08:00

There's nothing I laugh at harder than people doing stupid things... and paying the price. To be clear, I don't feel great about laughing at the misfortune of others and see nothing funny about accidents... but there is something about the instant karma of people intentionally treading the intersection of physiology and kinetic energy that touches a part of my funny bone like nothing else.

Well, At Least They Learned Something

2006-12-01T16:38:00.000-08:00

Now it's the Iraqi's fault...

From slate.com

The Bush administration has yet to endorse this paradigm shift publicly, but a blame-Iraqis spirit certainly informed National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley's eyes-only memo criticizing Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. (To read Hadley's memo, which was leaked to the New York Times, click here.) Even the normally discreet secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has grumbled,

"the security situation is not one that can be tolerated and it isn't one that has been helped by political inaction. … [T]he Iraqis as a whole, all of the government, all of the leaders, really have got to be committed to moving this process forward. They don't have time for endless debate. …"

Well documented in Thomas Ricks book "Fiasco" is that there was a breathtaking failure to consider in even the most basic terms any plan for what would happen AFTER the invasion. I haven't finished Bob Woodward's excellent "State of Denial", but the theme has been that time and time again, those advising the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of State and the Defense Secretary would push information up the chain that things in Iraq were persistently dysfunctional, not getting better and that the logical trajectory was for them to get worse. These departments would send very serious people to see what needed to be done, but basically because of the personalities at the top ~ ideas were just passed around like hot potatos...

In other words, not only was there no plan going into the invasion for "post~war" Iraq, but in the face of furious handwringing, study and worry since then...

No.

Plan.

Was.

Ever.

Developed.

Afterwards!!!

Everyone just kept looking at each other, blaming, and ultimately changed nothing, because that would seem to be acknowledgement that the policy might be failing. In other words (please read Rice's quote above) they engaged in "endless debate" and failed to "to be committed to moving this process forward"!

At least they learned something out of this mess.

Life...

2006-11-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

Man, I've been pinching myself lately. Actually, that's not really true. I am not having to pinch myself. I am just getting out of my own way... letting go of doubts... and taking the next right step. The result has been a year of growth beyond my wildest dreams.

Today specifically, I to go to a job where I am respected and valued as a contributor... a fun interesting job that pays well and offers a stable career path. Worked for 5 hours and drove back across the Golden Gate Bridge on a mindblowingly gorgeous day to Marin County. Stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some great food. Arrived at the amazing beachfront house where I have the pleasure to house/dog sit from time to time. Lunch of sliced apples, a bread from a local baker called "Herb Slab" (first time I have ever had it and it was awesome ~ a new favorite) and Monterey Jack Goat cheese. French roast, french press coffee... mouthwatering pastry for dessert (dessert for lunch?!? Heck Yeah!!!)... and a great book ("State of Denial" by Bob Woodward ~ MUST READ!!!) to read on the couch and watch the light change on the ocean... on the beach... and on the headland across the way.

Haven't even talked about the gift of the relationships in my life... family... friends... women... people who help me... people to whom I enjoy and grow from helping.

It is nice that life is as good as it is right now. I am not going to wonder why it is. I just try to keep learning about the ways in which I hold myself back... learn from them... and turn them over to whatever is behind all this "life~earth~universe thing"... developing gratitude for the less wonderful gifts in my life... as well as for the lessons from the few hardships that life actually sends my way. I am in a free, centered internal territory beyond anything I have known in my life. I've had glimpses before, but what is happening now feels like I have stepped across a line... to a place it would be hard to step back away from.

First Video Blog...

2006-11-29T06:05:00.000-08:00

Pardon me...

2006-11-28T21:08:00.000-08:00

I just had to take a crap.

So I'm working at the symphony and there is a great little shopping area nearby with great cafes and cute shops. It has become a holiday tradition of sorts for me to get a Holiday ornament or two. Fortunately it wasn't at the shop featuring ~ yes, that's right...

Folks, I'm not a prude by a long shot and I don't think for a minute that scolding a little child for talking gleefully about "pee" and "poo", but Pee and Poo... "dolls"? There is just something sad about "adults" taking the mischievious remark of a 3 or 4 year old and marketing it to other "adults" to hand over to their 3 or 4 year olds at the holidays. Nice present... nice thought. The disintigration of maturity is not without its cost. Kind of leads to a president thinking its o.k. to play "toy soldier" against the "bad man" who tried to kill his Pop.

Driving Home From Work...

2006-11-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

Nice Flying

2006-11-25T13:04:00.000-08:00

This is for my buddy the F~Guy who never looks at my blog, but loves flying. He'd better watch out, though... there is a video of HIM that might make it up here if he doesn't watch it!!!

Heaven

2006-11-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

Beautiful imagery
the innocence of children
and the self~absorption of adults
heaven is inside each one of us
it is not a place we go
not a way to be changed
it is the moments of loving ourselves
free from going anywhere
or changing into anything.
It is in this moment
and if we are expecting it
we are missing it.

Lebron James

2006-11-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

I like basketball, but I am not a fan ~ particularly of the nba. Even more than football, the self absorption and sketchy values of many nba stars is... super obscene. Lebron James seems to be an exception to that rule, but beyond that... these shots are mind~blowing!

I Guess We're Not ALL On The Same Page Yet...

2006-11-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

This kind of thing is exactly why I used to refer to the bush administration as the A.O.C. ~ administration on crack. Only a person whose mental capacity has been ravaged by chronic drug use... or is insane... or just isn't very intelligent... would draw this "lesson" from our Vietnam experience when given the opportunity, only a couple of weeks after a landslide referendum against his iraq policy, to be introspective about our involvement iraq...

"We'll succeed unless we quit."

—President George W. Bush, when asked during his visit to Vietnam which lessons from the Vietnam War could be applied to the war in Iraq

I'm just sad.

I am sad for the Iraqis.

I am sad for our Service People.

I am sad that the president of the country I live in...

is a madman.

And I am sad to live in a country that finds a way to be ambivilent about our role in this catastrophe.

The Worm Has Turned...

2006-11-18T23:18:00.000-08:00

I think we are all getting on the same page now...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15773983/

The whole article is worth reading, but here is my favorite part...

Others close to the White House said the neoconservatives are dealing with their own sense of guilt over how events have turned out and are eager to blame Bush to avoid their own culpability. Joshua Muravchik, a neoconservative at the American Enterprise Institute, said he is distressed "to see neocons turning on Bush" but said he believes they should admit mistakes and openly discuss what went wrong. "All of us who supported the war have to share some of the blame for that," he said.

It may also be, he said, that the mistake was the idea itself -- that Iraq could serve as a democratic beacon for the Middle East. "That part of our plan is down the drain," Muravchik said, "and we have to think about what we can do about keeping alive the idea of democracy."
Few of the original promoters of the war have grown as disenchanted as Adelman. The chief of Reagan's arms control agency, Adelman has been close to Cheney and Rumsfeld for decades and even worked for Rumsfeld at one point. As a member of the Defense Policy Board, he wrote in The Washington Post before the Iraq war that it would be "a cakewalk."

But in interviews with Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and The Post, Adelman said he became unhappy about the conduct of the war soon after his ebullient night at Cheney's residence in 2003. The failure to find weapons of mass destruction disturbed him. He said he was disgusted by the failure to stop the looting that followed Hussein's fall and by Rumsfeld's casual dismissal of it with the phrase "stuff happens." The breaking point, he said, was Bush's decision to award Medals of Freedom to occupation chief L. Paul Bremer, Gen. Tommy R. Franks and then-CIA Director George J. Tenet.

"The three individuals who got the highest civilian medals the president can give were responsible for a lot of the debacle that was Iraq," Adelman said. All told, he said, the Bush national security team has proved to be "the most incompetent" of the past half-century. But, he added, "Obviously, the president is ultimately responsible."

Adelman said he remained silent for so long out of loyalty. "I didn't want to bad-mouth the administration," he said. In private, though, he spoke out, resulting in a furious confrontation with Rumsfeld, who summoned him to the Pentagon in September and demanded his resignation from the defense board.

"It seemed like nobody was getting it," Adelman said. "It seemed like everything was locked in. It seemed like everything was stuck." He agrees he bears blame as well. "I think that's fair. When you advocate a policy that turns bad, you do have some responsibility."

Most troubling, he said, are his shattered ideals: "The whole philosophy of using American strength for good in the world, for a foreign policy that is really value-based instead of balanced-power-based, I don't think is disproven by Iraq. But it's certainly discredited."

Secret Santa Reveals His Identity

2006-11-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he's anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It's been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?

But now, weak from chemotherapy and armed with a desire to pass on his belief in random kindness, Secret Santa has decided it's time to reveal his identity.

He is Larry Stewart, a 58-year-old businessman from the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, Mo., who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

His holiday giving started in December 1979 when he was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant after getting fired. It was the second year in a row he had been fired the week before Christmas.

"It was cold and this car hop didn't have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, `I think I got it bad. She's out there in this cold making nickels and dimes,'" he said.

He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change.

"And suddenly I saw her lips begin to tremble and tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She said, `Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.'"

Stewart went to the bank that day and took out $200, then drove around looking for people who could use a lift. That was his "Christmas present to himself." He's hit the streets each December since.

While Stewart has also given money to other community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss., he offers the simple gifts of cash because it's something people don't have to "beg for, get in line for, or apply for."

That was a feeling he came to know in the early '70s when he was living out of his yellow Datsun 510. Hungry and tired, Stewart mustered the nerve to approach a woman at a church and ask for help.

The woman told him the person who could help was gone for the day, and Stewart would have to come back the next day.

"As I turned around, I knew I would never do that again," Stewart said.

Over the years, Stewart's giving as Secret Santa grew. He started a Web site. He allowed the news media to tag along, mostly because he wanted to hear about the people who received the money. Reporters had to agree to guard his identity and not name his company, which he still does not want revealed.

His entourage grew over the years, and he began traveling with special elves. People like the late Negro Leagues icon Buck O'Neil, who handed out hugs while Stewart doled out $100s. NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus will join Stewart this year in Chicago when Stewart hands out $100s in honor of O'Neil, the first African-American coach in the Major Leagues.

They'll give out $100,000 between Chicago and Kansas City. Four Secret Santas who Stewart "trained" will hand out an additional $65,000.

Doctors told Stewart in April that he had cancer of the esophagus and it had spread to his liver. He has been lucky, he says, to get into a clinical trial at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the aggressive chemotherapy has stripped away his appetite and energy. He's lost about 100 pounds, but has held onto his white hair.

The treatment costs more than $16,000 a month, not including the cost of traveling to Houston every two weeks and staying there for five or six days. He now has two months off, but returns to treatment in February.

His insurance company won't cover the cost of the treatment, which has left him concerned about his finances and his family.

Now, his mission is bigger than handing out $100 bills. Stewart wants to speak to community groups about his devotion to kindness and to inspire others to donate their time and money.

"That's what we're here for," Stewart says, "to help other people out."
___
On the Net:
http://secretsantausa.com/

My Life Is…

2006-11-18T12:42:00.000-08:00

...moments of great efficiency tempered by procrastination.

This morning I was enjoying a walk through downtown San Anselmo this morning, cup of coffee (a decaf depth charge) in hand and locally baked pastries in my pocket when I looked in the window of a sweet little shop, and saw this years Christmas ornaments for my nieces. I have taken on the tradition of giving them ornaments each year. I don’t know if they mean much to them now, they are 11 and 12 years old, but I’d imagine they will mean something to them someday.

When I was their age, I was most interested in things that were new and modern, and really turned my nose up at things that were old. An exception to this were the old ornaments that had belonged to my Mom’s family when she was a kid. She was a depression baby and there was nothing in the way of luxury (or much of what we would today consider necessity) in the in the hilltop farmhouse she grew up in. From the stories she told, I could easily imagine that amazing time of year was when the living room was inhabited by a Christmas tree, and in those pre~television days... the wide~eyed joy and awe those ornaments and lights would bring.

In my twenties, when I moved out, buying my own ornaments was sort of a secret pleasure. I was not yet as divorced from the illusion of being considered tough and manly as I am today. I don’t think I ever really expected to have kids to pass them on to… I think I was really buying them as a gift to the little child in me. They were unique, beautiful, artistic ornaments; often bought at the art museum shop. A fumbling attempt to re~parent my perceived deficiencies from what felt hard in my childhood. I grew up feeling acutely the difference between what other kids had and what I didn’t. That is an interesting generational difference… my Mom’s childhood WAS hard ~ mine just felt hard. Well, as I’ve come to learn… my feelings aren’t facts ~ but that is really beside the point… the lifetime can be spent learning that difference.

In Any Event (the alternate name for my blog), as I was buying the ornaments for my nieces today, the woman behind the counter asked if I was always this organized.taking into account that it is more than a month before Christmas. I assured her that while this was being crossed off the list, I would likely still fall victom to all the little forks in the road between getting these gifts… and actually getting them in the mail ~ how to wrap… what else to put in… and on… and on.. and on. I am efficient in many moments of my life… moments that are so often connected to the fog of contingencies within which I sometimes loose my way… but that too, is open to interpretation and the weight of whatever value I choose to give.

Finally...

2006-11-15T13:40:00.000-08:00

A break in my obsession with blogging about Iraq!

In the mail arrived my very own copy of the "Young American Poetry Digest" for 2006 ~ a gift from my 10 year old Niece Molly... whose poem is in the darn thing!!! I am so proud of her!

TIP TAP

Tip Tap Tip Tap rain like little warriors
trying to get in~
but can't.

if you listen closely you can
hear the wind weeping
Tip
Tap
Tip
Tap
until the last tip is tapped.

2006-11-15T08:55:00.000-08:00

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three U.S. soldiers and three U.S. Marines were killed during combat in Iraq, the military said Wednesday.

Are We All On the Same Page Yet...

2006-11-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

Bloodthirsty, irational population hellbent on killing each other and not cooperating with any of our goals. Rebuilding and humanitarian goals impossible to achieve. Clearly devolving into a vicious civil war and the unstoppable cycle of violence the Middle East has perfected.

Unconventional withering urban guerilla warfare of terror against soft targets that our troops cannot defeat, i.e. as soon as they are run out of one area... they pop up in another... and when we get them there... they are back in the original one.

What.

Are.

We.

Still.

Doing.

There?

We have been beaten. We cannot militarily win the war they fight. Bin Laden's greatest goal has been achieved. They have now defeated both of the world's superpowers. Soviet Union in Afghanistan and now the United States in Iraq. Lebanon... Somalia... now Iraq. When will we learn? There is nothing we can do there that will help. Our being there actually exacerbates all the problems. There is nothing we can "win" there now. It is completely beyond our control.

Alcoholics and drug addicts have to hit bottom before they will seek the solution they need to save their life. Preventing that bottom prolongs the suffering. The individual has to crash and burn... and then decide whether they are going to save their life or not. This thing has got to completely implode to the point that they become exhausted with killing each other or that it gets so bad those Middle East nations that can, intervene out of self interest.

Perhaps there will be as much luck as there has been with the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

For what it's worth, I've been saying we should get the hell out about 2,800 dead American service personnel ago. Their blood and the blood of the half dozen or so who are going to die tomorrow or the next day are on the conscience of anyone who thinks we should stay.

And those deaths...

Will.

Not.

Change.

A thing!

I Am Laughing So Hard... I'm crying!

2006-11-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

And this doesn't even include the one where he says something like, "Our enemies are always looking for ways to harm us... and so are we!"

Bush Drunk...

2006-11-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

This Isn't So Funny...

2006-11-12T21:33:00.000-08:00

It Won't Change...

2006-11-12T12:07:00.000-08:00

The american people are sick of partisanship, corruption, bickering, ethical wrongdoing... they want us to work together on issues that are important to them and stop bickering... blah, blah, blah.

I am unfortunately listening to one of the most wishy~washy politicians ever, joe lieberman, who has been there the whole time all these problems have been coming and going. He is sactimoniously intoning about the need for change adn cooperation. Folks... how long have we heard... and Heard... AND HEARD this kind of verbiage (mere words)? And what happens? Nothing changes. Partisanship, corruption, bickering and ethical wrongdoing continue unabated. There are some institutionalized systems that CAN NOT CHANGE!

That is why I would continue to suggest withdrawing immediately from Iraq. The middle east will not be democratic and cannot be moderate. We have lost almost 3,000 american military personnel so far. The dynamics in the middle east are the same as congress. When there is a moment of accountability (either an election in our case or a cataclysmic rise in bloodshed in their case) there will be a lot of talk that sounds good... but nothing will ultimately change.

We should not waste one more american life in an uncivilized, inherently violent and blood thirsty part of the world.

O.K. ~ I know I am writing about iraq, politics and geopolitics... I am going to do that, but try to reduce the volitility of my commentary.

Don't Forget About Nukes...

2006-11-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

What Would Dick Butkus Do?

2006-11-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

Media should ignore T.O., Chad Johnson
Receivers' under-performance,
trash-talking sends wrong message

OPINION
By JT the Brick
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 8:24 a.m. PT Nov 10, 2006

Can you help me? I spend too much time on my radio show talking about two NFL players who can't shut their mouths. Instead of breaking down games for my listeners, Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson take up all my time. They must be stopped!

We live in a new sports era where athletes continue to get on television and promote themselves even when they’re not accomplishing any of their personal or team goals. The egomaniac professional athletes, agents and publicists encourage their clients to talk as much as possible in the hopes of staying relevant to fans from all over the world. Guys like Marvin Harrison or Shaun Alexander aren't covered because of Johnson and Owens.

Johnson was on the cover of Sports Illustrated a few weeks ago even though he is having his worst statistical season in years. He was also profiled on “Inside the NFL” on HBO because of his ongoing battle of words with Atlanta Falcons defensive back DeAngelo Hall. He was wired for sound throughout the entire game and only cared about burning Hall in one-on-one coverage. Atlanta ended up beating Cincinnati 29-27, but every camera in the Bengals locker room was pointed toward Johnson after the game.

Owens has dominated airwaves since he signed with Dallas. He has made a few big plays that have helped the Cowboys win a few games, but he continues to make selfish comments after critical loses — all because he didn't get enough touches. He may be the most famous player without a championship ring to ever play in the NFL.

T.O. gets more media attention than all of the players on the Mavericks, Stars and Rangers combined. He is not only the most recognizable professional athlete in Texas, but is hated in Philadelphia and San Francisco after burning those teams with his off-field distractions.

But the backlash is finally catching up to these two high-profile players. After talking trash around the clock, they are finally getting hit with negative press.

Still, I have a better idea: Wouldn't it be fun if the local media in both Cincinnati and Dallas stopped covering them? They wouldn't know what to do! Johnson is a spoiled brat who expects everyone to ask him softball questions. His act is getting old and every reporter that asks him the same loaded questions each week should lose their media credential and have to flip burgers inside the stadium on game day. Johnson recently called himself a “hood ornament” because he stands around looking pretty when he should be getting more balls thrown his way.

Legends like Deacon Jones and Jim Brown shake their heads in amazement knowing that players such as Johnson and Owners keep up their antics.
What concerns me most about the childish behavior of Johnson and Owens is the fact that thousands of young football players seem to enjoy watching the trash talk. It's is unfortunate that the TV networks spend more time covering the antics of trash-talking receivers instead of the players on the elite teams who are making the big plays and doing it under the radar. Give me a Pro Bowl right tackle who can block and pass protect any day.

Compare these two to other receivers:
Owens has 44 receptions, 558 yards and six touchdowns.
Chad Johnson has 40 receptions for 443 yards and two touchdowns.
Andre Johnson of the Texans has caught 65 passes for 752 yards and four touchdowns.
Reggie Wayne of the Colts has amassed 732 yards and five scores.
Marques Colston of the Saints has scored seven touchdowns with 700 yards and 44 receptions.
The Cardinals' Anquan Boldin stars for a team that has only won one game, but he continues to put up impressive statistics with 48 receptions for 608 yards.

Owens is headed for the Hall of Fame. His 760 receptions for 11,093 yards and 107 touchdowns are fabulous, but his reputation of being a bad teammate who rips apart teams is what is defining his legacy. More fans and media should concentrate their efforts toward Marvin Harrison of the Colts who broke into the NFL in 1996 (the same season as Owens) and has put up better numbers than any other active receiver. He could eventually challenge Jerry Rice's all-time career statistics if he remains healthy and motivated to play until he is 40. Harrison sits at 979 receptions for 13,029 yards and 115 touchdowns and is the ultimate teammate and competitor. Along with his quarterback Peyton Manning, Harrison is everything that is right about the NFL while Owens and Johnson continue to embarrass themselves and franchises.

It looks like that only way to shut up Johnson and Owens is to keep them out of the playoffs. Johnson have never played in a big game that matters while Owens shined for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2005 Super Bowl, a game in which his team lost to the New England Patriots but he caught nine passes for 122 yards. He gained a lot of respect from players and fans for returning from a serious leg injury to play in the Super Bowl, but ended up losing all the good will that he gained from his early return the following season when he ended up getting suspended and eventually kicked off the team.

If both of these loud mouths miss the postseason and have to watch several of their peers compete on the national stage, it will be the best medicine for their inflated egos while they sit at home on the couch trash talking to their friends who only enjoy their company because of their money and fame.

Probably To The Chagrine of No One...

2006-11-09T21:57:00.000-08:00

I have decided to stop writing about the war and perhaps politics and foreign affairs in general.

More on the Moron...

2006-11-08T20:55:00.000-08:00

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/view/

I Should Be Happy...

2006-11-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

But I'm not!!!

The Boys Are Back in Town
Cheney and Rumsfeld are on the outs.
Scowcroft, Baker and Gates are in.
Can they get America out of Iraq?

By Howard Fineman
Newsweek
Updated: 2:11 p.m. PT Nov 8, 2006

Nov. 8, 2006 - President George W. Bush's Iraq policy is now in the political equivalent of receivership—a bankrupt project that is about to be placed in the hands of the worldly-wise pragmatists who surrounded the president's own father. Think of them as receivers in bankruptcy, looking for ways to salvage America's military and moral assets after a post-September 11 adventure that voters (and most of the rest of the world) concluded was a waste of blood and treasure.

Here's another analogy: the Shakespeare histories and tragedies in which battlefield mayhem ends with a restoration of order in the person of the Respected Nobles. In this case, these are the old royals from the Castle of Bush the First: a coterie of commercially minded globalists (as opposed to those ideologically minded globalists, the neocons) who have spent their lives as advisers and friends of former president George Herbert Walker Bush.

The man who is about to be isolated in the White House is not the president, but Vice President Dick Cheney—the last neocon left. Elbowing him aside now, as Donald Rumsfeld departs the scene, are people such as former secretary of State James A. Baker III and now—as Rumsfeld's replacement at the Department of Defense—former CIA director Robert M. Gates. They are loyal liegemen of Bush 41, and they bring to an analysis of Iraq decades worth of diplomatic and intelligence-community experience. They come from and inhabit a world of gray, not the black-and-white universe of good and evil that Bush 43 has occupied for years, especially since 9/11.

In a sense, the whole story of the internal conflict leading up to the war in Iraq, and a good bit of the backbiting since, has been about a subterranean and never-ending war between the Old Boys of the CIA and the State Department (the "pragmatists" for want of a better term) and the White House and Defense Department "Vulcans." The pragmatists believe in commerce above all, and in an America that survives through the cold-eyed view that our country has no permanent enemies and no permanent friends—only permanent interests.

Now they are in charge, having been handed one of the biggest military, diplomatic and public-relations messes in recent American history. Gates and Baker—and other pragmatists such as Brent Scowcroft—have been called in over the objections of Vice President Cheney.

Great observations by Fineman, but here's my point...

Why did it take this election result to bring about the rejection of these two evil, miserable fuckheads, cheney & rumsfelt, and their cadre of hideous ghouls feith, libby, wolfowitz and carmino, carbino... whatever?

If, as we have heard and heard and heard that invading iraq was the right thing to do no matter what world, the american public and our own military and foreign policy experts say... why does that change just because those views have coalesced into a landslide for democrats? Why did it take this election to somehow derail this demonic administrations hellbent desire to keep pushing america's brave young men and women into a worthless meatgrinder that protects and advances NONE of our national interests and indeed has CREATED conditions and for the next world war and strengthened the hand of an enemy we CANNOT conquer militarily?!?!? This is not even to mention the blood of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of innocent iraqi men, women AND CHILDREN who have perished painfully, violently and horribly as a result of this illegal, ill-conceived, illogical invasion.

Were things better under saddam hussein? Unfortunately, the answer is unquestionalby YES!!! FAR fewer innocents were killed under his regime than have been as a direct result of our invasion of iraq and the easily forseeable aftermath of instability. No matter what he did about wmd, he would have presented a FAR less threat to our country and the middle east than a shia theocracy and terrorist training ground that is on the way. The worst news is THAT may be the good news. The conditions WE HAVE CREATED might lead to a hot middle east war with devastating global impact.

Am I happy that two of the most evil men to serve in ANY administration in the history of the world (YES!!! I AM INCLUDING THE NAZIS!!!!!) are being repudiated ~ rumsfeld OUT... cheney marginalized?!?!? Yes!!! Am I happy that honorable men like James Baker, Robert Gates and Brent Scowcroft are finally being listened to??? Yes! But I am furious that voices of SANITY like theirs weren't listened to in the runup to this sinister, obscene destruction of our nation's security and almost every single principle upon which this country has become great.

For a minute I started to get mad at George H.W. Bush. He forsaw the insanity. His group made rumblings... but he decided to not weigh in strongly... to let his son forge his own presidency. I was going to be mad at him for not taking this smirking, vacuous, draft dodging, jesus-told-me-to-invade-iraq moron of a son out to the woodshed, but then I realized that he knows better than anyone what an immature, i'm-my-own-man, cowboy, chip-on-my-shoulder dolt his son is. He probably knew that if he showed him up, our president's (it makes me sick to write that) insecurities might have caused him to make EVEN A BIGGER FUCKUP of this deal than he did, so he let him alone... and then it was too late!

I hope w's whole administration is infiltrated by former members of his fathers. It will be interesting to watch not only what might be done to avert disaster, but what might be done differently in the first place.

Sorry Reach! I probably have one more blog HANGING the democrats... and then I will try to at least mix it up with nice, regular everyday stuff from my otherwise wonderful, joy~filled daily existence.

Cookie Jar...

2006-11-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

A lot to say today, but one quick thought...

republicans talking about recommiting to their core principles like "fiscal discipline" and "ethics". Excuse me?!?!?

Why the hell should we have even the smallest bit of confidence or trust in someone who abandoned their principles and only after getting their hand smashed in the cookie jar proclaim that they are going to do better now.

When I was in college, I nearly partied my way out after my first year. I literally had a zero.something gpa. I had to attend a meeting with my mother and the dean of admissions. After reviewing my dismal academic "achievement" from my first year, he basically said I couldn't be readmitted. Did I understand that I would have to get straight A's to the next semester to stay in school? Why should he give me a chance?

Responding to him I basically sounded like the republicans do today (and by the way ~ the democrats sound after it happens to them). I earnestly "recommitted to my core principles" of getting any education and promised to do better.

After more stern warnings... he agreed to let me return. I remember walking out of that office and my only thought was deep relief that I was going to get to come back to that amazing environment... and party my ass off again.

Election Day ~ Elementary School

2006-11-07T18:05:00.000-08:00

I voted tonight. It hardly makes a difference in California, but on principle, for the first time in my life... I voted for democrat politicians. It is the only thing I can do right now to protest against the war in iraq and the incomprehesible retrasigence of the current administration. Unfortunately it really won't matter. It looks like even if the democrats make gains... the voting will be very close. Close enough that the moron in the white house won't feel the heat. The only thing that would have really satisfied me would be a democratic landslide and impeachment hearings. That isn't going to happen.

The federal government can do little good, and much harm. Members of both parties talk about principles, integrity, and a dedication to serving those who elected them. The truth is that they arrive in a town awash with money and influence peddled by special interests. They do little work at all because their number one preoccupation is raising enough money for the next election cycle. When they work at all... it is at the behest of these special interests. Anyone worth a damn is unwilling to prostitute themselves just so they can have a lifetime career in politics enjoying the power, perks and presige that comes with administrating federal expenditures and legislation. Little good is ever done for any of us, but for the harm that can be done... we can look back past iraq to all the misguided federal programs and subsidies that ultimately hurt those they were designed to help.

So that brings me to the democrats ~ even if they did win, I doubt if they could get their act together to impeach. Just because I am hating bush, it isn't that I have any love for democrats. They continue to be more hypocritic than republicans. At least with republicans, you know where you stand... go big business! And guess what? I don't love all big business, but as they go... so does our rather great standard of living. Even if you don't work for one... you work for someone who does something for one. Democrats on the other hand are all about the poor and the middle class and punishing the rich... while they sit there in washington, d.c. and get just as rich as the republicans.

I just had to watch senate minority leader harry reid soulfully intone about the democrats dedication to the middle class and poor. How long have we heard this crap. Harry Reid collected $1.1 million on land he owned through a limited liability company (LLC). In 1998 Reid bought a plot of land for $400,000. One of the sellers was a developer who arranged a land swap that Reid supported. In 2001, he transferred title of the land to the LLC in exchange for a $400,000 equivalent ownership percentage of the LLC. When the LLC sold the land, Reid made a profit.
The deal was structured by long-time friend and former casino attorney Jay Brown, Reid's failure to disclose the earlier sale to a company owned by a friend and his subsequent ownership interest in the company violates Senate rules. What a scumbag... and he is the leader of the democrats in the senate.

You know... I voted in a school gym tonight after work. It's nestled in the woods near Mt. Tam. I don't want to rant and rave about this stuff. What is really important to me is looking up at the tendrils of fog curling through the redwoods that rise above the town and the play of light on the clouds. I was driving away and saw an suv in an uncharacteristic shade of blue that brought back memories of my grade school days. Does anyone else remember how exciting that brand new box of crayons was... the one with the sharpener built into the box. The car reminded me that my favorite color back then was cornflower blue. It would be the first one to be used up.

I don't care about politics as much as my blog would indicate. Actually, I guess I do... it's just that I care about so much more that I just never take the time to write about. There is not much I can do other than try to make a difference with the people I meet as I wander through my day. I am much more interested in what nature is doing... how kids are playing... wagging tails of labrador retrievers... and the opportunity to help someone who needs it... the work I need to do every day to be a better human being.

I don't understand what we are doing in iraq. I think this policy is making the u.s. and the world a much more dangerous place. If, as a nation, we are ambivilent in our electoral reaction to this policy... we are going to get what we deserve.

MORONS...

2006-11-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

Moron: a very stupid person.

Rumsfeld Had a "Better Idea"

2006-11-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Don Rumsfeld is a moron and an asshole!

1999 war games predicted problems in Iraq
Exercise showed that chaos was possible even with 400,000 troops

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government conducted a series of secret war games in 1999 that anticipated an invasion of Iraq would require 400,000 troops, and even then chaos might ensue.

In its “Desert Crossing” games, 70 military, diplomatic and intelligence officials assumed the high troop levels would be needed to keep order, seal borders and take care of other security needs.

The documents came to light Saturday through a Freedom of Information Act request by the George Washington University’s National Security Archive, an independent research institute and library.

“The conventional wisdom is the U.S. mistake in Iraq was not enough troops,” said Thomas Blanton, the archive’s director. “But the Desert Crossing war game in 1999 suggests we would have ended up with a failed state even with 400,000 troops on the ground.”

There are currently about 144,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, down from a peak of about 160,000 in January.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command, which sponsored the seminar and declassified the secret report in 2004, declined to comment Saturday because she was not familiar with the documents.

'Replacement regime could be problematic'

The war games looked at “worst case” and “most likely” scenarios after a war that removed then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power. Some are similar to what actually occurred after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003:

“A change in regimes does not guarantee stability,” the 1999 seminar briefings said. “A number of factors including aggressive neighbors, fragmentation along religious and/or ethnic lines, and chaos created by rival forces bidding for power could adversely affect regional stability.”
“Even when civil order is restored and borders are secured, the replacement regime could be problematic — especially if perceived as weak, a puppet, or out-of-step with prevailing regional governments.”
“Iran’s anti-Americanism could be enflamed by a U.S.-led intervention in Iraq,” the briefings read. “The influx of U.S. and other western forces into Iraq would exacerbate worries in Tehran, as would the installation of a pro-western government in Baghdad.”
“The debate on post-Saddam Iraq also reveals the paucity of information about the potential and capabilities of the external Iraqi opposition groups. The lack of intelligence concerning their roles hampers U.S. policy development.”
“Also, some participants believe that no Arab government will welcome the kind of lengthy U.S. presence that would be required to install and sustain a democratic government.”
“A long-term, large-scale military intervention may be at odds with many coalition partners.”

More Proof That Bigger Is Better...

2006-11-04T11:49:00.000-08:00

Starbucks loses laptops with worker data

By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE, AP Business Writer
Fri Nov 3, 6:32 PM ET

SEATTLE - Starbucks Corp. said Friday it had lost track of four laptop computers, two of which had private information on about 60,000 current and former U.S. employees and fewer than 80 Canadian workers and contractors.

The data, which includes names, addresses and Social Security' numbers, is about three years old, dating prior to December 2003, said Valerie O'Neil, a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based coffee retailer.

The company has not received any reports that anyone's personal information has been compromised.

The data, which includes names, addresses and Social Security numbers, is about three years old, dating prior to December 2003, said Valerie O'Neil, a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based coffee retailer.

The company has not received any reports that anyone's personal information has been compromised.

"We have no reason to believe these laptops are in the hands of someone who wants to misuse them," O'Neil said. "We just want to make every effort to protect our partners."

O'Neil said Starbucks was in the process of notifying those affected, including an estimated 8 percent of its current work force, which numbers about 135,000 worldwide.

Starbucks has been looking for the laptops since early September after discovering they were missing from a closet in the corporate support center at its south Seattle headquarters, O'Neil said.

The company waited several weeks to disclose it had lost the laptops, O'Neil said, because "we wanted to make sure we were thorough before we notified people."

In a letter to those potentially affected, Starbucks urged people to monitor their financial accounts for suspicious activity and said it was offering free credit protection services to help them do that.

Just one more reason I am happy to patronize my local coffee shop, Coffee Roasters. Far from being a hookup with global culture... it has the happy feeling of community of people who actually know and care about the guy who makes all the money. He's a neighbor, friend and good citizen!

What happened, The Producer…

2006-11-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

Did you run out of gas when it came to Lincoln, F.D.R. and Truman. Lay into them as well, while you’re at it. Reagan had his problems, but I agree with the assertion that he had as much to do with ending the Cold War as anyone. Slave trafficking was a fact of Washington’s time and I think there is evidence that he was better than most in his practice of that institution. Mistresses… need I say more than, “I did not have relations with that woman… Miss Lewinsky.” The point of the article that attracted me is that all these men had judgment and a moral compass that put execution of their duties related to war above partisanship and a clarity of vision that encompassed what is best for the country instead of a single ideology. Please take the time to read “State of Denial” and ask yourself if how well the current administration has met that benchmark. You might want to keep an air sickness bag handy. Far from being Monday morning quarterbacking this (and many others ~ I have read most) reveal an administration that literally drove at high speed through innumerable caution signs (picture National Lampoon’s “Vacation”) that got larger and larger until they blasted through the last one that has sent us off the cliff.

As far as your last assertion about assholes and money, I am far from deluded. Maybe less so than even you and Reach. All the way back when I was partying my way through 4 and a half semesters at the University of Missouri there was one class that sliced through my drug and alcohol soaked brain enough to focus my attention. I attended every class, took notes and studied like I had never done before. The guy was a radical from Madison and student of William Appleman Williams, author of “The Tragedy of American Diplomacy” that “examines the profound contradictions between America’s ideals and its uses of its vast power.” He would argue that the real reason for the Revolutionary War had nothing to do with the ideals spelled out in the Declaration of Independence and much more to do with ripping off England’s huge investment in the exploration of America because the founding father’s saw what a bonanza laid waiting at their feet. In other words, I am convinced that we have been about “Show me the money” from the countries very inception.

The point I took from the article was that all the presidents mentioned had what it took to handle the major conflict of their time… to make it better. Think back to those days right after 9/11 when the main french newspaper le monde forchrissake carried the huge headline “TODAY, WE ARE ALL AMERICANS!” The whole world was behind us. That great moment of opportunity to use the strength of our ideals and the force of our military to actually eradicate those enemies who sought to destroy us and to effectively define ourselves as their just and legitimate alternative … to further and protect our national interests… to spread democracy/developing markets throughout the world... was squandered through myopic, ego driven mania. Answer honestly ~ has the course taken by this administration made the world more friendly to us? Safer for us? Advanced our interests? The point of the article with which I agreed, and I have read as much carefully sourced, behind the scenes stuff as anyone ~ is that this administration has systemically performed blunder after blunder that has served to put us in the greatest danger and failed completely to achieve even the smallest goal that advances our national interest.

Let's go out to the woodshed, Reach... it's your turn next!

My Two Military Friends...

2006-11-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

had a field day poking holes in my last post! I may take the time to rebut (and smash them into submission), but in the meantime ~ I wonder what they think of this...

Military publications: ‘Rumsfeld must go’
Editorial comes days after Bush affirms defense secretary’s job security

Just days after President Bush publicly affirmed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's job security through the end of his term, a family of publications catering to the military will publish an editorial calling for the defense secretary's removal.
The editorial, released to NBC News on Friday ahead of its Monday publication date, stated, "It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation's current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads."
The editorial will appear just one day before the midterm election, in which GOP candidates have been losing ground, according to recent polls.

"This is not about the midterm elections," continued the editorial, which will appear in the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times, and Marine Corps Times on Monday. "Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth: Donald Rumsfeld must go."
The newspapers are published by the Military Times Media Group.
On Wednesday, Bush had said he wants Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney to remain in his administration until the end of his presidency, extending a vote of confidence to two of the most-criticized members of his team.
In the same interview, Bush said he did not foresee a change in the immediate future in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. He said that U.S. generals have assured him that "they've got what they can live with."

Democrats and Republicans alike have called for Rumsfeld's resignation, arguing he has mishandled the war in Iraq, where more than 2,800 members of the U.S. military have died since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. Cheney has faced sharp criticism for his hard-line views and is viewed favorably by only about a third of Americans in polls. Bush said that "both those men are doing fantastic jobs and I strongly support them."

Bush credited Rumsfeld with overseeing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while overhauling the military. "I'm pleased with the progress we're making," the president said. He replied in the affirmative when asked if he wanted Rumsfeld and Cheney to stay with him until the end.

The military publications' editorial also painted a grim view of the situation in Iraq, saying, "despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition. For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don't show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves. … And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand."

War supporters reconsider
Also Friday, several conservatives who pushed for the invasion of Iraq said they would not have supported a war if they knew how poorly the Bush administration would handle it, according to Vanity Fair magazine.

"I think now I probably would have said, 'No, let's consider other strategies for dealing with the thing that concerns us most, which is Saddam (Hussein) supplying weapons of mass destruction to terrorists,"' said Richard Perle, who sat on the Pentagon's Defense Policy Advisory Committee until 2004.

Kenneth Adelman, who served on the Defense Policy Board with Perle, said Bush, Defense Rumsfeld and others in the administration "turned out to be among the most incompetent teams in the postwar era. Not only did each of them, individually, have enormous flaws, but together they were deadly, dysfunctional."

Violence in Iraq has continued to climb, with dozens of bodies reportedly found around Baghdad on Friday. Shiites and Sunnis alike fear a reprisal in violent crime when Saddam's trial verdict is announced, which could be as soon as Sunday.

In the editorial, the military papers quote Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, as saying to a Senate Armed Services Committee in September, "I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it ... and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards a civil war."

If you know who Perle and Adelman are and their part in the invasion coming about... you should be STUNNED!!!

I Couldn't Say It Better...

2006-11-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

Or anywhere close to this eloquently...

A Luckless Nation
As we hold our noses and vote Tuesday we have to wonder: where are the lucky breaks of yesteryear?

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Michael Hirsh
Newsweek
Updated: 9:57 a.m. PT Nov 2, 2006

Nov. 2, 2006 - It is a favorite theme in American lore, one we hear about from the time we are kids in school: how incredibly lucky we have been in our leaders at critical moments in history. How lucky we were to have had those brilliant and brave Founding Founders hanging together in Philadelphia in 1776 (else they would have hung separately). How lucky that our first president was an upright fellow like George Washington, refusing the monarchical powers that were offered him and opting for a republic. How lucky that we elected a homely fence-splitter of world-class leadership ability, Abe Lincoln, when the country was breaking up, and just as lucky that Franklin D. Roosevelt was there during our dire rendezvous with destiny in the 1930s and '40s. How lucky we were to be led by a failed haberdasher who turned into a genius statesman, Harry Truman (not Henry Wallace!), as the cold war began; and just as lucky that an unprepossessing former B-movie actor, Ronald Reagan, managed to grasp exactly how to end that war.

What a glorious couple of centuries it has been, all held together by this great string of luck. "The Lord looks after drunks, children and the U.S.A." went the old saying, and it seemed true. But the thing about luck is that, eventually, you run out of it. Everybody craps out in the end. And that is what has happened to us. As Americans go to the polls Tuesday we must confront the fact that we have become a luckless people, all across the political spectrum.

Was there any more mind-boggling bit of historic bad luck than what happened after Election Day 2000, when those 537 votes in Florida wobbled, then stayed in George W. Bush’s column? Never mind what kind of president Al Gore would have been—he would have been adequate, I suppose, but so would have most Republicans—it is hard now to avoid the conclusion that Bush was precisely the wrong man at the wrong time. Perhaps Bush would have been OK fighting another kind of war, a Jacksonian Battle of New Orleans-type war. But at a moment in history when we faced the most subtle sort of global threat, when we needed not just a willingness to use military force but a leader of real brilliance—someone who would carefully study a little-understood enemy—we got a man who actually took pride in his lack of studiousness. No surprise: Bush never once presided over a grand-strategy session to divine the nature of Al Qaeda, and he ended up lumping Saddam and every Islamist insurgent and terrorist group with Osama bin Laden. He ensured that a tiny fringe group that had been hounded into Afghanistan with no place left to go—one that could have been wiped out had we focused on the task at hand—would spread worldwide and become a generational Islamist threat.

And at a time when we needed a world leader who understood the nuances of burden-sharing in the international system, we got a president who so badly wanted to be a cowboy and not his father (offending even some Texans: "all hat and no cattle" is the term they use down there) that he proudly declared he doesn’t "do nuance." Bush stomped around huffily in his first term, talking loudly and carrying a big stick, in the process all but trashing a half century of carefully nurtured American prestige. No surprise: he alienated a world we desperately needed on our side, thus leaving America alone with all the burden and generations’ worth of bills to pay. Now we face two serious rising threats, North Korea and Iran. And having squandered our attention, resources and prestige on a trumped-up threat, Iraq, we are simply too weak and friendless to confront them as they should be. That’s what I call bad luck.

And at a time when we needed a world leader who understood the nuances of burden-sharing in the international system, we got a president who so badly wanted to be a cowboy and not his father (offending even some Texans: "all hat and no cattle" is the term they use down there) that he proudly declared he doesn’t "do nuance." Bush stomped around huffily in his first term, talking loudly and carrying a big stick, in the process all but trashing a half century of carefully nurtured American prestige. No surprise: he alienated a world we desperately needed on our side, thus leaving America alone with all the burden and generations’ worth of bills to pay. Now we face two serious rising threats, North Korea and Iran. And having squandered our attention, resources and prestige on a trumped-up threat, Iraq, we are simply too weak and friendless to confront them as they should be. That’s what I call bad luck.

On Wednesday, President Bush assured us that he and Rummy would be in it together until the end, that he would not fire the man who most people in his party, and many in Bush’s own White House, want dismissed immediately. How fitting. And how incredibly unlucky.

But, let’s face it, our bad luck is bipartisan. We learned that anew this week, when old fumblemouth himself, John Kerry, did his best to remind us of why he and the Democrats lost in 2004. With his unmatched talent for unlucky sound bites, Kerry "botched" a joke that summoned up all the worst doubts about the Democrats’ fitness for war-fighting on the eve of the election. Meanwhile, the Democratic leadership is slowly realizing that Hillary Clinton, the woman attracting all their money, is all but unelectable. If the Dems regain control of one of the houses of Congress on Tuesday, it will not be because anyone particularly likes them but because the country can’t take any more Republican rule without risking spontaneous combustion. No wonder everyone is flocking to the eloquent Barack Obama, though he’s been in office less than two years and is plainly too green.

Latest No Brainer...

2006-11-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned how a buddy and I foresaw during the runup to the iraq invasion pretty accurately what has happened since. It was mostly basic logic, comparing Colin Powells flawed "is-that-it?!?!?" presentation to the u.n with j.f.k.'s presentation to the country of actual weapons threatening us and their locations... since power fills a vacuum ~ what kind of power did you expect to fill the vacuum in a middle eastern country after the fall of saddam hussein... democracy?!?!?

Well, here's my latest 1 + 1 = 2...

Huge numbers of weapons provided to iraqi "security forces" are unaccounted for and missing... NOW we are going to stay in iraq LONGER to train MORE iraqi "security forces". It is simple math to extrapolate that MORE weapons are going to go missing in this process. Our tax dollars are paying for these weapons. Just stop for a minute about the weapons we are paying for being used against our troops and innocent iraqi civilians.

Also, and this is just my anecdotal observation ~ what about the nature of these "security forces"? Does anyone really think these guys are going to become an army in the sense that we understand it? One that defends individual rights and democracy? Or does it seem like a safer bet that the call of the imam will outweigh their allegiance to any government (even the very suspect one being created there as we speak) and the uniforms will come off... the crazy head scarves and masks will come back on... and the guns will be used in service of the middle east males favorite passtime... killing those who don't believe as he does?

When this happens and becomes a big issue, remember that a regular guy of average intelligence could figure it out, but the big brains cheney and rumsfeld (I won't even mention w. anymore ~ he is not an intelligent person, just a pawn of evil men) apparently couldn't foresee it... or just didn't care.

Wonder who makes money replacing all the missing guns?

p.s. Actually, let me be a little more blunt.. effectively we are making it a policy to FLOOD a country in the middle east with arms that has a much better chance of becoming our enemy than ever becoming our ally!!!

This Is Exactly What I Am Talking About...

2006-10-31T17:57:00.000-08:00

Tonight I received an email from one of my very best Friends. It had been forwarded to him from someone to whom it had been forwarded to from yet someone else...

From: "xxxxx" <xxxxx@sbcglobal.net>To: "xxxxx" <xxxxx@yahoo.com>Subject: Fw: PLEASE READ! IT WAS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA TODAY SHOWDate: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:06:46 -0700

Love xxxxx
--------------------------

IT WAS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA TODAY SHOW
Read carefully...

THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY - IT IS FOR REAL
To all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages,
But this is from my friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is an attorney. If she says that this will work - It will work. After all,What have you got to lose?

SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!!
I'm an attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and &nbs p; Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one
filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.
Dear Friends: Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will regrat it later.

Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00.

Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.
Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations

1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or
904-1085 or RNX 292-1085
Thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and within days, I received a check for $24, 800.00. You need to respond
before the beta testing is over. If anyone can affoard this, Bill gates is the man.

It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many

people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10, 000.00 We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago.

When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game, she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped "Paid In Full".
Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email and IM. All on demand. Always Free.
Check the weather nationwide with MSN Search: Try it now!
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this transmission is confidential. It is intended only for use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is prohibited. If you received this communication in error, please immediately notify us by replying to this message or calling 941-329-1345 and deleting the message from your mailbox. Thank You.

THis was my reply to my Friend...

Hey _____~

If it sounds too good to be true...

I have a friend who works at microsoft. These things are bullshit.

_____, I also wonder how the idea of getting something for nothing (i.e. a whole shitload of money just for sending emails) squares with the principles of our Program of Recovery or my spiritual fitness if I thought that I could. Even if it was true... I wouldn't want to "earn" my money in this way.

It makes me sad that so many people would be interested in this or "pass this on" just on principle, but especially without checking even the most basic facts. Just for fun I looked at the websites for the "Good Morning America" and "Today" shows... (there is no "Good Morning America Today Show") and there is no mention of the microsoft deal. I bet if microsoft really was giving away MILLIONS of $$$$$ just for sending emails... it might get mentioned.

Why would anyone start this email? It doesn't carry a virus... it isn't a scam that asks you to risk any of your money (like the nigerian email scams)... it is just someones cruel idea of fun...

or perhaps an opportunity for each of us to examine what we are expecting out of life.

_____, I Love You and I hope you don't take offense at my very candid comments~

Me

This is the kind of shit I am talking about in my previous post. This guy, who is a wonderful human being... one of the most important people in my life ~must have passed this on to almost 100 people. This kind of crap just says so much about our values as a society. I mean, re~read the email and wonder at the absurdity of the proposal just from a business standpoint.

We are the "something-for-nothing-money-can-solve-all-my-problems" society and we think we deserve it because we are americans and it's alway been that way! Well, guess what... It hasn't ALWAYS been that way and all the other empires in history have crumbled under the weight of their expectations and ambitions! I think we are well on our way to becoming the latest example.

Yet One More Sign...

2006-10-29T20:50:00.000-08:00

That the apocalypse is upon us. I mean, isnt' it obvious that these drinks are one of the stupidest ideas to ever come down the pike and not only are they BAD for young people (or anyone for that matter) they are being MARKETED TO young people. My favorite is the anti~ drug beverage...

Cocaine Energy Drink!

I'm not kidding! Read below. They think they are helping youth by marketing themselves as the "legitimate high". First of all, any high is dangerous, and instead of combatting drug use, these MORONS are...

PROMOTING GETTING HIGH!!!

Think of any kids you know. How many are prone to risking stupid behaviour on a dare??? These Morons sleep soundly, can live with themselves and are going to make a lot of money marketing a drink that associates COCAINE with a good feeling, fun thing to do. Kids are enjoying energy drinks because their parents dont' want them to drink them... how long will it take downing Cocaine Energy Drink before they start wondering about a high that will really piss their parents off.

We allow this. We want this. We let this go on. No matter how stupid, worthless, crappy and harmful your product... you are protected by our Constitution to pursue that "happiness", provide it to others and make as much money as you can!

My Dear Friends, The Producer and Reach, wondered why I would consider moving to Canada... why I didn't have more respect for our Rights protected by The Constitution and our Democratic form of government... This is why! NONE of the founding (unfortunately only) fathers would recogize the me-first-get-mine-no-matter-what-the-cost debauchery that has sunk into the very soul of most of the citizens of our country. I'm not as mad at what money and special interests have done to hijack our amazing form of government and turn our legislators into pimps and whores... I am mad at us for not caring as long as enough filthy lucre (had to look it up to see how to spell it) slops over the trough to keep us fat, dumb and happy.

Everyone will cry out, "Oh, MY!!! Well, I certainly don't know anyone as depraved and narcissistic as HDT is talking about! I'm not like that and none of my friends and relatives are like that. We're all sensible, sensitive, caring people."

Yeah, that's right! As long as this giant, monolithic, consuming, despoiling, (I can't think of any more mean words to put in here right now) economy keeps enough things in the Best Buys, WalMarts, Targets, and Home Depots to fool us into thinking we are happy... as long as the lights turn on and we can keep throwing into the trash and wasting enough food to feed a sizeable chunk of those in the world who are starving... as long as this system that makes a success out of stupid, sick products like Cocaine Energy Drink keeps giving us enough of the shit we want and think we can't live without... we think we are sensible, sensitive, caring people. And, yeah I'm espcially talking about all the gentle-environmentally-friendly-shop-locally-and-think-globally bullshit that we buy to wrap ourselves up in "enlightened, self-awareness"... we're fine. But if that system EVER had to balance the harm it does all of us and the rest of the world with our comfy lifestyle... and I'm damned sure we'd look at our neighbors a lot less "civilly" if we fell below the threshold of getting all the stupid crap we want.

THAT'S why I think of moving to canada... it's not the government, or the military, or even big business...

IT'S US, PEOPLE!!!

Even while we are wrapping ourselves in the most enlightened awareness we can (and most fall FAR short of that attitude), if we are living in this giant resource gobbler that creates some of the most wonderful and amazing stuff in the world AND a HUGE amount of the MOST WORTHLESS CRAP... WE are the problem!!!

Caffeine-stoked energy drinks worry Docs
By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Sun Oct 29, 1:45 PM ET
CHICAGO - More than 500 new energy drinks launched worldwide this year, and coffee fans are probably too old to understand why.

Energy drinks aren't merely popular with young people. They attract fan mail on their own MySpace pages. They spawn urban legends. They get reviewed by bloggers. And they taste like carbonated cough syrup.
Vying for the dollars of teenagers with promises of weight loss, increased endurance and legal highs, the new products join top-sellers Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar to make up a $3.4 billion-a-year industry that grew by 80 percent last year.
Thirty-one percent of U.S. teenagers say they drink energy drinks, according to Simmons Research. That represents 7.6 million teens, a jump of almost 3 million in three years.
Nutritionists warn that the drinks, laden with caffeine and sugar, can hook kids on an unhealthy jolt-and-crash cycle. The caffeine comes from multiple sources, making it hard to tell how much the drinks contain. Some have B vitamins, which when taken in megadoses can cause rapid heartbeat, and numbness and tingling in the hands and feet.
But the biggest worry is how some teens use the drinks. Some report downing several cans in a row to get a buzz, and a new study found a surprising number of poison-center calls from young people getting sick from too much caffeine.
___
"Wow, this drink is some serious stuff. I mean about half the bottle is the warning label, and it is serious, this drink is INSANE. It says that you should not drink it unless you are over 18, which I would say is a good warning." — From a review of an energy drink by Dan Mayer on his Web site, http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_he_me/storytext/energy_drinks/20764318/SIG=114iir1at/*http://www.bandddesigns.com/energy.
___
Danger only adds to the appeal, said Bryan Greenberg, a marketing consultant and an assistant professor of marketing at Elizabethtown College.
"Young people need to break away from the bonds of adults and what society thinks is right," he said. They've grown up watching their parents drink Starbucks coffee, and want their own version. Heart palpitations aren't likely to scare them off.
Most brands target male teens and 20-somethings. Industry leader Red Bull, the first energy drink on the market, is now the "big arena band" of the bunch "teetering on the edge of becoming too big and too corporate," Greenberg said.
"Monster is more of a hard rocker, maybe with a little punk thrown in, much more hardcore," he said. "Rockstar is the more mainstream, glam rock band that's more about partying then playing."
(Monster is produced by Corona, Calif.-based Hansen Natural Corp., and Rockstar, distributed by Coca-Cola Co., is made by Las Vegas-based Rockstar Inc.)
Greenberg said the fierce competition among hundreds of new drinks, with Austria-based Red Bull guarding the biggest market share, leads to a "ratcheting up" of taboo names as companies try to break out from the crowd.
Cocaine Energy Drink, which launched in September and now sells in convenience stores and nightclubs in six states, is the latest example, following a twisted logic set by drinks named Pimpjuice and Bawls.
Hannah Kirby of the Las Vegas company behind Cocaine Energy Drink said Greenberg has it right. Kirby and her husband, Redux Beverage founder James Kirby, wanted to call their drink by the ho-hum name Reboot. That name was taken, so they decided to get provocative.
They're getting the attention they craved, along with some canceled orders. Following complaints from parents, convenience store operator 7-Eleven Inc. recently told franchises to pull the drink from its shelves.
"We knew we would get noticed against a thousand other energy drinks," she said. "We knew kids would find it cool, but we also wanted to stress the idea that it's an energy drink, you don't need drugs." Their slogan is "The Legal Alternative."
The Kirbys are parents of an 18-year-old son, Kirby said. The boy grew up hearing he shouldn't drink energy drinks on a school night.
___
"Cocaine looks so freaking tight. I NEED THIS STUFF. Next weekend, me and 3 friends are going to take a 6 hour roadtrip to NYC just to get our hands on this stuff." — From a comment on the MySpace page of Cocaine Energy Drink.
___
Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz based his product on tonics sold in Asia. He started selling Red Bull in 1987 in Austria, his native country, and today 2.5 billion cans are sold a year in more than 130 nations. The industry leader grabbed more than 37 percent of the U.S. market last year, according to Beverage Digest.
Rumors have swirled around Red Bull for years. Contrary to hearsay, the ingredient taurine (an amino acid important in making bile to aid digestion) is not made from bull urine, and Mateschitz did not learn about Red Bull from rickshaw drivers in Thailand. The urban legends-debunking Web site http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_he_me/storytext/energy_drinks/20764318/SIG=10nr4on6e/*http://www.snopes.com has a page devoted to exposing the false claim that Red Bull contains a banned substance linked to brain tumors.
No evidence was ever found that sudden deaths in Ireland and Sweden were caused by people drinking Red Bull. But it's true that the Swedish government studied energy drinks and recommended they not be used to quench thirst or replenish liquid when exercising. And they should not be mixed with alcohol.
Too late. Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing now produce several "energy beers" — beer containing caffeine. And Red Bull and vodka — mixed up by bartenders who call it a Friday Flattener or a Dirty Pompadour — has been popular for a decade. On Red Bull's MySpace page, the product's 11,000 "friends" include alcohol products, which also have their own MySpace pages.
A Brazilian study found college students didn't feel as drunk as they actually were after drinking vodka and Red Bull. Their perception of their coordination and reaction time didn't match objective tests.
The potential for accidents and alcohol poisoning worries Dr. Sandra Braganza, a pediatrician and nutrition expert at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York. As she prepared to write an article about energy drinks for a pediatrics journal, she was surprised how little published research she could find on them.
"The truth is, we don't know what kind of effects these ingredients can have," Braganza said of taurine, glucuronolactone and guarana. "We have to start doing more studies on this."
___
"How much of your favorite energy drink or soda would it take to kill you? Take this quick test and find out." — From a "Death by Caffeine" calculator on the Web site, http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_he_me/storytext/energy_drinks/20764318/SIG=10ss93u31/*http://www.energyfiend.com. Fill in your weight and click the button marked "Kill Me."
___
Earlier this month, a new study found a surprising number of caffeine overdose reports to a Chicago poison control center. These involved young people taking alertness pills such as NoDoz or energy drinks, sometimes mixed with alcohol or other drugs. During three years of reports to the center, the researchers found 265 cases of caffeine abuse. Twelve percent of those required a trip to the hospital. The average age of the caffeine user was 21.
"Young people are taking caffeine to stay awake, or perhaps to get high, and many of them are ending up in the emergency department," said Dr. Danielle McCarthy of Northwestern University, who conducted the study. "Caffeine is a drug and should be treated with caution, as any drug is."
How much caffeine do energy drinks contain? A University of Florida study found that some products, although served in cans two-thirds the size of a standard can of Coke, contain two to four times the amount of caffeine as that Coke. Energy drinks are unregulated in the United States, but the authors of the University of Florida paper suggest warning labels for them.
And now energy drinks are moving toward bigger cans with some products raising the caffeine content to gain a competitive edge, said John Sicher of Beverage Digest. The biggest, so far, is 24 ounces.
Parents should think twice before sending their children out the door with an energy drink, said Molly Morgan, a dietitian in upstate New York who consults with schools and talks to students, parents and coaches about energy drinks.
"My message to parents is moderation," Morgan said. "That means one can a day or less, and view it as a treat, not part of a daily routine."
Full of sugar and caffeine, energy drinks share the same health problems as soft drinks, she said. But some parents and coaches have bought the message that the drinks can enhance kids' performance in sports and increase concentration in school.
The evidence is weak, involving tiny studies. British research by a scientist who has since received funding from Red Bull found that among 36 volunteers, those who drank the product improved aerobic endurance and recalled numbers better. A British study of 42 people found Red Bull had no effect on memory, but did improve attention and verbal reasoning.
A University of Wisconsin study of 14 students found that two energy drink ingredients, caffeine and taurine, didn't improve short-term memory but led to slower heart rates and higher blood pressure. Since some energy drink ingredients generally speed up heart rates, the researchers could only speculate on the cause.
Carol Ann Rinzler, author of "Nutrition for Dummies," examined the labels of the top three energy drinks.
"The labels simply don't deliver all the facts," she said. "For example, while all list caffeine as an ingredient, and most tell you exactly how much caffeine is in the drink, they also list guarana, a caffeine source, as a separate ingredient but don't tell how much caffeine one gets from the guarana."
Rinzler said energy drinks also deliver a huge hit of sugar.
"Drink more than one and you get lots of sugar — 14 teaspoons in two cans, 21 teaspoons in three," she said. Add in megadoses of some vitamins; unnecessary nutrients (taurine) and more caffeine than plain sodas and you get "a fast up-and-down sugar high and a really rough caffeine buzz," she said. "And drinking two or three cans a day for a period of weeks or months might trigger some side effects from the vitamin megadoses."
New brands are appearing at the rate of almost one per day, making it difficult for Denver blogger Dan Mayer to keep up. As a hobby, Mayer reviews each new energy drink he can find. His is not the only energy drink review site, but it's one of the most popular.
"I've reviewed a little over 200 now. For most of these, the companies contact me. I'll find something new at 7-Eleven once in a while, but that's kind of rare," he said.
When Mayer meets an energy drink he doesn't like, his words can sting: "This is the kind of drink that was created by a bunch of rich fat people that have never had an energy drink in their life and really don't understand why this fad is around, they just know they want to be a part of the profit from it."
A Los Angeles company has asked him to design a new drink, but Mayer hasn't quit his day job yet. Pressed to explain the appeal of energy drinks, the 24-year-old spokesman for the buzzed generation said: "It's Starbucks for kids. With the tons of caffeine they put into these things, it gives you a little legal form of speed essentially."

Man!!! Is My Work Ever Interesting Sometimes!

2006-10-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

I have been working for the last month or so at what used to be Industrial Light & Magics model shop where "real" (not computer graphics) special effects are made. It is called Kerner Optical right now, and it will take another blog to explain the odd name. The hall is busy right now, and this year has been spotty income wise, so I have been taking jobs on the weekend the last couple of weeks and may continue to until it slows down around the holidays.

In Any Event (the other name of this blog), I got called back to the Marin Civic Center near where I live for a show. I worked there for 3 months or so in the Spring and really enjoyed it. I was told this job involved loading in the show and breaking it down after the performance. Sometimes that means working about 5 hours until lunchtime and then coming back around 10pm to send them on their way. Other times...

I ended up working from 8am until midnight. Nice payday, but I was feeling a little worn out from working so hard at Kerner Optical last week, I was hoping to have the afternoon off. No such luck. The show turned out to be a cool one. It was a black light dance performance with the dancers wearing skintight outfits that were black & white. When you work all the way through, you are doing what is called a show call during the show. Usually it means a lot of standing around off to the side of the stage (called the "wings") helping with small prop moves or lighting from time to time.

The dancers were half guys and half young women, and this group of girls (sorry, can't help it ~ I'm 48 now & most women look like "girls" to me) was one of the prettiest and hottest groups I'd gotten to see yet. We are talking dancers bodies here, but young. Firm where it's good to be firm and soft where it's good to be soft. Very lovely. Well, they have to do what are called "quick changes" in the wings where the stagehands have to be. This involves stripping down and changing from one costume into another. It is not uncommon to have a beautiful young woman bending over with nothing but a thong on many times during the show. I try to be professional and not stare, but...

That's Hard!

While they are changing most will face off stage where no one is standing, but last night one of the hottest of them all changed facing the stage giving me no option, but to catch sight of her absolutely perfect...

(Sorry if any young or old relatives are reading this one)

Breasts.

I won't describe how awesome they were, but...

They Were!

As great as it was, it is really just a very nice thing to have happen. Like I said, you can't really just stare at them, and of course I'm not getting to touch them, but it is still a pretty fun and unusual thing to have happen when you are at work. Just one of the many reasons I absolutely love my job!!!

Well...

2006-10-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

There was a little brushfire across the street from the set I am helping build. We were up about 25 feet on a scaffolded set when it started. Saw a guy walking away from it, but there was really no opportunity to get down and over there in time to check him out. It never really got out of control and the fire department showed up to take care of it. Could have been worse. It was very low humitity and high winds. The field backs up onto the Bay in the distance. The bridge in the upper left corner is the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge that goes over the Bay towards Berkeley and the rest of the East Bay to the south and towards Sacramento/Tahoe to the north.

There are a few stories to be told about that bridge at some point. Speaking of stories... I have been working at the movie special effects place for about a month now and just this week got pulled off the unboxing and organizing I have been doing and was assigned to some production. I will try to blog more about that this weekend, but it is pretty exciting!

I AM REALLY BUMMED...

2006-10-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

That no one liked the cat videos!!! Come on, you guys... take a look and vote for your favorite!!!!!

NOTE: Well, I'll be damned! I just tried to watch the thing again and it is unavailable!?!?! Hmph!

Better Words Than Mine...

2006-10-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

Even before he died in Afghanistan, Pat Tillman’s story blew my mind. Many Americans chose to serve their country, but few are turning their backs on a guaranteed multi~million dollar contract in the NFL and CHOOSING to put their life on the line for their country, joining one of the toughest branches of the service and immediately being put on the very front line of the REAL fight against terrorism.

It is a humble privilege to have Pat Tillman’s brother voice the same disgust with the sheer obscenity of the war in iraq that aches in my Heart…

After Pat’s Birthday
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/200601019_after_pats_birthday/
Posted on Oct 19, 2006
By Kevin Tillman

Editor’s note: Kevin Tillman joined the Army with his brother Pat in 2002, and they served together in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pat was killed in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004. Kevin, who was discharged in 2005, has written a powerful, must-read document.

It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice until we got out.

Much has happened since we handed over our voice:

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It's interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.

Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.

Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.

Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.

Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.

Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

Somehow torture is tolerated.

Somehow lying is tolerated.

Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.

Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.

Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.

Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.

Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.

Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.

Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.

Somehow this is tolerated.

Somehow nobody is accountable for this.

In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don't be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity.

Most likely, they will come to know that somehow was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.

Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.

Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,

Kevin Tillman

Courtesy the Tillman Family

This...

2006-10-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

isn't an armchair quarterback reevaluation with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight. This is a damning indictment of behavior by an administration that makes the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, the Bay of Pigs and Watergate...

Look.

Like.

Good government!

Voting for the democrats is not enough! Where is the outrage? Where is the indignation? Where is the vociferous demand for accountability? Our morality...

Is.

At.

The.

Mall!

The mosque of America. "What can I buy to feel better about life today?" And until the suicide bombers show up there... we just won't give a damn!!!

Am I doing anything to make it different? Not much. I just need someplace to scream about this because the whole thing... THE WHOLE GODDAMN THING... is too far beyond my ability to understand it. Typical american that I am, I'm too fat, dumb and happy to do the work to lay out what I am so pissed off about, much less even think about doing something about it. I'll just provide a link to Frontline that explains the whole thing better than I can. Why do my own work, when I can just let our unparalleled technological ease to do the heavy lifting for me.

I'm So Glad...

2006-10-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

that rap music is the most popular music in our country. Rap music is a really good thing! It says so much about us as a society...

Oh, and look... they misspelled his name! Ha ha ha. Stupid news organizations... they can't even spell Fabulous correctly. Boy, they're dumb!

Rapper Fabolous stable after NYC shooting
Musician arrested after police find unlicensed guns in his car

Rapper Fabolous was shot early Tuesday as he stood at a Manhattan parking garage, spurring a sequence of events that left him both hospitalized in stable condition and under arrest, police said.
The 28-year-old rapper, whose legal name is John Jackson, was shot once in the thigh when a male with a gun approached him and three others and opened fire, police spokesman Sgt. Mike Wysokowski said.
The four jumped into a vehicle and fled, attracting the attention of police when they ran a red light. Officers stopped them and discovered two loaded guns in the vehicle, both of which were apparently unlicensed, Wysokowski said. All four men were arrested, and charges were pending.

This Is Funny...

2006-10-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

I don't get the music and the editing could have been better, but this has some really funny things in it.

The New West Bank / Gaza Strip

2006-10-14T10:02:00.000-07:00

Even before our invasion of iraq it was clear to me that there was only the slimmest chance of that stability would be an outcome. Even to a brain as average as mine, it was as simple as this...

a natural, immutable law is that power fills a vacuum. If we weren't going to invade and take over, then WE weren't going to be the power that filled the vacuum. If we were ~ as was said we were going to do ~ liberate the iraqis and allow them to govern themselves... that would cause a logical evalution of the history of what kind of power existed in the middle east and therefore would likely fill the vacuum left by the removal of saddam hussein. ANYONE who thought democracy would fill that vacuum...

Was!

A!!

MORON!!!

The only democracy in the middle east is an oddball little on and that is ~ israel... which is the anathma of every other nation in the region. The only other forms of governance in this violent, tribal, blood~soaked region are repressive, strongman regimes that suppress radical islam in their societies... and radical islamic regimes. So, let's see now... we are going to remove a repressive strongman.

I wonder what is going to happen?

Folks there was NOTHING else that could have happened than what has now happened and that was obvious to as average an intelligence as mine. Please watch Frontline episodes about the runup to the iraq war and the handling of the aftermath... the suspension of the barest minimum of intellectual curiousity, reliance upon facts and logic ~

Is!

BREATHTAKING!!!

Anyhow, my point is that while an outcome detrimental to our national interest was the only logical outcome of "liberating" iraq, I am always interested to encounter a twist that manifests exactly how this is going to look. Apparently, the best and brightest iraqis are leaving iraq in droves.

Its an equation, folks... simple 1 + 1 + 2 math, or in this case 1 - 1 = 0.

If those who have the intellectual capacity to reject the mindless violence of radical islam and raise the standard of living of their country are leaving... they will leave behind the same sort of marginalized population that exists in those other mideast "bedrocks of stability" the gaza strip and west bank... angry, dissaffected psychopaths who value hating israel and the united states much more than improving their lot in life.

I continue to fail to understand how anyone, and folks ~ I was born and raised in a part of the country where THEY DO... can find any logical basis to defend the most criminal chief executive this country has ever known. A couple of years ago, I was visiting home and the conversation had to stop when a relative with whom I was visiting called george bush...

a

hero

Just couldn't wrap my brain around that concept. Oh, and b.t.w., it was the relative that stopped the conversation when I respectfully disagreed and suggested (even back then) that war criminal was a more likely and appropriate characterization when this is all said and done.

The.

Conversation.

Was.

Over.

Though I don't believe that ANYONE in washington, d.c. will change anything... I am desperately rooting for a democratic (and I have despised democrat politicians all my adult life) LANDSLIDE so that there is at least the slimmest chance of SOME punishment or at least profound public humiliation of the a.o.c. (administration on crack).

There, I've said it. I don't really feel better, and wish my blog was filled with nothing but sunshine and light (because there is plenty of that in the world to see), but it just seems that my blog has become the place I set down all the things that are too heavy to carry around in throughout the day, where I try to be as loving and helpful to others as I can be.

Thanks for your patient understanding and...

Namaste.

It's Always Kind of Interesting...

2006-10-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

When what you know is going to happen ~ does...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15255738/

What a moron. This man... uh really not more that a child in a man's body... was the end of football for me. The soap opera factor in the nfl has grown beyond and dominated the idea that it remains a "sport".

Ultimately, I feel sorry for t.o. Selfishness is an ugly attribute in even those of us who are just regular guys struggling to make a living and do the right thing. When you still have to make it ALL ABOUT YOU in the way he does even though you are blessed beyond most peoples wildest dreams...

I'm just sorry that we have to be exposed to him. Over two years ago, I got rid of my tv because of morons like t.o. and the obsequious media that seems to treat this sad, unimportant egomaniac seriously.

There are exceptions to this rule and I guess that is why I continue to check out news about the nfl online...

There was an article this week about a player on the defensive side of the ball who is as big a star as "the player". Julius Peppers just amazes EVERYONE who witnesses his play... and then doesn't talk to the press about himself AT ALL! He just wants to play football and help his team win!

At this point, though, these increasinly rare examples do not provide enough energy to sway me into buying a tube. This what little chance there was decreased this week when I realized that I could watch episodes online of the most amazing program on television, Frontline on pbs. Along with football and The Simpsons, Frontline was the only other thing I missed about not having a, as my Dad used to call it ~ the boob tube... and THAT was FORTY years ago!

Please Take the Time to Watch This...

2006-10-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/view/

I am speechless. I would like to say that I wish the democrats sweep both houses of congress so that congressional investigations and impeachment proceedings be brought forth... but I have NO confidence that ANY politician in washington has the BALLS to seek and reveal the truth about the most sick and aggregious abuse of power in our generation. It makes watergate look like a tupperware party.

I am sickened... and I am sickened most by the country in which I live where more citizens are worried about what happens on their weekly "reality" show than what we have allowed to happen in iraq just so long as we can keep filling up our suvs and selling our souls to target. I am not kidding you when I tell you... the thought has germinated in my mind to move to Canada. I am NOT proud to be an american anymore.

The Old Days I

2006-10-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Note: Supposed to be a photo of a Frisbee HERE...

And a photo of a freight train HERE!!!

Grrrr!!! Damn You, Blogger.com!!!!

Home sick from work affords the time to blog! Just checked out the new blog of the Pilot, Jayne’s husband. His profession alone should provide plenty of fascinating blog fodder, but a man who could capture the heart of a woman like Jayne… probably has a wealth of qualities to share.

In Any Event (the “unofficial” name for this blog), the photo he posts reminds me of a small incident from my stoner youth. I used to spend a lot of time hiking around a really beautiful park about a 20 minute drive out in St. Louis County. It first drew my interest for the hiking trails that went along the Meramec River bluffs as well as up and down the ravines nearby. Mountain biking came into being, and the trails were immediately christened. My best Friend, the Cyclist, was one of the first bikers… uh, er ~ I mean cyclists out there, and I shortly followed suit. In later years I would take my canoe out to the launch at the river, paddle up stream and “enjoy” a doobie on the way back down.

I cast an aspersion upon my enjoyment because after paddling a couple of miles up stream, I’d sit down in the bottom of the canoe, light my joint and pull out my copy of the “Tao Te Ching”, expecting to be carried smoothly downstream in a zen~like manner while a contentedly puffed away and became… enlightened.

What actually happened… is that the canoe invariably drifted towards banks, rocks and brush causing constant annoying extrication and total serenity annihilation. A downer, if you will… instead of Taoism.

In Any Event, (you know) there was a time in my life when both my best Friend and I were barely employed and sort of attending community college (after I flunked out of the state university… now THERE is a story). We used to drive around getting stoned and amusing ourselves ~ quite often with a Frisbee. That was the case when one day we were down by the river in Castlewood. A railroad track ran parallel to the river, and access was gained through a concrete viaduct walkway under the tracks.

Even though it was winter and we were bundled up, we decided to test our accuracy by throwing the Frisbee to through the narrow viaduct to each other. It was a real "WOW DUDE!!!" moment when the thing would sail clean through, but it was also interesting as it deflected unpredictably off the concrete walls and walkway. The physical constraint of the tunnel added unique challenges to each throw and catch.

The because the area on either side of the viaduct was lower, allowing a person to walk beneath the tracks, we were each just about 10 ~ 15 feet away from them and the tracks themselves were above our head. We heard the train coming, but the depression at the viaduct shortened the lead time until it until it was literally upon us. The Frisbee playing stopped for a moment while we both stared in stoned awe at the massive power of the locomotives and freight cars hurtling by just feet from our heads.

Shortly we resumed play until a particularly direct errant shot into the concrete floor cracked the frigid Frisbee. I joined The Cyclist on the other side of the tracks when a lightbulb went off in his head, and he asked,

“When the train went by… what did you say?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“When the train went by, you looked up at it and you yelled something… what was it?”

In my pot~fogged state, I had to think for a minute, “Oh yeah… I said TONS OF CHARGING METAL!!!”

We burst out laughing at the accurate, yet strange assessment of the event and naturally the rest of the day sometimes inappropriate, spontaneous cries of “TONS OF CHARGING METAL!!!” brought on mirthful remembrance.

Big Boats

2006-10-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

Muir Beach is in Marin County, just about 4 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I have the good fortune to housesit several times a year for friends with a house that is right on the ocean above the beach. The Golden Gate Bridge itself is hidden from view by a headland rising high above the ocean that is across the half mile expanse of Muir Beach itself. Across the half mile expanse of Muir Beach a headland rises high above the ocean the hides the Golden Gate Bridge itself from view, but an arc of the western part of the city on the other side defines the entry to San Francisco Bay.

The house itself sits about 60 feet above the beach with mostly floor to ceiling windows allowing constant contact with the unbelievable natural beauty of the ocean, beach and high rolling headlands across it. The number of things I enjoy about these visits would be hard to enumerate or even describe. One of them is the fun, surprising moment when I look up from what I am doing and see some interesting large ship heading in or out from the Bay. Mostly huge container ships, but sometimes cruise ships lit from bow to stern at night and all manner of pleasure craft.

Yesterday I walked out into the living room and glanced out a window framing a section of the far horizon and was stunned by what I saw. I didn’t know it was Fleet Week when a Carrier task force anchors in San Francisco Bay, but there it was silhouetted against the horizon. My Identification of the supporting ships might be faulty, but the huge aircraft carrier was lead by a large destroyer and followed by a couple of what I later guessed were cruisers, smaller than the destroyer, but still a impressive.

I got on the phone to one of my best Friends and was leaving an excited message describing what I saw. As I gauged their distance from the Golden Gate, I an exciting thought took root and quickly grew. “Dude!”, I cried. “I’ve probably got time to run over to the Golden Gate Bridge and watch them up close! Gotta Go!!!” And off I was in the Volvo headed over the hill to the Bridge. While it is only about 4 miles as the bird flies, it is about 20 minutes to traverse the winding roads over the headland and then up highway 101, through the Waldo Tunnel and down the grade to the Bridge.

Conzelman road rises on the Marin Side of the Bridge up as high as about a thousand feet above sealevel and affords a spectacular view of the Bridge, the Bay and the skyline of the city of San Francisco across it. I arrived in time to part about half way up and grab a vantage point as the destroyer was approaching the Bridge. What a day to be without camera ~ unfortunately being repaired. These ships were really impressive. They extended out to sea in a straight line ~ the destroyer, the aircraft carrier, a cruiser dwarfing one of the larger Coast Guard ships I’ve seen, followed by two more cruisers and then a large aircraft carrier~like ship that had been out of sight before and it was followed by two large hovercraft kicking up a huge spray in their wake.

There were military and Coast Guard helicopters banking over the Bridge and running the length of the convoy, a couple of Blue Angels were sweeping around the Bay, and smaller, very fast boats with .50 caliber machine guns on their bow were speeding up to errant pleasure craft and ordering them to keep their distance. The whole of Conzelman Rd. was lined with parked cars and a everyone was gawking. Small snippets of conversation reaching my ear like one woman wondering if these were military vessels and her companion replying that she didn’t know, only to be followed by all kinds of comments that revealed they knew they were military.

While I was impressed with the technology on display, the most interesting moment for me happened when one of the most peaceful and lovely examples of nature, a Monarch butterfly, danced around in the field of vision between me and the huge warship.

I Love Little Things Like This...

2006-09-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

I am online reading an article about the latest book by Bob Woodward when I suddenly realize that the random mix on my iTunes is playing a song by Neil Young called "Campaigner" ~ the refrain of which is...

"Where even Richard Nixon has got soul."

Sometime I will have to blog about how I got turned onto Neil Young and this album particularly. It goes back to the very wild old days.

Hoping, Praying and Keeping My Fingers Crossed...

2006-09-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

As a stagehand,it is the nature of my work that I show up at different venues all the time. Sometimes it is just for a few hours or days and then it is onto the next gig which might last longer. I had the good fortune to spend about 10 months of last year working on two different films, “Rent” and “The Pursuit of Happyness”.

One of my first jobs was one of the best. I was asked to show up at the Industrial Light and Magic model shop. This group had been creating special effects models for George Lucas since the original Starwars. As the guy at the union office described the situation, “They are an amazing group of artists who build incredible, unbelievable models used for special effects in movies. You’re not going to do that, but you will clean up their messes.”

Well, it was very cool. For 4 months I worked with one of the nicest, most interesting work environments you could imagine. They were working on the models for “Starwars Episode III” and it was incredible what passed for “work” there. The facility was a short bike ride from my house, the work was very laid back and the people were great.

In any event, George Lucas has gone over to the dark side of computer generated special effects and was going to close this amazing little facility ~ putting out of work hundreds of special effects artisans and shuttering what he began as a rebellion against big money Hollywood power and that was the cornerstone of the all the success that followed for him. Model based special effects were what made his name in the first place.

One of the guys decided it couldn’t happen and put together a group to buy ILM from Lucas. They have just been up and running for a month and a half. I got a call from the hall to show up and help them move some things around. I was amazed by what I saw when I showed up. I expected it to be kind of empty and quiet as they got going. The place was actually in full swing with several projects underway and a great energy in the air.

Everyone remembered me from my previous time there and gave me a great welcome. When I mentioned that everyone from before seemed to be there, the President said, “They are now that you’re here.” I ran into the head of operations later, and he mentioned that they were considering an opening level position he thought I’d be great for. This deal may make it or it may not, but it is a great job nearby at the least. If it actually took off, I would be getting in at the ground level of a fascinating niche in the film industry. No matter how carefully I could have “directed” my “career”… I never would have been able to find my way to something as cool as this.

Right now they just need me for a few days, but…

Tom, Part II

2006-09-26T21:23:00.000-07:00

When I called Bob back to tell him I’d be o.k. and that he should take off… he’s just not that kind of guy. He was waiting for me when I pulled up. It was and extended care facility, what we used to call “old folks homes” back in the Midwest. Tom is younger than I am. Probably 45 years old. He is one of those people whose intensity and edge rarely dulled ~ big smile, energetic stride, infectious laugh. When he was in a good mood his smile beamed across a room and his eyes sparkled. When something was bothering him, you sensed a dark thunder cloud holding back it’s lighting. One way or the other, you always knew when Tom was around.

Bob has already been there that morning for about an hour with Tom. Praying and meditating with him; rubbing soothing balm on his feet and just making him feel loved and valued. I was prepared by Bob’s description for the change in Tom’s appearance, but it was still a shock. This good sized, strong, full of life guy was laying in a bed about 30 pounds lighter than when I had last seen him. His muscles degenerated to rubbery pliancy that couldn’t move his body without assistance. He was able to raise his arm enough to shakily communicate on a dry wipe board. He couldn’t move his head enough to shake “yes” or “no”, just able to answer affirmatively by giving a weak thumbs up. Tapping on his chest and pointing at you meant “I Love You.”

Encountering this, I really didn’t know what to do or say. After a while I got over my shock and stumbled in the direction of as normal a communication as the circumstances would allow. I wanted him to know why it felt important to me to come. I wanted him to know he mattered. It was pretty evident that he was dying, with nothing short of a miracle to save him. I really wanted to talk to him in a way that acknowledged that he was dying, not to act like it wasn’t happening. The slender hope that some sort of survival existed kept me from doing that. So I talked about the times we visited after meetings. I reminded him that I had always identified with his sharing about using anger and intensity to keep connection with others at bay.

He motioned for the writing board. In a painstaking, barely legible scrawl he wrote the words…

“Mad men”

then he looked very seriously at me. Fire, intensity and passion still lived in his eyes. He wrote the word “Not” in front of those two words. As vigorously as he could he pointed his index finger between the two of us and the words. “Not mad men.” We were not anymore. With the help of a spiritual path, we had set down those tools. Far from perfect, we might pick them up from time to time, but there was no longer the interest in hanging onto them, honing their infliction of pain... that ultimately was aimed at ourselves. Keeping us separated from others and therefore separated from the chance to love and be loved… ultimately practicing the rigidity that prevented us from learning to learn to love ourselves. To forgive ourselves by forgiving others. Softening judgment and opening to commonality.

My judgments about homosexuality just didn’t have a place at the bedside of this man’s painful fight for survival. I had no trouble telling Tom I loved him, kissing his forehead, brushing his hair with my hand and holding him as gingerly as I could. Wishing there was more I could do to change his circumstances and ease his suffering, but being humbled by the reality that there was not.

Can't Wait...

2006-09-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

until that damn song by Gilbert O'Sullivan "Alone Again, Naturally" quits running through my head... and doesn't mean what it does right now ~ the fumbled chance to have a relationship with an amazing woman. When she was interested I had something else going on. Now that I was ready... she has moved on. I kept telling myself how much I'd regret it if #1 cost me the opportunity with #2...

And.

It.

Did.

2006-09-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

Just got a call from a friend telling me that a mutual friend had passed away. That phrase “passed away” does justice to the ending of a life from the ravages of AIDS. I met Tom as members of a path that heals fear through love. What he told of his past struck a chord of kinship within me. Tom was probably a more authentic tough guy than I was, but we both used intensity and anger to keep people from seeing how scared and vulnerable we felt ~ how uncomfortable we were being what we could not help being… human.

I was never comfortable with Tom’s homosexuality or bisexuality (he has a beautiful daughter) or whatever it is. I am skeptical of any conviction that deviates from the penis/vagina program. If you look at how those two body parts are complimentarily designed, how it feels when they are joined and what comes (sorry) from when they do ~ the birth of another human being… I just can’t bring myself to believe that homosexuality is anything, but a confused, mistaken notion. In any event, I still recognized that my discomfort is a condition of fear on my side of the street. In addition to honoring what we shared in common, I was happy to become friends with Tom to practice letting go of that part within me that creates separation by judging.

Tom moved to a different part of the county and our meetings became further and fewer between, but I always felt a connection when we saw each other. At least in terms of overcoming the use of anger as a tool and turning to the path of Gentleness, Humility and Love… we were brothers. I saw Tom just a couple of months ago at a meeting, and noticed that he didn’t look so well physically and seemed emotionally drained. We didn’t get to exchange more than a brief greeting on his way out the door. I didn’t know that he had just received the news that his HIV had veered into full blown AIDS. He had been diagnosed with lesions on the brain. I am not a doctor, but I don’t think you need to be to understand the devastation wrought by open, untreatable, inoperable sores on your brain.

I heard a month of so later that Tom was very sick. No invitation was extended to me to see him, and I didn’t seek it out. I wish the truth were different, but my prejudice got in the way. I figured it was AIDS related, and while I cared about Tom, part of me was judgmental of the lifestyle that brought this to his doorstep. In my better moments I am above thinking like this, but I so often fall short of the spiritual ideals that open my heart. I pick and I choose, until the enormity of trying to balance all that which can’t be… brings me to my knees. Defeated by applying my limited intellect to the mysterious currents of life and their unknown destinies… I look for help from a power greater than myself to help me set down all the false ideas that disconnect me… that separate me from my Brothers.... from Myself.

A Friend, who is much more than a Friend, let me know that Tom was in a care facility nearby. An immediacy was lent as he said that Tom was very near to “making the final journey home.” This man who I respect so much asked me if I would join him in visiting Tom, and I was grateful for the opportunity to amend my previous harsh thinking, to overcome myself and again walk the path of humble acceptance of another as they are. I wanted Tom to know that he had mattered to me… that despite our differences, we shared the path of turning from fear and anger to Peace and Love. I wanted Tom to know as he approached the dark place of which we cannot know … that he was not alone.

My Friend and I had planned to visit Tom on Tuesday, but Monday morning I found myself unexpectedly with time on my hands. I was on the Embarcadero downtown when I got a hold of him hoping that we could see Tom together that morning. It turned out that he had already been to visit Tom and was just leaving. He gave me directions and encouraged me to follow his visit with mine. I could tell he wanted to go. He had been with Tom for an hour or so, and it had been emotionally draining. It was clear in his voice that he’d rather not wait for me… that I was on my own. As he was relating how he had rubbed salve on Tom’s feet the fear that had been lurking in the shadows sprang forth in my mind.

I took a deep breath and told him the truth. I didn’t struggle as much with the intimacy of death with my friend Tom… but I still struggled with the homosexuality that brought him there. I told him that I really wished that he could wait for me. I admitted that I was afraid to go by myself… afraid that without help, without support ~ I might not be able to find the loving way within me that the circumstances so clearly merited. This Man is a Dear and Deep Friend, a Teacher in so many ways. His capacity for Kindness awes and inspires me to its pale imitation. He didn’t hesitate to ask me how long it would take me to get there… that he would meet me, if only to stay a bit and then go. I thanked him and was filled with the strength that comes from having a partner in facing difficulty.

I was on the Golden Gate Bridge when I realized that in confronting my fear I had selfishly relied upon the openhearted generosity of my Teacher… without taking the time to ask for the help of whatever it is that teaches us all. . I am not the kind of person whose spirituality demands an all knowing god that pays particular attention to the comings and goings of my life, but I do believe in a power greater than myself. I believe that I am a small part of that power ~ that prayer and meditation can clear away the false thoughts that keep me from knowing that I am and walking forward as that. Crossing that breathtaking span over the bay, I recited the Serenity Prayer and directly related it to visiting Tom.

God, grant me the serenity to visit Tom
The courage to visit Tom
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Taking a deep breath, I knew immediately I could see Tom and would be shown what to do if I remained willing. All I had to do was show up, keep breathing and open up the Love that exists beneath the veneer of my fears.

I'm Not Sure...

2006-09-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

But I think the pope was in esseff...

I was enjoying my lunch break down town and encountered a vehicle that looks like the pope-mobile to me.

O.K., So Help Me Understand This...

2006-09-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately the pope (lower case intentional... I am NOT a fan of the vatican) apparently included in a speech a reference that links islam historically to violence. And the response of islam...

Islamic militants vow war after pope comments
Middle East Christians express fears in face of continued Muslim fury

CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida in Iraq warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that its war against Christianity and the West will go on until Islam takes over the world, and Iran’s supreme leader called for more protests over the pontiff’s remarks on Islam.

“You infidels and despots, we will continue our jihad (holy war) and never stop until God avails us to chop your necks and raise the fluttering banner of monotheism, when God’s rule is established governing all people and nations,” said the statement by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups in Iraq.

Another Iraqi extremist group, Ansar al-Sunna, challenged “sleeping Muslims” to prove their manhood by doing something other than “issuing statements or holding demonstrations.”
“If the stupid pig is prancing with his blasphemies in his house,” the group said in a Web statement, referring to the pope, “then let him wait for the day coming soon when the armies of the religion of right knock on the walls of Rome.”

The anger recalled the outrage earlier this year over cartoons depicting the prophet published by a Danish paper. The caricatures, which Muslims saw as insulting Muhammad, set off large, violent protests across the Islamic world.

Wow! What a surprise. There was another one about slitting throats over this that I couldn't find. I don't know about anyone else, but I am tired of a delusional culture asking to be taken seriously.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... there is no doubt in my mind that there are hundreds of thousands, perhaps more than a million, muslim men who would knock on my door and stab me to death simply for posting this blog raising the hideous pathology of their "religious beliefs"!!!

Oh, yeah... I caught it that these are quoates of "militants", but the problem with islam lies in the outright support or at least acquiesence of the majority of muslims to these insane views and the violence enacted on behalf of their "religion" against non-believing infidels... thats US folks!!!

Earth to hate-filled morons... basically all we want to do is sell you iPods and hope that someday you'll treat women a little better than your livestock. Basically all you want to do is kill everyone who doesn't believe what you believe. CHILL OUT!!!

Please... bring on the puppies!!!

The Next Time...

2006-09-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

...I am ranting and raving in the front yard about some cosmic injustice, I hope the neighbor will turn to his wife and say, "He's at it again... Unleash the pack of Labs!" Then realizing my determination to remain unhappy, "Wait a minute Honey. Better make it puppies..."

Work Shots

2006-09-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Tanker passing by Ft. Mason while on my coffee break.

City skyline out the window while about 40 feet up in a scissors lift inside an event facility.

Sunday Morning...

2006-09-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Went down to a favorite little cafe for breakfast this morning. When it opened, I stopped by months ago just to check out the menu. When I saw that they had "pecan encrusted challah bread french toast filled with sweet cheese"... I said, "Table Please!!!" and have been going back often on Sunday morning since. For some reason, I slept in today and the place was too crowded by the time I got there. Decided to come back to my place and enjoy my usual summer breakfast...
Yogurt covered with granola, strawberries, chopped almonds and drizzled with honey. During the winter the yogurt and granola are replaced by my special oatmeal. Coffee roasted right here in town. Years ago, I used to get the Weekend Times, but soon realized that spending most of the day wading through it was a waste of time and gave up on it. Now it's more symbolic than anything. Enjoyed visiting with my Best Friend back in St. Louis...

And now it's off for a hike down the street...

Well, didn't make it for the hike. Got a call from a Friend who has been having psychological challenges. It's a long story and I ought to blog about it. It has been a weird year in terms of people I have become close to going through difficulties. It has been kind of one big thing right after the other every two months or so since the beginning of the year. Uh oh... just realized that the last one was about two months ago.

DON'T...

2006-08-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

DRINK AND DRIVE!!!

Back From the Brink...

2006-08-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

The news that all my files in my computer had evaporated came at a moment of my life when a bunch of other things, big and small, were breaking, not working or going away in my life. I nearly started crying. Though I was pretty devastated at the loss of so much that I value in my life, I pretty quickly inclined towards the idea that it was just God’s way of telling me that it was time to clean the slate and move on.

I could take more photos. Acquire more music. Write more of my deepest thoughts. Recreate my contact database. I have always had the idea that if I lost everything to a fire… I could be used as a moment of liberation instead of doom. It seemed like I was coming through on a mini~version of my ability to do that.

I was still pretty shaky when I picked up my computer at CompUSA and looked for solutions with Steve the head tech. When I mentioned that I would just send it back to Dell for a new hard drive and start over, he encouraged me to let them do it cheaper. Sounded fine to me. We agreed that when I was on better emotional footing we’d discuss the details.

A couple of days later I realized that I needed to get that ball rolling. I called CompUSA and left a message for Steve. No word. A day passed and I left another message. Nothing. Being a former salesman, I knew it was time for a cold call. Steve wasn’t there so I left a written note asking him to call me. No call. Steve was there the next time I called and after being told I would be connected with him… I got his personal voicemail.

Where I left a message.

I was commuting from work with a buddy the next day when I finally got through to Steve. No amount of description of myself, my computer, it’s problem, the solution he proposed just a week earlier … could bring a recollection of me to Steve’s mind. His just-bring-it-in-and-we’ll-do-what-we-can attitude left me less than confident.

My buddy overheard the conversation and suggested a little storefront place in our neighborhood that had spent a lot of time giving him great advice even though he didn’t buy anything from them. He had been really impressed with their professionalism. What the hell, I thought. Nothing like a personal recommendation. It’s like picking someone to work on your car. Too many choices and you never know who to trust until a friend speaks up.

Good choice.

These guys were attentive and professional from the moment I walked into the store. After a brief inspection of a couple of screens on my computer they assured me…

That my data was actually intact.

Not gone.

Not requiring $1,500+ specialists.

It was just there.

We upgraded my laptop from 60 GB hard drive to 111, added a cool little external case that could be fitted with the same size hard drive and some software that automatically backs up my stuff and…