Eternal Ecstasy

In the Good News Department

2007-04-03T22:42:00.000-07:00

Silicon Valley's "best brains" work on energy by Leonard Anderson

MENLO PARK, Calif (Reuters) - Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley have been searching for the next big thing in high-tech for years, but now many have switched to greener pursuits -- finding technology to help cut global warming.

Although commercial success could take years, venture capitalists are pouring cash into solar power, fuel cells, wind energy, biofuels, new lighting microchips, "smart" power grids, and other innovative energies.

"The best brains in the country are no longer working on the next pharmaceutical drug or the next Silicon Revolution. They want to work on energy," said Vinod Khosla, a top venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.

read all at link above

It's too bad that we aren't using the trillion plus dollars or more that we'll end up spending on Iraq to pursue innovations in the energy field. So much to gain from energy independence, but then again we have oil people in charge now so don't expect them to look for ways to change the status quo. We might also solve the health-care and social security problem with a few billion dollars. So look to the grass-roots movements from smart and inspired people to move us forward into a great new future with or without help from Uncle Sam, at least the current Uncle Sam.

Marijuana in the News

2007-04-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Marijuana as wonder drug by Lester Grinspoon | March 1, 2007

A NEW STUDY in the journal Neurology is being hailed as unassailable proof that marijuana is a valuable medicine. It is a sad commentary on the state of modern medicine -- and US drug policy -- that we still need "proof" of something that medicine has known for 5,000 years.

New Mexico approves medical use of marijuana

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) - New Mexico doctors are allowed to prescribe marijuana to help some seriously ill patients manage symptoms including pain and nausea under a bill signed into law by Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday.
ADVERTISEMENT

"This law will provide much-needed relief for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases," Richardson, a Democratic candidate for U.S. president in 2008, said at the signing ceremony. "It is the right thing to do."

On this Date in History

2007-04-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Births:

1593 George Herbert English metaphysical poet (5 Mystical Songs)
1783 Washington Irving New York NY, American writer (Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle) (picture on right)
1924 Marlon Brando Omaha NE, actor (Superman, Godfather)
1948 Garrick Ohlsson Bronxville NY, pianist (International Busoni winner 1969)
1958 Alec Baldwin Amityville NY, actor (Joshua-Knots Landing, Beetlejuice)
1959 David Hyde Pierce Saratoga Springs NY, actor (Niles Crane-Fraiser)
1961 Eddie Murphy Brooklyn NY, actor (Saturday Night Live, 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Raw)
1961 Melissa Etheridge rock guitarist/vocalist (Come to My Window)
1971 Picabo Street skier (Olympics-gold-94)

Deaths:

0033 Christ crucified (according to astronomer Humphreys & Waddington)
1897 Johannes Brahms German composer/conductor (Hung Dances), dies at 63 (picture on right)
1986 Peter Pears English tenor (Death in Venice), dies at 75
1990 Sarah Vaughan jazz singer, dies of lung cancer at 66
1996 Carl Stokes 1st black mayor of a major US city (Cleveland OH), dies

Events:

1776 Washington receives honorary Ll.D. degree from Harvard College
1790 Revenue Marine Service (US Coast Guard), created
1860 Pony Express began between St Joseph MO & Sacramento CA
1868 An Hawaiian surfs on highest wave ever, he rides a 50' tidal wave
1926 1st performance of Jean Sibelius' 7th Symphony in C
1933 1st airplane flight over Mount Everest
1948 1st US figure skating championships held

Check sidebar under references for more on this date in history.

You can listen to my recording of Brahms' Intermezzo Op118 No2 here. Scroll down to find it.

Correction from an email today:

In the section On This Date in History, your blog listed the first US figure skating championships as being held in 1948. That date is off by 34 years.

The first US figure skating championships were held in 1914. The winner for ladies was Teresa Weld. The winner for men was Norman Scott. There were also awards for pairs (Jeanne Chevalier and Norman Scott) and dance (Teresa Weld and Nathaniel Niles).

I have no idea what the calendar date was. I only know the year. This data is from the annual directory published by US Figure Skating that is made available to skating officials.

I hope this information is of interest to you.

So I looked and found this:

Jackson Haines, the father of figure skating, originated the type of figure skating you see on TV today. In the 1860s he brought ballet style and techniques to the sport. Although he won the U.S. men's championship, his expressive style did not yet catch on in the U.S.

Haines went to Europe in 1865 and became a popular success but died before his style of skating caught on. Called the "International Style," Haines's form of skating eventually overcame resistance in the U.S., and on March 20, 1914, the first national figure skating championships in the "International Style" were held at New Haven, Connecticut.

Thanks for your email A.S.

LGBT youth, the movement's new ambassadors

2007-04-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

From PlanetOut

SUMMARY: Young people, some barely in their teens, are gay rights' newest ambassadors at statehouses from Olympia, Wash., to Montpelier, Vt.

The half-dozen lobbyists who crowded into a lawmaker's office in Sacramento, Calif., recently didn't come bearing campaign cash or votes to swap. Instead, they recounted tales of high school torment as fresh as their faces.

Ignacio Pitalua, 19, spoke about having a trash can dumped on him by other boys who suspected he was gay.

"It's a big obstacle to learning," Pitalua said, pressing Assemblyman Curren Price to co-sponsor a bill that sets specific requirements for schools to stem anti-gay discrimination.

Young people, some barely in their teens, are becoming the gay rights movement's newest ambassadors at statehouses from Olympia, Wash., to Montpelier, Vt. Their advocacy, unheard of as recently as a decade ago, reflects the slowly growing acceptance that is emboldening gays and lesbians to come out of the closet while they are coming of age.

The article goes on to say:

Yet the most effective spokespeople are not necessarily gay youth, but the straight students who joined with them to form more than 2,500 high school gay-straight alliance clubs across the country since the early 1990s.

Carolyn Lamb, director of California's Gay-Straight Alliance Network, estimates that up to 40 percent of the 400 high school and college students recently bused to Sacramento for Queer Youth Advocacy Day were not LGBT.

"Most of the adult-driven (gay) civil rights work doesn't have such large numbers of straight allies who see it as a civil rights cause," she observed.

All and more at links above.

Quote

2007-04-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

You don't have to go
where you don't want to be

to get where you want to be.

You can go from
where you are

to where you want to be.

Abraham

"Captain April"

2007-04-02T04:03:00.000-07:00

I met Liz Story in Prescott, Arizona sometime around 1996 through mutual friends. She was preparing the music for her up-coming album
"17 Seconds to Anywhere." We had many discussions about philosophy and art. She previewed her sketches for me for her new songs. I remember expressing my enthusiasm for what was to be called "Captain April." I told her it was like Spring bursting out all over. She later named it. She mentioned me in the thank you notes on her album. She said I was the "Architecture of Flow". I guess because of the things we talked about and my encouraging her to go on with her music.

One day Liz came over for a lesson wherein she brought a classical piano transcription of "Widmung" by Robert Schumann. She had a recording by Van Cliburn that she loved very much. It is a song steep in rich sentiment for what is best within us. We played and cried and talked and cried and had a wonderful time together.

Here's two of my favorite songs and one she has written since for Mark, who was someone very dear to her that passed away a few years ago.

"Church of Trees" has always made me cry as it does now. Bless you Liz , you wild and dear soul.

If link above doesn't work try here:
My Rhapsody Playlist

The Month of April.

On this Date in History

2007-04-02T02:36:00.000-07:00

Births:
0742 Charlemagne 1st Holy Roman emperor (800-14)
1725 Casanova writer(picture on right)
1805 Hans Christian Andersen Denmark, author of 150 fairy tales
1875 Walter Chrysler founded Chrysler car company

Events:
1513 Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain
1739 Handel's "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale" was performed for the first time.
1792 Congress establishes Philadelphia mint; US authorizes $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle &
$2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ dollar, quarter, dime & half-dime
1800 1st performance of Ludwig von Beethoven's 1st Symphony in C
1845 H L Fizeau & J Leon Foucault take 1st photo of Sun
1866 President Andrew Johnson ends war in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee & Virginia
1870 Victoria Woodhull is 1st woman to be nominated for US President, (picture at right)
1872 George B Brayton patents gasoline powered engine
1877 1st Easter egg roll held on White House lawn
1889 Charles Hall patented aluminum.
1902 1st motion picture theater opens (Los Angeles CA)
1908 Mills Committee declares baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday
1910 Karl Harris perfected the process for the artificial synthesis of rubber.
1917 President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany
1917 Jeannette Rankin becomes 1st woman member of US House of Representatives
1921 Professor Albert Einstein lectures in NYC on his new theory of relativity
1932 Charles Lindbergh turns over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son
1935 Mary Hirsch, becomes 1st woman licensed as a horse trainer
1935 Sir Watson-Watt patents RADAR
1986 NCAA adopts 3-point basketball rule (19 feet 9 inch distance)

more here and here.

Congratulations

2007-04-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

MELBOURNE, Australia — Michael Phelps equaled the most hallowed mark in swimming, winning his seventh gold medal at the world championships Sunday night with his fifth world record.

Phelps smashed his own standard in the 400-meter individual medley by 2.04 seconds, becoming the most successful swimmer ever at the worlds.

"This is probably one of the best meets I've ever had," he said. "I'm definitely happy with how it turned out."

The 21-year-old American joined countryman Mark Spitz as the only swimmers to win that many golds at a major international meet. Of course, Spitz' achievement came on the sport's grandest stage _ the Olympics.

Phelps hopes to equal the feat or go one better at next year's Beijing Games.

When a teammate messed up his chance for an eighth gold medal in a relay race he was as gracious as they come saying:

"When Team USA comes into a swim meet, we come as a team and we exit as a team," he said. "There are things that don't happen exactly as we want it to, but it's better to happen now than next year."

How wonderful to see such a fine young person doing so well. All the best in the coming Olympic Games in Beijing, Mr. Phelps.

Sweet, Sweet Jesus

2007-04-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

The 485,460-Calorie Messiah
The six-foot tall, milk-chocolate Jesus Christ art catastrophe.

"Man cannot live on bread alone, but if he were to consume Cosimo Cavallaro's newest creation he could live off of Jesus -- for approximately eight months. An oddball artist known for his "eclectic" forms of expression, Cavallaro's latest contribution to culture is a six-foot tall, anatomically-correct milk-chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ. His confectionary Christ is made with more than 200 pounds of chocolate, containing approximately 480,000 calories. (The artistic endeavor titled, "My Sweet Lord," can also give you 3,240 percent of the Vitamin A you need each day.)"

NPR Audio: Chocolate Jesus May Prompt Boycott. There are two sides to Easter. There's the Christian holiday. And then there's the bunny, the eggs and maybe some candy, too. A group called the Catholic League wants to boycott a New York hotel that is mixing the two sides by displaying a sculpture of Jesus made of chocolate. It's described as "the 485,460-calorie Messiah." People will be invited to eat it on Easter Sunday.

Chocolate Jesus
Written by: Kathleen Brennan and Tom Waits

Well, i don't go to church on sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the bible
I got my own special way

I know jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more
I fall down on my knees every sunday
At zerelda lee's candy store

Well, it's got to be a chocolate jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate jesus
Keep me satisfied

more here.

With Jesus, Do You Eat The Ears First?

Bread and Wine or the Chocolate kind? by meEE

People eat Jesus alot. They are Jesus eaters. They eat him in the form of a host, a wafer of unleavened bread every Sunday, and some more frequently than that. They also drink his blood in the form of a sip of wine. I did this growing up in the Catholic Religion. I never thought of myself as a Jesus eater but I was. I think I'll copyright a slogan "I eat Jesus."

The Catholic Church Dogma is that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ through transubstantiation. They are the only ones who claim this power that I know of. So when you eat the bread and drink the wine it is no longer just eating bread and drinking wine, you're eating and drinking Jesus. So now you too have Jesus in you and that's how you get Jesus in you, because Jesus can't just get in you by himself for some reason. The by-products of the bread and wine, excuse me, the essence of the by-products, are still Jesus as far as I can tell. So when you go the the bathroom does Jesus come out your...well you know what I mean?

Oh, man, what vain attempts to reach for that which has always been unreachable, to grasp at that which is not graspable, meaning, I say meaning that which IS and has Always Been and Will Always Be. No need of seeking outside yourself, literally or figuratively(grasping). That's why atheists can be actually closer to "What Is", Truth, they have either forsaken appearances or never had to deal wih them in the first place. Although to be sure their are plenty of "seemings to be" to get caught up in for those of any persuasion.

Creation is One with it's Creator and that Creation and Creator is only known through Love because it is Love. That's why the Chocolate Jesus may be as close to the truth as bread and wine. More people love chocolate. Even though the Catholic Church claims this power of catering Jesus's body, it's theology is so messed up with good and evil that it really doesn't make much sense. In so many ways the kingdom is kept at a "safe"distance, for another time and place, only after this life of trials and tribulations and eating Jesus every Sunday. Eating Jesus keeps you "online" but not "logged in"(yet) to that place that you want to be someday with all the good folks in the good place.

Are you not already there? Come on...

Eat more Jesus

Update: At Crooks and Liars via Shakespeare's Sister:
The Daily Donohue: The Violent Rantings of a lunatic bully over a Chocolate Jesus

me in the chocolatEE (yum)

On this Date in History - April Fool's Day

2007-04-01T03:19:00.000-07:00

Births:
1578 William Harvey England, physician (discovered blood circulation)
1873 Sergei Vasilievitch Rachmaninov Novgorod Provine Russia, composer (Prelude in C# Minor)
1905 Winfried P I Zillig German opera composer/conductor (Fantasia Irica)

Deaths:
1917 Scott Joplin ragtime composer (Sting), dies at 48
1930 Cosima Liszt wife of Austrian composer Richard Wagner, dies at 92
1976 Max Ernst German/French surrealist painter/sculptor, dies at 85
1991 Martha Graham US, choreographer (Appalachian Spring), dies at 96

Events:
1578 William Harvey of England discovers blood circulation
1748 Ruins of Pompeii found
1778 Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, creates "$" symbol
1789 House of Representatives 1st full meeting, New York NY, F Muhlenberg 1st speaker
1792 Gronings feminist Etta Palm demands women's right to divorce
1826 Samuel Mory patents internal combustion engine
1853 Cincinnati becomes 1st US city to pay firefighters a regular salary
1866 US Congress rejects presidential veto gives all equal rights in US
1876 1st official National League baseball game (Boston-6, Philadelphia-5)
1889 1st dishwashing machine marketed (Chicago)
1891 Painter Gauguin leaves Marseille for Tahiti
1927 1st automatic record changer introduced by His Master's Voice
1929 Louie Marx introduces Yo-Yo
1952 Big Bang theory proposed in Physical Review by Alpher, Bethe & Gamow
1973 John & Yoko form a new country with no laws or boundaries, called Nutopia, its national anthem is silence
1986 World oil prices dip below $10 a barrel

There's alot more here and here.

me in historEE

Musical Selection for today

2007-03-31T05:06:00.000-07:00

Samuel Barber's Violin Concerto

The violin concerto (1939) is a transitional work: the first two movements sing sweetly and intently; the last movement burns the barn down with complex meters and new dissonances.

American composer Samuel Barber, most famous for "The Adagio for Strings", often confuses critics. He founded no school; he stuck to no one style. As a public figure, he seemed aloof from the various critical fights of American music: tonal vs. atonal, Stravinsky vs. Schoenberg, and old-guard vs. modern.

Barber distinguished himself as a melodist. Almost everything he wrote has at least one gorgeous tune or memorable theme.

On This Day

2007-03-31T03:09:00.000-07:00

Births:

Rene Descartes 1596 - Philosopher, "I think, therefore I am"
Liz Claiborne 1929 - Fashion designer
Shirley Jones 1934 - Singer, Actress ("The Partridge Family")
Herb Alpert 1935 - Musician
Richard Chamberlain 1935 - Actor ("The Bourne Identity")

Al Gore 1948 - U.S. Vice President under President Bill Clinton

1732 - Composer Franz Joseph Haydn was born. He is known for helping to develop the Classical style.

Events:

1943 - "Oklahoma!" by Rodgers and Hammerstein debuted on Broadway. The original title was "Away We Go".
1492 - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain issued an edict expelling Jews who were unwilling to convert to Christianity.

1776 - Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John that women were "determined to foment a rebellion" if the new Declaration of Independence failed to guarantee their rights.

...remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.

1880 - Wabash, IN, became the first town to be completely illuminated with electric light.
1889 - In Paris, the Eiffel Tower officially opened.
1904 - In India, hundreds of Tibetans were slaughtered by the British.
1918 - For the first time in the U.S., Daylight Saving Time went into effect.

1959 - The Dalai Lama (Lhama Dhondrub, Tenzin Gyatso) began exile by crossing the border into India where he was granted political asylum. Gyatso was the 14th Dalai Lama.

There's much more here.

...and then Jesus said

2007-03-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

A modern Gospel in the computer age.

Many literal christian people create and forward emails that suggest that if you don't forward them (usually to ten people) you don't love Jesus or God. Some of them claim that because we haven't put "Jesus" back in our lives our country is in ruins and will get worse. So the disciples were afraid, (as usual in these circumstances) and asked the Lord, who was busy blogging at the time, about these things ...and then Jesus said:

Blessed are they who see through manipulation and idolization, for they shall not be moved by the scribes and pharisees of these days.

Blessed are they who have not created God in their image and worship a Father and Son that only exists in their fairytales and dreams for they, in not so doing may allow what Is to be known and therefore, who they and all truly are as well.

Blessed are they who do not foster their lame beliefs on others, for they do not project evil into the world that has no inherent evil and was pronounced good which has NOT changed, being of that which IS and has always BEEN and will always BE.

Blessed are they who pity and have patience with those who have no real awareness that I am in everyone and everything and that if they see me in everyone and everything they would be amazed and astonished and at peace, that peace that passeth understanding.

Blesssed are they who behold Christ within and all around them, for Creation IS the kingdom of Heaven and that creation is never separate from it's Creator and it's Creator is LOve.

Blessed are they who do not do the very things that claim to be honoring me but only keep the real me from them.

Blessed are they who forward this post to ten people immediately or they shall surely die.*

*I'm kidding.

And the disciples were amazed and astounded because they couldn't agree if he was kidding or not...and Jesus said, "duh."

me and Jesus in the EE

More Spring Photos in Newberry, SC

2007-03-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

On this Date in History

2007-03-30T01:59:00.000-07:00

Birthdays:

1853 Vincent van Gogh Zundert Netherlands
1940 Astrud Gilberto Brazil, singer (Girl From Ipanema)
1945 Eric Clapton [Eric Patrick Clapp] Ripley England, legendary guitarist/singer (Yardbirds, Cream, Tears in Heaven)
1964 Tracy Chapman US singer/songwriter (Freedom Now, I Got a Fast Car)
1968 Celine Dion Québec Canada, singer (I'm Your Woman)
1970 Secreteriat race horse, triple crown (1973)

Deaths:

1925 Rudolf Steiner Austrian philosopher (anthroposophy), dies at 64
1948 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi
1966 Maxfield Parrish US painter, dies at 95
2002 HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother dies at Royal Lodge, Windsor, at 101

Events:

0239 -BC- 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1533 Henry VIII divorces his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon
1778 Playwright Voltaire crowned with laurel wreath
1842 Ether was used as an anaesthetic for 1st time by
Dr Crawford Long (Jefferson GA)
1858 Pencil with attached eraser patented (Hyman L Lipman of Philadelphia)
1867 US purchases Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 (2¢ an acre-Seward's Folly)
1870 15th Amendment passes, guarantees right to vote regardless of race
1870 Texas becomes last confederate state readmitted to Union
1889 John T Reid opens 1st US golf course (Yonkers NY)
1919 Gandhi announces resistance against Rowlatt Act
1932 Amelia Earhart is 1st woman to fly solo cross the Atlantic
1953 Einstein announces revised unified field theory

There's a lot more here.

Picture is of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night." Click on it or his name above for link. Second picture is Maxfirld Parrish's "Daybreak." Then, of course, Gandhi.

Bull's-eye on Beavers

2007-03-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

In The State Newspaper today:

Bull’s-eye on beavers
Dams causing damage, so rodents will be killed

The city of Columbia — weary of beavers building dams and swamping nearby sewer lines and manholes — has hired a federal agency to kill the animals.

City Council recently approved a $50,000 contract with The U.S. Department of Agriculture. Wildlife specialists will work for a year, killing beavers, breaking down dams and getting creeks and streams flowing again.

It’s too early to say how many animals will have to be killed.

The city may also get a helping hand from the animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is working with the Virginia Department of Transportation on tackling similar beaver issues.

A PETA biologist is expected to visit Columbia and see if special water-control devices can be used in lieu of killing the rodents. A combination of methods might be the solution.

The article goes on to say:

Some animal activists, including those in PETA, say trapping is inhumane and ineffective because other beavers move into the area and build new dams.

Instead, Stephanie Boyles, a biologist with Virginia-based PETA, encourages cities to use water flow devices — pipes placed underneath dams which allow water to continue to flow.

The dams are left in place and the beavers are not killed.

“It’s more cost-effective and humane to invest in these long-term permanent solutions,” Boyles said, noting they’re cheap to build and maintain. “Otherwise, the animals will continue to recolonize those sites. The problem doesn’t go away.”

But Boyles concedes the devices don’t work in every situation. She’ll visit the city and assess whether they could work.

I would love to see the co-existance of humans with the natural world. I have had such a great experience while the beaver dam in Newberry was allowed to remain. It has since been destroyed.

I was priviledged to see several beavers including on one occasion the mother and a young kit. On another day, a beaver was on his back in the water munching on some leaves from an over-hanging branch. Several times I saw a large beaver making deliberations about breaches in the dam. I got to see turtles, various birds including a Little Green Heron, which was such a delight, as I had never seen one and did not know what it was for months. Of course I didn't have my camera with me that day. I saw a red-tailed hawk and watch and filmed it for almost 30 minutes. I left before he did. I saw muskrats, foxes, deer and dragonflies galore.

The night before they destroyed the dam I saw a Great Blue Heron at dusk at the edge of the pond and the next night across the street, probably wondering what happened to the pond.

The picture above is one I got from a video camera I was shooting with. Wish I had had a better camera for shooting stills. But the excitement and joy of being there was wonderful none-the -less.

When the dam was removed I could see how high the dam actually was frok it's lowest point. Roughly 6 to 7 feet and maybe 15 feet wide. It was in front of two culverts that passed under the road and the heavy rains had pushes it closer and closer to the culverts. It was only a matter of time before the whole thing would have been blocked off. I've sseen on TV where biologists have erected guards to keep dams away from culverts so the dam would not cause a problem.

Let's hope we can solve these problems with kindness towards out fellow creatures. They have so much to offer to anyone who would take the time to enjoy them.

Peace.

Frühlingsglaube (Spring's faith)

2007-03-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

It's spring, a time for renewal and awakening. Poets throughout history have penned many a wonderful expression of man's sentiments relating to the seasons, to nature and the world in which we inhabit however briefly. German Lied or art song has many fine examples of such expression. I've been drawn to Franz Schubert's, (1797-1828) Frühlingsglaube, text by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862).

Die linden Lüfte sind erwacht,
Sie säuseln und wehen Tag und Nacht,
Sie schaffen an allen Enden.
O frischer Duft, o neuer Klang!
Nun, armes Herze, sei nicht bang!
Nun muß sich alles, alles wenden.

Die Welt wird schöner mit jedem Tag,
Man weiß nicht, was noch werden mag,
Das Blühen will nicht enden;
Es blüht das fernste, tiefste Tal:
Nun, armes Herz, vergiß der Qual!
Nun muß sich alles, alles wenden.

The mild breezes are awakened,
They whisper and move day and night,
And are at work everywhere.
O fresh scent, o new sound!
Now, poor heart, don't be afraid.
Now all, all must change.

The world is more beautiful with every day,
One knows not what yet may be,
The flowering will not end.
Even the deepest, most distant valley blooms.
Now, poor heart, forget your torment.
Now all, all must change.

The picture above is of Wisteria blooming now in South Carolina. We stopped on the side of the rode to take this picture and I got a good whiff of the beautiful and delicate fragrance.

"O Frischer Duft"

There is a link to Lieder in the sidebar. What a treasure of great poetry and music from the heart of Europe and from the Romantic Period of the Arts. (1820-1910) Schubert wrote the music for Frühlingsglaube in 1820 when he was in his early 20's and the author of the poem, (Uhland) in his early 30's.

Romantic Music.

Turtle Blogging and...

2007-03-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Wait, two of these are not turtles. Actually,
none of these is a turtle. They're pictures silly.

Nature around Newberry.

me in the EE

Quote

2007-03-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

from Desiderata by Max Ehrmann

Amen.

Saw this at Got Liver?

Bob Barr Flip-Flops on Pot

2007-03-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

From an article by Chris Frates

Bob Barr, who as a Georgia congressman authored a successful amendment that blocked D.C. from implementing a medical marijuana initiative, has switched sides and become a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Ironically, Barr said he will help lead the fight to give District residents a say on whether to allow medical marijuana — the very thing the “Barr Amendment” denied them in 1998. He will lobby for the rights of states to set their own medical marijuana policy without federal interference.

The four-term former Republican congressman will also work to unplug a youth anti-drug campaign which a recent study showed actually increased the likelihood that all teens would smoke pot.

“A lot of conservatives have expressed great concern over the taxpayer money that is being wasted on this poorly run advertising campaign,” said Barr, who left Congress in 2003.

more at link above...

Howard Zinn Live on G Living

2007-03-28T07:08:00.001-07:00

War cannot be accepted any longer.

Two Anniversaries Today

2007-03-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Today marks two anniversaries for me. The first is a very joyous one - my two month anniversary of my liver transplant. So far I'm way ahead of the curve: no rejection episodes, liver is working great, and medication reactions are pretty much gone. Happy Day!!

The second anniversary isn't quite as joyous in that it marks the 23rd anniversary (time flies) of an F2 tornado destroying most of downtown Newberry, SC. We also had an F3 just outside of town. There was one death within the city limits and according to the NWS 10 others out in the county (I didn't know that.)

From Wikipedia:

The Carolinas Tornado Outbreak of March 28, 1984 was the most destructive to sweep through the two states since the Enigma tornado outbreak struck 100 years and 1 month earlier, according to NOAA and NCDC public records.

Weather records from March 28 indicate that an earlier tornado watch had been issued covering Northern Alabama and Georgia, and small tornadoes were reported in Barrow County (2:25 P.M., Eastern Standard Time) and Henry County (2:30 P.M., EST) in north Georgia. The first severe reports from North Carolina - golf-ball sized hail reports from Macon County, NC also occurred at this time. Severe storms began entering Western South Carolina by mid-afternoon, and tornado watches had been issued for most of South Carolina, North Carolina and a portion of Virginia.

I can remember it being a rather warm day and very sunny for most of the day. I was a senior at Mid-Carolina High in Prosperity. During last period I worked in the library and I can remember looking out the windows and noticing that the sky to the west was getting very dark. We all thought "Oh, great, thunderstorms and rain."

I also had a migraine headache that day. I had those frequently back then and they would really do a number on me. I had severe pain, light and sound sensitivity, nausea, and my eyes would water. I was miserable by the time I got in my Mom's 1977 Mercury Marquis station wagon that I drove to school (the "Kitty Hawk").

I was supposed to go down to the Ritz Theatre and work on the set and some other stuff for a show I was doing with the Newberry Community Players. I was Assistant Director/Stage Manager for the show, Crimes of the Heart. Instead, because of the headache I decided to go home and take a nap before rehearsal at 7pm.

I woke up at 5pm when my Mom shook me awake. She had a very scared look on her face. That's something that very rarely happened. My mother was a true Steel Magnolia. I could hear my dad on the telephone. That was also rare. She told me there was a tornado warning. Daddy hated talking on the phone. I realized he was talking to my sister who lived in the part of town known as "West End". We lived outside of town "in the country" in a mobile home.

Suddenly, my dad started yelling at my sister: "Get out of there!" Then he had the most horrible look on his face and dropped the phone and said to my mother and me, "Get in the car!"

I was terrified at that point and my mother was crying. We walked outside and the air was absolutely still. It looked like it was about 7pm at night with a weird orange glow to everything. The clouds were swirling and seemed like they were right above the treetops.

Daddy got us in the car and he drove. That was also weird, he always let Mama drive. We started up the drive and I asked if we were going over to Uncle Billy's house. He had a big brick house about 3 or 4 miles away and perpendicular to the path of the tornado. Daddy just shook his head and floored the accelerator when he turned onto SC 34 directing into the path of the storm. (This is the only time my father ever drove faster than 40 miles an hour!)

As I looked out the window I saw a tornado begin to dip out of the clouds into a field to our left. I pretty much knew at that point we were dead. But we kept going.

We got as far as Mt. Bethel Garmany Road and then ran into trees, power lines and debris all over the road. I thought we'd have to turn back but my dad decided to try another route. He was determined to get to my sister's house. We finally were forced to give up and go home as the police had closed off every road going into the city of Newberry. My sister later got word to us that she was fine and so were her kids.

When we got back home the steps in front of our trailer were about two feet away. I thought, "That's weird. The tornado moved concrete steps." We went inside and I opened the back door to check for damage out there and realized that the trailer was sitting hard against the utility pole. The tornado had picked up the trailer and moved it two feet and not a picture was crooked nor a dish broken. It was bizarre.

The rest of the night I listened to reports on the radio. Downtown Newberry was pretty much destroyed. Had I been at the Ritz I would have been in the middle of the worst of it and stranded. The roof was taken off the theatre and we had a good bit of water damage.

Little blessings.... a headache that caused me such pain and discomfort kept me safe during the worst storm in over 100 years. Universe works mysteriously sometimes.

Kucinich Blasts Democrats on Iraq War Spending Bill

2007-03-28T01:50:00.000-07:00

Posted on Mar 23, 2007 at Truthdig

article includes audio
Not everyone was celebrating the passage of the Iraq spending bill on Friday. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, told Truthdig it’s “a disaster for the American people.” The presidential candidate went on to explain his dissatisfaction with his party: “It’s the same kind of thinking that led us into Iraq— that we didn’t have any alternatives.

We should be listening to what the American people had to say last October, and that is taking steps to immediately end the war. And that means to set in motion a plan to end the occupation, close the bases, bring the troops home using money that’s already in the pipeline to do so. At the same time there’s a parallel process of bringing in international security and peacekeeping forces to stabilize Iraq. And we can get that help once we end the occupation. Then you have to have a number of other steps that are taken. Most people aren’t aware that this bill that Congress passed sets the stage for the privatization of Iraq’s oil, oil industry. To have the Democratic Party involved in something like that is outrageous. Furthermore, we should be pushing for the stabilization of Iraq’s food and energy crisis. There’s no talk about that. Basically we’re blaming Iraq for the disaster that the United States and this administration visited upon them. We’re telling them, either they’re going to get their house in order or we’re going to leave. Well, you know what, this approach is wrongheaded and the Democrats should have known better and they should have done better.

If the Democrats had told the American people in October 2006, “Vote Democrat, we’ll keep the war going till the end of Bush’s term; vote Democrat, we’ll privatize Iraq’s oil; vote Democrat, we’ll give the president enough money to attack Iran if he so chooses,” the American people would have never voted Democrat.

You know, there was a lot of talk about voting with the team today. About Democratic unity. For what? For war? Are you kidding? I mean, how about unity for peace? How about unity to challenge unilateralism? How about unity for healthcare, for education, for jobs? You know, because all those aspirations are directly affected to the degree that we continue to spend more money for war. Don’t forget, we’re talking about at least a hundred billion dollars. All this money going for war. It just has to stop. We are at a turning point in this country’s history. Either we’re going to make a real commitment to peace and to diplomacy and international cooperation, or we’re going to descend into some lower circle of Dante’s Inferno where we have nothing but destruction and where we have all hope lost.

This is such a disgrace. The only "saving grace" may be the complete arrogance of the President in that he promised to veto this bill because it has time limit restrictions and we know how he hates restrictions of any kind. Mr Bush can not be wrong, ( in his mind) and he cannot be told what to do. He doesn't care what anyone else thinks except the corporate executives that support his supporting them.

Anyone making money on war should be considered aiding and abetting a crime. This is shameful and the people need to speak out if our legislators can't represent those they swore to represent: all Americans, not just the war-mongers and fear-mongers. Over three thousand of our soldiers dead for their oil.

The plan never included leaving Iraq completely. Billions of dollars have been spent building fortresses for continued occupation and protection of the oil reserves. That's what Bush means when he says things are going well. It's what he doesn't say that is of greater import.

As some of my elders would say, let us call forth divine intervention. We know that spiritual laws never fail. There will be a correction. Let's hope that all will come to a greater understanding of truth and goodwill. Sometimes we travel the wrong way down that one-way street for too long. Let's go the other way. The way of peace and understanding and kindness for all.

Bush may be a Christian of some sort, he may talk with God, BUT no one can follow Christ or Buddha by killing his enemies. Just doesn't work that way. If you are a Christian you see him in everyone, for "what you do to the least of these, your brethren, you do to me".

Jesus- was killed over 3,000 times and counting- US
Jesus- was killed over 600,000 times and also counting- Iraqis
Jesus- was displaced from his home and to other countries- over 1,000,000 times
Jesus' homes and businesses were destroyed - costs in the hundreds of millions
Jesus' oil reserves stolen- priceless

Real men love Jesus (and hate everyone else?)
Jesus: turn the other cheek
Jesus: forgive 7 times 70 times

Jesus: forgive them, for they know not what they do.

...and all the while I remain here in the EE, where there is only peace and joy for all, if you would have it.

UPDATE: here's H.R.1591

From the summaries:
Declares the sense of Congress that the U.S. Constitution grants: (1) the President the sole role of Commander in Chief; and (2) Congress the sole power to declare war.

Makes appropriations to the Secretary of Agriculture for emergency crop and livestock disaster assistance

Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 - Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to increase the federal minimum wage to: (1) $5.85 an hour, beginning on the 60th day after enactment of this Act; (2) $6.55 an hour, beginning 12 months after that 60th day; and (3) $7.25 an hour, beginning 24 months after that 60th day. Applies federal minimum wage requirements to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and to American Samoa.

Check out the Amendments. There are 150 of them and most say this:
Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.

Here's a statement by Elizabeth Kucinich:

Today as the Democratic leadership celebrates the passage of HR 1591, Dennis and I are in mourning. We mourn the deaths of those who have passed and those whose lives are now on the line, both in the military and civilian Iraqis. We mourn the destruction, the ecocide. We mourn with families in Iraq and the US who will see more death and devastation. We mourn the callous and calculated political spin cloaking the Congress's hawkish support of war with the rhetoric of peace.

Congressman Kucinich voted NO. Standing firm with him on this NO vote were 13 Democrats: John Barrow [GA], Dan Boren [OK], Lincoln Davis [TN], Barbara Lee [CA], John Lewis [GA], Jim Marshall [GA], Jim Matheson [UT], Michael McNulty [NY], Michael Michaud [ME], Gene Taylor [MS], Maxine Waters [CA], Diane Watson [CA], and Lynn Woolsey [CA].

Read all here.

And from Russ Feingold:

“Today marks an important step toward ending the war in Iraq. For the first time, the U.S. Senate will pass binding legislation requiring the President to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. While this is long overdue, it is a big step in the right direction and it brings us closer to ending our involvement in this disastrous war.”

Turkey Blogging

2007-03-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

A turkey is either one of two species of large birds in the genus Meleagris. Turkeys are classed in the order Galliformes. Formerly they were considered a distinct family, Meleagrididae, but more recently were reclassified as a subfamily (Meleagridinae) of the pheasants and their allies. Turkeys have a distinctive fleshy wattle that hangs from the beak, called a snood. As with many galliform species, the female is smaller than the male, and much less colourful. With wingspans of 1.5–1.8 meters (almost 6 feet), the turkeys are by far the largest birds in the open forests in which they live, and are rarely mistaken for any other species. The usual lifespan for a turkey is 10 years.

The Turkey is the symbol of sacrifice.
It gives life so others may live.

Many saints and mystics have Turkey as a totem. With a Turkey totem, you have transcended self. You act and react on behalf of others. This act is not a sense of moralism or guilt, but a deep knowledge that all life is sacred. What you do for others, you also do for yourself.

To have a Turkey totem is a true gift. Its gift may be spiritual, material or intellectual.
Through giving to others will you reach your own goals.

The Turkey is linked to the third eye, the seat of feminine energies within us, and the center for higher vision.

Turkey is also the symbol of the Mother Earth and her abundant harvest. All of Earth's blessings and the ability to use them to their greatest advantage are part of Turkey's teachings.

Took this picture in Newberry South Carolina same day as the Killdeer, (posted below).

Peace.

Tunnel Dream

2007-03-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

You experience yourself moving through a tunnel into a white light or returning from the light. This may be accompanied by the sound of whooshing water. You may meet someone, or meet yourself, at the end of the tunnel, much like a Near Death Experience. While moving through the tunnel, you may move alone or see others. You can fly quickly or slowly. You can experience emotions with this dream journey, which often brings transformational messages.

(Click on picture for more dream symbology)

I had a tunnel "dream" experience a long time ago. While meditating I became aware of "traveling" towards a light, like a star, through a tunnel. I could not tell whether I was going towards it or it was coming towards me. When I got to the light, I beheld the most loving face I'd ever seen. I was immediately at peace and "enraptured." It only lasted for a few seconds and when I awoke I was in such a peaceful state I had never known before. I interpreted the face of that of Jesus, or Christ, or my higher self as we sort of melded into one another. It was the night that I learned that I did not have to get confirmed into the Catholic Church, as I was very resistant to the idea. I was happy and at peace about the world as I lie on my bed that night.

I was later told that I had managed to slip through the fabric of the 3 dimensions to witness for a short time another dimension. The message was that there is no one outside of you that can bestow upon you through "confirmation" what is already true about you: that you are one with your Creator, and all creation.

Allowing me my choice that night gave me the peace of mind to connect with and confirm who I was and will always be, an insight into who we are and will always be.

What if the rest of my classmates had that experience instead of the slap-in-the-face-by -the-Bishop one?

Amen.

Iowa Senate passes LGBT rights bill

2007-03-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

Iowa's state Senate passed a bill Monday to extend civil rights protections to gay, lesbian and transgender people in the state, despite opposition from business interests.

The bill adds the words "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to a list of protected characteristics under Iowa's Civil Rights Act. Democrats have long supported expanded protections, and they now control the Senate, the House and the governor's office.

The chamber passed Senate File 427 on a bipartisan 32-17 vote. It moves now to the state House of Representatives, where Iowa Equality board president Sandy Vopalka expects it to have a tougher time.

Read all at link above.

Also go here: Equality Iowa

South Carolina Equality Coalition
March 8, 2007

Non-Discrimination Bills Introduced

Stop Discrimination! No one should lose their job, housing or be denied access to public accommodation because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Senator Robert Ford (D-Charleston) has introduced four non-discrimination bills! Tell your state senator to support these bills. Please take a moment to thank Senator Ford.

Killdeer with eggs

2007-03-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today brought a great discovery over at the West End Cemetary. After shooting, (filming) turkeys and goats we stumbled upon a killdeer, (Charadrius vociferus) with (his/her) eggs. The males and females are similar in color.

Our book, Birds of the Carolinas by Stan Tekiela simply says:

Nest: ground: male builds: 2 broods per year
Incubation 24-28 days; male and female incubate
Fledging: 25 days; male and female lead their young to food
Food: insects

It is classified as a shore bird, but doesn't live near the shore. Has a very distinctive "kill-deer" call which we didn't hear today. It is the only shorebird with two black neckbands. It is known for it's broken wing impression, which draws intruders away from the nest. (Although I got as close as I could I did not want to upset him.)

Link to the killdeer call here.

What a wonderful gift from nature today. Thank you, Pacha Mama.

What gift has nature given you today. Did you take the time to experience any of what She has for us all?

me and Buck in the killdEEr (he he)

Liver Lessons for Living

2007-03-27T14:08:00.000-07:00

The call came and I had a new liver. Of course, with that liver came a bit of guilt that someone else died so I could live. What spiritual responsibility did I share in this event? Because my beliefs dictate that we create that which we need in our lives there was a part of me that wondered if somehow I was responsible for my donor’s demise. Of course, I know that I cannot affect another’s reality - only my own. Still, the thought of that gift filled me with wonder, dread and hope.

-- Read the rest at Got Liver?

Accepting Gay Athletes

2007-03-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Seventy-two percent of heterosexual adults say their feelings toward their favorite male pro athlete would not change if the player revealed he is gay, according to a recent national survey conducted by Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive.

Openly gay and lesbian athletes have become far more visible in the nation's major media with the coming out of WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes and the very recent publication of the New York Times best-seller 'Man in the Middle' by former NBA pro John Amaechi," said Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications.

Read all here.

Picture is of a gay penguin couple. (Probably not pro athletes)

Peace.

Keith Olbermann Videos

2007-03-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

If you're not watching Keith Olbermann's work on TV you're missing out on one of the only sane voices in the US news today. He's on MSNBC. Here's the link: Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

On this Date in History

2007-03-27T01:23:00.000-07:00

Some highlights:

Births:
1845 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Germany, discovered X-rays (Nobel 1901)
1851 Vincent d'Indy Paris France, composer (Symphonie Cévenole)
1863 Sir Henry Royce automobile founder (Rolls-Royce)
1868 Patty Smith Hill author/songwriter (Happy Birthday To You)
1927 Mstislav Leopold Rostropovich Baku USSR, cellist/conductor/teacher (Moscow Conservatory)
1950 Maria Ewing opera singer
1963 Quentin Tarantino director/screenwriter (Pulp Fiction)

Events:
1513 Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León sights Florida
1790 The shoelace invented
1855 Abraham Gesner patents kerosene
1879 Longest championship fight (136 rounds)
1914 1st successful blood transfusion (in Brussels)
1964 Earthquake strikes Anchorage AK, 9.2 on Richter scale, 131 die from earthquake and resulting tsunami; this is the most violent eathquake in US history
1979 Supreme Court rules, 8-1, cops can't randomly stop cars
1997 39 cult memebers in California commit mass suicide (Hale-Bopp)
2134 32nd recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

There's much more at Any Day in History

Name the 50 States in 10 Minutes

2007-03-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Saw this at BlondeSense posted by Red States Blue.

Name all 50 States in 10 minutes. Be ready to go as soon as you click on the link here.

I had fun doing it, but pooped out the first two times and came up 4 states short each time and each time four different states. I'm going to blame that on no sleep. I finally got them all with 25 seconds to spare. Sometime the spelling got me slowed down, like well, I hate to give this one away but, Connecticut---I left out the second "c" all the time! Lord knows how I remembered to finally put it in! If you misspell they won't be added, but if you don't use caps you're all right.

To think that I used to know all the States and Capitals, too.

On the Route

2007-03-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

Today while delivering the Newberry Observer it was nice to hear some truly inspired music on npr. Lately I've been disappointed with the music selection especially in the early morning hours when the selections have been of lessor known composers, and thus lessor inspired works. So what was it that caught my ear? Ralph Vaughan Williams' Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus for strings and harp.

"Vaughan Williams is arguably the greatest composer Britain has seen since the days of Henry Purcell. In a long and extensive career, he composed music notable for its power, nobility and expressiveness, representing, perhaps, the essence of 'Englishness'."

In 1914 he published the now famous "The Lark Ascending" Romance for violin and orchestra, dedication to Marie Hall. It is one of his most well-known pieces along with Fantasia on Greensleeves.

It is music like this that reminds me that there are no ordinary moments, there is indeed, at all times the Eternal Ecstasy waiting within every aspect of being. Waiting to be remembered and celebrated, never withheld from anyone, ever.

me in the EE

H

2007-03-26T03:42:00.000-07:00

Hydrogen (from the Greek word ὑδρογόνο= that makes water) (IPA: /ˈhaɪdrə(ʊ)dʒən/), is a chemical element that has the symbol H and an atomic number of 1. At standard temperature and pressure it is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, tasteless, highly flammable diatomic gas (H2). With an atomic mass of 1.00794 g/mol, hydrogen is the lightest element.

Is this the symbol of your economic future?

South Carolina leaders are betting hydrogen will energy the state’s economy
By C. GRANT JACKSON

USC president Andrew Sorensen’s sleep is the sleep of the faithful, of a true-believer in South Carolina’s future.

In Innovista, USC’s new research campus, Sorensen is convinced the school has a plan to help take the state not just into the 21st century but the 22nd.

South Carolina is counting on Sorensen, and his counterparts at MUSC and Clemson, to be right.

The state has lost manufacturing jobs steadily over the past decade. To compete in the global economy, South Carolina has shifted from an almost complete reliance on pursuing smokestack industries. Instead, the state is investing millions in its research universities — to attract top professors and knowledge-based companies, with hopes they’ll spin off even more companies.

Read all a link above. That was in Sunday's paper. In today's paper there's more. There's an article titled: "State positioning itself to win in the hydrogen world." (Perhaps they will have a link later today or tomorrow.)

UPDATE: here's the link.

South Carolina hopes to be the nation's hydrogen headquarters, but the competition is pretty stiff.

UPDATE UPDATE: Here's the Tuesday article: Imagine a world where nothingis plugged in
Columbia mught get glimpse into future when it becomes Hydrogen City USA

"Fancy a ride on a fuel cell-powered scooter? Golf cart? Bus? You may not have long to wait."

This is good to see, living in South Carolina. I'm glad to see there are people with a vision beyond a petroleum based economy. Here's hoping that we will indeed at least push these ideas forward, if not lead the US and the world in the next era of new energy ideas and implementation.

On this Date in History

2007-03-26T03:09:00.000-07:00

Some Birthdays: (Check out the last entry)

1874 Robert Frost San Francisco CA, poet (Mending Wall, Road Not Taken)
1884 Wilhelm Backhaus Leipzig Germany, pianist (Rubinstein 1905)
1911 Tennessee Williams Columbus MS, dramatist (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
1930 Sandra Day O'Connor El Paso TX, 1st woman Supreme Court Justice (1981- )
1931 Leonard Nimoy Boston MA, actor (Spock-Star Trek, Mission Impossible)
1940 Nancy Pelosi (Representative-Democrat-CA)
1944 Diana Ross [Earle] Detroit MI, (Supremes, Lady Sings the Blues, Mahogany)
2233 James T Kirk science fiction captain of USS Enterprise (Star Trek)

I should have noted yesterday: 2184 Pavel Andreivich Chekov Leningrad, USSR (Star Trek-character)

Deaths:

0752 Pope Stephen II dies only 4 days after his election
1827 Ludwig van Beethoven German composer (Appassionata), dies in Wien (Vienna) at 56
1892 Walt Whitman poet, dies in Camden NJ at 72

Events:

1668 England takes control of Bombay India
1824 1st performance of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis"
1863 Voters in West Virginia approve gradual emancipation of slaves
1872 Thomas J Martin patents fire extinguishe
1886 1st cremation in England
1895 King Alfonso plants pine sapling in Madrid, starts Spain's Arbor Day
1916 Birdman of Alcatraz receives solitary
1937 Joe DiMaggio takes Ty Cobb's advice & replace his 40 with 36 oz bat
1937 Spinach growers of Crystal City TX, erect statue of Popeye
1937 William H Hastie becomes 1st black federal judge (Virgin Islands)
1938 NBC radio performance of Howard Hanson's 3rd Symphony
1953 Dr Jonas Salk announces new vaccine to prevent polio [myelitis]
1955 "Ballad of Davy Crockett" becomes the #1 record in US
1971 "Benny Hill Show" tops TV ratings

These are the ones that stood out for me. For more visit here.

On this Date in History

2007-03-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

1655 Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, (Saturn's largest satellite)
1776 Continental Congress authorizes a medal for General George Washington
1807 1st railway passenger service began in England
1857 Frederick Laggenheim takes 1st photo of a solar eclipse
1882 1st demonstration of pancake making (Department store in New York NY)
1896 Modern Olympics begin in Athens Greece
1902 Irving W Colburn patents sheet glass drawing machine
1913 Home of vaudeville, Palace Theatre, opens (New York NY) starring Ed Wynn
1916 Women are allowed to attend a boxing match
1937 It's revealed Quaker Oats pays Babe Ruth $25,000 per year for ads
1943 Jimmy Durante & Garry Moore premiere on radio
1960 DH Lawrence' "Lady Chatterley's Lover" ruled not obscene (New York NY)
1965 Martin Luther King Jr led 25,000 to state capitol in Montgomery AL
1967 The Turtles' "Happy Together" goes #1
1969 John & Yoko stage their 1st bed-in for peace (Amsterdam)
1972 America's LP "America" goes #1

There's alot more here.

EE Welcomes New Contributor

2007-03-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

EE welcomes Buck, my partner to the blog.

He's an old blogger and has had several blogs. His latest was dum vivo canno, (while I live I sing is how he interpreted it). He has a great sense of humor and great depth of knowledge in many areas.

He also has a blog called Got Liver? which deals with his, (our) experience with receiving a liver transplant and life thereafter. The operation was January 28th around 4:00 am in the beautiful city of Charleston.

Welcome aboard!

Just Die Already....

2007-03-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

"This is kind of pie in the sky," said Devon Herrick, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative think tank. "It's like saying that everyone should have a Cadillac health plan, but at Chevrolet prices. The idea that insurance companies should have to insure everyone, even those with existing health problems, is unrealistic." -- Health News

I was browsing this article on health insurance this morning when I came across this grotesque quote from a Conservative "think tank" (I'm sorry the old political blogger in me still says that's an oxymoron.)

The article concerned the fact that many, if not most, health insurance plans still leave patients of serious illness destitute. As one commentator said "The only thing worse than no insurance is paying for no insurance." How true!

For me, as a post transplant patient, getting insurance again, except for governement programs is probably a "pie in the sky" dream. Insurance companies are not in business to really provide insurance or healthcare. They're in business to maximize their profits and make their CEO's and Investors rich. It's that simple. To them, we're just means to an end - probably a new beach house or private jet.

If the folks at the "National Center for Policy Analysis" had their way, those of us needing expensive transplants, surgeries, or treatments to live should be denied. Their statement to poor or medium income transplant patients? "Just die already, OK?"

The health "insurance" system in this country is horribly broken. I'm currently stuck trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Why? Private insurance will not insure me nor help pay for my treatment or medications. If I return to work then I will lose my Medicare/Medicaid and will never be able to make enough to pay the over $3000 a month just for medication the rest of my life. Of course, I guess maybe I could become the CEO of an insurance company, then I wouldn't have to worry. But I want to work, especially in medicine again - but I don't want to die to do it. Is that "pie in the sky"?

It's time for the "conservatives" (read Republicans) to once in their lives practice empathy and compassion. After all, they are constantly harping on how Christian they are and didn't Christ say, "What you do to the least of these, you do to me."? Think about it guys. It's not just about money - it's about life.

Original Article at Got Liver?

Law of Attraction Quiz

2007-03-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

How Good Are You At Attracting Positives Into Your Life?

The Law of Attraction works regardless if you are working at it or not. The problem is that we can unknowingly be attracting things that we don't want. In order to attract the things you do want is to focus on the positives and to "feel good." How you answer this ten question quiz should give you a fair indication of whether your thoughts and feelings are working for you or against you.

Take the quiz here.

Here's my result:

Your life isn't too shabby. You probably live a really comfortable life. But, there's definitely room for improvement. Take this quiz response as a challenge to step out of comfortable and step into an extravagant life style.

Here's something I posted about Abraham and Esther Hicks where I rediscovered and deepened my awareness of the Law of Attraction. I went to one of the sessions with Abraham and met Esther and Jerry. I saw Esther's aura while she talked to the group. I had not seen auras before but believed others did as I was told often of the light around me as I performed.

These ideas have been used by New Thought or New Age Churches for some time. I had been involved with Divine Science and through it other organizations like Unity and Religious Science in my young adulthood. That was after growing up Catholic.

My teacher, John Suter, was a spiritualist, metaphysician, musician, mystic and I met some of the folks he knew on the southside of Chicago. He read billets and did automatic writing. He could also divine information about someone by holding an object in his hand. I tested him on that one more than once. He also was highly intuitive.

So I ask you, "What's in your wallet? How do your beliefs set you free or limit you? How well aligned with "What IS" are you? Do you recognise your addictions to what seems to be, your ideas that cannot be because seeming is NOT being?"

Peace to all.

Quote for Peace

2007-03-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war."

Thomas Merton

from Antiwar.com

Authorization for Use of Military Force

2007-03-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Authorization for Use of Military Force
September 18, 2001

Public Law 107-40 [S. J. RES. 23]

107th CONGRESS

JOINT RESOLUTION

To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.

Whereas, on September 11, 2001, acts of treacherous violence were committed against the United States and its citizens; and

Whereas, such acts render it both necessary and appropriate that the United States exercise its rights to self-defense and to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad; and

Whereas, in light of the threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by these grave acts of violence; and

Whereas, such acts continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States; and

Whereas, the President has authority under the Constitution to take action to deter and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This joint resolution may be cited as the `Authorization for Use of Military Force'.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

(b) War Powers Resolution Requirements-

(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION- Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress declares that this section is intended to constitute specific statutory authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the War Powers Resolution.

(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS- Nothing in this resolution supercedes any requirement of the War Powers Resolution.

Approved September 18, 2001.

Congressional Resolution on Iraq (Passed by House and Senate October 2002)

Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002

in it:
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.): said "The power to declare war is the most solemn responsibility given to Congress by the Constitution. We must not delegate that responsibility to the president in advance."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio): said "Congress and the administration were being driven by fear" [24] and that "the 133 votes against the measure were 'a very strong message' to the administration."

From Russ Feingold's Why I Oppose Bush's Iraq War Resolution

"Both in terms of the justifications for an invasion and in terms of the mission and the plan for the invasion, Mr. President, the Administration's arguments just don't add up. They don't add up to a coherent basis for a new major war in the middle of our current challenging fight against the terrorism of al Qaeda and related organizations. Therefore, I cannot support the resolution for the use of force before us."

Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee: "predicted during the House floor debate that 'the outcome after the conflict is actually going to be the hardest part, and it is far less certain.

Fooled Again by Gordon Prather

On this Date in History

2007-03-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

1721 Johann Sebastian Bach opens his Brandenburgse Concerts
1832 Mormon Joseph Smith beaten, tarred & feathered in Ohio
1837 Canada gives blacks the right to vote
1882 German scientist Robert Koch discovers bacillus cause of TB
1883 1st telephone call between New York & Chicago
1898 1st automobile sold
1930 Planet Pluto named
1937 National Gallery of Art established by Congress
1947 Congress proposes 2-term limitation on the Presidency
1955 1st seagoing oil drill rig placed in service
1958 Elvis Presley joins the army (serial number 53310761)
1962 Mick Jagger & Keith Richards perform as Little Boy Blue & Blue Boys
1964 Kennedy half-dollar issued

Religious Observances:
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Gabriel, patron of postmen, telephone workers

Thought for the day :
" No one is so happy or sad as he imagines. "

See the sidebar under references for link to site for more interesting births, deaths , events and more.

Thanks to South Carolina Rep John Spratt

2007-03-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

An email from MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn member,

We're one step closer in the fight to end the war. Today the Iraq Accountability Act passed Congress. For the first time, Congress passed a real deadline to end the war—by fall of 2008. Your representative, Congressman John Spratt voted right and helped make that happen.

This was a very hard vote for members of Congress. But Rep. Spratt supported Speaker Pelosi in her strategy to wind down this war. Can you write him a quick note to say 'thanks' for bringing us one step closer and to keep up the fight until all our troops are home?

There's no question that this bill was not as strong as most of us would have wanted—-and we're going to keep fighting together to bring the troops home sooner than next year. But it's an important step forward, and at today's vote 63 of the 71 members of the Out of Iraq Caucus voted for the bill. All but 2 Republicans voted against it.

Now the fight moves to the Senate. If Senators also pass a hard timeline to end the war then this plan goes to the President.

If he makes good on his promise to veto it, he'll be forced to stand up in front of the American people—a strong majority of whom want to set a date to end the war—and argue for a war with no end. And he'll have to veto funds for the war along with the timeline and send the whole thing back to Congress.

Here's my letter to Representative Spratt :

Honorable Rep. Spratt,

thanks for voting to set a date to end the war. I appreciate your stand on ending the war and want you to continue to push leadership to bring our troops home sooner. We must take stronger steps to rein in the President on his failed strategy in Iraq.

I hope humanity will move quickly towards peaceful resolutions of conflicts and learn from this mess that there is a better way. The motivations for this war may never be well known by the masses or accepted by a large segment of people. But we can and should honor our brothers and sisters at arms to only use them when there is NO OTHER WAY and only in self-defense.

This has been and continues to be a sad chapter in American History and I'm glad to see that you are making attempts to "change the course." The power of the Executive Branch and the willingness of a passive and willing legislature, (until now) has brought about such a disdain, distrust and dislike to put it mildly from citizens here and abroad.

Thanks for all you do to stop this madness. I wish I could applauded our Senators, but alas, they are party and presidential loyalists to the end.

Here's the news report from thne AP:

Dems challenge Bush with Iraq timetable

WASHINGTON - The House voted Friday for the first time to clamp a cutoff deadline on the
Iraq war, agreeing by a thin margin to pull combat troops out by next year and pushing the new Democratic-led Congress ever closer to a showdown with
President Bush.

The 218-212 vote, mostly along party lines, was a hard-fought victory for Democrats, who faced divisions within their own ranks on the rancorous issue. Passage marked their most brazen challenge yet to Bush on a war that has killed more than 3,200 troops and lost favor with the American public.

He dismissed their action as "political theater" and said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk. The Senate is about to take up its own version.

The President knows Political Theator---that's all he knows. At least that's all he does...hmmm... Political Theator of the Absurd...that's it.

John Spratt is the Chairman of the House Budget Committee.
The State has called John Spratt "a bridge-builder who can reach across party lines." National Journal featured him on its cover as "a stand-out" in Congress, comparing his legislative skills to the "best infielders in baseball." In Washingtonian magazine's survey, Congressional staff voted him a "Workhorse" and "House Member I'd Like to See Win the Presidency in 2008."

Thanks, John.

On this Day in History

2007-03-23T04:25:00.000-07:00

I've added a new link in the Reference category, the last segment on the sidebar. "Anyday Today in History." You can search any day you wish. It's very detailed. They list birthdays, events and MIAs, holidays, religious observances and religious history.

Here's a few events for today:

1743 George Frideric Händel's oratorio "Messiah" premieres in London
1839 1st recorded use of "OK" [oll korrect] (Boston's Morning Post)
1891 1st jazz concert was held at Carnegie Hall
1896 Umberto Giordano's opera "Andrea Chénier" premieres in Milan
1903 Wright brothers obtain airplane patent
1912 Dixie Cup invented
1925 Tennessee becomes 1st state to outlaw teaching theory of evolution
1966 1st official meeting after 400 years of Catholic & Anglican Church

South Carolina's new constitution of descrimination

2007-03-23T03:23:00.000-07:00

South Carolina officially banned gay marriage Thursday as legislative leaders ratified a constitutional amendment approved by voters in November. South Carolina was among eight states with gay marriage bans on the ballot last year. The measures passed everywhere except Arizona. And to think I moved here from Arizona!

The Constitution now reads, "A marriage between one man and one woman is the only lawful domestic union that shall be valid or recognized in this state."

It prevents the state and local governments from legalizing any sort of domestic union of gay couples or recognizing those made in other states.

THIS IS DESCRIMINATION IN THE LAND OF THE FREE!

Almost 80% of SC voters approved the amendment last year.

Why are so many people who would not be immediately affected, whether financial, morally or any other way by gay marriage or civil unions, be so adamant about denying rights for the relatively few people whose lives are greatly affected by such stupidity made into law? Why?

And this guy is a Republican from Texas

2007-03-22T02:40:00.000-07:00

Defund the War by Rep. Ron Paul

The $124 billion supplemental appropriation is a good bill to oppose. I am pleased that many of my colleagues will join me in voting against this measure.

If one is unhappy with our progress in Iraq after four years of war, voting to de-fund the war makes sense. If one is unhappy with the manner in which we went to war, without a constitutional declaration, voting no makes equally good sense.

Voting no also makes the legitimate point that the Constitution does not authorize Congress to direct the management of any military operation – the president clearly enjoys this authority as Commander in Chief.

But Congress just as clearly is responsible for making policy, by debating and declaring war, raising and equipping armies, funding military operations, and ending conflicts that do not serve our national interests.

Congress failed to meet its responsibilities four years ago, unconstitutionally transferring its explicit war power to the executive branch. Even though the administration started the subsequent preemptive war in Iraq, Congress bears the greatest responsibility for its lack of courage in fulfilling its duties. Since then Congress has obediently provided the funds and troops required to pursue this illegitimate war.

Here's a new approach: Congress should admit its mistake and repeal the authority wrongfully given to the executive branch in 2002. Repeal the congressional sanction and disavow presidential discretion in starting wars. Then start bringing our troops home.

If anyone charges that this approach does not support the troops, take a poll. Find out how reservists, guardsmen, and their families – many on their second or third tour in Iraq – feel about it.

Read all at link above at AntiWar.com

Video: GOP presidential candidate would 'reinstate Constitution'

Rep. Ron Paul on War, Peace, and the News Media

.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson

2007-03-21T22:07:00.000-07:00

In Utah, an Opponent of the ‘Culture of Obedience’

“There’s a real resistance to change and an almost pathological devotion to leaders simply because they’re leaders,” he said, in describing fellow Utahans who do not share his views and who in large numbers support the president (and gave him 72 percent of their vote in 2004). “There’s a dangerous culture of obedience throughout much of this country that’s worse in Utah than anywhere.”

Mr. Anderson, a 55-year-old lapsed Mormon* and former civil litigator with a rich baritone and a mane of patrician-silver hair, is no stranger to strong talk and political stances that leave his audiences breathless with exasperation, admiration or sometimes a mixture of both.

Critics and supporters alike agree that Mr. Anderson — whose given name is Ross but who is known by almost everyone here as Rocky, with no last name necessary — is genuinely passionate and devoted to the causes he has brought to the mayor’s office, including global warming, genocide in Darfur, gay and lesbian rights and the war in Iraq.

Mr. Anderson announced last July that he would not seek a third term, saying he wanted to devote the rest of his life to grass-roots organizing involving human rights and global warming. He said in the interview that he had not made specific plans.

Salt Lake City Mayor's Website

Video: Salt Lake City, Utah mayor slams 'dishonest, war-mongering' Bush from Aigust 31, 2006 at Raw Story.

Bill O'Reilly Shows His True Depth With Salt Lake City Mayor

My limerick for Bill O'Reilly:

There once was a man named O'Reilly
Who thought of himself oh so highly
With artful Aggression
He gained some attention
And also a new name: O'Lielly

*lapsed Mormon:When a Mormon stops accepting the binding truth of prophetic revelation, he effectively becomes a lapsed Mormon. I never heard that term before and I've known some LDS folks and some very well.

I have heard of a Jack Mormon: The term Jack Mormon is a slang term that originated in the nineteenth century. It was used to describe somebody who was not officially a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or LDS Church), but who was friendly to Church members and Mormonism, sympathized with them, and/or took an active interest in their belief system.

In today's Mormon culture, the term "dry-Mormon" is its equivalent. Sometime in the early to mid twentieth century, the term changed culturally to refer to someone deemed by LDS adherents to be an inactive or lapsed member of the LDS Church who maintained good relations with and positive feelings toward the Church. It has also been used humorously to describe Church members who were registered Democrats in the early 1980s.

me in the EE with RockEE

Turtle Blogging

2007-03-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

Turtle is the oldest symbol for the Earth.

It is the personification of goddess energy
and the eternal Earth itself.

If you have a Turtle totem, you must be mindful of returning to the Earth what she has given you. Honor the creative source within you. Use water and earth energies to create a harmonious flow in your life. Ask the Earth for assistance and her riches will pour forth.

Picture taken today March 21, 2007

Celebrations

2007-03-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Two celebrations for today.
First day of the Vernal Equinox. First Day of Spring. The sun passed over the equator last night around 8:00 pm. So the 21st is the first day of spring.
The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night).

Second it's Johann Sebastian Bach's birthday! Born in 1785 on this date. Maybe that's why I've been going over some of his music. Some two part inventions for piano(Klavichord), a French Suite, preludes and fugues and some of the other music he wrote for keyboard.

I've performed the Max Pirani transcription titled "Arioso" many times. I also sang in the "Magnificat" with The Arizona Masterworks Chorale in Phoenix under Mary Ann Dutton. My initiation to the group was the "Carmina Burana" of Carl Orff. Then Verdi's "Il Trovatore", concert version, and another standout was Ward's, "The Earth Shall be Fair". I have so many happy memories of singing with this fine group for the few seasons that I did. Besides our Phoenix performances at Symphony Hall where I also sang with the Arizona Opera later on, we sang in Flagstaff for the Summer Festival.

I auditioned for the tenor part in the Magnificat but I didn't get the part. Mary Ann praised my attempt although I was so new to singing then. I worked very hard on the piece and of course was disappointed but not discouraged. I went on to sing solo parts in many oratorios in the years ahead. My teacher, a few years later, Rico Serbo, taught me at Mary Ann's beautiful home in the Phoenix area for a time when he had only an apartment there.

Sorry ....so much about my stuff on Bach's Birthday, but I need to remember these things right now, I've been out of sorts for so long. Well, back to the studio, I'm coming Johann!

Qoutes:

"Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?"
Michael Torke

"Thus o’er my pipe in contemplation Of such things - I can constantly Indulge in fruitful meditation, And so, puffing contentedly,On land, at sea, at home, abroad,I smoke my pipe and worship God."

Peace.

me and Bach in the Vernal EEquinox

Photographic Irony

2007-03-21T03:26:00.000-07:00

Irony
1.

a. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
b. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
c. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect.

a. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" Richard Kain.
b. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity.

Washington said:"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

Bush said, "I worry that allowing testimony under oath would set a precedent on the separation of powers that would harm the presidency as an institution."

NY Times slams Bush's 'nasty and bumbling comments' on US Attorney firings; Calls on Congress to subpoena Rove, others

Democratic leaders were right to reject an "unacceptable" offer presented by the White House on Tuesday which would allow unsworn testimony by White House officials behind closed doors, and should press on with planned subpoenas for Karl Rove and others, according to the lead editorial in Wednesday's New York Times.

"In nasty and bumbling comments made at the White House yesterday, President Bush declared that 'people just need to hear the truth' about the firing of eight United States attorneys," the Times editorial states. "That’s right. Unfortunately, the deal Mr. Bush offered Congress to make White House officials available for 'interviews' did not come close to meeting that standard."

Nasty and bumbling, that's our Pres. (when he's at his best) (Forgive me I shouldn't judge, but well what the heck!)(Lets' call it an observation, then)

Peace... me in the ironEE

Got Oil Reserves?

2007-03-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

So, who has the oil reserves? Find out here. Did you know Canada is number 2 with 178.8 Billion Barrels?

Update on the BOng HIts for Jesus case: Court hears "Bong hits 4 Jesus" case

A very informative website: Infoplease

Beaver Blogging

2007-03-19T02:36:00.000-07:00

Picture taken in Newberry South Carolina at the former beaver pond. It has been destroyed by humans. Have you seen my beavers?

Jesus: Bong Hits for me?! Wow,man.

2007-03-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

Now that's one we never thought of in our high school days although pot was easy to come by. On npr this morning the student that made the sign said it had nothing to do with religion, just free speech. This went all the way to the Supreme Court! OMG! Unbelievable.

Check out these stories:

NYT: 'Bong hits' case divides Bush and religious right

Supreme Court to hear student free-speech case

me in the EE (sans bong, insert sad face here)

Bisexual Healing

2007-03-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

"Cringing is often a sign of unfinished political business,” according to feminist author Jennifer Baumgardner.

She should know. Since 2002, Baumgardner has been spearheading the confessional “I had an abortion” campaign—most recently captured in the documentary film Speak Out: I Had an Abortion (www.speakoutfilms.com)—and in her new book, Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics, she’s tackling a topic that makes both straights and gays wince: the explosion of young women experimenting with bisexuality.

“The label bi sounds bad,” writes Baumgardner, “because at least in some ways, bisexuals are an unliberated, invisible and disparaged social group.” And yet, she notes, according to Alfred Kinsey’s famous studies (and a more informal survey of Nerve.com personals), more than 30 percent of women have had or seek same-sex encounters.

Read all at link above.

More Valerie Plame News

2007-03-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

Hume Launches New Smear: Plame Lied Under Oath

Today on Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume continued his campaign to smear Valerie Plame Wilson. Previously, he had falsely said that it was “unlikely she was” covert.

Hume said Plame’s testimony “flies in the face of the evidence” adduced by the “bipartisan” Senate Intelligence Committee, which said that “she very much did have something to do with it, that she recommended him and that she put it in a memo.”

Hume’s false claim originated from a statement attached to the Senate Intelligence Committee report on Iraq that was released in 2004. In an addendum to that report, Sens. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Christopher Bond (R-MO), and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) wrote definitively, “The plan to send the former ambassador to Niger was suggested by the former ambassador’s wife, a CIA employee.” The right-wing, including columnist Bob Novak, have taken the statement written by three Republican senators and falsely attributed it as the “unanimous” conclusion of the Senate report.

Dragonfly

2007-03-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

The power of Dragonfly lies in its ability to see around things by looking from different angles. Using its ability to transform colors and lights by reflecting and refracting them, Dragonfly shows us that life, like light, can bend, shift, and adapt in various ways, making life's appearance never be what it appears to be. Dragonfly's magic shows us to see through life's illusions and find our true vision. It calls us to transform within our lives and reminds us to feel deeply so we will have the compassion necessary to help ourselves and others.

Dragonfly is the essence of the winds of change,
the messages of wisdom and enlightenment; and the communication from the elemental world.
Dragonfly medicine beckons you to seek out the parts of your habits which need changing.
Call on Dragonfly to guide you through the mists of illusion to the pathway of transformation.

The pictures above were taken at the former beaver pond on several of my mystical visits there. There are several posts about the creatures I've seen at the pond and around town.

New Moon in Pisces

2007-03-18T12:12:00.000-07:00

In Honor of the New Moon in Pisces as I first learned at BlondeSense posted by Missouri Mule.

I offer you this:

Star-like Mingles with the Stars

You can listen to MOrning Sun here.

Almost Four Years in Iraq

2007-03-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

March 20th will be the sad anniversary of the invasion if Iraq. What started with the infamous "Shock and Awe" which was widely broadcasted on our televisions like some sort of dazziling fireworks always from a distance and at night, (no close-ups of buildings being blown up and body parts splattered all over) has become a "Surge" to the highest number of American troups yet. A surge that started at 21,500 more troups, now stands at 28,700 with all the additional personnel needed for further anticipated detentions (military police) and service support personnel. This in contrast to the pullouts and planned pullouts of many other "coalition of the willing" forces.

The claim of spreading democracy and freedom while murdering innocent populations of people,( some say upwards of 600,000) cannot be justified by the emotional reactions to 9/11 or any other terrorist attack. What we have done is further the idea that might is right and when you have the "power" it doesn't matter who gets in your way when you want something. We might have learned to bolster our defenses and pay attention, but that still hasn't happened even yet after all the commissions and meetings and rhetoric.

It is said it is always darkest before the dawn. Let's hope that this is that darkness and that dawn will bring a new way of dealing with our brothers and sisters in this fragile world of ours.

Here are some interesting statistics according to an article titled:
From Shock and Awe to the "Surge" Without End by Raymond Whitaker
The Independent UK:

2,000,000 Iraqis now live outside Iraq, according to UNHCR

12,000 doctors have fled Iraq since the war began. Another 2,000 are said to have been killed, and at least 250 kidnapped

50% Average inflation in 2006, according to the World Bank

6.3 hours of electricity daily in Baghdad in December 2006. In May 2003 there were 16-24 hours

32 percentage of people in Iraq with drinkable water

3,700,000 Iraqis now receive food aid from the UN World Food Programme

16% Proportion of Iraqis who said in January that their income meets their basic needs

Peace to all. There is plenty of everything to go around, really.

Christians Protest Wars

2007-03-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — Thousands of Christians prayed for peace at an anti-war service Friday night at the Washington National Cathedral, kicking off a weekend of protests around the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq.

Afterward, participants marched with battery-operated faux candles through snow and wind toward the White House, where police began arresting protesters shortly before midnight. Protest guidelines require demonstrators to continue moving while on the White House sidewalk.

"We gave them three warnings, and they broke the guidelines," said Lt. Scott Fear. "There's an area on the White House sidewalk where you have to keep moving."

Fear said 222 people had been arrested by Saturday morning. The first 100 were charged with disobeying a lawful order, and the others with crossing a police line. All of them were fined $100.

Thousands at Pentagon: 'US Out of Iraq Now'

Anti-war Christians gather for protest in D.C. (this one has a video)

Bless all those who speak out against war especially the war in Iraq and Afganistan. As the Dahli Lama has said, "war is obsolete." Our evolution towards greater things is temporarily postponed yet not halted. Maybe we can learn the lessons that history would have taught us but some refuse to learn. It's amazing that those who choose war are the least negatively affected by it, some even profit financially from it. When will that be a crime? Karmically it is, I'm sure.

May you come to know that peace beyond understanding. Putting peace first and foremost in all things starting within yourself and extending to all. That means everything, all the time, everywhere.

Peace.

Medical Marijuana in the Land of Enchantment

2007-03-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

SANTA FE, N.M. - Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, poised to sign a bill making New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana, said Thursday he realizes his action could become an issue in the presidential race.

"So what if it's risky? It's the right thing to do," said Richardson, one of the candidates in the crowded 2008 field. "What we're talking about is 160 people in deep pain. It only affects them."

The legislation would create a program under which some patients — with a doctor's recommendation — could use marijuana provided by the state health department. Lawmakers approved the bill Wednesday. The governor is expected to sign it in the next few weeks.

I'm all for the legalization of marijuana. It is an herb that creation has gifted us with for our spiritual growth, our growth in consciousness. Why should alcohol be legal? What if it wasn't? Would we have more or less crime? There are way too many people in our jails for mearly possessing pot, more people than are in jail in all of Europe for all crimes combined. Wouldn't this also ease tensions on our borders and especially in Mexico where drug related crime is a big problem?

Marijuana as wonder drug by Lester Grinspoon

A NEW STUDY in the journal Neurology is being hailed as unassailable proof that marijuana is a valuable medicine. It is a sad commentary on the state of modern medicine -- and US drug policy -- that we still need "proof" of something that medicine has known for 5,000 years.

The study, from the University of California at San Francisco, found smoked marijuana to be effective at relieving the extreme pain of a debilitating condition known as peripheral neuropathy. It was a study of HIV patients, but a similar type of pain caused by damage to nerves afflicts people with many other illnesses including diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Neuropathic pain is notoriously resistant to treatment with conventional pain drugs. Even powerful and addictive narcotics like morphine and OxyContin often provide little relief. This study leaves no doubt that marijuana can safely ease this type of pain.

Lester Grinspoon, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, is the coauthor of "Marijuana, the Forbidden Medicine."

Peace to all.

Gay Couple Unite in Mexico City

2007-03-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

MEXICO CITY (AP) — An economist and a journalist became the first couple united under Mexico City's new gay civil union law Friday, kissing while an orchestra played "Besame Mucho" and police guarded their white wedding tent filled with guests.

The new law, which took effect on Friday, grants same-sex couples similar social benefits as legally married heterosexual couples. It reflects a growing acceptance of homosexual culture in what has traditionally been a macho society, as well as Mexico City's willingness to join the international debate on gay marriage rights.

The capital city is the second municipality in the country to officially accept gay civil unions, and the first couple to take advantage of the new law were journalist Antonio Medina, 38, and economist Jorge Cerpa, 31.

Valerie Plame Testifies

2007-03-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

Plame: Leak intended to discredit Wilson

WASHINGTON -
Valerie Plame, the CIA operative at the heart of a political scandal, told Congress Friday that senior officials at the White House and State Department "carelessly and recklessly" blew her cover to discredit her diplomat-husband.

Opening Statement (read all here)

"Good morning, Mr. Chairman, and members of the Committee. My name is Valerie Plame Wilson and I am honored to have been invited to testify under oath before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the critical issue of safeguarding classified information. I'm grateful for this opportunity to set the record straight. I've served the United States loyally and to the best of my ability as a covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. I worked on behalf of the national security of our country, on behalf of the people of the United States until my name and true affiliation were exposed in the national media on July 14, 2003, after a leak by administration officials. Today, I can tell this Committee even more."

more here

and here

and here: White House official: No probe launched into Plame leak
Now why would Mr Bush go and do a thing like that, (investigate his own), even though he said he would?

And yet more: go here. From it:

Anyone who has read Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, by Michael Isikoff and me, would know (as we disclosed for the first time) that Valerie Wilson was the undercover operations chief for the Joint Task Force on
Iraq of the Counterproliferation Division, a unit of the agency's clandestine operations directorate. (See my piece, "What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA," here.) Both the book and the article reported that she had traveled overseas--undercover--within the five years before her name appeared in the Novak column.

UPDATE: Plame-gate: Time to Fire Washington Post's Fred Hiatt by Robert Parry

For what it's worth Ms Plame and Mr Wilson have my support and admiration.

The Original American Foreign Policy

2007-03-16T02:09:00.000-07:00

The Original American Foreign Policy
by Rep. Ron Paul

"It is our true policy to steer clear of entangling alliances with any portion of the foreign world." – George Washington

I have written before about the critical need for Congress to reassert its authority over foreign policy, and for the American people to recognize that the Constitution makes no distinction between domestic and foreign matters. Policy is policy, and it must be made by the legislature and not the executive.

But what policy is best? How should we deal with the rest of the world in a way that best advances proper national interests, while not threatening our freedoms at home?

I believe our founding fathers had it right when they argued for peace and commerce between nations, and against entangling political and military alliances. In other words, noninterventionism.

"War, and the threat of war, are big government's best friend," he wrote only recently. "Liberals support big government social programs, and conservatives support big government war policies, thus satisfying two major special interest groups. And when push comes to shove, the two groups cooperate and support big government across the board — always at the expense of personal liberty. Both sides pay lip service to freedom, but neither stands against the welfare-warfare state and its promises of unlimited entitlements and endless war."

Saw this at AntiWar.com

Gays in the Military

2007-03-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

Would Alan Turing, who helped win World War II for the Allies by cracking Nazi codes, be considered too "immoral" to serve in the U.S. military? That's a question posed by Republican former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson.

Simpson cited the late gay British mathematician in his criticism of the recent "homosexuality is immoral" comment from Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In a op-ed for the Washington Post printed Wednesday, Simpson, of Wyoming, cited the accomplishments of Turing, who committed suicide in 1954 after he was convicted of "gross indecency" for having a gay relationship.

"In World War II, a British mathematician named Alan Turing led the effort to crack the Nazis' communication code," Simpson wrote.

"[Turing] mastered the complex German enciphering machine, helping to save the world, and his work laid the basis for modern computer science. Does it matter that Turing was gay? Would Pace call Turing 'immoral'?"

"More than 1,000 service members were discharged each year from 1997 to 2001 -- but in the past five years that number has fallen below 730," Pentagon officials said in a statement.

Turing is recognized for his scientific and mathematical research, which led to the creation of personal computers, as well as his code-cracking. However, his life was tainted by tragedy. Despite his prominence and success, he was arrested in 1952 for being gay and, rather than going to jail, agreed to be injected with hormones in a bid to change his sexuality.

He killed himself two years later by eating an apple he had injected with cyanide, although this finding was contested by his mother, who claimed his death was the result of an experiment gone wrong.

Energy Bill ZERO

2007-03-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

His energy bill is $0.00

EAST AMWELL, N.J. - Mike Strizki lives in the nation's first solar-hydrogen house. The technology this civil engineer has been able to string together – solar panels, a hydrogen fuel cell, storage tanks, and a piece of equipment called an electrolyzer – provides electricity to his home year-round, even on the cloudiest of winter days.

Mr. Strizki's monthly utility bill is zero – he's off the power grid – and his system creates no carbon-dioxide emissions. Neither does the fuel-cell car parked in his garage, which runs off the hydrogen his system creates.

Later in the article:

Robert Boehm, director of the Center for Energy Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has studied renewable energy for the past 35 years. His reaction to Strizki's home project is tempered.

"Does it make sense in the present environment? Probably not. Does it make sense as a sustainable thing in the future? It very well could," Dr. Boehm says.

Boehm predicts that it will be at least a decade before hydrogen energy is ready for the mainstream, and then only if enough money is put into research and development.

"In any of these new technologies, they need a lot of government support," he says.

But wait, wait what about the billions we're wasting in Iraq and on the black hole of waste the never-ending "war on terror?" Oh I forgot, the major oil companies needed some help making record profits and stealing oil. Duh.

Truth Speaks to Power

2007-03-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

During a speech on the House floor on Thursday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) declared that "impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran." The 2004 presidential candidate, who is running again in 2008, told RAW STORY that his House floor statement "speaks for itself."

"This House cannot avoid its constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain the abuse of Executive power," Kucinich said on the floor today. "The Administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran. There is no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies."

Kucinich noted that since the US "is a signatory to the U.N. Charter, a constituent treaty among the nations of the world," and Article II states that "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," then "even the threat of a war of aggression is illegal."

RawStory has it all here.

Deliberate Creation, Abraham, Auras

2007-03-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

One of the few times I've seen auras in my life was when Esther Hicks was channeling Abraham.

You are the ONLY ONE who
creates your Reality
.........ONLY YOU.

Horses and Mule

2007-03-14T02:15:00.000-07:00

Lying, Lying Up and Lying Down, Lying,Lying All Around

2007-03-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

Are you fed up with the lies yet? Are you enraged by the utter contempt and arrogance of our so-called public servants? Of course, I knew that. Well here's what Glenn Greenwald has to say about all the lies upon lies upon lies in an article titled:

Lying to Congress has become a Republican principle, literally

Lying to Congress is what this administration generally -- and the DOJ specifically -- has done continuously. They lied to Congress about the FBI's use of NSLs in order to induce re-authorization of the Patriot Act, and -- now that those lies are exposed -- they are now forced to retract those statements and change their false testimony made under oath. Alberto Gonzales made repeated false statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the state of the President's eavesdropping activities, some of which he had to retract and some of which he still has not. And, of course, the false statements made over the years to the Congress by the administration regarding Iraq are literally too numerous to chronicle.

and goes on...

Of course, the reason that lying to Congress is a felony is because Congress is composed of the representatives of the American people, and when executive branch officials lie to Congress, they are lying to the country. They subvert the entire constitutional order by preventing the American people from exercising overisight over the executive branch through their representatives in Congress, and it turns the President into an unchecked, unaccountable ruler.

As with Mr Bush, Mr Gonzales was and is a study in delusion. His confirmation hearings were a joke as were Mr Bush's Presidential debates. Now he admits he is responsible, but as of now he is not resigning. He offered to make changes "so that the mistakes that occurred in this instance do not occur again in the future." Mmm, and remember when he said that the domestic spying was all good and legal, and would need no oversight?

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., renewed his call for Gonzales to resign and was joined by a host of other Democrats, including national party chairman Howard Dean and presidential hopeful John Edwards of North Carolina.

"This purge was based purely on politics, to punish prosecutors who were perceived to be too light on Democrats or too tough on Republicans," Schumer said. "Attorney General Gonzales has either forgotten the oath he took to uphold the Constitution or just doesn't understand that his duty to protect the law is greater than his duty to protect the president."

Here's more:

Loyalty’ to Bush and Gonzales Was Factor in Prosecutors’ Firings, E-Mail Shows
By DAVID JOHNSTON and ERIC LIPTON
Published: March 14, 2007

Gonzales Again Called Upon to Resign by Richard B. Schmitt

Mr Gonzales, please go.

Harlie in the window

2007-03-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Daffodils

2007-03-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

click on picture

Quote

2007-03-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, deist and philosopher known for his wit, philosophical writings, and defense of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and the right to a fair trial. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform despite strict censorship laws in France and harsh penalties for those who broke them. A satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize Christian Church dogma and the French institutions of his day. Voltaire is considered one of the most influential figures of his time.

Editorial on the Possible Libby Pardon

2007-03-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

A good read at the Dark Wraith Forums on the "Scooter" Libby Pardon.

Editorial:
The Pardon Problem by Dark Wraith

from it:

Granted a Presidential pardon, then, Mr. Libby would be an extraordinary legal danger to those in the White House who directed, participated in, or subsequently obstructed the investigation of the Valerie Plame Scandal. A Presidential pardon broad enough to protect Mr. Libby would turn him into a veritable treasure trove of information awaiting responsible congressional and law enforcement authorities willing and able to fully extract from him what he most certainly knows about the possible criminal acts of Administration officials who, in their wildly imaginative case for war, used the power of their offices to wreck those who knew they were lying.

Here's another take on it by Frank Rich titled: Why Libby's Pardon is a Slam Dunk

Humpty-Dumpty Bush

2007-03-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

So the old song and dance continue as Mr Bush is asking for 8,ooo more troups above the 22,000 that he commited for the so-called recent surge. Also billions more in dollars, of course. Is he trying to do what cannot be done, put Humpty Dumpty back together again?

The war in Iraq isn't over yet, but - surge or no surge - the United States has already lost. That's the grim consensus of a panel of experts assembled by Rolling Stone to assess the future of Iraq. "Even if we had a million men to go in, it's too late now," says retired four-star Gen. Tony McPeak, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. "Humpty Dumpty can't be put back together again."

Read Beyond Quagmire here

Surge and Destroy: The Brutality Escalates in Iraq
By Michael Schwartz

There is a larger pattern that should, by now, be clear in these developments, and all that have come before. The architects of American policy in the Middle East tend to keep escalating the level of brutality in search of a way to convince the Iraqis (and now the Iranians) that the only path that avoids indiscriminate slaughter is submission to a Pax Americana. Put another way, American policy in the Middle East has devolved into unadorned state terrorism.

March on the Pentagon, March 17

2007-03-12T03:09:00.000-07:00

Oh how I wish I could take part in this. I'll be there in spirit. I hope more and more people will start to speak out against the madness that is the so called "War on Terror," and the debacle of the Iraq Invasion. The button in the left column says, "Corporate Interests plus the Pentagon equals Death." May as well say, "Corporate Greed plus corrupt government equals death and the mockery of democracy and freedom."

"Why we are marching on the Pentagon"

We, active-duty service men and women, and families with loved ones who have served or are serving in Iraq, and veterans of past and present wars, support the March on the Pentagon on March 17, 2007 to say: "Stop the War -- Bring the Troops Home Now." On that day, the Iraq war will become the second longest in U.S. history, after only the Vietnam war. The war is an unmitigated disaster for the people of Iraq and the people of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and Iraq society torn apart. More than 3,100 U.S. soldiers have died and "non-mortal casualties" are nearing 55,000. The cost of the war is now over $8 billion per month, $280 million per day, $12 million per hour. All of this death, suffering and loss for a war justified by lies and deception.

Despite overwhelming public opposition, expressed through the November elections and in countless opinion polls, the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have decided to escalate the war. Escalation will only mean a deepening spiral of death, destruction and wasted resources. We call for the troops to come home, not be redeployed for some other military adventure and for the war funding to be used to provide accessible education, job training and comprehensive health care.

A growing number of families with loved ones in Iraq are now questioning the reasons they are there. Every death or life-changing injury devastates a family, friends and the community they come from. Every redeployment means months more of worry. For veterans of previous wars there are disproportionate numbers of suicides, homelessness, and untreated illnesses. Is there any reason to think that the veterans of the current war won't face the same fate? We are outraged that Bush, who talks endlessly about “supporting the troops,” has proposed cutting funds for the Veterans Administration in his new budget

It is for these reasons that active duty service members, their families and veterans can and must play a vital role in ending this unjust war. Join us at the Pentagon on Saturday, March 17!

Stupid Tester

2007-03-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

Your Score Summary ( My Score Summary )

Overall, you scored as follows:

89% scored higher (more stupid),
3% scored the same, and
8% scored lower (less stupid).

You are 8% stupid. This means...

You are our next Einstein. Wow! Keep up the great thinking.

Saw this at BlondeSense. Test yourself here.

Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit

2007-03-09T14:06:00.000-08:00

GUATEMALA CITY — Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.

Link: click on picture.

Bush is Funding al-Qaeda, Making Him an Unlawful Combatant

2007-03-09T02:26:00.000-08:00

Dave Lindorff

It was always clear that the $21 billion in Iraq reconstruction funds, most of which disappeared into Iraq (much of it was in the form of bales of $100 bills), didn't just vanish.

Given the number of veterans of the Iran-Contra scandal operating in the Bush White House and Pentagon--many of them convicted felons or unindicted co-conspirators in that baroque criminal scandal from the Reagan presidency--it seemed obvious that such easy cash would end up being funnelled into secret wars and secret military projects, as well as other nefarious activities.

Now we learn from ace investigative reporter Sy Hersh, speaking on CNN, that Bush and his criminal crew have been using this illicit, stolen cash to fund covert attacks on Iranian targets, and that much of the money has been going--get this--to Sunni jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda--the very people we're fighting in Iraq!

Read all at link above.

Keith Olbermann interviews Joe Wilson

2007-03-08T03:26:00.000-08:00

Also here at Truthout.

Update: Zeroing in on Bush-Cheney by Robert Parry

Lucky Libby by William RIvers Pitt

Podcast: ‘MAS*H’ Star Mike Farrell on the Engine That Drives His Activism

2007-03-08T03:05:00.000-08:00

Actor, activist and author Mike Farrell joins regular panelists James Harris and Josh Scheer to talk about his new book “Just Call Me Mike,” why it took so long for Americans to wake up to George W. Bush and more.

Podcast directly here.

L.A.'s marijuana stores take root

2007-03-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Quote

2007-03-07T02:32:00.000-08:00

"For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are."

Niccolo Machiavelli

saw this at BlondeSense

As we say often here at EE what is IS and what seems to be cannot be by it's very definition.

Lost in the Lust of Werewolves

2007-03-06T22:32:00.000-08:00

Lost in the Lust of Werewolves by Sheila Samples

"A lost infant in the ashes, lost faces in the dust, a lost finger in the garbage dumps, a lost mother in the debris, a nation lost in the fire, a country lost in the greed...and eyes lost in that endless tunnel of helplessness, anguish and despair...lost in the total emptiness, in the void of the living dead."~~Layla Anwar,
"Ashes & Dust"

Sometimes I wonder if Americans are unaware of the malicious devastation the Bush administrtion is wreaking upon this good earth and its inhabitants, or if they just don't give a damn. I wonder if they ever put a "face" on even one of the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children who are lost forever -- victims of arrogance, lust for power, insatiable greed. And lies .. all lost because of evil, deliberate lies.

Saw this at the Smirking Chimp where you can read the whole article.

Ashes and Dust
Let me teach you a few words in Arabic.
Ashes is "Ramad" and Dust is "Turab" which also means earth, the soil, and "Turba" may also mean tomb or more exactly the grounds where someone is buried.
Ramad and Turab is what Ramadi looks like today. Ramadi in the Anbar province.
The hated Anbar, part of the "triangle". The ever so despised Anbar by both the Americans and the Iranians.
The hatred was most evident today.
The American Forces - wait, I take that back - they are not forces, they are cowards.
The American cowards bombed Ramadi today.
Many homes were demolished. A family of thirteen was buried under the rubbles.
More than 26 civilians were killed, out of which 4 women and several children. Two infants, the youngest was 1 month old.
Men rushed to the ruins trying to rescue whatever human form they can find.
Bare hands, rugged, dust covering their faces and hair, digging and digging...
Most had nothing but a shirt on. No vest, no sweater, no nothing, just a shirt, in this bitter cold.
And I watched their feet, they were wearing plastic slippers in winter, no socks, no shoes...no nothing.
I watched even more carefully and most were very thin and looked malnourished...
They finally managed to pull the little infant out from under piles of thick bricks.
A dust covered baby with an ashen complexion and her tiny lips ripped apart.
A small piece of greyish white cloth was handed and she was wrapped in it in a tiny bundle...

Then the camera zoomed in on the eyes of the onlookers. They all had this one common, identical expression.
A kind of a hollow, lingering gaze like being here and not here.
Then the camera zoomed in even closer... and behind the hollowness in the eyes, lied the utter void, an endless void. A tunnel of despair that seemed to stretch to eternity...
A younger man, not older than 16 wept then stared back at the camera and he kept staring and I saw a lingering death about to explode, in his deep black eyes.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, a bunch of kids, not older than 13, scavenge through dumps and piles of garbage.
One is orphaned, her mother was shot in Falluja. The girl lost a finger when a metal scrap from the junk yard severed it from her small hand. The other, piles up empty cans to sell for 1 dollar a bag. Another, found 4 pieces of bread, he dusts them and keeps them for breakfast to share with the rest of his family...

A lost infant in the ashes, lost faces in the dust, a lost finger in the garbage dumps, a lost mother in the debris, a nation lost in the fire, a country lost in the greed ....and eyes lost in that endless tunnel of helplessness, anguish and despair...
Lost in the total emptiness, in the void of the living dead.

Where is Gilad Atzmon, I need him to hum something to me, I am choking with endless Grief...

You sleep well now.

Le Monde Comix

2007-03-02T03:39:00.000-08:00

March 1, 2007 | "We got rich warming it up. We'll get rich cooling it down!"
(Art: Serguei / Le Monde)

Saw this at Truthout .com

Cheney-Bush: The Absence of Morality

2007-03-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

Cheney-Bush: The Absence of Morality by Dr. Gerry Lower Mar 1, 2007

One simply cannot overstate the extent to which an incompetent and corrupt Bush administration has failed under the neoconservative world view of Dick Cheney. It has failed not only on the domestic and international fronts, it has also failed in its "war on terrorism" by virtue of immoral actions that have actually encouraged and increased terrorism in the Middle East (1).

One of the more amazing aspects of Cheney's dominion is that he has been able to motivate and manipulate George W. Bush in such a way that Bush actually believes that he himself is "the decider." Because of his limited knowledge base, Bush has had little choice but to accept Cheney's neoconservative world view and act on those views as if his own. Bush now has little choice but to maintain a similarly infallible stance, the only stance left in the face of Cheney's many failures.

The article goe on and then Mr Lower explains:

In the west, we have three standards which comprise the western moral hierarchy.

HUMANISM (CHRISTIAN ETHICAL MORALITY)
DO NOT HIT FIRST, DO NOT HIT BACK

JUDEOROMANISM (VENGEANCE-BASED MORALITY)
DO NOT HIT FIRST, DO HIT BACK

BARBARISM (ABSENCE OF MORALITY)
DO HIT FIRST, DO HIT BACK

Mr. Lower explains each standard in his article. Which one describes our current "leaders"?

I really like what he says in conclusion, forgive me for telling the ending but it is so good and really go read the rest of the article here.

That outcome is prophetic for all three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Romanism and Islamism, all in service to despotism and rule by the rich and powerful. That prophetic outcome would discredit the Abrahamic religions from the global political arena for the duration, right along with the despotism that they has been used to justify over the millennia.

That prophetic outcome places all people on the edge of the abyss and, at the same time, on the threshold of a dream, because that prophetic outcome would open the doors to a global human revolution and the implementation of a global direct democracy based in nascent Christian human rights. This is what is meant by "the second coming". It is what Jefferson had in mind, and there is nothing supernatural about it.

Saw this at The Smirking Chimp.

Stop Reefer Madness

2007-03-01T12:55:00.000-08:00

Pentagon Whistleblower on the Coming War with Iran

2007-02-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

Karen Kwiatkowski, a veteran of the Pentagon with firsthand experience of the administration’s cherry picking of intelligence, reveals why Bush thinks he can win a war with Iran, why few politicians are serious about withdrawal and why “when they call Iraq a success, they mean it.”

Excerpt:

Joshua Scheer: Now, you’re talking about these political appointees and pushing us into war, why haven’t people like Paul Wolfowitz—I mean these seem to feather their own nests…

Karen Kwiatkowski: [laughs] That’s an understatement.

Joshua Scheer: Yeah, but they lead us into war—Marc Zell, Doug Feith’s partner was in bed with Chalabi and it falls apart, and it seems that these guys disappear into the woodwork. What happens?

Karen Kwiatkowski: Well, a big part of what happens is these guys have top cover. The names of the top cover are Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. These guys like what Wolfowitz has done, and here’s the other thing: while we as American citizens do not like being lied to, particularly being lied into a stupid quagmire that makes no sense, we don’t like being lied to—Congress doesn’t like being lied to. However, many in Congress, and certainly in this administration, agree—and this is Democrats and Republicans—like the idea that we have gone into Iraq.

We have built four megabases, they are complete. Most of the money we gave to Halliburton was for construction and completion of these bases. We have, probably, of the hundred and 50 or 60 thousand troops, we have in Iraq—probably 110,000 of those folks are associated with one of those four megabases, safely ensconced behind acres and acres of concrete, to operate there indefinitely, no matter what happens in Baghdad, no matter who takes over, no matter if the country splits into three pieces or stays one—no matter what happens, we have those megabases.

And there’s many in Congress, and certainly in this administration, Republican and Democrat alike, that really like that. Part of the reason I think that we went into Iraq was to reestablish a stronger foothold than we had in Saudi Arabia, but also a more economical, a more flexible—in terms of who we want to hit—If you want to hit Syria, well can you do it from Iraq? Of course you can, and now you can do it from bases that will support any type of airplane you want, any number of troops in barracks, I mean we can do things from Iraq, and this is what they wanted. Yeah, we don’t like being lied to, but quite frankly, many people in the Congress, and certainly this administration, when they call Iraq a success, they mean it and this is why.

We’re in Iraq to stay, and can we strike Iran from Iraq? Well, I don’t know if we’ll do that next week, but we can.

Isn't always what they, the Bush Administration, is NOT saying that is what is really what they are up to.

Boycott ExxonMobil

2007-02-26T13:42:00.000-08:00

ExxonMobil is spearheading efforts to open America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. It is sabotaging efforts to slow global warming and refusing to put its huge profits to good use developing clean, renewable energy or supporting fuel efficiency. The company is still trying to get out of paying the full amount it owes fishermen and Native Americans hurt by the 1989 Valdez spill, which killed hundreds of thousands of seals, otters, birds, fish and whales -- despite raking in a historic $25 billion profit in 2005.

It's time to hold ExxonMobil responsible for putting corporate profits over protection of wildlife and wildlife habitat. Join Defenders of Wildlife and other leading conservation groups in boycotting ExxonMobil. Sign our petition to let ExxonMobil know that you WILL NOT BUY ExxonMobil gasoline unless -- and until -- ExxonMobil takes meaningful action to curb global warming, to invest in renewable energy, and to pay for the damages done by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

Click on image above to sign petition.

Rep Ron Paul's weekly column

2007-02-26T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hypocrisy in the Middle East

February 26, 2007

Hundreds of thousands of American troops already occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, a number that is rising as the military surge moves forward. The justification, given endlessly since September 11th, is that both support terrorism and thus pose a risk to the United States. Yet when we step back and examine the region as a whole, it’s obvious that these two impoverished countries, neither of which has any real military, pose very little threat to American national security when compared to other Middle Eastern nations. The decision to attack them, while treating some of region’s worst regimes as allies, shows the deadly hypocrisy of our foreign policy in the Middle East.

Read all at link above.

Buck's new (23 yr old) Liver

2007-02-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the scoop on Jesse's (Buck's) transplant. Thanks so much for all your support in so many ways. We have been greatly blessed. Here's a link to his Got Liver? site.

I have had a liver transplant!!

Yes, it's true. After a scare when they needed to do more tests on my heart (I now know I have a small congenital defect.) - they placed me on the list on January 24th. I was feeling pretty bad and in fact my nephew, Darron, came over on Saturday the 27th to take me over to Self Memorial to get checked out because I was having trouble with shortness of breath and extreme fatigue. As I was getting ready to go out the door, the phone rang. It was the Transplant Coordinator at MUSC telling me they had a liver for me and to come on to Charleston. I was shocked and Michael and I took off for Charleston and MUSC immediately.

Everyone at MUSC was so nice to me. I had my transplant on the 28th (exactly 6 months before my birthday!). There was an initial scare as they discovered I was losing blood somewhere. The thinking was that one of the vessels was leaking. So, it was back to surgery for an exploratory and to fix the leak if that is what was happening. When they went in they found lots of clotting - indicating I'd been bleeding - but no active bleeding. So whatever was leaking had sealed itself off. I spent the next 4 days in the ICU. At first I felt so bad and I really thought things were not going well - although the doctors kept saying that tests showed the liver was working fine. We did have a little trouble getting my kidneys to work but they bounced back and are now in as good a shape as before I was diagnosed with liver disease last July.

After being transferred to the Transplant Floor on 6 East I got some great physical therapy to help me with walking and getting up and down. My first walk I made it all the way down the hall to the nurses' station. It was the same distance I couldn't walk when I came in for the transplant the week before! They have a tradition that when you make it to the nurses' station the first time you ring a brass bell they have hanging there. It lets everyone know that another patient has made that key first step to recovery. So, I got to ring the bell.

On Sunday - exactly 1 week post transplant I was discharged from MUSC and allowed to go to the extended stay hotel. I had a home health nurse, Kelly, who came each night to check my vitals and make sure I was doing OK. Every morning I had to go have blood drawn at MUSC to check drug levels, my CBC, and liver function. I had clinic on Monday and Thursday and was told I was doing wonderfully. I had a little trouble with ascites but they adjusted my Lasix dosage and that cleared up by my last clinic visit this Monday.

I'm back down to 200 pounds and losing more. I still don't have a very big appetite and I have to intake a lot of protein over the next few weeks to assist in healing. I've actually come to like Ensure and Ensure High Protein. :-)

On Monday, February 12th, they let me go home to Newberry. I will have to have blood work done once a week at our hospital here and then go to Charleston once a week for clinic.

I'm currently taking about 18 pills each morning! What a breakfast! I then take 8 at night. Of course, that changes now and again as they adjust dosages on the immunosuppressents. I'll be on most of those the rest of my life, so I'm having to get used to being sort of rigid about getting my meds at the right times.

Michael was wonderful, he was by my side through everything and pushed me when I needed it (which has been often). He really stepped up to bat with medicines and other less seemly chores. I'm so lucky to have him.

So, I'm home again and doing well. I'll be going back for clinic on Monday.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. Please keep me in your prayers as I continue to heal from the surgery.

Ringtone( My First)

2007-02-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

Abwoon3

"Abwoon d'bashmaya" is the first part of what we now call the "Lord's Prayer". It however does not mean "Our Father who art in Heaven". Not quite. Aramaic is very poetic and multi-layered with many meanings, (those that have ears let them hear). "Abwoon" is the Creator and the Sound of Creation and d'bwashmaya is creation recognizing that Creator within itself and everywhere creation IS. WOW. It's happening even NOW. What IS is and always will be!!!!! Eternal Ecstasy!

So when you pick up your phone remember it's a new creative opportunity to witness to God's and Creation's Boundlessness in all things including you!

Romancing The Wind

2007-02-24T15:06:00.001-08:00

Saw this at The Fat Lady Sings

Awesome!!

Martin Luther King

2007-02-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

How great it is to be reminded that we live in the time when Martin Luther King uttered his famous "I have a Dream" speech. I can't hear it without getting shivers up and down my spine and floods of emotion pouring over me. It reminds me of what my teacher and companion John wrote about love in his "Love Sermon" from the "Eternal Ecstasies": That love is most easily seen in the darkest places, that love defies math, for as it is divided it multiplies.

I'm placing a link here to Martin Luther's Speech, one of the greatest utterances in human history.

Here's to that day when we as one live in love, which is who we are.

On the Route

2007-02-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

This morning I was pleased to see some old friends in the sky. I first noticed Ursa Major, the Big Dipper, then Ursa Minor. To the east, looking to the right, was Cygnus, the Swan and Lyra just above it. Looking at the sky chart I see that Hercules is just above Lyra and so I'll be watching for him. Then to the south was Sagittarius, which Cygnus sort of points to.

In the past, the astrological sign of Sagittarius was strongly associated with higher learning, philosophy, human progress, religion, life hereafter, and God.

Since giving up the country route I have not been seeing the constellations very often. It was one of the best parts of my "job", although certainly not part of the "job."

I was pleased to remember Lyra, which took a little while to recall the name and then to see Sagittarius again after so long, and it was one of my most interesting and challenging to figure out.

I enjoy the night sky and wish I had the opportunity to see more and more. I remember in the Andes and in the jungles of Peru how bright the stars were and how I didn't recognise any of them, being in the Southern Hemisphere. I also recall the night in Arizona in the White Mountains near Payson, how the sky was absolutely drenched in stars, like nothing I had ever seen before or since.

It's refreshing and therapeutic to commune with these things in nature. How vast and awesome is the universe and how mysterious and glorious to be a part of it.

See the side links for Interactive Sky Chart and Constellations.

Bush's 2008 Budget Proposal (so unnews worthy)

2007-02-23T03:04:00.000-08:00

Maybe We Deserve to Be Ripped Off By Bush's Billionaires by Matt Taibbi, RollingStone.com.

from the article:

"On the same day that Britney was shaving her head, a guy I know who works in the office of Senator Bernie Sanders sent me an email. He was trying very hard to get news organizations interested in some research his office had done about George Bush's proposed 2008 budget, which was unveiled two weeks ago and received relatively little press, mainly because of the controversy over the Iraq war resolution. All the same, the Bush budget is an amazing document. It would be hard to imagine a document that more clearly articulates the priorities of our current political elite."

"Not only does it make many of Bush's tax cuts permanent, but it envisions a complete repeal of the Estate Tax, which mainly affects only those who are in the top two-tenths of the top one percent of the richest people in this country. The proposed savings from the cuts over the next decade are about $442 billion, or just slightly less than the amount of the annual defense budget (minus Iraq war expenses). But what's interesting about these cuts are how Bush plans to pay for them..."

Read all at link above.

Rep Ron Paul

2007-02-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

The obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.
– Ron Paul

"This resolution, unfortunately, does not address the disaster in Iraq. Instead, it seeks to appear opposed to the war while at the same time offering no change of the status quo in Iraq. As such, it is not actually a vote against a troop surge. A real vote against a troop surge is a vote against the coming supplemental appropriation that finances it. I hope all of my colleagues who vote against the surge today will vote against the budgetary surge when it really counts: when we vote on the supplemental."

Hear him speak about the Iraq War Resolution. Click on Picture above.

Greenest Vehicles of 2007

2007-02-20T17:09:00.000-08:00

The Greenest Vehicles of 2007

1. Honda Civic GX
2. Toyota Prius
3. Honda Civic Hybrid
4. Nissan Altima Hybrid
5. Toyota Yaris
6. Toyota Corolla
7. Toyota Camry Hybrid
8. Honda Fit
9. Kia Rio / Rio 5
10. Hyundai Accent
11. Hyundai Elantra
12. Honda Civic

The Prius gets a lot better gas mileage: 60 mpg, in town and 51, Hwy.

Found this in an email from the Sierra Club.

Quote for Peace

2007-02-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Today the real test of America's power and wisdom is not our capacity to make war but our capacity to prevent it.

Dale Turner

Antiwar.com

Some Quotes for Presidents' Day

2007-02-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

As I read these quotes and others I found, I thought of how they might be applied to our current President and Administration and how our legistators speak and act today.
Remembering that all is well, and that we are evolving towards greater consciousness, even though on the surface things may seem bleak, dismal and utterly up-side-down. It is, as they say, always darkest before the dawn. What is, is and cannot be changed by what seems to be. Therein lies my rock, my foundation on which I build my house, my beliefs. Peace to you all.

"The United States is in no sense founded upon the Christian doctrine."

"The constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure."

"My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth."

"It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it."

"The Nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest."

"It is our true policy to steer clear of any permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world."

"As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."
George Washington

"I believe it is an established maxim in morals that he who makes an assertion
without knowing whether it is true or false, is guilty of falsehood; and the
accidental truth of the assertion, does not justify or excuse him."

"Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars,
pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was
the object."

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all
mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each
man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while
with others, the same word many mean for some men to do as they
please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are
two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name
- liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties,
called by two different and incompatible names - liberty and tyranny."

Abraham Lincoln

"I'm the commander — see, I don't need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being president."
George W. Bush

Faith in America

2007-02-17T04:31:00.000-08:00

Faith In America Inc., a non-profit advocacy group founded in 2005, has launched a nationwide effort to challenge the injustice of religion-based bigotry against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people in America. The mission of Faith in America Inc. is to end legal and spiritual discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people in America and to gain full and equal rights for those citizens. A web site (www.faithinamerica.com) has been established to provide information about religion-based bigotry and its historic expressions, and to help people become active with other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organizations.

I found this website by reading a post at Pam's House Blend, via Shakespeare's Sister.