Try Thinking

My Fellow Americans

2012-01-02T14:21:00.001-08:00

I hate to think about the reality of the USA.
On the one hand, there is this movement of humans that can vote who truly believe it is OK to legislate religion- so long as it is THEIR religion, and on the other hand, there is the sad fact that these same people are so insulated from real information that they cannot learn from their mistakes nor take in new facts that might change their opinions.. Like Michel Bachman they would rather run from talking with people and cry rape/wolf (bathroom, ex nun and a lesbian want to talk, she screams and claims held against her will....) than consider that the people who they listen to might be liars with their own agendas.
The third problem? We can't kill them or throw them off the island- they are here, and even if we win this round of arguments, even if we get good presidents, even if the Supreme Court keeps upholding rights, they are here forever, and they will stall us and waste time and money and lie and do everything a spoiled willful child (see reference Karl Rove) does to distract parents from making the best choice. They will drag down Congress so that real laws don't get passed, and they will undermine even the most banal and needed laws if they were introduced by liberals..
They are our worst nightmares, The Never Ending Story of Angry Birds, the wild arsonist in the wheat fields, the nasty wealthy Aunt who uses her money to blackmail everyone in the family into waiting on her hand and foot. They are part of us, and we cannot get away from them any more than Sidney Poitier could escape those chains and get away from Tony Curtis.
Killing them suddenly seems like a great idea hu?
But that is Un-American (which is why Ann the man Coulter proposes it so often).
We are the liberals, the progressives, the forward thinkers and are supposed to be better than that.
Sometimes i just HATE it when I have to be the bigger person. Mom raised me right, but it still rankles.

So what to do, what to do.

These people are truly scum, seriously religiously deranged, and often more than happy to lie and cheat and undermine the Constitution to get what they want. The school yard bullies, our own Eric Cartmans, are impossible to work around or ignore.
They will not wok with us at all- by their own admittance, they find the idea of compromise against their beliefs in a pure and perfect world they both inhabit and create.

President Obama came into power truly thinking that he could forge common ground, could find compromise for the good of all.
These right wingnuts do not CARE about the good of all--or even their own good. They would rather "poison the well" and die right along side their enemies than give in and share. They are the spoiled rotten dirty bastards of history.

So what to do, what to do.

Things are getting worse. They are boiling over. Nice liberals are being shot- and their side does not denounce it, barely gives lip service of a negative nature, and moves along with their bashing. The number of Americans that will vote and give voice is already at a peak, and the ones who DO vote are almost exactly evenly divided about what they want. There are as many of the wingnuts as there are the moral rational liberals that vote. And while we keep cancelling each other out at the polls, their mistakes (judges, laws, school systems, Boy Scout Troops) keep churning along making things worse.
We have a lake polluted beyond repair. With new generations of polluted thinkers being allowed into the ranks of voting adults every day. We cannot educate them about the reality of gay life when they want to kill it on religious grounds, we cannot educate them on the inhuman abuse of personal rights when they refuse to allow abortion for anyone for any reason based on their religious ground, we cannot educate them about religion when the just do NOT CARE and will not even listen- they run away screaming and demand laws to protect them from truth or facts that might disprove their sacred religious beliefs.

So what to do, what to do.

I can see why Europe works so well- they kept those countries small. I propose we do too.
Cut the U.S. into 2 parts and just give the religious wingnuts far right conservatives their own part.
GET RID OF THEM.
Make the GOP illegal in the Free States of America, and refuse to give them our movies, music, books, wine, television, or anything else that takes a creative independent thinker to create.
They can have gun, religion, the current banking system, pollution, jails, and regulated internet, bedrooms, and ovaries.
We will probably have more crime due to our lax beliefs in Zero tolerance and a strong rehabilitation programs-and we will need serious border patrols, because i can guarantee that after living in their own Utopias they will try to come back here and subvert what we have trying to make themselves happy by 'doing it right this time'.... or trying to save us. Or just undermining us so they don't have to watch all the smiling happy people holding hands.
Because when it comes right down too it,they just aren't happy if anyone else is..
It goes against their religion.

Saying Grace and Saving Face

2011-11-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is the time of year we gather together to argue with relatives we seldom see but love dearly so long as they are not across the table from us in our own home spouting crap.
This year, it will be especially difficult to avoid the dreaded politics, and the ensuing mashed potato uproar.
Most of us are not easily swayed in our basic opinions, and we all need to protect our egos as much as we do our wallets. Saying "I'm sorry" is hard enough, but if you are like many of the people in the USA this year, you FEEL sorry and want to see things change.
How do you do that without 'losing face' and appearing to be stupid, thoughtless, or have to suffer the slings and arrows of indignities your relations will heap on you with that extra helping of pie?
Maybe it's as simple as saying "You know, I do not think I was wrong in the past, and I still believe in my traditional values, but lately, I am not seeing that from my choices in politics".
"I am not hearing what I really believe from any of the candidates/ The President/my congressmen/congresswomen and so I am planning on voting differently".
"I am firmly and forever a true patriot, but like the Republicans when they changed their name to Democrats (or the Bull Moose Party when they changed their name to Republicans), I see the GOP/Democrats reflecting more of what I have traditionally believed in and want to see more discussion".
"I am not wrong, and my beliefs are firm, but my party has wandered off the path".
"I am open to listening to you without debate- could you pour me some coffee?"

Happy Thanksgiving.

The American Red Cross

2010-09-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

You probably think of the Red Cross as THE people to call and have arrive at a disaster to help.
Photos of earthquakes appear in your head, and you can see the workers helping people, giving them food, taking care of their injuries and basically being 'first responders".
My whole generation grew up with those images, with the idea that when things are BAD, you want to have the Red Cross arrive fast to help once the ambulances have taken away the seriously injured.
They are the people to call, but all too often, we assume that they are the ONLY people to call, and that the Red Cross can handle, well, everything.

Several years ago a local apartment house went up in flames at 5:30 am. The news was ghastly, every one of the 68 units was gone, and the entire population was standing on the street in their nightclothes. Babies in arms, many of the kids without anything on their feet. Not a toothbrush or a hairbrush or a watch or a set of car keys amongst them.
The call went out on our neighborhood list that the folks needed help, and I just happened to have a car full of donated clothing that was destined for the womens shelter. I decided the people around the corner from me could use it more, knowing that many of them might be thankful for some day wear- even if it was not a perfect fit- to put on while they made calls from the church that had opened to process them. I knew the children would benefit from the warmer sweaters buried in the bags I had, and that the adults could use some of the long sleeved shirts. I had a few pairs of shoes and hoped someone that was barefoot could fit into them, saving their feet until they had time to get things that fit better.
When I drove around the corner and parked at the church, there were hundreds of folks everywhere. 3 fire units cleaning up after putting out the flames, and 3 separate television units reported on the residents. About 200 adults and children, mostly female, were staying inside the church building, waiting in line for food from the kitchen, waiting in line to use the 2 office phones, sitting in halls with whatever they had grabbed in their arms. The upstairs reeked of diapers that were past their prime, as the moms waited for someone to bring fresh diapers for the 20 or so babies and young toddlers that needed them.
Outdoors, the men and the older teens milled about on the grass, talking to reporters, looking for rides to come pick them up, and being interviewed by the fire and police inspectors for information about the fire.
When I pulled up, I parked across the street and went indoors to ask the Red Cross workers where they would like the donated clothing.
I was told, in no uncertain terms, that the Red Cross did NOT accept used items, and would not be responsible for ANY clothing, baby gear, even diapers and that I could NOT bring them on to the church grounds - which were now under the care of the Red Cross.
HU?
The parents were watching me, and several followed me outside when they overheard what I had in the car.
I walked out defiantly, crossed the street, and opened the back of the Jeep, tearing at the bags of clothing.
For the next 20 min, parents and kids pawed through that pile of stuff, holding things up to their kids, checking labels for sizes, digging for things that would work for their children.
i stood next to my car, smiled at the folks, gave hugs, and ignored the media as they came over to interview me.
I used my cell phone to call my own neighbors about donations, and made 2 more trips back to that church that morning, bringing 2 strollers, bags of new diapers, formula, and several dozen flip-flops someone happened to have.
Eventually, the crowds thinned down, the day grew warm, and the crisis portion of the situation was over.

The Red Cross folks passed out debit cards for people to go buy new things like toiletries, clothing, etc. Upwards of $500.00 per person in some cases. They also helped with city workers in finding housing and emergency shelter for many of the displaced families who did not have friends or relatives to put them up. Everyone, however, had to find transportation on their own. Several parents with kids made the trek on foot to the city help centers after they opened. By 6pm the boarded up husk of apartments and some overflowing garbage cans were all that were left of our local tragedy.

I was thrilled the Red Cross was there to feed those nice folks. I was happy they could offer funding to help them out. But I was also left irritated that they had refused to even allow me on to the grounds, refused to consider the reality of the state those people were in, and had no back up plan for when clothing and baby supplies are desperately urgently needed NOW, not hours from now.

~~~~~~~~

Turns out, the Red Cross is not about collecting items, distributing items, or needing to clean up the unwanted items afterwards, and they won't be saddled with the donated unwanted items that people all too often flood disaster sites with. They are not equipped with the vehicles to drive in rolling clothing trucks to emergency sites, nor do their volunteers have the power to accept ITEMS donated at the scene. Their training and abilities do not include the collection, distribution, and disposal of used items. Good Will does that- but they don't travel to emergency sites. Red Cross folks CAN accept cash donations on site, instantly. Materials, clothing, etc. they will not handle. Their policy is also to refuse to allow anyone ELSE to bring those items into the areas they control. They do not want to be left responsible for the trash afterwards.

Their web site http://www.redcross.org/ discussing donations is very explicit:

Donate to the Red Cross

A hot meal delivered to victims after a disaster, blood when it is needed most, shelter when there is nowhere else to turn, an emergency message delivered to a member of the Armed Forces from their family -- these are just some of the ways that gifts are put to work through the American Red Cross. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the American Red Cross is empowering people to perform extraordinary acts in the face of emergencies.

Our supporters have become part of a network of millions of Americans who donate their time, money and blood to the humanitarian work of the Red Cross. We thank them for their gifts and we are privileged to put their compassion into action.

Ways to Donate

Online

Monthly giving

Other official donation site

2009 Holiday Gift Catalog

Face-to-Face Fundraising

Through rewards programs

By raising funds for disaster

Through planned giving

Matching Gifts

Buy & Sell on eBay

Matching Gifts

-- Your gift could be matched dollar for dollar! Many companies offer matching gift programs that will double, even triple a donation's value. Check with your company or visit this online directory of matching gift companies to find out if your company will match your contribution to the American Red Cross. If you have questions about your company's matching gift program, please contact your personnel office.

Once you have determined that your company matches donations made to the Red Cross, obtain the appropriate form from your personnel/human resources office and send it with a copy of your gift receipt to the address below:

American Red Cross
PO Box 37295
Washington, DC 20013
Attn: Kim Davis

The American Red Cross Tax Identification Number (also known as Employee Identification Number or EIN) is 53-0196605.

Please be sure to complete the entire donor portion of the form and to include a copy of your gift receipt (if available). If you would like to designate the gift to a specific disaster, please indicate that on the form. If you have questions about your company's matching gift program, please contact your personnel/human resources office.

The American Red Cross helps people in need -- free of charge -- every single day! Your contribution means a great deal to the organization, but even more to the families who rely on the Red Cross to help them through some of the most difficult times of their lives.

With your ongoing support we will keep America strong, through these vital programs--Disaster Relief Services, Family Emergency Services, Domestic Preparedness for Bioterrorism, Critical Lifesaving Services, and 24-hour military assistance.

But the Red Cross is not a government agency, we must rely on the generosity of the American public. With your ongoing support, we will continue to be there providing people in crisis . relief for today and hope for tomorrow.

The American Red Cross is not a government agency and all Red Cross disaster assistance is free thanks to the generosity of people like you. The value of your donation is increased by the fact that the ratio of volunteer Red Cross workers to paid staff is almost 36 to one. Contributions to the American Red Cross, a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, are deductible for computing income and estate taxes.

That is a HUGE and much needed contribution to disasters and people. THAT is important work, and I don't knock them for it.
I'm just pointing out that they have a huge hole in their logic about dealing with emergencies at the scene.

Last night, the City of San Bruno experienced a major gas pipe explosion that wiped out 38 homes, injured hundreds, and killed at least 4 persons outright. People ran from their burning homes in whatever they were wearing into the cold night air. Losing their purses, their money, their belongings, their cars- their entire lives on fire, with nothing to prove their identity, no way to contact their friends and family, and no way to travel from the site.
Reporters talk about how wonderful it is that the Red Cross is there to take care of folks. Reporters also report that the people who responded last night with clothes and shoes should stop, because the Red Cross cannot handle the huge influx of donations, unless they are CASH.

This is not unusual. The Red Cross is NOT an organization that can help you immediately when there is a fire or other tragedy. They do not arrive with clothes when you are naked, shoes if you are barefoot, diapers if you have a baby, or ANYTHING you need immediately if it is snowing or cold or dark or wet.
Most Red Cross volunteers for any given area have access to money to buy and provide food- so long as there is a place they can use like a church kitchen or pre-set tent area. They do not have traveling kitchens or set up tents. They are trained organized volunteers that will only be able to work with PRE-EXISTING cooking locations.
What they do have is the access to emergency funding for homeless people. They can pass out DEBIT CARDS that have cash on them for folks to go get clothes themselves. Or shoes. Or baby items.

My questions are simple- How does anyone expect a family that is unable to travel and has no clothing but the nightgown they are in or the pajamas they wear to get on a city bus and go downtown and buy clothes for themselves? WHAT kind of brain trust thinks through homeless people with no purses, no bags, no strollers, being able to take their babies and toddlers and travel to several locations and buy all the things they will need for a short period of time- and then transport them to whatever shelter they are assigned? Who thought through this stupid idea?
The city responders are there first as police and fire. Then comes the inspectors and the debris clean up. County welfare folks do not come out to emergency sites. No one but the Red Cross is usually even allowed in some areas.
So I just want to ask, who is going to put clothes on the naked people, shoes on the barefoot people, coats on the cold people, and provide enough transportation so that folks can get from their emergency to their social worker, their shelter, their clothing stores, or their families elsewhere in town? Who brings in and hauls out the donated clothing to take care of people during those crucial 6 hours between fleeing the disaster and having a plan, some stuff, a place, a change of clothes and a Red Cross debit card to buy things with?

Right now, no one.
My advice is pointedly simple. NEVER get caught without clothing during an emergency. ALWAYS wear shoes when you flee the house. NEVER leave your purse, cell phone, or car keys behind.

And.... if you are near a real disaster, collaborate with neighbors to send in some shoes and clothes and bags for parents to carry the stuff they have in their arms as they leave the scene and head into a very unknown future. Don't rely on the Red Cross to help you (or even allow you inside the emergency lines), don't rely on the shelters to provide. It's a long way to walk between the fire or flood and the housing and donated clothes when you have nothing but your kids and your lives.

September is

High Times in High School

2010-08-19T11:21:00.001-07:00

This morning was the "Back to School" Principal's coffee with parents meeting.
As my son is now a full time student in our public system again, I am behind on what's happening and how to make sure that he gets all the possible advantages to success, so I made sure to attend.
My high school is over populated by about 100 kids, but the district is seeking extra teachers and staffing for them.
Several classes were under booked and needed to be incorporated with others, creating situations that *used* to be called "teaching tracks", whereby some students learn a lesson at a slower pace than others or with more detail than others. It was never a bad system, but sometime in the 80's it was abolished as being emotionally punitive to the slower learners.
Year books are $85.00 each. I doubt if anyone in their right minds is noticing that cost, but I thought it appalling.
The school is considering combining the Jr. Prom and the Sr. Prom to the same night because last year, only 40 Jr. couples attended. The principal went on to explain that the amount of time, hard work, and money needed to rent the hotel, food, etc. was just not justified for the kids and the class leaders were looking into this change. Of course, we all also noted that the Seniors- we work very hard to have a prom all to themselves- would be at a disadvantage.
My own thoughts ran along the lines of "You have got to be kidding! More than half the parents of students here are unable to pay all their bills, more than 20% qualify for food assistance and free meals under Title 1, almost 30% need to come by bus from very poor neighborhoods, and yet we are promoting these damned expensive proms where the average kid spends over $1,000 dollars for a NIGHT? That is NUTS! Why not just have a Jr. dance for the class at a lower price where more kids can attend?".
I voiced my opinion about parents losing houses while kids encourage lavish proms- the room went silent and then every parent there (all of whom are boosters, involved in support, and either have jobs or have spouse's with great jobs) just moved on with other events.
It made me rather disgusted. Spoilt, rich, selfish, ridiculous spending is part of the reason our great country is so divided. CHILDREN do not need to spend money on themselves to such a horrendous degree just to celebrate graduating High School, and the *junior class* certainly does not need a special 'formal' prom at such a cost.
Obviously, the parents in charge of the school are in the wealthy category that cannot possibly hear my thoughts. They need- yes, *need*- to indulge their children with rites of passage far beyond the means of the other kids. It's why they, and their families, are special, and wonderful, and loved by their creator, and destined for better lives and happier things than all those other kids. They can afford it.
The roosters, as my granny would say, have now come home to roost. The costs of such an overblown expression of self esteem and celebration means that most of the Jr. class last year just could not attend, probably because of cost more than any other factor. I was given no other reason for the low attendance rate. So now, the Sr. class is going to have to either allow their younger classmates to share in their 'special night'- making it not so special- or the Jr's are going to have to forgo having a special 'prom' all to themselves 2 years in a row and just wait to be seniors.
I am not feeling badly for either group.
Costs quoted can go as high as $1500.00 for a prom at some schools. Washington DC writers broke down actual costs for a Senior year to more than that.
I am afraid of how much just getting my son an education is going to cost, and to have the school ENCOURAGE wasteful spending on a *junior* prom just makes me gag.
I want to have kids happy about school, involved in projects, dating in safe environments, learning how to be grown ups, and celebrating their victories.
I do not have to spend money to do any of those things, and I dislike the wealthy parents using displays of wealth as a rite of passage that only a very small percentage of students can participate in.
It creates a 2-tiered school system, with kids that can afford it all (limos, hotel rooms, $80.00 dinners, $40.00 flowers, $100.00 tux rentals, $200.00 adult dresses, shoes, purses, pictures, bands, decorations, etc.) showing off how lucky they are while the larger majority of students smile and look the other way, scuff their shoes on the ground and mumble that they "really don't want to go to a prom" as the only excuse that salvages their pride.
It is hard enough when kids are seniors to justify this kind of show. It is ridiculous to foster it on 16 year olds.
Do these children really understand the value of money? The kids who cannot attend sure do. Their feelings are not valued as much as their classmates parents money.

Repeal the Zealots.

2009-05-30T00:46:00.000-07:00

The initial vote in California last November 8th, 2008, was a lie, a sham, and a farce. Voters in California are notorious for their liberal, well educated voting policies and views- when they are aware of an issue and believe it to be important.

Last year's Presidential elections were important. A nation's future hung in the balance, and we in California were no less worried that the incompetent lackluster leadership of the latter day "Know Nothing" party would drive the country past it's breaking point and leave millions on the streets and in 21st century Hoovervilles while the handful of ultra-hawks and their well paid, well trained parrots finished the rape and pillage of the American coffers, borrowing rather than taxing to pay for their own oil laden masturbatory fantasies and blaming it all on anyone who was not in power and could not defend themselves.

California was, and is, a bastion of tolerance, charity, purpose, liberty, and liberal thinking where most residents truly do not want to impose on their fellow Californian's so long as those same people don't impose upon them.
Californian's are also busy. We have lots to do, carrying the 6th largest economy on EARTH- not the US, but the EARTH, including the heart of the entertainment industry, the US wine industry, the US electronics industry and computer industry and hand held media industry and internet industry. We also contribute such varied things as Almonds, light oils, Non-industrial worked diamonds, and medical needles,catheters and parts. *
We work hard. We also play hard, and have always kept our eyes on the important issues, leading the country in reducing automobile emissions, enacting clean air and water policies, and protecting the environment.

Last November however, Californian's did not understand that a stealth movement by out of state religious zealot agitators had been afoot for months to fuel a religious earthquake with misinformation and medieval threats to a small but incredibly well organized group- the California Mormons. Their goal?
To take a minor proposition that every right thinking human in the state felt was a ridiculous pipe dream, and in the space of several weeks flood the state with messages designed to lead the weak minded to the ballot box with their brains full of mush and the fires of righteousness in their bellies.

While millions of us were working to elect the first Black President and bring some balance and a sense of intelligence back to the White House, the Mormon Church was using their TAX FREE status to influence politics in our state and deny our citizens their fair and equal rights under the guise of "separate but equal".
NO ONE in their right minds believes that separate ever means equal, from our schools in the south to medical access in the Midwest to jobs to water fountains. There are haves-- and there are have nots.
We were focused on the needs to stop a war and save young American lives in Iraq instead of the machinations of a religious party who still allow their members to take multiple under age wives.
Our historic California tolerance extended to the foibles and peculiarities of a religious cult that sprang up in the Eastern US a little over 200 years ago complete with it's own "bible" and a belief that God hates dancing and coffee. We thought they were no worse than any other sect- or, in the words of Douglas Adams, "mostly harmless".
Their mother church in the church-state of Utah however, abused the tax status of a church and violated states rights * to decide their own fate and used their well attended churches to spread a noxious and vicious belief that marriage was in danger and that children would be defiled should we come to the rational, logical, reasonable, and fair decision to finally tear down the emotionally charged vocabulary barrier disallowing gay couples the same rights as everyone else.
It was with this comfortable belief that California was already tolerant and fair that we, the majority, the folks who do not believe in marrying 12 year olds to middle aged men, focused on the larger issues and ignored that evil, fear soaked proposition buried on our ballots until it was too late to rally our numbers and awaken the sleeping voters to the threat towards our progressive and fair marriage rights and their march forward one hard fought victory after another.
We were, to put it sadly, asleep at the switch while the ballot box was being stuffed with lies and stretched truths, fright scenarios and defensive partisan religious fake facts.
I am not surprised that the Church of 'latter day saints' (um... no. Check with the Catholics on who is and isn't a 'Saint') got enough votes to pass this absurd twisted vote through.

With enough money and fear, in 6 months time I can convince the residents of any state in the nation to cut off their own genitals. They will do it to "save their children", to "protect and defend their country" to "stop the abominations" or to "defend their rights", but they will do it.
They will do it gladly, and they will do it as willingly as the residents of Oakland California were when they drank Kool Aid and committed suicide for the Reverend Jim Jones in Ghana, 1978, they will do it with as much surety as Yossele Schumacher's grandfather had when he kidnapped the small child from the child's parents to save his religious soul, with as much burning passion as McCarthy felt when he held the hearings on Un-American Activities, with as much damnation as the American public felt avenging the attack on Pearl Harbor, with as much blind determination as the entire inner Nazi circle had while enacting the 'final solution'.
Human nature loves to have an evil to hyper-focus on, and the religious zealots of nations throughout history have known this, and used it to their own advantage.
Sadly, the voters who DID vote for Prop 8 did not use any logic. What exactly will allowing gay couples to marry do to them?

Nothing. Not one damned thing.

There is no limit on the number of marriages that the state allows per year, so no one is going to be turned away from taking vows due to some quota being filled by happy gay couples.
Having gay people married doesn't change the quality of our air or fill up the car pool lanes any faster. Allowing our fellow Californians their RIGHT to do exactly what any one else can won't bring the wraith of God down on us- many of us not only don't believe in that God (or any God), but our *country* is built upon the belief that NO RELIGIOUS BELIEF shall over ride any other nor shall any one religion dictate the laws of the land to our citizens.
Married gay folks won't change the taste of the shrimp at Monterey Bay, won't make the sun go down any faster in the West, and won't matter a rats ass to anyone but those individual couples safe in their cocoons of love and harmony.
The religious fear mongers- and every religion is full of fear mongers and those preaching hellfire and damnation to anyone that challenges their authority- cannot show any of us a single blessed thing that will change for the worse in recognizing marriage as a right of 2 people to enter into.
They cannot make 'unions' as legal as 'marriage', and they cannot show us proof positive that unions are not second class papers without all the legal and equitable rights that the national usage of 'marriage' instantly grants 2 people anywhere in the *world*.
Citizens of California are not demanding that anyone MUST allow marriages in their church-- that *is* for the church itself to decide, and should the righteous voters of our state continue to push the situation, I can see a time when we outlaw marriage itself, at least as a right of the church.

We can legislate that *ALL* unions must be performed at the County Clerks offices of each county to be legal and valid marriages, and whatever the individuals involved wish to do separately, without the blessings of the state, in their own churches before or afterward are their own business, but they will carry NO legal advantages or be acknowledged by any agency of the state.
Yes, you heard me right. You can get married at the clerks office, or you can have some elaborate affair at a church- but still be living in sin without the benefit of a marriage license unless you do it our way.
Yes, we CAN push that vote through.
We WILL make it right for ALL our citizens to share equally and justly in every facet of citizenship that we offer in this state.
Zealots be damned.

California Exports
* Courts have ruled that the church violated laws during this campaign and have been fined.

Hypocrites beware

2009-05-29T01:04:00.000-07:00

Those Poor Victims

2009-05-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

I love a good underdog.
I support all the 'victims' of bigger bullies that have pushed them around illegally.
I feel that everyone deserves a chance to speak and not have the majority shut them up, even if they are wrong.

On the other hand, I deplore hypocrites and liars that paint themselves as the little guy for sympathy while they are in charge, while they have historically been powerful, and while they are actually not a victim.

Republicans LOVE this strategy.
They have just as large a voting population as the liberal honorable folks that just voted in a real human for President, yet we are immediately seeing their screaming faces talking about how they are the victims.
Victims of the "liberals now in power".

If you define 'victim' as one who is not getting their way, then yes, I can see how they could cast themselves in that brand of sheep's clothing.
If you define 'victim' as one who, after being caught doing illegal acts, is then punished by lawful means, then yes, they can use that term.

They are victims of the men and women who were arrested and held without any recourse or legal aid or contact with anyone at Gitmo, an off shore prison deliberately designed to be out of legal US jurisdiction and completely under White House control.
They are victims of the people who watched Valerie Plame be outed as a CIA agent as personal revenge by the Vice Presidents office.
They are the victims of the thousands who were illegally kept from the polls in Florida, Ohio, and overseas during the 2000 and 2004 Presidential Elections.

They are victims who run to hide behind the innocent voices of Beck and Limbaugh and O'Reilly, all stalwart citizens who have never been caught in a lie, never done anything illegal, and never misspoke a word.

They are victims of a president in office for 15 weeks who has not done a single thing to any of them.

Nope. I don't buy it for a second.
There are plenty of REAL victims to go around.
The native American people are victims of every administration since Washington's.
The Muslims of America have been victims of discrimination since 9-11.
The women of America are victims of pay inequity, promotional inequity, and discrimination in the work place. They are also victims of medical abuse when denied the right to legal abortions or cancer treatments.

Republican voices of hate and violence, of greed and spending, of silver spoon attitudes, are just angry that they are losers. Sore losers who ran the country into the ground and irritated so many of their fellow citizens that they now have to lie and scream they are victims in an attempt to just gain all the power back-- so they can do it AGAIN.

I don't think so.
I might not love every move the Obama Administration has taken, and i disagree with some of his decisions and failures to push through major reform fast enough for me, but I felt much worse about millions of things with George W. as well-- and didn't cry about it. I got mad over the BIG issues, not if George failed to pull out a chair, vomited on a head of state, screwed up the meaning of words in speeches, even acted like the hick alcoholic puppet he was born to be. I didn't scream that we had an elected president who's wife KILLED SOMEONE while driving drunk. I didn't even bring up the fact that both the Pres and the VP and their wives were all alcoholics when elected, provided they just didn't get bombed while in office.
I focused on the big foul ups.
But this administration doesn't DO big foul ups-- so the losers have to cry over every glass of milk spilled and underling's bad judgment calls.

If you are a Republican, you are not a victim of anything but your own party's actions and arrogance over the last 4 years, and trying to pin it on anyone but yourselves is just more proof of how shallow, ignorant, and whiny you can be.

Some days, although it is not very polite, I want to post bumper stickers on my car and notices on my web sites that convey the message in my head:

Crazy Like a Fox

2009-05-07T13:40:00.001-07:00

Misleading.

That's the latest term being used to describe Fox News.
There is no dearth of proofs that Fox has crafted it's 'news' department to be the propaganda arm of the far right wing taking it's talking points verbatim from the Bush White House Press Secretary and the G.O.P.'s ongoing verbal krystalnacht .
Downplaying or ignoring obvious gaffs, blunders and violations of law- from the basic abuse of a Vice President who shoots someone in the face and yet is not instantly in touch with the CIA/White House (oh please!) to the disgraceful abuse of power with the operations at Gitmo, in some absurd attempt to claim that having a US operated jail not on US soil was exempt from US law, the Fox News Team (isn't THAT an oxymoron!) consistently supports what the Republican party does and attacks what the Democratic party does.
Now we know that they also are more than happy to splice and dice video to say whatever they want it to say.
Legal forensic experts would have a field day with the reality of what they have obscured and twisted.
No news organization has been accused of more blatant tactics and partisan reporting than Fox, including Fox's ongoing finger pointing at anyone and everyone that *is* doing a fair and unbiased job.
Today's Huffington Post report even has a 'side by side' video to illustrate the reprehensible tactics. Not since Hannity claimed to be a reporter have we seen such sham by a news person or group.
I don't blame the millions of Americans that believe them. Propaganda artists are *specialists* at creating distraction, making claims about their opponents without proof, mishandling information and trying to destroy the credibility of their opponents when they are undermining truth.
It takes a person with a lot of time and some education to be able to read and research all the various claims both parties have made over the years. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to remember something as blatant as the Cheney White House and their talking lackeys screaming that anyone who spoke badly about the Bush Presidency was a traitor and undermining America and Godless swine. Ann Coulter dragged her bones across the airwaves and through publishing houses for 8 years demanding that Democrats be burnt out of their homes if they so much as disageed with the President.
Yet now that they do not have the control, they violate their very words and, under their own rules, should be called traitors rather than what they are. Bias, manipulative liars.
They get away with it because human nature demands that we feel proud of our decisions, and shame at our failures, so for millions of Americans, admitting they were taken in by the GOP for the last 8 years would be a shame they cannot admit to, and require they re-evalutate how they think, how they vote, and exactly how much they really know about the 'news' they ingest like bottled water.
Meanwhile, they are misled further and further away from the truth, and closer to a bankrupt, empty, jobless future for the US and encouraged to vote against the very things that are in their own best interests.

Have mercy, I'm an Orphan!

2008-10-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

Nice looking woman that Lizzie Borden. She killed her father and his 2nd wife. She was set free by a jury who could not prove she did it, and for some, felt sorry for her for being an orphan.

See these guys? They are the public figureheads and talking spokesmen for the GOP, which is now standing over the financial body of millions of Americans. They want to pretend they are innocent and that we should pity them.
They want to stop Americans from fixing what they broke.
They want to freak you out.

A new GOP advertisement goes so far as to accuse the Democrats of planning to do what the GOP HAS been doing for 6 of the 8 last years until they messed up so badly that Americans put some Democrats back into one of the branches of government.

"These liberals want complete control of government in a time of crisis, all branches of government," the ad's narrator states. "No check and balances, no debate, no independence. That's the truth behind Kay Hagan. If she wins, they get a blank check."

Crying foul, pointing fingers and trying to ignore the fact that THEY have been in total power in all branches of government, have not shared power with the Democrats, and have done everything they could to keep TOTAL GOP control, they are now nervous.
They are afraid that the Democratic party will do to them- and the country- what they did to us.

Not a chance.
Democrats have no interest in stripping the country bare, lining their own Halliburton Enron Lehman Brothers pockets and then taking the golden parachute and ignoring what hell they wrought.
We have to clean up their mess.

They stood there and hacked America up with deregulation, retribution wars, and a daily claim that THEY were the victims of the big bad old Democrats that they had left for dead on the couch!

It turned out that the claims in 2000 that the Democrats had glued the drawers shut and stolen the W's on the typewriters in the West Wing were deliberate lies spread to discredit outgoing Clinton staffers.

It turns out that the 'invasion' of Iraq was a sham planned even before Bush took office, in collusion with Tony Blair's administration, to deliberately get rid of a dictator in an oil rich country, and war in Afghanistan conveniently bombed out the EXACT path for an oil pipeline that would have otherwise been too expensive to create.

It turns out that while claiming voter fraud, the GOP fired lawyers that would not illegally and without cause prosecute groups like ACORN when they did their jobs and followed the law.

It turns out that, without any help from anyone , McCain was part of the securities and exchange commissions scandal with Keating- but rather than mention it, his campaign wants to tie Obama to felon years after the man paid the price and turned over a new leaf, and on the flimsiest of excuses.

It turns out that while standing around talking about family values, Sara "I'm almost as qualified as Paris Hilton" Palin had someone fired for NOT illegally firing her ex brother in law.
And she padded state accounts for her kids to travel.
And she did NOT sell a plane on EBAY- but she tried.
And the GOP spent over $149,000.00 to clothe "Mrs. Everywoman".
And BROKE THE MCCAIN WRITTEN LAW ABOUT SPENDING CAMPAIGN MONEY ON CLOTHING.
WTF is up with that kind of logic?

Considering that the GOP is desperately ignoring that RIGHT NOW her predecessor, Ted Stevens, is on TRIAL for corruption, it's kind of funny how they can just ignore everything when cornered.

Be kind to them! Listen to them! They know what they are talking about when they mention destruction-- they are orphans!

Just a Thought on "One of the People".

2008-10-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Why I am a Democrat

2008-10-23T07:53:00.001-07:00

Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case

Mark Jacoby, who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state laws with his own registration, authorities say.

By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 20, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states.

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM. The voters said YPM workers tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters.

The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.

Dan Goldfine, an attorney for Jacoby, on Sunday denied any wrongdoing by his client and called the charges "baseless."

He said the arrest outside an Ontario hotel, which involved seven squad cars and nine police officers, was part of a "long pattern of harassment against Mr. Jacoby for an entirely valid voter registration effort."

Goldfine said the case that prosecutors are bringing against his client involves charges that are rarely pressed.

Jacoby was released on bail Sunday evening from the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Goldfine said.

After complaints by voters and Democratic Party officials, several agencies launched investigations into Jacoby's activities. They included the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, which issued the warrant for his arrest earlier this month on felony charges of voter registration fraud and perjury.

"We contacted people at the addresses where he registered, and they have no idea who he is," said Dave Demerjian, head deputy of the public integrity unit at the L.A. County district attorney's office.

Goldfine said his client does business in many states, traveling frequently, and his permanent address has been his parents' Los Angeles County home, where he received mail and registered to vote.

Demerjian said his office is continuing to investigate allegations that YPM workers improperly re-registered voters with the GOP.

Several dozen voters recently told The Times that YPM workers said they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Other voters said they had no idea their registration was being changed.

YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country. Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit.

In a written statement Sunday, the state Republican Party called the charges against Jacoby "politically motivated." The party said the charges do not support accusations from voters and Democratic officials that YPM has been duping voters into joining the GOP.

The statement accused Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who announced the arrest, of "using her office to play politics."

Bowen is a Democrat.

evan.halper@latimes.com

TRY THINKING!!!!

2008-10-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have been living in a world for 7.5 years where "the rulers make their own reality", where "non-conformity is traitorous" and where "real Americans and Good Christians" have to pass a litmus test that changes from zealot to zealot and pastor to pastor , but always ends with people believing whatever the hell they have been told.

HEAVENS TO BETSY ON A HUMP ARE YOU PEOPLE TOO STUPID TO GOOGLE????

I had a dear friend and very liberal thinker decide to post this:

Back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch
brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by
law, tried to run it.

They failed and it closed.

Now we are trusting the economy of our country to a pack of
nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house
and selling booze?

We are in big trouble folks! Think about it.

I was disgusted that my friend was so easily led- and that so many other SMART people on my group would swallow this whole.
But hey-- it SOUNDS GOOD.
It is the classic example of "Truthiness".

It is, after all, catering to their sincere belief that the government cannot handle ANYTHING and that it is an entity in and of itself like "Puff the Magic dragon" or "Idi Amin" or "Santa Claus" rather than a a huge conglomerate of various good people and bad people all working for us Americans to varying degrees of intelligent ends.

This kind of post was short sighted-- it made a GREAT sound bite. It was, of course, wrong.
No one would know that-- and they would have their beliefs reinforced as well as be able to spread more misinformation if I had not had the time to Google the reality.

The history of the ranch was not just bad taxes... it was a bit deeper than that: racketeering and siphoned funds no taxes paid, etc:

Last month, in the latest of a long saga of court verdicts against the infamous brothel, a former Mustang madam and the bordello’s two operating companies were convicted in federal court of racketeering and fraud.

Prosecutors said the two companies were established to hide the identity of the brothel’s true owner, Joseph Conforte, a toupee-wearing bordello baron who founded the state’s first brothel in 1955.

Skimming $500,000 a year from brothel profits, insiders used Swiss bank accounts to siphon money to Conforte, who authorities believe has been living in Rio de Janeiro since fleeing the country to avoid tax evasion charges.

Officials auctioned off the Mustang in 1990 after Conforte failed to pay a $13-million tax debt. A year later, from his Brazilian hide-out, Conforte orchestrated the repurchase of the ranch, prosecutors say.

“It’s a sordid story,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. J. Gregory Damm. “And it involves a worldwide network of bogus companies and deceptive transactions, all designed to obscure and frustrate the efforts of law enforcement to trace the Mustang Ranch’s true ownership.”

On July 9, a jury ruled the federal government could seize the brothel’s assets and ordered owners to turn over the two bordellos, Mustang I and Mustang II.

And, it turns out, the government did not fail... they deliberately closed it the moment they seized it and then re-sold it after going through the books... so, really, there is no *failure* of governemnt here-- they did their jobs, got the $ they could from illegal ope rations, then found new owners:

Women pop their hips, introduce themselves, and line up along a full-length mirror. The madam touches a man with limp hair and asks him if he's ready to pick a girl. The man's friend answers for him. No, he tells her, they want to wait a in the bar a little longer.

Lance Gilman, the brothel owner, said that helping lonely men - along with saving women from illegal prostitution and giving back to Storey County - is why he is reopening one of the most famous brothels in the world, the Mustang Ranch.

"We are proud to take care of the people that have been maybe left out in society," Gilman said. "You know, a lot of folks are not born to beauty. There's all kind of infirmities, and not everyone was treated kindly by Mother Nature."

Gilman said this while sitting in the ranch's Italian courtyard-themed parlor, which sits across from the other brothel he owns where the two men watched the girls line up.

"Where are they going to go with dignity?" he asked. "And how are they going to bring people into their lives?"

Gilman answered: By going to the Mustang Ranch.

He said he has spent more than $5 million restoring and relocating the ranch he bought on eBay in 2003 and will reopen Saturday. The public party will include an interview with Joe Conforte, the former owner and man who opened the Mustang in 1971 as the first licensed brothel in the state. Conforte will give an interview via satellite from South America.

Susan Austin, the madam at the ranch, said one of the ways to honor Conforte is treating the working girls with respect. She said Conforte made sure the women were well-fed, given medical treatment and taken care of with facials and manicures. Keeping this tradition of respect, she said, is the most important part of her job.

"Are they happy? Is it a comfortable place to work? Is it a safe place to work?" Austin said, adding later, "While they're here, it should be a wonderful, pleasurable experience."

In making the building a nice place to work, Austin was in charge of restoring and decorating the interior. She said she loved the original, but also created themed VIP rooms, added more than $100,000 in art, and redesigned the domination room.

Working girls also now have a separate room to negotiate prices and check customers for sexually transmitted diseases. Before, they had to do that in their bedrooms.

Gilman said the biggest reason he's in the brothel business is to help women in illegal prostitution move to ranches like his.

"Illegal prostitution is the ugliest of the ugly," he said.

On the brothel grounds, Gilman has preserved pieces of the original ranch's own notorious history: An oil painting20of Conforte while he was in prison, the Mustang guard tower from where a world-class Brazilian boxer was shot, the incinerator Conforte used to burn records.

"I wish it could talk," Austin said, referring to the incinerator. "So does the federal government."

Before the ranch opened, Conforte served time in prison for extortion and tax evasion, and his body guard was convicted for fatally shooting the boxer in 1976. The boxer was allegedly having an affair with Conforte's wife.

In 1998, Conforte was indicted by the Internal Revenue Service on charges of fraud, conspiracy and money-laundering.

But by then, Conforte was gone to Brazil, and the IRS had confiscated the brothel. Mustang Properties Inc., later found to be run by Conforte, then bought the property, but had it closed again by the IRS in 1999.

Gilman said Storey County realized more brothels would open soon and approached him as an operator. County Commissioner Greg "Bum" Hess said Gilman has done a great job, and Gilman said he's happy to contribute to the county with the money he pays in taxes and fees.

Hess said the brothels add $700,000 to the county's annual $9 million to $10 million budget .

Getting almost 1/10th of the counties budget from the taxes generated at the place (which still makes a healthy living for the owners) is not something i would ignore either...
no one would.
We would scream bloody murder if we found out that we were paying taxes but that some company had just skipped out on them and the local governemnt had done nothing to recoup that money.

So what do YOU do?

Hey- let's try THINKING rather than just believing something because it feeds into your beliefs of how awful or wonderful something is. Let's try Google and read the actual information from some 3d party non-biased sites.
RADIO personalities are not non-biased, nor do most of them really show any bent for being very careful fact checkers.
Neither do most NEWS STATIONS in America right now.
We reward them for feeding us what we want to hear.

We frequently only bother to READ or LISTEN to things that we ALREADY KNOW spout our feelings- and we never check to see if they are telling us the truth, or just telling us what we want to hear to save their advertising dollars and keep those numbers up for listeners and subscribers.

My very Libertarian friend got HOGSWADDLED because he hates the US Government and several other people with other agendas created that lie, fed him that lie, and he repeated it without bothering to question it.

Back in the 60's we chanted QUESTION AUTHORITY.

I want you to QUESTION EVERYTHING.
Try thinking, will you?

WE are SHEEP

2007-03-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

I need to become a politician. There isn't a ONE of them I feel we can trust. Checking out the grand jury report on Mayor Ron Gonzales and his buddies in the Waste Disposal Business, I wanna just chuck all my trash inside HIS house.

How DARE these men (and women) think that it is OK to screw us over for a deal?

What the hell happened to "serving for the public trust"?

WHEN did these allegedly intelligent, honest, religiously pious people suddenly throw out their morals and start assuming we will look the other way?????

I want them all in jail.

I want them ALL in jail.

Then I want the serious criminals allowed to room with them.

The report:

http://www.sccsuperiorcourt.org/jury/GJreports/2005/SanJoseTrashDeal.pdf

2007-03-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

I love EBAY, and find most of the impossible pieces of pottery that I have spent life searching for there- things that I cannot get anywhere else.
I also like convenience, but then again, not at the hands of rip off artists.
I had Paypal for a while- but they had a nasty tendency of just suddenly saying "you MUST 'verify' this account or we won't let you use it-- with VERIFY meaning LINK IT TO A CHECKING ACCOUNT.

So I left.

I am glad I did. The proliferation of problems there scares me, as does the *reasons* for some of those problems.
I ran across this on a search about freedoms-- and it was VERY interesting and rings true.

The Malignancy We Won’t Cure
By Jack Rinella

Since last July I have found prosperity of sorts by selling my books on my website and collecting payment through Paypal. It was easy to use, didn’t cost a great deal, and there was no worry about bounced checks or fraudulent credit cards. I had even begun to sell packages to our up-coming D/s Intensive. Years of hard work, I thought had begun to pay off.

That is until last night when Paypal shut me down. Accused of violating their terms of agreement, I can’t even (right now anyway) retrieve the more than $1,200 in my account -- sitting there to help pay for the next printing bill. Now I’m sure that once I get all references to Paypal off my website, that the money will be forth-coming but resolving all this is a mini-crisis of sorts.

The major crisis that is hidden in all of this is a malignancy we won’t cure. Cure? Hell we hardly even talk about it. Haven’t seen a workshop on the topic for a long, long time, if indeed I ever have. There’s no stories about it in the New York Times, never heard about it on the radio, seldom ever seen a movie about it, and you certainly don’t see any hospitals or health organizations doing anything about it. What’s it? Our negative attitude about sex.

As far as I can tell, Paypal shut me off because they think that my writing about relationships between consenting adults is salacious, dirty, shameful, illegal, immoral, and pornographic. I think it’s just 100% natural.

Now this isn’t just a Paypal thing, though they’re the ones who’ve set me off to writing this morning. Negative attitudes about natural human functions permeate our existence and sex negativity, as far as I’m can see, tops the list. I’m not in favor of rape or the sexual molestation of children or animals. I’m not in favor of spreading diseases through intimate contact either.

I am also opposed to the self-hatred, the repression, and the psychoses perpetrated by an outright deception about the beauty, appropriateness, and sacredness of sexual expression. It is as simple as that. Still we do damn little about it. We are held captive by puritanical mores and morals that dictate what we can and can not do with our bodies.

The old-fashioned Judaic-Christian standards rule our lives: virgins come first, then widows, and wives are a far third. Sex is for procreation and marriage is allowed just so we won’t burn. That’s a quote as St. Paul wrote “It is better to marry than to burn.” (I Corinthians 7:9, KJV) All of this, of course, isn’t limited to Christianity. As far as I can tell, all the major religions place a pall over sexual activity and the ones that didn’t have long since disappeared from public view. The temple prostitutes in Athens or Thebes haven’t been seen in centuries, to name just a few.

It’s not just a Judaic-Christian thing either. We are besieged with the Platonic idea that Idea is better than body, that somehow matter is evil. When will we return to the thought that creation is good rather than see all this as a “vale of tears?”

Hidden in all of this ranting is a serious question. How do we overcome our fear and loathing of sex? How do we purge from ourselves the millennia of training that echoes that sex is dirty and shameful? That demands we hide genitalia, not teach the truth to our children, engage in sexual acts only furtively?

When do we proclaim that masturbation is a good and healthy activity? That sex is for solace, for comfort, for pleasure, for bonding, for friendship, for exploration, for enlightenment, for itself without bounds and reasons? When do we honor our own bodies as beautiful and that our own bodies and those of others are real dwelling places of the divine? When do we respect both self and mutual gratification? When will the roles we take sexually be seen as equal and complementary rather than top (better) and bottom (not as strong)? When will gender roles disappear?

Basically when will each of us become authentic? How can we free ourselves from the “shoulds” that have been drilled into our psyches since the day we were born? When can we let go of the expectations imposed upon us by those who said “I know what’s best for you?” We are, after all, many drives and many talents. We have many possibilities before us. When will we be able to attain not our parents’ desires, not the propaganda of church, school, or state, but the goals of our highest and most authentic selves? When will we be free to us?

This is, after all, more than just about selling a few books. It is about the health of the individual, every individual. Starting there, it goes beyond the individual to society and the planet. It takes healthy individuals to create a healthy society and a healthy society to insure a healthy planet. Environmental disaster, after all, is caused one person at a time.

So my rant comes back to myself. What can I do to become healthier? How can I rid myself of self-loathing, of the echoes of the “Thou shalt nots” that rise up from my past? How do I become free to be me? Then, and here’s the hard part, how do I help liberate my fellow men and women to be themselves as well? It’s not, after all, about Paypal but about each and every one of us doing the work, the hard work, to become authentic.

Authenticity is not an easy way to live. It demands we be honest with ourselves and that we recognize the ways we pollute, negate, and deny our real selves. It means that we ask hard questions and then work hard to answer them honestly. It means that we take time for ourselves to improve ourselves, that ultimately we are more important than our schedules, our careers, our families, and our society. It is not that we forsake any of those but that we live knowing that a better self insures a better schedule, a better career, a better family, and a better society.

The process of being authentic means that we have to evaluate our priorities. We can’t dismiss as unimportant the work of personal growth, of reflection, of learning and probing, of doing those things that that are most helpful and (here’s the rub) giving up some of those things that maintain an unhealthy status quo. Growth as a couch potato is not the same as growth as real person.

Sometimes we have to choose between healthy activity of the mind and body and the same old status quo of relaxing and zoning out.

Right now, though, I have to take Paypal buttons off my website. After that I’ll be able to think about what I’ve asked. Don’t hold your breath for answers but join me in asking them of yourself anyway. "

Not a bad article- and it also hit on one of my favorite buttons, sexual freedom of action for consenting adults. But more about the morals police in another post at another time.

Back to Payhell!

A small quote from the site Pay pal sucks:
" PayPal's SPP: The Seller Punishment Policy

PayPal's Seller Protection Policy is a farce, and at least one PayPal employee admits it.
By PayPalSucks.ORG Created 10/19/2005

PayPal made a huge mistake when it published one of it's pages on the web with some internal comments still included. The comment was, "too strong I think given the limited ability to comply with SPP." (Referring to the PayPal SPP, i.e., Seller "Protection" Policy, but we call it the Seller Punishment Policy.) It's supposed to help sellers from being ripped off. However, it doesn't work because it's impossible to comply with all the requirements of the SPP. For some reason, there was only a little media coverage and it focused on the mistake, not the admission or what it meant."

All in All, I think I will continue to avoid Pay Pal and use money orders or my credit cards directly-- after all, the credit companies make it possible for everyone to dispute charges and items- and don't freeze every dime you have.

2007-03-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

Chocolate Chip Cookie

It may be hard to believe, but before the 1930s no one had ever had the pleasure of biting into a chocolate chip cookie. Why? The sweet world-famous treat had not been invented yet.

Ruth Graves Wakefield was the woman responsible for coming up with the concoction. Ruth graduated from the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. After graduation, she worked as a dietitian and food lecturer. In 1930, Ruth and her husband Kenneth Wakefield purchased a Cape Cod-style toll house located halfway between Boston and New Bedford, on the outskirts of Whitman, Massachusetts. The house had originally been built in 1709, and at that time it had served as a haven for road-weary travelers. There, passengers paid tolls, changed horses and ate home-cooked meals.

More than 200 years later, the Wakefields decided to build on the house's tradition, turning into a lodge and calling it the Toll House Inn. Ruth cooked home-made meals and baked for guests of the inn, and as she improved upon traditional Colonial recipes, her incredible desserts began attracting people from all over New England.

One of Ruth's favorite recipes was for Butter Drop Do cookies. As she prepared the batter one day she discovered she had run out of baker's chocolate. She found a semi-sweet chocolate bar that had been given to her by Andrew Nestle, and so she cut it into tiny bits and added them to the dough, expecting them to melt as the cookies baked in the oven. However, the chocolate did not melt. Instead, it held its shape and softened to a delicately creamy texture. Needless to say, the cookies Ruth had created became very popular with guests at the inn, and soon her recipe was published in a Boston newspaper, as well as other papers in the New England area.

Meanwhile, Nestle saw sales of its Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar jump dramatically, and Ruth and Nestle came together to reach an agreement that would allow Nestle to print the "Toll House Cookie" recipe on its packaging. Part of this agreement included supplying Ruth with all of the chocolate she could use for the rest of her life.

Nestle, meanwhile, began scoring the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar, and packaged it with a special chopper for easily cutting it into small morsels. Then, in 1939, Nestle had a better idea, and began offering Nestlé Toll House Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels. The rest is "chocolate-chip" history. Ruth continued to cook up a storm, producing a series of cookbooks including "Ruth Wakefield's Recipes: Tried and True," which went through thirty-nine printings. She and Kenneth sold the Toll House Inn in 1966 to a family that tried to turn it into a nightclub. In 1970 it was bought by the Saccone family who turned it back into it's original form. The Toll House burned down, however, on New Years Eve in 1984.

Ruth Graves Wakefield passed away in 1977.

Here is a great chocolate chip cookie recipe from the net. It makes 3 to 4 dozen delicious cookies.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt, ideally with a wire whisk, and set it aside.

In a large bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, and white granulated sugar with an electric mixer to form a granular paste. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until thoroughly mixed.

Blend in the flour mixture, then the chocolate chips (and optional walnuts), at low speed until the ingredients are well distributed.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 17 to 19 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for a minute or so, then remove to wire racks or other cool surface with a spatula.

Enjoy!

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/tollhouse.htm
http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateChipCookies.html
http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/detail.aspx?ID=18476
http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/results.aspx?keyword=chocolate+chip+cookies
http://www.chocolate-chip-cookies.info/Results.aspx?query=Chocolate%20Chip%20Cookies&sessionid=1d3sdy55zs4skgqapuf5kwju&cc=us&ns=1&eas=pFTf-vkejlGwzQ1CjJfVDA..&epsi=USy6f4oq5dE.
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-14-2005-76776.asp
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76488
http://www.thinkingfountain.org/c/chocolate/chocolate.html
http://www.premiersystems.com/recipes/desserts/cookie-chip.html
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blchocolatechipcookies.htm
Chocolate Chip Cookies:

6 ounces brown sugar
6 ounces sugar
9 ounces softened butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
13 ounces bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
12 ounces lrg chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 F. Cream the butter, sugar and then the eggs and vanilla. Sift the flour and baking powder and mix into the batter. Once combined add the chocolate chips.

Using a spoon or scoop place on a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Once slightly browned around the edges remove the cookies from the oven and cool.

2007-03-14T01:02:00.000-07:00

The largest crystals in the world are in Mexico, sitting in a cavern chain over 400 feet deep where the average constant temperatures are over 150 degrees.

These amazing natural wonders are being preserved for all time by the folks who found them. "In what has proved to be the discovery of the largest known crystals on earth, work is underway to document and preserve this historic find. While some minor damage has already occurred in the primary cave and a secondary cavern, called Cave of Dreams, iron doors have been installed by the Peñoles company to prevent damage to the giant, magnificent crystals. While investigations are underway the mine is closed, but with the newly installed lighting system, it is expected to open in the fall 2001. "
Check out this amazing find at: http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/crystals/index.html

Fat Boy Saunter is "On Notice!"

2007-03-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was this *guy* walking along...
we can call him "Fat Boy Saunter", for that is the title of the post I wrote about him to my neighborhood community chat list.
I will repost it here to explain:

(open letter on the list to the one man I met today)

You probably won't read this, but this is for you...

It's 3:25 and I am sitting at the computer when your dog runs into my gated yard and all over the place.. and you saunter down the street, that leash in your hand, with NO attempt to put a little FAST in your movements, no showing concern that your pit mix is lose inside my yard, or what children might live here, or that you are even doing anything WRONG.

I come out to my porch and ask you if that's yours, and you say yes as you saunter on by, and when I tell you that you better get than animal on a leash and keep it out of my yard, you shrug and look unconcerned, and when I tell you that there are leash laws you say I should mellow out. My mention of cats or kids is unnoticed or just doesn't phase selfish you.

Guess what yahoo boy? You are about 40, overweight, dark skinned and walking in the Broadway Avenue area. You are now on notice that all my neighbors are now aware of you. This is the notice.

Dog owners want to be liked? Well, this kind of selfish "doggie is better than any of my neighbors" attitude by dog owners that are rude and stupid is EXACTLY why us pet lovers (or haters) are so angry about dog walkers. Why we stare at you as you pass (Will they let their precious baby pee all over the plants there? Will I get to SMELL the pee when the weather warms up? Do they really think that their doggie should be allowed to do things that bother humans?), and why we take umbrage at having our PRIVATE yards treated like your rights are above ours.

Most of us have pets too... we just have better manners about how those pets should interact with our neighbors than you do.

My yard is MINE, and from now on, this particular doggie owner is on my shit list. I don't care if it turns out that he is the biggest philanthropist of all time, some brain surgeon that works on disabled children for free, or the next Mayor. This guy- and anyone else that doesn't work HARD at acting like they CARE about my feelings- is not getting any respect from me. The dog loose was rude. The saunter unconcerned was stupid. The ATTITUDE you exhibited was a big old red flag to me and got my *attention*. Most small children know that getting moms NEGATIVE attention is a bad thing.

Your pet is NOT a human, nor it it *your child* (surrogate maybe). It is a trained animal that is going to act exactly as polite as you train it to. It is going to REFLECT your attitudes about yourself and your neighbors, even more than children do.

If your pet is quiet and on a leash, doesn't squat every chance it gets, and is friendly to everyone, you and your pet will be welcomed by many if not most of your neighbors (those not allergic or already gun shy of dogs). If you pet barks and whines when you are gone and makes life a living hell for the people near you who want to hear their OWN televisions and children and phone conversations rather than YOUR dog, well, you will understand why they give you dirty looks and don't call the cops when they see your care get broken into. Human nature tends to be like that. Your pet should leave it's poopies in your yard. It needs to walk for exercise, not to drop markings everywhere. You CAN train it not to- the first step is to NOT SLOW DOWN when it does that... dogs find it very hard to poop when moving.

And to YOU Mister Fat Boy saunter...... I look forward to learning where you live. Your dog didn't have a license on it, and I AM going to turn you in. I cannot change the attitude that your mom and dad instilled, but I can sure get a little bit of joy at your misery over the ticket you get.
You picked the wrong woman on the wrong day to treat like your servant rather than a respected home owner.

Rennaisance....not enough chocolate in the whole WORLD today.

So, after I wrote that, most all of my neighbors wrote me off list supporting, laughing, and generally being sympathetic (except for one jackass, but ya know, there will ALWAYS be that one kid that just hates everyone who is fun).

Then one of my neighbors wrote me and said that my post had pushed "FAT Boy Saunter" to the top of the list....

http://denisvengeance.com/WGOnNotice.jpg

Now THAT IS ENTERTAINMENT!

Get Kinky

2007-03-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

We are now going to get serious. Stop looking at that woman. She is just a nude beauty that millions of men adored in the 50's from the *artist* (pornographer of evil!) named Vargas.
She makes you hot doesn't she. She gets you excited and if you aren't careful you are going to rip off your clothes and jump all over the person in the cubicle next to you, or drive your truck off the road or masturbate until you go blind.

Naaaaaw.

It's pretty. It's SEXY. It's exciting to some (YAWN to most of us these days, but the Amish would find her downright devilish). Its interesting and fun and hot.

Just don't bring it anywhere NEAR anyone with a child. Or a womb. Or a heartbeat. If ya do, you are EVIL and immoral and awful and just tryng to destroy the fabric of humanity and America and Apple Pie and safe streets.

In San Francisco, you don't even have to SHOW people sex- just knowing it's going on is enough to destroy the neighborhood according to the activists trying to stop Kink.com from producing BDSM adult movies in the abandoned Armory in the Mission District. According to these folks, the Mission District's "gate way structure" should not be occupied by pornographers ("Gateway of the Mission"? Geeze, haven't they SEEN their neighborhood? It's the MISSION district in the *old bad end*. It's drunks and whores and pimps and kids breaking into cars and people smokin' weed right out there on the street and you can see LOTS of wee wee's when the homeless pee pee everywhere- it has all the charm and appeal of a sweat sox after the foot race. The poor, the underpriveledged, the 3d world immigrants and the illegals who live down there with the eclectic and the artistic and the poor have NO problem worrying about the Gucci bus mistaking their street for Rodeo Drive).

The building has been vacant for over 30 YEARS. Sitting there. Vandalized occasionally (but hell, how can you vandalize an armory with 3 foot thick walls and few windows?), graffittitd often, and a great place for the rats in the area to live comfortably.
But several of the "loving neighbors" complained about this change of owners.
When you sit and hear some *very serious* neighborhood activist rally against Kink.com and call them "fly by night" losers that are not going to stick around, you KNOW the "good neighbors" are on crack- the guys that own Kink.com have been in SF for over 20 YEARS within the same 6 block area, have never had ANY problems with the police, contribute to charities regularly, throw parties, clean up their streets, and hire more full time people with benefits than this nut job KNOWS.

A nice old lady comes up and starts ranting about how Kink.com puts out videos of women getting "tortured" with electricity to their genitals--- trying to equate those videos with battered women, Abu Graihb, and a dozen other horrors. She is of course, either frigid or jealous.

SEX is not bad when people consent to it, find joy in it, get off on it, like it, watch it, need it, revere it, and ENJOY it. When the rabid animals gather and start screaming about how the largest users of "porn" are boys 13-17, I am laughing LOUDLY and HOPING that they are RIGHT. Just where the hell do they think these poor horny boys are supposed to find some release- Jesus camp?

Get REAL. The armory is a HISTORICAL building that would NOT be better off being turned into "market value" condominiums, torn down for a parking lot, or torn up for a retail mart. THAT IS NOT BETTER THAN SOME GUYS MAKING MOVIES WITH HAPPY PAID MODELS AND ACTORS AT SCALE BEHIND THREE FOOT THICK WALLS YOU MORONS!
This has nothing to do with battered women--- women that get beat on by ABUSIVE men are not what KINK.com stands for. They produce great adult entertainment that is raw and hot and raunchy and --- well, we used to call it "rough trade" when I was a wee child.

So let me ask you...when your husband pats your fanny on the way by the kitchen, is that love or violence? TECHNICALLY, he just HIT YOU! But you LIKED IT. Some people like it more...and harder:)
You just made love with your partner and she was on top? OH MY GOD- you have committed illegal sex in 3 states. She just DOMINATED you too! YOU are SICK-- or are you just glad to be on your back and watching the view?
When you get your hands held over your head, when you grab your partner with your legs, when you do ANYTHING other than lay there (either partner here), you are doing something that is illegal and can be interpreted as BAD.

There are people out there that, just like you, want to feel, to laugh, or orgasm- and their way of getting their joys is NOT the same as yours. Some are Amish. Some are Hindu. Some are quadraplegics who don't have limbs. Some are gay and some are lesbian and some are into percussion play and endorphin rushes or being nekkid in public or screaming and laughing and thrashing. Some of them want to have 3 people in their bed.

It is really NONE of your business. If you don't like sewing, don't read sewing books, if you don't like your sex raunchy with a lot of public nudity, then great- don't come to the nude beach in July.
Morals are what we make of them, and pushing adults to stop being human with specious claims about how "the children will know" is so *bogus* (the children GOT HERE because of sex stupid!). Kids- people- have been having sex in all it's varieties since there was a people more people than ape- and we have been having a percentage of us be gay, or kinky, or celebate, or stupid.
Those numbers won't change. It's human nature. Thank you Kink.com for being nice people that give to your neighborhood and support charties even though you don't have to. I apoligixze for the stupid ones amongst us.
Enjoy the armory.

2007-03-08T22:11:00.000-08:00

Question: How many members of the Bush Administration does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: TEN.
1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed;

2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the light bulb needs to be changed;

3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb;

4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or for eternal darkness;

5. One to give a billion dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for a new light bulb;

6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor and standing on a step ladder, under the banner 'Bulb Accomplished';

7. One administration insider to resign and in detail reveal how Bush was literally 'in the dark' the whole time;

8. Another one to viciously smear # 7;

9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light bulb-changing policy all along;

10. And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing in a light bulb and screwing the country.

And after all is said and done, no one will notice that they never actually managed to change the light bulb.

Save The Girls!

2007-02-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

Art... naughty, inspirational, male oriented, completely improper in our current repressive society-

THIS was what helped win WWII.

Men gave their planes life- and they painted their heart's delight.

"Save The Girls" is the ongoing project of The American Airpower Heritage Museum, and "the girls" are the female forms- clothed and naked, lusty and funny- that our fighting men of 60 years ago so lovingly put on as "nose art". The pictures are in danger- they have been saved, but have not been treated. There has never been enough money to transport these airplane pieces to restoration sites, and not enough money to take care of them. From Their Web Site:
"In the fifty-year period since the artists and servicemen completed their works of nose art, the collection has suffered from improper storage, causing severe oxidation and degradation. Damage and fragility of many of the pieces make them unsuitable for display or travel to a restoration site. Expediency in restoring these artifacts is critical not only because of their fragile condition, but because with every passing day pieces of their history may be lost.

In 1992, a conservator assessed the collection recommending that it be regarded as rare art and be completely restored and displayed in a climate-controlled environment. The fragile condition of the nose art collection, coupled with the aging WWII population offers a precarious window of time after which these epochal stories may be lost forever. After intense research several of the pieces remain unidentified. Display of the collection would most certainly perpetuate the research effort."

Visit their site, buy some cards, send a donation, show some support.

The Glamor of Flight

2007-02-27T21:34:00.000-08:00

THIS Blogspot has some *amazing* stuff, some of it hysterically funny, some of it just beautiful....

(hit the link under that title up there!).

Go over there and fall in love with the Vintage Stew Page

2007-02-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

Lock Bumping- breaking in without breaking a thing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr23tpWX8lM

Keep yourself safe. Buy mean dogs.

2007-02-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

I love our neighborhood list, but it's not always easy for some of our less forward members to always say what they mean without flames erupting... so we made our own smaller list too...

It has deffinitly made chatter easier and less "dangerous" because we do not have to couch every word in some neutral gauze.

The Willow Glen Coffee Club meets irregularly when we feel like it.

Write me at DBSHollis@aol.com if you want some more info (and have the secret hand shake).

2007-02-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

San Jose, armpit of the greater central California landscape, ocean-side free, and with all the glamour of of a killing in Kansas in Cold Blood.

Yet there is a certain charm in the Salinas like dusky images we have of the bygone days (well, they were only 25 years ago, let's not get maudlin!).

Some things, however, have changed for the better WITHOUT bulldozing every building in site at a profit for developers (including both buildings featured on the left).

Feel free to peruse the town that brought us Silicon (sort of- Santa Clara, Palo Alto, Cupertino, and Mountain View all have stronger claims), mercury poisioning (that Almaden Quicksilver mine is still pumping it out!), and the Winchester Mystery House (Sarah was a transplant after her husband died- and if the best thing we can offer is a 100+ year old house, we got bigger problems than garbage scandals!) in photos showing "then and now" at:

http://www.bvnasj.org/SanJose19752006.htm

2007-01-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

A wish of a lifetime was fulfilled in Dec. when I travelled to Washington DC and spent 3 days seeing the icons of our democracy.
Now of course, I am filled with the spirit of 1776 and want to beat most of our "representatives" over the head with some marble chunks.
We deserve better than what we get.
Work for better. Vote for better.

WHY BUY LOCAL????

2006-11-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

Why Buy Local Farm Products?

For Quality Freshness and Taste
Local is usually fresher and tastes better.
Fresher food is more nutritious.
Keep your money local
Local farms mean more local jobs for local people.

The economic "multiplier effect" (the number of times a single dollar is circulated in a community) is higher for family farms than other business sectors.
Every dollar is turned over up to 5 times when farmers buy supplies, equipment, fuel.
When you buy directly from farmers, the farm family receives more of the food dollars spent.
The more farms, the more economic opportunity for people in rural communities.
Suppliers, processors, distributors and retailers all benefit from diverse local agriculture.
Owner-operated farms offer individuals self-employment and business management opportunities.
When you buy local, your money stays local.
Preserve bio-diversity, open space, rural aesthetics and a cleaner environment
Diversity of farms and cropping systems contributes to biological diversity.
Well managed farms contributes to an aesthetically-pleasing rural landscape.
Keeping local farms in business preserves open space and wildlife habitat.
Farms help maintain high water quality by reducing water run-off.
Fuel consumption is lowered when food is purchased locally.
Air quality is higher when fuel usage is reduced.
Get better value with local food
Local food offers better value for your money. You pay for freshness and taste, not packaging, refrigeration and freight.
Connections to local farms assure that more people in a community have access to culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate food through local non-emergency sources.
Sustain heritage, tradition, community and quality of life
Farms enhance our quality of life.
Farms often provide recreational opportunities.
Agriculture preserves our heritage and enhances our community experience.
Farms contribute more in taxes than they cost in services.
Maintain a diversity of farm size, crops and marketing
A broad spectrum of farms translates into diversity of ownership, cropping systems, landscapes, biological organization, culture, and traditions.
Diversity of farms contributes to a healthy, vibrant agricultural economy.

(From NYFarms.info)

WHY BUY LOCALLY-

OrganicConsumers.Org. writes:

Locally grown or produced food tastes better. In the week long (or more) delay from harvest to dinner table, sugars turn to starches, plant cells shrink and produce loses it vitality.
Local food preserves genetic diversity. Local farms grow a huge number of varieties to provide a long season of harvest, an array of eye-catching colors and the best flavors.
Local food supports local farm families. Local farmers who sell direct to customers get full price for their food.
Local produce is better for you. Recent studies show that fresh produce loses nutrients quickly.
Local food builds community. When you buy direct from the farmer, you are re-establishing a timehonored connection between the eater and the grower.
Local food preserves open space. When you buy locally grown food, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.
Local food keeps your taxes in check. Local, independent farms contribute more in taxes than they require in services.
Keep the money in the neighborhood. For every 100 dollars spent at a locally owned business, $45 goes back into our community—and our tax base. For every $100 spent at a chain store, only $14 comes back.
Support community groups. Non-profits receive an average of 350% more support from local businesses than they do from non-locally owned businesses
Invest in your community. Local businesses are owned by people who live here, work here, and are more invested in our future.
Buy what you want, not what someone else wants you to buy. A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses means fair and sustainable prices over the long-term. Small businesses, choosing products based on what their customers love and need—not a national sales plan—guarantees a more diverse range of product choices.
Local Decision-Making. Local ownership ensures that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who feel the impacts of those decisions.
Jobs and Wages. Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, [and] provide better wages and benefits than chains do.
Environmental Sustainability. Local stores help sustain vibrant, compact, [walk able] town centers- which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.

2006-11-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

Get Your Hypocracy On

Well, after months of feeling so disgusted with the GOP that I couldn't even read a paper due to their lies, I am thrilled to see the not only has the American Public gotten their stuff together, but that we can now prove that Rush Limbaugh, the big fat idiot, is also the biggest fattest shill in the entire western world.
Never has anyone been looked up to as an icon of truth and justice by more MORONS and Febes (including Justice Thomas who presided at his last wedding), who cannot even question facts or see bullshit when delivered on a tray.

If anyone of those GOP apologists, liars and thieves (and if you believed Rush for ONE moment YOU are one of them) had bothered to ever question any of the crapola out of his mouth ( try reading this for starters you undereducated crack smokers: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1895 ) then maybe the GOP wouldn't have HURT AMERICA so badly that we are more like TOJO's government than one we respect.

So- the Democrats finally get their act together and Nanci Pelosi took the helm to DRIVE them to get organized(and yes, we should be horsewhipped for being so damned naieve and childlike in the face of the goose stepping right wing) , stand together, and act in a cohesive manner against the great satan of GOP, andthey win both the House and Senate with nothing more than the truth (which includes that no matter what you think of politicians, the Dems do not have planks in their platform denouncing the sex lives they actually LIVE!), and guess who decideds to back away from the GOP so fast that he needs a bullet train to beat him out of the room.

Their favorite flag waver, the Rush boy.

WHAT A PIECE OF Distended Rectum he is... not only did he personally hurt the American people by cashing in at their exspense with lies, but then when his precious GOP is finally disrobed for what they are, he suddenly claims he was never a true believer. Rush wouldn't know the truth if you PAID him to tell it!

So here we have him, the man that supported the GOP with made up statitics, used bully boy schoolyard namecalling to avoid interacting with detractors, and pretty much sat there screaming "GOP, GOP" like some doped up cheer leader for 12 years suddenly saying that he won't back them up if their wrong?

Give me a break:

"During his radio show yesterday, conservative personality Rush Limbaugh announced that he felt "liberated" by Tuesday's election results and that he doesn't "have to carry the water for people that I think don't deserve to have their water carried." He said that while he was not going to "eat his own" or "throw my own overboard," he also acknowledged that it isn't his "job to make them succeed."

According to transcripts from the show available on Limbaugh's web site, rushlimbaugh.com, Limbaugh said it wasn't his job to make Republicans "look good if they can't do it themselves."

"All I'm saying is it's a little liberating now, once I see the direction we're headed and I look at the reaction to everybody in our movement after this loss. They can take it the way they want to take it, and I'm not going to defend whatever way they go just because they're on my side if I don't believe in the method they're using or the direction they're taking. It's that simple." (Read the transcripts) "

at: http://home.hamptonroads.com/guestbook/guestbook.cfm?id=702

LOL--- wow, of course his job was to make them suceed. That's how he GOT the job. The elbows he gets to rub with in the GOP are ONLY there because he helped them succeed. He was the *CHIEF* Minister of Propaganda and National Enlightenment, ther Goebbels of the 4th Right.

With the well paid (and created from 'stupid scratch' ) Ann Coulter, the irrascible and sexually dangerous Bill O'Reilly with his "no lie to big so long as I get paid" zone, the idiot Hannity (with his paid spot by the GOP and his hand picked sock puppet partner-- my 13 year old SON could debate Hannity better!),and a host of second tier media voices from the GOP paid front, Rush helped rich Americans pull the wool over YOUR eyes.

It would be fun to enjoy his downfall, except that almost half of America is so STUPID that they really do accept this as fact too! I wish I had the guts to just flat out tell these morons that God demands they each give me $100.00. They would- and I'd be rich. If you want to now read the criticisim of FOX, try this site (it is educationally dense,so for those of you that can only understand Rush, ask a college boy to translate) :http://tinyurl.com/yx59st

Now, if you are NOT still brain washed, try this very prejudiced site (which still has more truth than anything Scalia ever thought):

http://www.evilgopbastards.com/ "Wingnuts really need to be more self-aware.
But, as a public service to the ideologically challenged everywhere:
You know you are a wingnut if:
You believe that government should stay out of our lives, then vote for a marriage amendment that imposes a religious definition.
You think Democrats are opposed to sound economic growth, but a $9 trillion deficit created by a republican government with absolute control doesn't make you blink.
You would never vote for a Democrat, because they have no values, even if your other choices were Nixon, DeLay, Cunningham or Foley.
You want to see social security reformed by having senior citizens gamble their benefits on the stock market.
You believe helping the less fortunate is a crime.

Is this helping? I used facts, but you might not recognize them if you don't use them a lot. Not all conservatives are wingnuts, although all wingnuts are conservatives. "

Wow-- I love reading that.

It makes up for years of abusive conservative changes disguised as "balancing" things that were never unjust or unbalanced to begin with. Their media machine was not accurate-- but it was LOUD. YOu probably never head of all the subtle changes they made in YOUR media consumerisim, subtle things designed to slowly weed out truth, and replace it with pre-approved party supporting trash.

Lets see how that goes with things like PBS and the jerrymandering of the whole Broadcasting system to the right:http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0505-22.htm

Or the "documentaries" they had produced to make you hate the good guys and think only Bush knows whats right: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/discover-the-secret-right_b_29015.html

Or the future of what you will see in the media - we can actually predict Karl Rove's overall agendas being carried out (as they have in the past) right here:http://www.beggarscanbechoosers.com/2006/11/get-ready-for-mother-of-all-gop.html this iste has one great quote you should remember: " Is there any way the Dems can fight back against the GOP noise machine for a change? Yes, there is, actually. They need to revive the Fairness Doctrine, a policy that required broadcasters using the public airwaves to give equal coverage to all sides of major issues. The 1987 abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine by Ronald Reagan led directly to the rise of the likes of Rush Limbaugh and the rest of today's mighty GOP propaganda noise machine."

I'm no pro blogger-- I'm a VERY angry woman who has seen her family personally suffer financially, socially, politically, and personally by the wealthy arrogant 2% of Americans that own the GOP and made BILLIONS in the last 6 years--- and spent the 8 before that trashing possibly the greatest President in US History (hey- he stuck his dick out, but if THAT'S the WORST thing you can say-- and you can compare that to Gitmo, well, you need more than an education. You need God's forgiveness for being unable to evaluate the world). I have seen my country become a laughing stock whipping boy that acts like Idi Amin lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I have watched my rights erode and my ability to even get intelligent medical care erode in the face of religious demands and poltical agendas that don't care who lives or dies, just so long as the rich get richer and the religious nuts don't stop voting GOP.

Watching Rush suddenly have to find an excuse for his immoral actions and greedy part in the destruction of America, I can only hope that eventually, he just shuts the hell up.Those who believed him (and I have relatives that think he never said a WORD that wasn't correct) are too stupid to check the facts, and too arrogant that they are NOT stupid to worry about what HAS happened when they were wrong.

HSUB SDRAWKCAB

2006-08-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

This site makes me see a hope for a funny and brigher future, not to mention the great backwards counters they have sold world wide (a version of which is on the side bar to your LEFT).
I wanna get the Band T-shirt:

Remember, the USA is not a cookie jar, and you can disapprove of the current powers without being unpatriotic - Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln, George Washington, and most of the leaders in history felt that way and wrote about it.

2006-05-30T01:08:00.000-07:00

After watching a few moments from Fox "news" division, I had to once more dip into some sage advice and remind myself that there will always be corporate lackeys, shills, and those who care little for the people and everything for their own asses.

~~~~~~~~

"I'm sometimes asked "Why do you spend so much of your time and moneytalking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?" Ianswer: "I am working at the roots." -George T. Angell, reformer(1823-1909)

~~~~~

"Time wounds all heels". Groucho Marx

~~~~~

"How come we choose from just two people for president and 50 for Miss America?" anon.

~~~~~

"If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?"

~~~~~~~~

"No one ever went broke overestimating the stupidity of theAmerican people." H.L. Mencken

~~~~~~

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of greatmoral crisis, maintain their neutrality." -Dante Alighieri, poet (1265-1321)

~~~~~~

"There is no character, howsoever good and fine, but it can be destroyed by ridicule, howsoever poor and witless." -Mark Twain

~~~~~

"Power does not corrupt men. But fools, in a position of power, corrupt power." George Bernard Shaw

~~~~~~

"He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot." Groucho.

~~~~~

"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that 2 are called a law firm, and that three or more become a congress.”John Adams, in Congress, Philidelphia,1776

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"Come the millennium, month 12, In the home of greatest power, the village idiot will come forth to be acclaimed the leader."Nostradamus, 1555

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"If your voting could really change things, Congress would make it illegal." unk

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" Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Pat Robertson

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"Despite almost every experience I've ever had with federal authority, I keep imagining its competence." --John Perry Barlow

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When they took the fourth amendment,I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs!When they took the sixth amendment,I was quiet because I was innocent.When they took the second amendment,I was quiet because I didn't own a gun!Now they've taken the first amendment,and I can say nothing about it.

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"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. -Thomas Jefferson-

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"I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money." -Arthur Godfrey

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"If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encirclesus today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no matterhow much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake" . -MahatmaGandhi (1869-1948)

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“They’ve turned the world into a wasteland, and they call it peace.” Tacitus, Agricola, quoting Calgacus on the Romans.

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"Bush has promised to be a uniter, and he has United the world against us. We have become a target of world ridicule known previously only to the French...."John Stewart, the Daily Show, 6-8-01

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THIS IS PORN

2006-05-30T01:02:00.000-07:00

This is Porn.

There are people compiling lists of what they dislike and selling it to librarians, teachers, parents, businesses, bosses, companies, and people YOU know. They are using it to block sites that contain what they feel is porn.
This is what they are blocking.
They have small minds.
Fear them.
Fight for more porn.

Why Do You Want to Move Here?

2006-05-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the neighborhood, now will you please sign a non-alteration agreement?

Yes, that's what I would LOVE to have happen for every single sale of any peoperty in WG. I guess I have become more and more militant about saving what is left of the land I love as more and more people see WG as just some big piggy bank they can shake for a while and then walk away with a few dollars in their pockets. That leaves the rest of us poorer socially, historically, and permanently.

I never felt like this when I moved here, but that was 25 years ago, when the whole place was pretty much consigned to the "old foggies" in their Lincolns toddling up and down an aging string of antique stores. Or that was what people would LIKE to believe.

What was really here was a downtown with lots of things that were already the envy of other "destinations. There used to be a hand dipped candy store in the (now remodeled) medical building next to Manleys donuts. Hicklebee's bookstore was already thriving in a too-small space across from it's current location. We had one of only 3 costume shops in the entire south bay area. A unique little bakery tucked into what is now the health food store was right next to an ahead of it's time orchid grower (long gone, but their window with it's water archetecture lives on). Bergman's. Lincoln Lanes grocers, where Chuck Daddas not only served up a classic butcher shop and hand picked veggies, but they would take your check without ID and occasional deliveries on demand could happen.

So what happened? Money and greed. Property prices skyrocketed, and the city refused to push for covenants to protect the historical grace and elegance of this area- as did most of us local folks. We might LOVE the hell out of the Palms or Willow Street Park, but we certaintly aren't going to take the time to meet and push for protections to save our way of life. The lovely home on the left still stands today, but anyone can buy it and bulldoze it tomorrow- and get a permit to put up a house almost twice that size. Charmless, but functional. We all seem on the fence between private property rights and our social rights as a whole- and I think that they can both function fine if we bothered to set some ground rules.

On my own street just south of there, we have seen 2 lots turned into 3 twice (and the prices went from $650,000.00 each for those two to $1,450,000.00 each for the 3 that replaced them) and the beautiful old spanish house at 1045 Coe is already on the chopping block- the same people that did it on Broadway bought the place and subdivided just the BACK yard into THREE lots coming out on Clintonia- and when they are done, that lovely home in front will be quietly bulldozed. No muss no fuss. No one but us locals will even notice the dust. One of the ground rules we need in WG is that the lots should NOT be allowed to be subdivided. WG *is* different just because of lot sizes, and the city planners that come and go with mayoral tides are not concerned about that. We should be. WE should be screaming about it.

We have residents that come and go like locusts, buying homes and sites just to re-sell them the moment property values nudge up a point. It might be the American way- but that way is now inroaching on OUR way of life. This is our problem. Too many jerks arriving in paradise and wanting to carve it up for pretty driftwood.
So we have competing needs. Healthy competition for jobs, business owners needing to make profit, businesses that need to have new modern space, and homeowners that see their domicile as a temporary stop on their leap through life, against those who want to protect and defend a lifestyle, support their local unique businesses and avoid chain stores, encourage local money to stay local, and have their homes and property still be worth something based on more than just the square footage.

Most WG'ers know that having a downtown that packs as much per square foot as possible into it is not necessarily right for every town. But you can't tell that to a developer who makes their living tearing things down and rebuilding them (often with re-development dollar).

So why does someone move here and then bitch and moan about how much they want to change it? Well, my own personal belief is that most people don't consider much of anything more than 5 minetes, including pregnancy and homicide. They are as short sighted as guinea pigs, only not as smart. Moving into a historical neighborhood and then demanding to tear down the history is stupid. Yes, STUPID. I have no problem shouting those feelings and that sentiment at various neighbors on various chat boards when they scream they need a KMART or a WALLMART or a BEVMO or a second STARBUCKS or a fleet of HUMMERS to drive their kids the 3 blocks to school before they go spend money on things they desire. I am thankful that these people do not have the money to chop up the Hope Diamond, or sell a book Hours by the page. Some people should never own fine things, for they do not appreciate them.

Like many in the animal kingdom, they want to live here until they soil the place up and then move away to a cleaner pig pen to do it again. I am sure they will use their profits to move to even pricier neighborhoods where they can "remodel" other historic homes. They permanently destroy the landscape of this place. Graffiitti vandals are probably more acceptable to me- at least THEY are going to probably live here their whole lives, and the damage they do is minimal and repairable.

I often wonder if these people would move to Paris and demand Wonder bread in restaurants, Go to Spain and scream about the running of those poor bulls, or Vacation at Niagra falls and complain about the humidity. Maybe even move in and then want to divert the water for a local boating lake. I do not understand them, but I fear them. They are brutes- no class, no social conscious, but they do have *cash* and muscle.

I WENT BACK TO OHIO
BUT MY CITY WAS GONE
THERE WAS NO TRAIN STATION
THERE WAS NO DOWNTOWN
SOUTH HOWARD HAD DISAPPEARED
ALL MY FAVORITE PLACES
MY CITY HAD BEEN PULLED DOWN
REDUCED TO PARKING SPACES
A, O, WAY TO GO OHIO

I WENT BACK TO OHIO
BUT MY PRETTY COUNTRYSIDE
HAD BEEN PAVED DOWN THE MIDDLE
BY A GOVERNMENT THAT HAD NO PRIDE
THE FARMS OF OHIO
HAD BEEN REPLACED BY SHOPPING MALLS
AND MUZAK FILLED THE AIR
FROM SENECA TO CUYAHOGA FALLS
SAID, A, O, OH WAY TO GO OHIO

The Pretendrs "My City was Gone".

You Need Us More Than We Need You

2006-03-27T17:21:00.000-08:00

To our untanned friends in the other 49 states:
America has engaged in some finger wagging lately because California doesn't have enough electricity to meet its needs. The rest of the country (including George W. Bush's energy secretary Spencer Abraham, who wants Californians to suffer through blackouts as justification for drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), seems to be just fine withletting Californians dangle in the breeze without enough power to meet their needs. They laugh at Californians' frivolity.

Well, everybody. Here's how it really is:
California ranks 48th in the nation in power consumed per person.
California grows more than half the nation's fruit, nuts and vegetables. We're keeping them. We need something to eat when the power goes out.
We grow 99 percent or more of the nation's almonds, artichokes, dates, figs, kiwi fruit, olives, persimmons, pistachios, prunes, raisins and walnuts. Hope you won't miss them.
California is the nation's number one dairy state. We're keeping our dairyproducts.We'll need plenty of fresh ones since our refrigerators can't be relied upon. Got milk?

We Californians are going to keep all our high-tech software in state. Silicon Valley is ours after all. Without enough electricity, which you're apparently keeping for yourselves, we just don't have enough software to spare.
We're keeping all our airplanes. California builds a good percentage of the commercial airliners available to fly you people to where you want to go. When yours wear out, you'd better hope Boeing's Washington plant can keep you supplied. There isn't enough electricity here to allow us to export any more planes than we need ourselves.
Oh, yeah, and if you want to make a long-distance call, remember where the satellite components and tracking systems come from. Maybe you could get backin the habit of writing letters.

Want to see a movie this weekend? Come to California. We make them here. Since we'll now have to make them with our own electricity, we're keeping them. Even if we shot them somewhere else, the labs, printing facilities, editing facilities, and sound facilities are all here.

Want some nice domestic wine?
We produce over 17 million gallons per year.We'll need all of it to drown our sorrows when we think about the fact that no matter how many California products we export to make the rest of America's lives better, America can't seem to help us out with a little electricity. You can no longer have any of our wine.

You all complain that we don't build enough power plants. Well, you don't grow enough food, write enough software, make enough movies, build enough airplanes, or make enough wine.

Love,
The Californians

Whoever wrote this satire the first time is a genius. I cannot take credit, just satisfaction. FYI- The economy of California is the 11th largest in the WORLD. We outrank all but a few large countries. Oh- and the refineries that MAKE all that oil into gas are here in Martinez. About a quarter mile from where gas is selling for twice what it is in the deep south. Go figure.

Crazed Truths from Nut with Keyboard

2006-03-26T14:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, there is nothing like the truth thrown against the wall like wet spaghetti to remind us of the reality of our fantasy lives.

Mark is like that. Think of a hyperactive child with a 14 foot wang and just enough money to buy all the toys that he can find.

Give him 25 cups of coffee, demand that he make rude fun of everyone around him, and then plug his computer console into at least 8 feeds from other web browsers all working simultaneously.

Add "the psychotics dictionary of useless drivel" as a reference text, a subscription to Mother Jones, and register him with the Satinists of America, Good Vibes, and the Disney channel.

Spin in the marguerita blender, add electric kool aid. Then give him a job and a thrice weekly column to spew forth whatever he can get past the censors at SF Gate and you can see why even the straightest of us need a Morford fix once or twice a week.

Here is a free taste just so I can get you hooked.

Let's All Get ADD!
What do coffee, cell phones, the Net, stress and sleep drugs have in common? You, silly

Mark Morford, SF Gate ColumnistFriday, March 10, 2006

No one is getting enough sleep. No one is getting enough sleep because everyone is so damned stressed. Everyone is so damned stressed because everyone has way, way too much to do and far too little time in which to do it. Everyone has way too much to do and far too little time in which to do it because modern technology has made us a thousandfold more accessible and more wired up and more media drenched and able to communicate in 157 different instant digitized ways, has given us entree to so much astounding information at so much faster and more unbearable rates that it has, in effect, compressed time into sweaty slippery little knots we are forever trying to untie as quickly as we possibly can even though we can't. Slathered all over this is the fact that the Internet is a gorgeous wanton free-for-all of deliciously annoying distraction, porn and Instant Messenger and iTunes, eBay and Amazon and roughly one million blogs, RSS feeds and multimedia and movie trailers and the great time-sucking killer app of the 20th century, e-mail, and did I mention the porn and the music? It's enough, verily, to give normally sane and balanced and disciplined people a serious case of attention deficit disorder, the inability to focus for any length of time on any one project at hand without the mind and the eye and the desire immediately jumping away to the umpteen other activities and ideas and fun bits your brain felt it was ignoring by trying to focus on one measly paltry thing. Is this happening to you? Are you not multitasking right now, calculating your to-do lists, answering your cell, text messaging your sister, reading this column, burning a new CD, thinking about sex, programming your Bluetooth, ordering some Astroglide online, processing 50 items at once? No? Something is wrong with you. In fact, I have no idea how I am getting through this column right now. It has taken me roughly 19 hours to complete the handful of paragraphs above because I keep checking e-mail and configuring my iTunes playlists and responding to my girlfriend's IM messages and reading my colleague David Lazarus' trilogy of columns on the mad increase in sleep disorders and sleeping-pill intake in America. And the phenomenon is, as you might expect, disturbing and telling and just a little sad, but I didn't have all that much time to dwell on it because I also felt compelled to watch nine new movie trailers on Apple.com ("Mission: Impossible III" looks just god-awful and someone really should slap Tom Cruise) and check the status of two eBay bids and read up on a new Aneros sex toy over at Blowfish.com and satiate a nagging question I had about a quote from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and read up on BushCo's nefarious plans to bomb the crap out of Iran, and did you know the newly redesigned Audi TT is coming out in April? This is why God invented coffee. Coffee is our national narcotic. Caffeine is time's Viagra. It is no coincidence that the rise of the godlike Starbucks Corp. coincided almost exactly with the rise of the Internet and the cell-phone explosion and the dot-com boom -- that is, with the insane rise in instant communication and multitasking. Caffeine helps up keep up with the mad onslaught, even as it destroys our ability to calm the hell down and get some deep rest. Did you know caffeine has a half-life in the body of six hours? That if you drink a big cup around noon, half of its 80-100 milligrams of nefarious caffeine are still bouncing through your bloodstream by dinnertime, and by midnight you've still got a happy glob of the stuff slapping at your exhausted brain stem like an angry wife slaps her ex-husband? Do you wonder why we're taking more and more sleeping pills and screwing with the body's natural rhythms and entering a vicious cycle of artificially jacking up/calming down to the point of, well, exhaustion? Reminds me of Joshua Foer's terrific piece over at Slate from May 2005 about his experience taking the prescrip amphetamine Adderall (normally prescribed for ADHD), just to see what it would do to him, just to see if he could, in fact, focus better and get more work done and imitate, to some pale degree, Jack Kerouac, who allegedly wrote "On the Road" in one insane brilliant nonstop stream-of-consciousness binge while jacked on so much Adderall-like amphetamines it would've choked a llama. The upshot: Except for the weird side effects and the numbing comedown and the various health hazards, Adderall worked, almost too well. Of course, digging out the link to Foer's piece also enticed me to read Slate's review of alarm clocks, which also led to Will Saletan's thick science-over-morality piece on South Dakota's hideous new abortion law, which in turn somehow pointed to a mention of the New York Times story about the new rash of "sleep-driving," about all the zombie-like people who are now getting into their cars after taking the sleep drug Ambien, which led me to the original NYT Ambien piece on the subject, which in turn flicked me over to the NYT Book Review, where I drifted in a literary haze until the sun shifted in the sky and the morning turned to afternoon and I realized I really needed to get back to work because the paragraph you just read took me about one hour and 13 minutes to complete. See? Adderall sounds perfect. Adderall is exactly what I need. I could write five columns in two days! I could get ahead and forget my rolling deadlines, for once! I could start my novel, make more progress on my essay collection, learn podcasting in Garageband, finally read that 400-page book on digital photography, get all the way through "From Dawn To Decadence" and still have time to learn about Japanese sake prefectures! Is this our national affliction? Our collective destiny? A nation of willful ADD sufferers, wired up and jittery and increasing unfocused even as we have more and more crap demanding our attention and even as we are increasingly unable to pause the chaos and sink into a moment and find some peace and actually feel the world around us? Because I have news: We have been misled. It is one massive lie, a great myth of modern American culture that the more you think, the more you multitask, the more you process and analyze and ponder and the more stuff whirling around your brain at any given moment, the smarter and more connected you are. It is, in short, a total crock. We equate deranged, caffeinated busyness with smarts, with success, when in fact the exact opposite is true. Just ask the yogis, the gurus, the healers of the past 5,000 years: It is actually when you calm the mind, clear things out, breathe deep and sleep deeper and clean out the toxins and the caffeine and the Ambien, that's when real wisdom, real intuition comes your way. The rest is just, well, noise. Happy delicious annoying caffeinated sexy fun infuriating obnoxious unstoppable noise, but still noise. But not to worry. They'll soon develop a pill to block that, too.

LIVE READING! Live in the Bay Area? Come hear Mark Morford read some stuff aloud at Writers With Drinks, a monthly lit salon in support of Other magazine. Saturday, March 11 at the Makeout Room, 3225 22nd between Mission and Valencia, starting around 7:30pm. Details here. Thoughts for the author? E-mail him. Mark Morford's Notes & Errata column appears every Wednesday and Friday on SF Gate and in the Datebook section of the SF Chronicle. To get on the e-mail list for this column, please click here and remove one article of clothing. Mark's column also has an RSS feed and an archive of past columns, which includes a tiny photo of Mark probably insufficient for you to recognize him in the street and give him gifts. As if that weren't enough, Mark also contributes to the hot, spankin' SF Gate Culture Blog.

2006-03-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

The Foxes BUILT the damned Henhouse

Disgusting. That's the only word left for the allegedly "pro-security" GOP that could be said. It has become apparent that they are all for "security"- the security of their pocketbooks and their jobs. Everything else is lip service big enough to put a Ubangie paddle into.
Resisting any kind of Federal regulation, no matter how important, is the Prime Directive of business in America these days. "Regulation" means restraint to the powers of money, and restraint means not making every dime possible, no matter how greedy, how environmentally disastrous, or how dangerously you operate.
Let's take a little "peek" at the Nation's Chemical plants. Now, you or I, AKA reasonable people, would think that THOSE would be high danger places, that the Feds should be all over those things securing them, and training the private forces that work in them. You or I, AKA reasonable people, would think that after watching the Fed finally take over airport security (which HAD been run privately by the airlines, paid for by the airlines, and manned by airline employees at minimum wage) that there would be few arguments left about patchwork haphazard security continuing across America.
YOU or I.
Thankfully, the people in charge know better-- because they are against "Big Government" doing things like running any National Security at those sites. It's perfectly OK to strip search you and I when we get on a plane or a train- but it's WRONG to even allow Homeland Security inside the fence line at some chemical plants. And they DON'T. The Bush Administration thinks that OK.

HU????? The Feds are OK with a chemical plant giving them Ubangie service about what kind of security they have without any inspections? The Feds are just going to walk away????

Of course they are honey child... the Feds ARE big business, and if you missed that, let me recap the great energy billings of 2000 right after the Dubyou win (Enron execs are even now lying through their teeth to avoid long jail terms now that the tapes of their rip offs and the e-mails have surfaced, screaming smoking guns that all the gas masks in Washington cannot avoid smelling). Or mention the huge tax cuts they all got (and the largest profits in the history of the US were just reported by those same companies......now, the argument that they will make more jobs has proved bogus- are YOU working for Chevron? So, would you like to pay more taxes and have them get MORE cuts? They will if you blink).

The Federal GOPS have spent the last 6 years writing legislation and making sweeping enactment's that most of us never hear about, that will make it impossible to reign in corporate greed and pollution, open up huge tracts for GOP pillagers (you remember the Pillage People, right? 70's band of men with nothing in common but a sense of style), and line the pockets of the UBER rich indefinitely. But the American people can swallow nicely, pay more out of their own pockets- and live with horrible personal restrictions while the dangerous businesses get yet another free pass.

The Fed has actually BLOCKED regulation in this area. A recent TIME report states"The EPA and the fledgling White House Office of Homeland Security spent months developing a legislative package requiring the chemical industry to beef up security. In March 2003, a dozen senior Administration officials met in the Old Executive Office Building next door to the White House to put the finishing touches on what they considered a major initiative.
At that meeting, though, officials were surprised to see a new face- Phillip Perry. As the top lawyer for the White House's Office of Management and Budget, Perry helped oversee Adminisratrion regulatory intitiaives. According to Bob Bostock the Homeland Security adviser to the EPA, Perry, who hadn't attended any of the prior meetings, declared the proposal dead in a matter of minutes. Perry said"......"that the chemical industry was taking voluntary steps that were sufficient".

I wonder if they are sufficient as those taken by our beef industry to control Mad Cow disease (none were taken until Japan quit buying our beef. They are still feeding diseased pieces of other animals in cow feed, and Japan still won't buy our beef anymore. You are paying more for meat now to offset those loses to the Beef industry, and your family is taking a chance with every Big Mac about when the first fatality will happen in the US).

Who is Perry? Well, aside from being a sleeze, his father in law is Dick Cheney- the Vice president. Who says the GOP aren't into family values?
The funny part is, now, Perry's mouthpiece says that Perry doesn't remember the meeting and that Bostock's account is not accurate or fair.

HU? If he doesn't remember, than what the hell can he comment on? If he remembers enough to know this guy is not accurate, then by all means, INFORM US of what Bostock is allegedly misrepresenting-- and if you cannot remember, than please don't try to tell us that you don't remember but you do. (Work shall set you free folks!).

Time goes on to say that today only about 1,100 of the nations 15,000 biggest plants participate in ANY kind of security program-- they participate in a "voluntary one".
Wow. I want to participate in voluntary tax paying. Voluntary traffic rules. Voluntary jury duty. Oh yeah. I could get into this.

White House officials are also apparently protecting their business interests - they all own stock or have been promised cushy after-Bush jobs, and in order to make sure that their big daddies are happy, they are openly blocking legislation to make us safer. In June 2003 Ed Markey introduced a bill to mandate 100% inspection of airline CARGO. Yep- you and I have been losing our freaking little nail clippers while the BIG opportunities to ship 100 pounds of explosive have been DELIBERATELY ignored.
Why? It would be TOO expensive for the shipping business to bother to make us safe.
I may never fly on another plane-- hell, they want to strip search babies, but we are all expendable while sitting over cargo holds full of big UNKNOWN piles of stuff?

That isn't the appalling part. The appalling part is that after the bill was introduced and passed, Department of Homeland Security sr. officials argued and won to have it stripped out of the legislation.
6 billion pounds of cargo --- and the carriers that forward the freight are the only ones that are supposed to check it and make sure it's safe. Without regulations, guidelines, rules, oversight, or anything other than the ongoing spot inspections that the Fed has been doing for 25 years. I guess it is too expensive and will cut into their 17 BILLION dollar profits annually. Yeah. But I have to cough up my knitting needles.

"Its commerce over common sense" Markey complained to deaf Federal ears. Russ Knocke, Department of Homeland Security says it "maximizes security without shutting down the systems".
God they really do think we are bumfu*k stupid ignorant cows out here.
Don't depend on the Department of Homeland Security to change their tune and actually TRY to protect us anytime soon. Phillip Perry is their new general council. He prolly got a promotion after shutting down any effort to protect our chemical plants.

So- what's a taxpayer making less than a million a year supposed to think?
If you are a Republican loyalist, you already think whatever they tell you to and nothing more. You already drank the cool aide and have bought your ticket to hell, God help you.
If you are either a free thinking man or a disgruntled voter of any party, than you are probably thinking what many of us Democratic right wing liberal types have been thinking all along.
We got taken for a HUGE ride on this "security of the US" thing. 9-11 was used as a reason to strip the US of every dime (have you seen today's deficit??) and make fools of everyone for the benefit of commerce.
We are in MORE danger than we were before, because NOW we THINK we have Homeland Security. The only thing they are securing is their contributors wallets.

It all starts out so innocently.

2006-03-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

I know understand and appreciate a controlled press.
I spent my whole life (until about 6 years ago!) thinking that having a controlled press- bookprinters, newspapers, and most print media being *owned*- was a bad thing. It meant that all the ideas had to go through a few people, and those people got to decide what ended up being available for all of us to read.
I was wrong.
I am sorry.
I explosion of the blog - even more than the internet page- has turned the world into one long dissertation on absolutely nothing.
Hours of it are posted every second.
Billions of gigs of blogging rant, stupid thoughts, obscure bits and pieces.
Everyone thinks they are Hemmingway.
Everyone thinks they are funny.
I just finished reading one gal in Australia going on through almost a month's worth of daily posts about mostly nothing, but none the less referencein the vomit in her house due to a flu wave going around through her kids. It was cute the first time. it became tedious about day 5. If there was an EDITOR, they would have either shut her down or demanded a rewrite that did not include rainbow showers references.
Now, you may ask, how did I get to her?
Well.. I started with a link a FRIEND (read now :fucking mortal enemy of the people asshole who sends me adorable links that eat all my time and distract from real life) who sent me http://www.rahoi.com/2006/03/may-i-take-your-order.php, which is really a nice web page of a really crazy translation issue. It had some interesting comments, one of which said that "this was the funniest thing since I read :http://www.onemanbandwidth.com/wordpress/?p=118," so I wandered over there and found this great professor in China with some wonderful insights and a great funny bone.
That was where the good times ended.
This professor has joined this links racket to promote his site. It's rather underhanded-- everyone promises to link to each other by signing up on http://www.samanthaburns.com/archives/2005/07/open_trackback.html the "Open trackback alliance". It is a list that appears on every members web of HUNDREDS of other web sites. It's the best scam since FEMA.
It was a list of some of the weirdest stuff- hit and miss archives- as well as the above mentioned vomit obsessed mommie. It creates a world where everyone gets advertised no matter how good or bad they are. It's the equivelent of writing your own reviews, and then awarding yourself a medal. It is a numbers racket for size queen writers.
It is not the only "advertise yourself" scam out there.
They have "best of blog awards" people bestowing titles for things without any input- but the title holder is suddenly elevated to the status of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for bloggers. They have links for "blogs of the day" and "international fun" blogs. The industry has spawned itself. And folks that want to lie, misrepresent, distort, and rant have just as much space as anything with some basis.
What a crock. I read a few of these blogs and wished that the world had a "governor" on it- those old style machines that monitored other machines and made sure they did what they should. I would like to see a facto meter attched. I want something that is at least honest. Fact checking, date corrections, photos unaltered by photo shop masquerading as real.

Editors.
Quality assurance!
Yes, I might very well not make the cut either (although I have the knowledge that *I* was paid for my editorials and columns for a decade in real print, which gives me some miniscule satisfaction that, given the chance, I made the minimum skill requirements in life to write), but that was part of the charm of having the media controlled. Yes, it stifled freedoms of speech, and yes, it created a whole world of "butt lickers" who got into print while deserving, funny, serious, intelligent people did not. It put a stall on several thousand Shakespear's and Hemmingways and Woodsteins. It also stopped millions of but scratching wanna-be's from clogging life with drivel.
Drivel that, at this time, we have to SORT through with our own time and effort.
I agree that it would be nice to have a way to find the "creme de la creme". Signing up for open trackback isn't it. I am new enough to this that I am sure that I will stumble across some GOOD way to find/read/promote the sites that have some consistancy (and less mommie vomit). Less splogging and more Pulitizer potential.
More funny, less arrogant.
In the meantime, I will sit out here alone, and post what I feel. If I am blessed, one person a month will come by and truly feel changed or enlightened or moved. I don't need a thousand hits a day to tell me I am worth it. I know that just by waking up each morning.

Special Thanks to http://visualparadox.com/ FREE wallpapers no bull, great quality.

A Truly Powerful Blogger Mom

2006-03-11T22:13:00.000-08:00

I am ashamed to call myself a writer.
I have seen the power of a mom blog, and she is awesome.

YOU need to see this as well, over at: http://buggydoo.blogspot.com/2006/03/letter-to-alex-and-chris-twelve-years.html

She wrote an "open letter" into the future for her 2 boys. My son is 12, and I am having him read it tonight. He can learn from this. He is ready. And teaching our children early on-repeatedly- about the kind of people we expect them to be, hope they will be, and want to see them become is important.
Saying I love you everyday is important.
Saying I believe in you every day is important.
Trying to remember everything we want from ourselves for our kids is often impossible, and one reason that mom guilt is more prevelent than episiotomies in America. We have a LOT to put into these few short years. The recipe changes with the day, with the situation, with the memories we can pull up on any given occassion. Heavy on the love one day, hard on the cleaning another, throwing in the reminders for pet care and responsibility and joy in between the lessons on how mommy screams when she is really tired and her anitdepressants aren't working and she can't find any chocolate.

So, often times, I am hoping that I just haven't failed miserably. Then I read something as perfetly perfect as buggydoo, and all my years as a writer, all the years as a mom, seem like I have forgotten how much there is to learn. I have told my boy what I want him to grow up to be, and hope I said it just HALF as well as she did.
There are so many things to say to them, and just no space to get it all in the bowl.

Respect, justice, healthy eathing, dental care, reading, friendship, karate, cleaning under the beds, kindness, dishwashing, citizenship, empathy, sex, organizational skills, driving, pet care, strangers and safety and responsiblity and shaving and bedmaking and evaluating advertisers and respecting space and dancing and piano and baseball....endless things. Picasso. History. Candlemaking.

Being a good role model might be the hardest. None of us is perfect, and we all have places in our lives we wish we had done better with, especially when it comes to raising our kids. I do think, however, that all the moms I know hope their boys turn out as well as buggydoo's ideals.

We all are out here, everyday. We get dressed, get the kids off to school (or fed and set for morning play), and in between the chores and the meals we raise children that will someday rule the world. We raise the people who will come to hold us as we age.
I hope my son learns those lessons. I wish I could have said it as eloquently as she did.
This is the sound of cyber clapping.
Congratulations mom.

Blatant Plagerisim

2006-03-06T19:46:00.000-08:00

A blogger on line has a BIG Headder on his Blog- I have no idea how he created it, but the line under it is priceless:

"in which i write about pornography, sexual deviance, politics and drugs just often enough to get picked up by search engines everywhere."

I gotta figure out a way to do that box thing- and please send him Kudos on his way with words.

2006-03-05T20:19:00.000-08:00

America is about our media. Our political leaders are mediocre, our innovations are no longer unique or unequaled, our products are no longer the best and the most well made, and our exports are, with the exception of our media, middlin.

But damn- we lead the world in media. And at the top of the heap are the movies.
We aspire to be like the people in them, we coddle the people who make them like our royalty, and we hold them up as our heros.

Good for us. This year's Academy awards showcased NOT the movies that made the most money and were the easiest to export, market, write, or explain. They were about REAL life, and the way we in America have taken our ideals and run from them as fast as possible, trying desperately to not worry about things, not deal with issues, and not do anything other than superficial image repair.

They were not movies that were supported by the current political leaders, the larger religious leaders, or the people with money. We watched some of the most searing social issues, from race relations and our feelings about intimidation in "Crash", through our feelings and social reactions to artistic leaders in "Capote", our failure to continue to hold our media to higher morals represented in "Good night and Good Luck", through the real, painful, and serious adult views about who we love, how we love, and what the hell we do about it in "Brokeback Mountain".
They were damned good movies.
They should give closed minded people pause.
Hollywood and the "liberal media" are not out of touch- but our enemies would like to repeat that lie often enough to brainwash a million americans that want safe, easy, simple lives with clear cut answers.

That ain't now, and it ain't here.

They aren't the Badlands for Nothin'

2006-03-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally have the first Christian state.
They have passed a law against all abortions.
Period.
Not after the first trimester, not discounting rape or a 10 year old being the pregnant victim. Nope- they got that sanctity of life buzz.

Or not.
These laws aren't based on when life begins, as we know from standard scientific fact. They are based on religious beliefs, which makes them illegal according to our constitution and separation of church and state.
That is pretty simple to figure out. Like the sun rising in the east and a flat earth and a 6, 000 year old planet and Jesus coming tomorrow-- um... forget that last part.

Now, the great lower Dakota has it's share of bad moments to look back on with pride, the slaughter of the American Indian in retaliation for Custer's assinine racism being the first. The ongoing persecution of same said free race being next.
I have never understood the need of the human being to force what any individual wants on everyone around them. Validating the ego?
Power struggles? Mental illness?
It doesn't matter. This was set in motion 6 years ago, when shrub took office. The powers that have choked on Roe vs. Wade were promised a Supreme Court that would support a religious state and wipe out personal freedoms to fuck who you want, so where you want, get medical care without state interventions, and be a deviant should you choose (that internet porn bull is really a great smokescreen for persecution of sex).

So now they got the cat fight they wanted. Gonna wipe out that evil law that guarnateed women that are already born the right to NOT be forced breeders. After all- women should pay the price for having sex- that's the punishment for "doing it" without wanting to have a child.

God save us all from the sex haters. These people materialize all over t he globe, cutting off children's clitoris's in primitive countries, stoning women to death in middle eastern countries (oh those honor killings- what honor??)
And now trying to force women to spend 9 months pregnant and loving it.
I often wonder just how many laws they are going to pass to keep women from just starving themselves until they naturally abort, eating mild poisions until they natually abort, and otherwise using drugs and abusing themselves- afte all, if you force a woman to be and stay pregnant, you certaintly can't expect her to CARE, can you? And therein is the rub. How can you trust me with a child if you won't allow me the choice?
You can't. But all the rich white folks bemoaning not enough pure babies to adopt are gonna roll the dice and then deal with it afterwards.
I am going to find a Planned Parenthood outlet that will run buses in and out of South Dakota on a weekly basis to help women escape the place. And my tourist dollars won't be spent there. And I am writing my congresspersons to veto any legislation for pork there. I am sure the zealots will love their new martyrdom.

Those Poor Persecuted Christians

2006-03-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Two Thousand years. That's how long it's been since Jesus died on that large roman symbol of pain and suffering.
I believe in that fact.
I believe that there is a God, and that He is watching.
I haven't found too many organized religions that I think He would approve of.

Having said that, I will now be a blasphemous traitor to the thousands of brainwashed frightened Americans screaming that they are persecuted, living in fear of being nailed up on one of those in the near future.

THINK.
Give yourself the respect that God does. Use that very smart brain He put in you. You, the greater portion of persecution believers, are being duped.

There are some horrible places in the world where Christians (or Muslims, or Tootsie Tribes, or other religious groups) are being persecuted. This isn't it. Most Americans feel that Christians are the persecutors here, eschewing tolerance and diversity, creating "straw men" issues ranging from school prayer (which is allowed- just not REQUIRED, and cannot be led by a teacher as that pressures and persecutes other religions to feel intimidated and segregates the children who do not participate. THAT creates kids picking on kids for what they believe, something we do not tolerate in America), to posting the 10 commandments in public places where legal decisions are made (Everyone who is NOT a Christian is not included in those "laws", creating a 2 tier system of government where one group feels their interests are served by BOTH the secular laws and the religious beliefs of the court, and the rest feel that they are not equal in the eyes of the court).

America was supposed to be a haven for EVERYONE with tolerance and diversity, where no person felt they were being denied their rights based on religion. A lofty goal, and one few people truly take into their hearts.
But once ANY group is told by leaders they trust that they are under attack, human nature is to fight back, to be unfair to those who do not believe as you do, and to become irrational. Jim Jones exploited those human traits and led over 100 people to their deaths. The religious leaders that feed the fear, that make Christians think they must push anger and war to bring on Armageddon and the end of the world (doing "God's" work) are not right. God will bring what God brings when He is darned good and ready. He might look askance at you for taking matters into your own hands.
Jesus spoke about false gods and having his followers misled. He was a liberal, and espoused ALL the traits of same. He offered a great role model- one that most of the fearmongers have overlooked.
Don't impose yourself through the law on others. That was what the Romans did.
It's a thick piece of thinking I doubt most believers can grok right now. They hear the sound of distanct drums coming for them. I do wish they would turn off the TV and radio, and go out into America. Doing God's work includes forgiveness and being tolerant of everyone. Few are.

NonCompus

2006-03-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

I would be disgusted with this government if we had one.
We really don't. We have a bunch of wealthy people who were so pissed over Bill Clintons win over Bush Sr. that they spent 8 years gearing up to do whatever it took to win back "their territory".
Sadly, they have the morals of snakes and people died.
Thousands.
Baby Bush has not, 5 years later, run out of "other options" and gone with the mea culpa approach of pretending to care.
Jimmy Carter he is not.
Idi Amin maybe, but no Carter. He is in all likelyhood just incompetent at everything he has ever done.

The deaths and destruction of Hurrican Katrina were well known. They just did not care enough to tell their cronies "no job for you" and buckle down to preparing. Bush, Rove, Cheney, and the senators that supported them all approved of appointments based on cronyisim. Political payback.

Everyone on the planet knew that a hurricane hitting New Orleans was going to blow the levees. Kids in school have studied it. National Geographic did an issue about it. Smithsonian as well. The advisors to the White House for 4 administrations have warned of it. But this bunch doesn't listen. Not to the press, not to Democrats, not to scientists.
I often wonder if Bush and company have some mental problem that creates the mistaken belief system that what they don't like won't happen. Fantastical thinking it is called in mental health circles.

Yesterday it was announced that Bush has (yet again...yawn) been lying about knowing Katrina in advance. Aside from all the reports and signs, it turns out that there were a LOT of briefings about this disaster coming. But Bush was confidant that "Brownie" could handle it. He handled the Arabian Horse association, didn't he? And that's good enough on a resume to get you the head FEMA spot. Thank God Bush's daughters aren't old enough for jobs. Cronyisim will kill us all.

Brownie went to hearings. Since there were no questions about horse shows and escorting rich women to parties, he did what loyal Republicans have been doing this entire administration. He blamed someone else. Lying on a resume- about the ONLY experience for the job he MIGHT have had was, to Brownie, not the biggest fault. Taking a job he was patently unqualified for- with people's lives in his hands- was not his fault. He blatantly disregarded the safety of Americans, but it is not his fault. His Republican handlers should have known better.
While it appears that the Republicans are making him a scapegoat, I guarantee that he was already promised an even nicer job- with less responsiblity- someplace else when this is all over. In the meantime, before you vote for these pampered boys from the rich end of Martha's vineyard, read what AP had to say about the hearings:
(AP) Former federal disaster chief Michael Brown, the face of the government's listless response to Hurricane Katrina, said Friday he told top Bush officials the day the storm howled ashore of massive flooding in New Orleans and warned "we were realizing our worst nightmare."More defiant than defensive, Brown told senators he dealt directly with White House officials the day of the Aug. 29 storm, including chief of staff Andrew Card and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin.He also said officials from the Department of Homeland Security were getting regular briefings that day. Administration officials have said they did not realize the severe damage Katrina had caused until after the storm had passed.Under oath, Brown told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he could not explain why his appeals failed to produce a faster response."I expected them to cut every piece of red tape, do everything they could ... that I didn't want to hear anybody say that we couldn't do everything they humanly could to respond to this," Brown said about a video conference with administration officials _ in which President Bush briefly participated _ the day before Katrina hit. "Because I knew in my gut this was the bad one."In the end, the storm claimed more than 1,300 lives, uprooted hundreds of thousands more and caused tens of billions in damage. The devastation in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities left Americans with enduring images of their countrymen dying in flooded nursing homes and pleading for rescue from rooftops.Brown, in his second Capitol Hill appearance since Katrina, told his side to the senators five months after he quit under fire as chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.He agreed with some senators who characterized him as a scapegoat for government failures."I feel somewhat abandoned," said Brown,Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has said he did not know that New Orleans' levees were breached until Aug. 30. Bush at the time said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."At an occasionally contentious White House briefing Friday, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said there were conflicting reports about the levees in the immediate aftermath of the storm."We knew of the flooding that was going on," McClellan said. "That's why our top priority was focused on saving lives. ... The cause of the flooding was secondary to that top priority and that's the way it should be."After three hours of testimony, Brown was handed a subpoena ordering him to reappear in front of a House panel investigating the storm response. Brown is expected to be questioned by House investigators this weekend _ days before the panel is expected to release its findings on the storm.Recounting conference calls that described initial damage reports the day Katrina hit, Brown scoffed at claims that Homeland Security didn't know about the devastation's scope until the next day. He called those claims "just baloney."Some senators suggested Brown look inward before pointing the finger elsewhere."You're not prepared to put a mirror in front of your face and recognize your own inadequacies," said Norm Coleman, R-Minn. "Perhaps you may get a more sympathetic hearing if you had a willingness to confess your own sins in this."Brown responded: "That's very easy for you to say sitting behind that dais and not being there in the middle of that disaster watching that human suffering and watching those people dying and trying to deal with those structural dysfunctionalities, even within the federal government."The disjointed federal response, Brown said, was in part the result of FEMA being swallowed in 2003 by the newly created Homeland Security Department, which he said was focused on fighting terrorism.Natural disasters "had become the stepchild of the Department of Homeland Security," he said. Had there been a report that "a terrorist had blown up the 17th Street Canal levee, then everybody would have jumped all over that," he added.Some senators attempted to trace the failures back to the White House."You quite appropriately and admirably wanted to get the word to the president as quickly as you could," said Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., asking about Brown's conversation with Hagin on the evening of Aug. 29. "Did you tell Mr. Hagin in that phone call that New Orleans was flooding?"Brown answered: "I think I told him that we were realizing our worst nightmare, that everything we had planned about, worried about, that FEMA, frankly, had worried about for 10 years was coming true."Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, suggested Brown may have delayed the federal response by cutting Homeland Security out of the loop about the levee failures and going straight to the White House."I think I now understand why Secretary Chertoff says he didn't know," Bennett said. "The reason he didn't know is because you didn't think it important to tell him."Brown said he communicated directly with the White House instead of Homeland Security because FEMA's parent agency "just bogged things down."

As long as we the people want to cut the taxes of those who need it least, thus cutting spending on things that affect those who need it most, this is our future. Sharing the blame and making public scapegoats that retire to lush private careers after they are done is now so comonplace we all can predict it coming. Even Brownie.

Start Making Sense

2006-03-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I am not sticking my neck out on this one, as it is apparent to every journalist in the free world that a religion that demands the whole nation to follow their rules is a Taliban, and when the members start making that demand of the entire world, they are ignorant.
Stupid.
Uneducated backward primitive narrow minded illogical fervant radical zealots of death and hatred.
GOD is not happy about this. Whomever she is.

So lets get right to the premise. The minority sects of the middle east that happen to THINK they are Muslims (they are not, they have been lied to and isolated) have decided that since THEY think Allah is the one and only prophet of God and have a rule about images of him, that everyone has to follow that.

Ya know, I would like to make a polite statement here, but I can't.
I cannot believe anyone would think that they could legislate and demand the entire population of a country or a world to follow the mandatory teachings of any religious organization. Think of it. No more coffee world wide 'cuz it offends the Mormons. No more television because it offends the Amish. No more sex because it offends the faux American Christians. No more world.

Oh- wait. South Dakota has outlawed abortion due to religious beliefs. Pharmacists refuse to fill legal birth control prescriptions. Legal guardians with the best medical advice in the world cannot follow the wishes of their spouses when they are brain dead. Schools have outlawed givig children their legally prescribed and medically indicated medications. Oh- wrong subject.

Gimme a BREAK! There is no liberty and justice for anyone, anywhere, if everyone has to follow just one religions rules. GET THAT YET?
Better yet, how about if all of us that are fed up with being given the ONE TRUE WAY speech from all these morons world wide join THIS religion:
http://www.venganza.org/

You will love this site. It is, for all intents and purposes, creating an exacting religion that has just as much right to exist as yours, your mama's, the Taliban's, or the pancake lady's. Belief may be a powerful personal feeling- but that's IT. It is not science, it is not proven, it is not all encompassing and for anyone with a single blinking brain cell to think that they should impose their religious beliefs- and their taboo's- on others is really stupid.

But, being a woman, I see a lot of stupid in this world. Not all of it from men, but the majority, yes.

So, I want to make you think again. I want the people that are not thinking to hear from you all. I want you to ask anyone who demands ANYTHING of you with respect to their religious beliefs (including the ones they wanted legislated- that's just the Taliban with a nice mask) to have to first spend a week following Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. Someday, I would love to live to see the day when we really are a free nation, and a free world where everyone's beliefs are respected. Right now, there are too many people who feel that not only should everyone else let them follow the God they want to- but they want all the rest of us to follow it to.

Out in Front

2006-02-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

I know how Garbo felt.
I am sure that human being decended from Lemmings.
I can now understand why DVD sales and rentals soar and theaters are dying.

It's all YOUR fault.

I know this because I practice what I am about to preach.

It's simple. It's easy.

SPREAD OUT.

Do you know what that means?

It means that you need to not feel the need to be so close to me that you can smell my feet, my perfume or my popcorn. It means to find a space a few spaces away from me at the parking lot, to give at least an arm's length between me and you in line, and to WAIT 10 seconds before you reach around me at a condiment stand, cause I really AM moving out of your way.

Now, I am not referring to the times that the parking lot is full or even semi-loaded, the times when there is a rush for the last 15 straws, when the movie has already started, or the seats

look like this view in the theater.
I am talking about that moment when you enter the place, and there are half a dozen people, yet you INSIST on sitting right damned in front of me. What the hell is wrong with you? Afraid of the dark? Need a mommy figure? Too stupid to find your own seats?
Now, I am usually not smack dab in the "middle" of the seats, just so that I don't appear to be ASKING for someone to want the next best view- something slightly closer to the screen than is optimal, but still in the center.
I actually sit "off sides" slightly. Yet you people STILL find the need to be right in front of me. Even when I have a foot up on that empty seat in the SEA of empty seats. Even when the seat is covered in wet cola. Even when there is a live iguana on it waiting to bite you in the butt, you insist on being RIGHT there.
I am not sure why some humans feel the need to do this. My friends say that they are not even thinking at ALL (big surprise there!), just drifting like voters to whomever is already in place. I have been tempted to start public farting just to warn them off.
I have tried all the simple alternatives. I wait until the movie is about to start before taking a seat- you ignorami just arrive AFTER the damned things starts, chat with your kids, pass the food back and forth (with the crackly bag), and seem to feel that you are at your house and are therefore free to ignore the world.
Big hint here : YOU'RE NOT!
I have tried moving when the rude tudes arrive- but inevitably, I am then bothering someone else. I have put clothing on the chairs (they just move it without even asking, and my interventions of holding seats are met with shrugs), and I have been so loudly rude and smelly that wart hogs turn their backs to me. Not you people though!
The same situation holds for parking lots that look like this:
If I park my car out there, I KNOW you will be parking right next to me. Not a space away, not across the isle, not nose to nose, but RIGHT NEXT to my car. The odds are high that you will also bang my sheet metal with the edge of your door and not bother to look.
I am not being mean. I am not blowing things out of porportion.
They keep happening. ALL the time.

So I thought I would take a moment to mention the situation so that you could work on it. Or forward this essay to whatever family and friends you have that might fit the profile.

Surrealistic Fellow

2006-02-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

Well, just when you thought that you had seen the current facist powers do EVERYTHING- You shake your head in disbelief at what happens next.

As you recall, our illustrious gun toting, Hawk-eyed VP had a little "accident" while stalking quail (no former V.P. reference intended) at a private "drive up, step out, and point at our hand raised tame birds" shooting rance in Texas (the only state in the union to still allow open beer containers in HAND while driving). He shot his friend, 78 year old Harry Whittington, in the face and neck.

WOW. Now, my first reaction if *I* had done that, would be to hang on to my friend all the way to the hospital, be profoundly sorry, and stand up immediately to say so.

Oh ho- not so in Conservative Oil circles. In that lofty world of power and corruption and power and private cells in foreign countries and lifting of Geneva convention rules and re-writing the rules of engagment to fit torture and Barbara Bush compassion, the amount of power is so absurdly great that the VICTIM apologized first.
Yep- you got it right. I can see how that can happen in these times.

Cheney, the ultimate poster child for soulless death, sat back quietly (although I am sure he felt a little bit bad), and waitied until his sick friend went before the cameras to make it ALL HIS FAULT. Then our illustrious VP came out - on his government sanctioned network FOX (Full Of Xhit) for a carefully crafted hand holding prescripted completely spun interview where he cried on cue to show us he cared.

WHO in their right mind lets their friend take the heat for shooting them? What kind of people do YOU know that you let apologize when YOU hurt THEM? Cummon- this isn't morals, this isn't the golden rule, this isn't even human.

As John Stewart of "The Daily Show" said 2-27: "Do you have a problem living in an abyss of soul crushing sadness?". I sure do.

Do you know what kind of POWER someone has to have to control the media, the country, and the party so heavily that a 78 year old shooting vicitim has to get up out of his hospital, face the inevitable cameras, and instead of saying "I forgive my friend, I was at fault too, these things happen, it was not forseeable, we both learned lessons, He has been very supportive for years, this won't hurt our friendship, OF COURSE he is still welcome at our house" and say "It was all MY fault"?

Yes, you probably can imagine. The kind of power that Jimmy Carter didn't have. The kind of power that Clinton didn't have. Clinton put UP with all that "free speech crap" for 8 years as one stupid accusation after another was hurtled at him.

These people in power now are SMART. They have enough control, repressive policies, and painful consequences to scare even their high paying FRIENDS.

They actually created the REAL poster on the right ("Watch, Ride, Report") for the DC subway system. They were approved by the adminsitration and put out on our streets.

Who SAYS Stalin died?

You sure can't prove it by this story.

So, if you like the folks in power- THINK a little bit about the way this entire story happened- and try to compare how the opposition handled their response to Cheney. The reflect on how the current administration acted, spoke, and hounded Clinton over numerous issues (many of which they now admit to having created). Look at that poster on the right there, and think about how historically the powerful have manipulated and controlled both the societies they rule and the media they allow to operate.

You have to be pretty damned powerful to have people apologize for YOUR mistakes.

Powerful- and mean.

(True Press Release reported in US Free Press, a non-Fox corporation publication).

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- The lawyer shot by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney while quail hunting left hospital yesterday, stressing it was an accident and giving Cheney his apologies.
"My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice-President Cheney and his family have had to deal with," Harry Whittington said in his first comments since being shot on a South Texas ranch six days earlier.
The Austin lawyer spoke less than 20 minutes before Cheney made his first public appearance since the shooting, receiving a rousing ovation from legislators in his home state Wyoming.
"It's a wonderful experience to be greeted by such warmth by the leaders of our great state. It's especially true when you've had a very long week," Cheney told lawmakers in Cheyenne. "Thankfully, Harry Whittington is on the mend and doing very well."
Whittington, 78, was hit in the face, neck and chest with birdshot Feb. 11. After a shotgun pellet travelled to his heart, he had suffered a mild heart attack Tuesday while being treated in hospital.

Whittington's voice was a bit raspy but strong, as he gave his brief statement. He had what appeared to be a line of cuts on his upper right eyelid and scrapes on his neck.
"We all assume certain risks in what we do, in what activities we pursue," Whittington said. "Accidents do and will happen."
He said last weekend involved "a cloud of misfortune and sadness that is not easy to explain, especially with those who are not familiar with the great sport of quail hunting."
Dr. David Blanchard said the lawyer was lucky to have survived the shooting. But he added Whittington wasn't answering questions because "he is not 100%."
Whittington sent his love and respect to Cheney and his family. "We hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves."
Cheney took full blame for the shooting in a Wednesday appearance on Fox News but his comments yesterday were focused on reminiscing about Wyoming politicians.
About a dozen people waited outside the Capitol in freezing temperatures to protest Cheney's appearance.
"We're a little embarrassed that he's from our state," said Tony Hayden, of Cheyenne.
But Cheney also had his supporters, including Dan Yoksh, of Cheyenne, who watched Cheney's speech on television at the Cheyenne Regional Airport.
"I think the media has blown things out of proportion," Yoksh said of the accident.
"If you go duck hunting out here, you're bound to get shot sometime."
In Texas, the Kenedy County Sheriff's Department closed its investigation in the shooting Thursday without filing any charges. The department's report supported the account of the vice-president, who told an investigator he did not see his hunting partner while aiming for a bird. )

If you want to make a change, try pushing the button here:

The Presidential Peppering: An Update on Absurdity

2006-02-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

Well, Things just keep getting better and better in Hunter land. First, Cheney tries to weasel out of his "faux pas" for failure to get his tags by sending in his $7.00 LATE. Nothing like trying to get your permits after the fact and expecting to pay the normal rate without a penalty added. Of course, you have to wonder-- would the SOB have bothered to send it in if he hadn't bagged his buddies face? I doubt it.

Now, on to the comments from PROFESSIONAL nitpickers.

TV Comedians Target Cheney Accident

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Television talk shows took aim Monday at Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental weekend shooting in Texas of a hunting companion. Here are a few of the jokes.

``Late Show with David Letterman,'' CBS:

``Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It's Dick Cheney.''

``But here is the sad part - before the trip Donald Rumsfeld had denied the guy's request for body armor.''

``We can't get Bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney.''

``The guy who got gunned down, he is a Republican lawyer and a big Republican donor and fortunately the buck shot was deflected by wads of laundered cash. So he's fine. He took a little in the wallet.''

``The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,'' NBC:

``Although it is beautiful here in California, the weather back East has been atrocious. There was so much snow in Washington, D.C., Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fat guy thinking it was a polar bear.

``That's the big story over the weekend. ... Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter, a 78-year-old lawyer. In fact, when people found out he shot a lawyer, his popularity is now at 92 percent.''

``I think Cheney is starting to lose it. After he shot the guy he screamed, 'Anyone else want to call domestic wire tapping illegal?'''

``Dick Cheney is capitalizing on this for Valentine's Day. It's the new Dick Cheney cologne. It's called Duck!''

``The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,'' Comedy Central:

``Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a man during a quail hunt ... making 78-year-old Harry Whittington the first person shot by a sitting veep since Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, of course, (was) shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering. Whittington? Mistaken for a bird.''

``Now, this story certainly has its humorous aspects. ... But it also raises a serious issue, one which I feel very strongly about. ... moms, dads, if you're watching right now, I can't emphasize this enough: Do not let your kids go on hunting trips with the vice president. I don't care what kind of lucrative contracts they're trying to land, or energy regulations they're trying to get lifted - it's just not worth it.''

``Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,'' CBS:

``He is a lawyer and he got shot in the face. But he's a lawyer, he can use his other face. He'll be all right.''

``You can understand why this lawyer fellow let his guard down, because if you're out hunting with a politician, you think, 'If I'm going to get it, it's going to be in the back.

' ``

``The big scandal apparently is that they didn't release the news for 18 hours. I don't think that's a scandal at all. I'm quite pleased about that. Finally there's a secret the vice president's office can keep.''

``Apparently the reason they didn't release the information right away is they said we had to get the facts right. That's never stopped them in the past.''

*********************

Adding insult to injury, the victim has succumbed to a heart attack today, brought on by the facial "peppering". It takes this into something way past what even the most dangerously brainwashed republican stooge should see as a horrible precedent. The ongoing hooflerall over Cheney's Secret Service failures to secure the scene, contact the local police, and the entire White House staff's failure to handle the release of the information (they left THAT gem to the lady of the house, Ms. Anderson, who, while photogenic, is not someone that I feel should be handling White House press releases) show us an arrogance and lack of respect for the government that would be appalling if so many of us had not known about their proclivities long ago, when they did NOT win the first election.

Now, after 5 years, we are seeing what happens when thieves gain office. They continue to steal and lie.

Speaking of Voices in an Empty Room

2006-02-13T22:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, no matter how far behind you are, there has to be a moment to stop and read the rest of the opinions on the planet-- maybe not ALL of them, but a smattering. The boring ones get skimmed so fast your browser spins, and the more interesting ones get a moment of glory...

So while wandering around I found some very interesting spots here..

http://mousehulhu.blogspot.com/
Gotta love the user info here. Keeps you smiling.

Then there is :

http://thegreatestriddles.blogspot.com/

I wish he had a spot where I could find the answers--- he asks GREAT riddles... thought provolking things. Mythos of play kind of spot.

I love the imagination some folks have for their lives- and often wonder why they weren't hired in stead of some of the hacks that seem to appear ad nauseum on the print pages of the world:http://slowlyboilingfrog.blogspot.com/

There are blogs of honor about social justice, love, and the rightness of being that I admire:

http://natenelson.blogspot.com/

Now, there are a lot of crap out there, advertising blogs, and things I cannot read- mostly spanish blogs. There are "family" blogs- pages like huge family newsletters with pictures, most notable for the fact that no one wants to read them unless they are related or pathetically lonely and bordering on some social psychosis.

Then again, I tend to find humor in almost anything.

http://kuaciman.blogspot.com/

Proves my point... even if you don't find it mentally challenging, it's still great stuff!

So stay tuned to the many blogs that abound.... it's a brand new world out there, and the best information is not necessarily coming from those who are paid and need to write to appease their boss.... they are often those who write to appease their souls.

The Gang that Couldn't shoot straight

2006-02-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

This year, the Quail have nothing to fear. REAL men are in the woods.

Once again, the rich are WAY different.
Vice fascist Dick the Prick managed to shoot his hunting partner Saturday while out killing pheasants for sport. We will discuss in detail what the hell is wrong with finding pleasure in killing animals at a later date. Please do remember however, that killing animals for sport is the first sign of pathological psychosis in teenagers. Those that kill and torture people usually start by enjoying the murder of animals.

For now, we will try to focus on what the hell is wrong with AMERICA for continuing to support-- hey, even apologize and excuse this group of original American abusers.
Let's get with a few basics..

Cheney didn't have a tag to bag squat. He decided it was OK to just pick up a gun and shoot something without the necessary permit. He didn't feel like paying Fish and Game their legal tithe to go kill something.
Now, there are about a bazillion things wrong with this. This is the SECOND highest legal representative of the executive branch of our government, President of the Senate, and, supposedly, still has some living brain tissue, yet the basic automatic function of every hunter to be LEGAL never crossed his mind???

Of course not. These guys don't have to be legal like you and me. The law doesn't count for them, weather it is buying and selling stock, beating prisoners in Gitmo in violation of the Geneva convention, driving drunk, pulling your kids military records to cover their failures, or bothering to get your tags in order to go out and kill something.

Now, I know for a bleeding liberal FACT that if you, or I, or any goddamned Republican that makes an hourly wage and owns just one pick up truck was found in violation of that law, they would have their gun confiscated, they would be given at minimum a citation, and often, they are flat out arrested. Calif. Fish and Game will arrest a person for standing and fishing without a license-- and most folks will agree that fishing is the least henious of all the killing fields.

Cheney is a free range abuser, crossing all social lines, and the "tags" issue is just the tip of the "rich are different" story here. Turns out, the local sherrif didn't think it was NECESSARY to bother interviewing the VP until the next day. Damn- I want that life! Shoot someone, send them to the hospital, and get to go home and schedule your chat with the local police for some time more CONVIENIENT????????

Hell.... Not since Scott Peterson has the guilty party been given so much leeway, and at least in HIS case the local PD was still collecting evidence. I guess if you are the VP, walking around with a weapon on your buddies private ranch, without bothering to get a permit, and then you SHOOT the SOB, then of COURSE the logical next step is for your "good old boy" local sherrif to kinda smile and shake it all off to "boys will be boys", smiling for the press and amicably meandering on out to shake your hand, get a quick photo shoot, and then frame that picture for over the desk as you write "accident" on the one page report (which was, in all likelyhood, overseen by White House Council sitting on his right hand side and dictating the exact phases to use).

Must be nice living that kind of life. I wish I could accidentally shoot a friend while illegally hunting and get to head on home for a cold one and a shower before getting around to chatting with the local constabulary.

My first thought is...WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH AMERICA TO **NOT** BE APPALLED WITH THIS?

Ok, that's actually my second thought. My first was regret that Chaney was not .. oh hell, better not tell ya that one. Considering the reach of Carnivore, the western Gestapo can have a team of swathounds at my house faster than Dominoes Pizza. Better let those regrets live on as artistic merit in a parody song to be produced at a later date.

IN 5 years, Through all the errors, the goofs, the arrogant oversights, the messes, I cannot find a moment of humble. Not one photo of repentant. Not a shred of feeling responsible or guilty. When Cheney is not allowed to scuttle off from the press (yes, he did THAT today too- one moment he's at the White House with staff, and the next, as the press comes in the front door, Dickey boy slides out the back), he bluffs and brazens his way at the cameras like the bull moose he is- a man with so much fear in him, so much determination to prove that his life is not a disgusting mess, that he will never once admit to being wrong.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think that I can pretty much GUARANTEE that there is no human being on the planet that has gone even 1 full year without making one mistake, taking one false step, having one error of judgment (large or small, Rumsfeldian or republican penis size)

So, What are we, the voting republic, to make of all this crap? Is it better to have "real men" that don't have sex with their wives but do spend time with their guns in the White House, and if so, how are we to protect ourselves from their artillery games?

Should we have mandatory blow jobs for everyone in public office? If this offends you, is it due to the fact that you dislike talking about sex, or because you aren't getting any?

If you agree with me, are you doing all you can to convince everyone you know to never ever vot for a Republican- because when they do, they are showing support for the abusive leaders, the men that make Noriega look like Jimmy Carter (who, buy the way, finally had even HIS Christian charity pushed beyond reason-- He is now actively speaking out against this administration, and for him, that is the equivelent of the Pope condoning condoms).

Remember- there is more to this story, and you will never know about it. Those they can't quiet with money they will invite to go hunting.

2006 Got away from Me

2006-01-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

Sh......oot, it's already practically February, and I have yet to get the Christmas Decorations down (that damned fake tree gets to stay up year round with all the GOOD ornaments on it. When ever I am depressed, I just hit the foot control and it lights up my life).

I run around doing the same things every day, and finding so many things WRONG with the planet... things we need to talk about.

Abortion- Hey, you follow YOUR God's decisions and I will follow MINE thank you very much. Legislating religious beliefs is EXACTLY what the Taliban did. But I guess some of those nuts LIKE that idea. A state based on a single religious belief. Great. I often wonder just what they would do if they totally GOT that.

Would some of them get nervous when the people that worship with live snakes made laws that required every woman to dance with a rattler twice a year?

Would the men get upset when they found out that they suddenly had to give 50% of their salary as a "tithe" because their county was over run with Mormons?

Would the women of the USA finally wake up and run madly for the nearest exit when they could be raped and BLAMED for it?

It drives me nuts to know that there are whole states where people think that forcing women to be pregnant because they "did it" is acceptable, and that making a girl a mother is a good punishment for her crime of sex.

Since when did SEX become hateful for these people? Cummon-- maybe they aren't doing it right.

Just Another Manic Monday

2005-11-14T23:24:00.000-08:00

Congratulations on finding your days free of enough pain and strife to wander down HERE on the net.

Blogging. The last (or first) bastion of the verbose man.
Typists Tourette's if you will.

A chance to look inside one's self and take inventory, and if one is lucky, not call the movers and abandon the cat.

Do you see anything of interest in yourself that you like?

Have you celebrated having that ability lately?

Have you wandered around and taken stock of the 3 most abusive traits you harbor..... do you even have the guts to admit they might be there?

OK, so you think you want to peek around your psyche corner and peer into the big box. Get a latte, make a mental note that you just spent enough to save 3 starving preschoolers in Gyana, and then check again. If you have a moments hesitation before you justify your right to spend money with abandon just because you earned it, you probably don't need to take inventory right now. Finish your coffee before it gets cold.

If you work for the public schools, get your pencils sharpened. You ARE going to be at this carbon based pentinence for quite a while. Being that you work for the public educational system, you might need a buddy to help you with the big words, like latte. Or inteligence. That however, is a rant for another rafting expedition. Today, we are just floating with the currents of fall.

Start with Respecting each other

2005-10-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Today I read a post that alluded to the idea that, for the US, now, that the ends justify the means-so that it's OK to do whatever you do because there is some "end plan" that *should* be the larger good. Of course, that's not how the US government was ever intended to work, especially when it comes to foreign policy.
I think that funding a war is fine and good and well (notwithstanding how people feel about it, or even discussing *this* war in particular), but to do so at the detriment of major infrastructure repairs that have been well documented for over 5 years (National Geographic had a whole issue about this problem 5 years ago, Time Magazine forecasted this scenario more than a year ago, etc... google historical print articles) is just plain stupid.
I don't like seeing homeland security comprised strictly of rhetoric, and this hurricane disaster speaks volumes about how well we can handle stuff here in the US. The hurricane at least had the common decency to send us a week's worth of notice so TRY to mitigate the disaster. Terrorist attacks will not be so kind. Allowing a city to deteriorate deliberately while funding is funneled elsewhere- and that elsewhere is and elective option- is not sound judgment. I doubt if anyone here would continue to feel the US was justified in diverting funds if their family was on the GG bridge and it collapsed and killed them- and we found out that the scenario had been repeatedly predicted and was one of the top 3 disasters predicted nationwide unless funding was found to make repairs. The disaster of FEMA before (they had disaster official notice 48 hours before landfall by the Governor, as required by all laws) and after (hell-- when you have to make excuses for not knowing what's going on while 5 news stations are broadcasting it to America) is yet a separate issue, one of a deterioration in standards for giving political buddies posts- it has always happened, only the current low standards for what buddies qualify for important jobs is now non-existant. *I* have better credentials than Brownie, having worked for a PD for 8 years and run disaster scenarios, emergency evacuation plans, etc., as well as business sense. But, sadly, all of this is just not going to change, for those who feel that any criticism of the Govt. is an undermining of govt. will not change their views (although I notice they had no problems doing so during the Clinton administration), and those who feel otherwise aren't going to stop bringing up issues.
What we CAN do is decide that our local issues are what we will focus on in the neighborhood list- and then debate HOW to make the things we all want to have happen occur. Example: All of us want to alleviate traffic issues on Lincoln. Some want to redraw the lanes to one each way. Some want to detour larger traffic patterns. Some want to encourage growth, and some want to just not hear noise.
NO matter what we do or print, all I personally ask is that before someone writes something, research it a little bit. Google it, check out some resource materials. Make sure those resource materials are not talk radio. Make sure those resource materials are not Soldier of Fortune, Greenpeace, or anything else on the far end of the spectrum of either side. There are plenty of long term, well respected journalistic endeavors and informational locations that have been around long enough to prove that they try not to LEAN at all, but provide information. If the only place you get your news is either FOX *or* Saturday Night Live, you are limiting what facts you get and giving those who like to manipulate the population an advantage. Keep in mind that "mission creep" has occurred over the last 15 years as every large news source has been purchased and become part of a larger origination. Find out who owns that organization before listening to their news source (Rupert Murdock??? Steve Case of AOL??? NPR??? Mother Jones (which, buy the way, takes no advertising from anyone)????

I have had some nasty shocks over the years, and have come to the conclusion that when I learn something ugly about the party I support, turning away, justifying it, or seeking contradictory and supporting rhetoric is easy. But not true. Gramma said truth doesn't change, and I think she was right. It's how you look at it that makes a difference. And if you can look your neighbors in the eye afterwards.

Halloween Time, Trees, and Wild Weasels

2005-10-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

Its a Halloween WELCOME to you.

October Country is a place in your head where the breezy days die down, there is a crunch to your steps, and long sleeves fill the days. We are changing seasons and lives, thoughts, and the future. It is magic, and more haunting than anything I could imagine.

Trees. There is a great poem by Joyce Kilmer that most people barely know how to quote that talks about their beauty :

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

She was right you know. It takes forever to really make a *tree*. Not just some shade sapling, but some mighty, deeply rooted living organisms that brings oxygen, shelters houses from heat, gives space for wildlife homes, and creates and ecosystem that we humans envy.
There is, however, another quote that is much more apt. for San Jose these days:

"If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen." ~Henry David Thoreau

Within my neighborhood, we have found that enterprising citizens are many, and they are very good at creating profit for themselves. They are creative, cunning, fast, smart, rich, and lethal to what most of their fellow citizens want. We have wanted our trees.
This summer, I had first hand knowledge of just what true weasels can do when they see money in front of them, and how *no* amount of money is too small for them to ignore, nor no act to aggressive if there is wealth that is possible. I do not use the term "weasel" lightly. A person has got to have the integrity of a snake to deliberately flaunt the law, and to do it to the people you have lived next to for over a decade is the act of a true and well trained weasel.

The city of San Jose, like most in America, has laws about construction designed to give the city some control over the clear cutting of land, and to give citizens some input when their neighborhoods are going to be changed profoundly. Within the construction rules for housing are clauses for creating permits, approval of plans, neighborhood notifications, legal setbacks, mandatory requirements to mitigate neighborhood suffering, and requirements for safety and security. They are all there for a reason.

The city of San Jose has, notoriously, and for decades, used the contractors as their "partners" in government, and has given those who build on a regular basis lots of perks, including kickbacks of costs, discounts of fees, waiving permits, and even outright payments and free property. Often, this was under the guise of the "redevelopment" agency, and when Frank Taylor was running that area, the graft and greed got so bad that they began to dismantle the historic district of downtown San Jose before anyone could stop them. When a new mayor was elected, the entire Sr. staff of that group "resigned", and major changes occurred (although no one will ever admit they were *needed*).

"God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools. " ~John Muir

But our developers are not a timid lot, and none of them left town. They just kept on keepin' on. San Jose has some wonderful ways of giving developers CRAZY leeway. The fines for failures to comply with the building codes for developers are painfully low. They drain the public coffers of much needed revenue even while the Police are working overtime to make it up in tickets. There are those who say they have set them at the rates they have so that "citizen builders" (homeowners) can remodel without fear of bankruptcy over fines. The have apparently not heard of a two-tiered system for fines relating to violations, nor will they even discuss the fact that professionals with licenses, years of experience working in SJ, and millions of dollars to gain are in a totally different league than the casual homeowner with $200,000.00 equity and no free time who is remodeling his attic on winter weekends. The city would like to treat both with equal fairness- which is, of course, inequitable. For decades, citizens have watched as heritage tree after heritage tree has been "accidentally" removed. The worst of all offenses happened almost 2 decades ago in South San Jose at old Monterey Road on land that was the historic stage coach stop. It had the largest tree of it's kind west of the Mississippi on the property, and the ladies that had owned it for decades spent a lot of time in court trying to undo their own losses after the land passed to the lawyer and then on to a developer (as I heard the story- please feel free to check the Mercury records).

The developer wanted the entire site for a major new shopping center. There was LOTS of land, and the location was ripe for the new housing going in all over that area. But that tree-- it stood right in the middle of the land and would require not being able to "fully develop" the site.

"The groves were God's first temples. " ~William Cullen Bryant, "A Forest Hymn"

Permits were rejected, protests were made, and everyone involved, from the historical society to the new owners of homes nearby were in agreement that the lot was more than large enough to hold all the development *and* the tree. One weekend day, the bulldozing crew "accidentally" took it down. By the time the city was notified and anyone could take action, there was nothing to be done. The fine for the "accident" was not even the equivalent of a full days pay for the work crew.

That story has been a pattern in SJ for 20 years, and we are tired of it. The pattern is so simple that it is insulting. 1- Do not get a permit for the tree removal. That would draw attention and would show you knew about said tree.2- Do not have any pictures of the tree, even if every other section of the lot has been painstakingly documented.3- Hire a small crew to work on a Sat. or Sunday. There is no code enforcement on those days, and the police dept. has an extremely spotty record on how - or even if- they will respond to tree calls.4- Look shocked when you are notified your crew took down a big tree that just happens to be right where you were going to put a building (yes, we know you do it-- for your plans show where the new stuff is going, or are conveniently *changed* once a tree has been accidentally taken).5- Dig deep into your pocket and pull out your small change purse to pay whatever fine they slap you with. The MILLIONS that you will earn from this deal makes a tree fine not worth your effort to even take off the taxes.6- If you are a TRUE weasel, you will first go in to the City and apply *retroactively* for a permit to take down the tree that is long gone. When this occurred during this summer, I was APPALLED that the city allowed weasels to come in after the fact of taking down heritage trees and get the original permit, thereby giving permission for acts that the citizens never had a chance to protest.

A super weasel owns his house and is also ALREADY a professional developer- and is using the "owner option" to change the lot into lots of homes- and gets to work nights, weekends, and holidays. Super weasels do this repeatedly. The city loves superweasels. They have recently allowed a Superweasel and his partner to develop first his own home site into 3 houses this way, and then they bought the lot behind them and the *partner* is claiming he will live in one of the 3 new houses they are putting up there- so they get to use this ploy TWICE. I don't feel bad for developers at *all*. Trees under 30" diameter are not heritage and can be torn down without all that trauma. That's 95% of all the trees in the city. Heritage tree permit processes are in place so that the neighbors can, should they desire, protect the neighborhood, the shade to their houses, and the atmosphere that often directly affects their housing values. Trees in WG are part and parcel of what makes us desirable for homes, and why our resale values are so high. Some have speculated that every tree that goes down within view of a house lowers that home property values by $5,000.00.

The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert

The weasels of SJ development have gotten away with the "replacement" clause as well. Their low fines have included giving back trees to the city. Small trees. Trees that cost them next to nothing to buy and install on public lands. Trees that will take decades to be anywhere near as large and important and useful as the counterparts that have been taken down. If the city was *really* into stopping this,they would require them to replace the tree EXACTLY. Yes, there are places where you can buy a full grown, 100 year old redwood. Pricey, but available. Any adult mature tree is available if you are willing to pay for it. Ask Hollywood, mansion developers, and resort owners. No hurricane can destroy anything that cannot be replanted *exactly* by the following spring.

There are quite a few things that SJ could do if they cared, and wanted to really show anything other than contempt for citizens and the protection of our trees. Many fear that the city, in it's zeal to grow and have projects done quickly, has become complicit with the developers, sitting fatly in their back pockets. These reforms would change that view.

Have every permit for every tree available on line, instantly, to every cop and city worker, citizen and stranger. It takes about 3 min to enter into the computers of the on line permits section of the city already being used.
Have SOMEONE from Code enforcement work on the weekends- or make sure every darned cop (and the dispatchers that argue with citizens) aware that they are responsible to uphold TREE laws and that they must respond.
Make it illegal to remove trees on weekends. Period. If you send a crew out on a weekend with a bulldozer, you better damned well make sure they know not to touch the trees.
Make all 3d party (non-homeowner) construction illegal on weekends- that takes care of having the PD involved, makes it easy to see who is trying to skirt the laws, and lets everyone sleep in on the weekends (right now that is NOT the case. I personally spent 4th of July unable to get the nail guns to stop).
make the crime cost some real money. Sunnyvale apparently takes this seriously, and is fining people 5 THOUSAND dollars for the FIRST time, and TEN THOUSAND for the second. It goes up from there. I wish they would make that cumulative for the life of the contractor.
Make it not worth any amount- refuse to allow building. If the city approves a permit where a building is going over the location of a tree, and yet there is no tree permit, it shows a blatant preplanning. When the developers bring in "plan A", then "accidentally" kill the big tree, and then REVISE their plans to put buildings where that pesky tree used to be- that's the sign of a TRUE weasel. Deny it. Make that land move irrelevant and impossible. If a tree has been illegally removed, no further changes of any structural kind or additions can go on that land for 20 years. Period. Even if a fire wipes it all out. Even if Aliens land. Period.
Compensate the neighbors with some respect. I am so tired of us doing the work we pay "Code Enforcement" for, and then not even getting a Thank you. That stinks. It shows the same lack of respect that started this whole thing.
Developers should not have more rights, more options, and more access to city hall than the neighbors.Businessmen that repeatedly fall back on "I didn't know" as their excuse shouldn't be allowed to do business in SJ. We have plenty of developers that are willing to come here and follow the rules. We do not need to encourage the weasels.

Welcome to the cutting edge-bring your own Band-Aids.

2005-08-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the start of something... Interesting.

For those of you who don't know, I am a freelance published writer that had a column for 10 years, writing about this, that, and whatever.

Those years were great- but the weekly deadline for a newspaper became less and less fun, and the format gave little room to explore some important issues. And to vent when I darned well felt like it.

My readership when I left the paper was around 10,000 folks (well, those that liked me. There were probably 20,000 that always kept a ripe tomato around!).

This is my first foray into "blogging" or, as I like to think of it, public diaries. Samuel Pepys would roll over in his grave if he knew. So would my best friend, so we won't tell her if I reveal anything licentious.

I am hoping that I can produce a new column every two weeks to start with, as well as updates on the old work, new book, and local news/reviews, and BS.

This is not for the feign of heart, so don't feign, OK?