A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation

And my favorite part, with its unstated USMC connection (". . .to the shores of Tripoli." tra la)


"In the 1790s, in the waters off Tripoli, pirates were making sport of American shipping near the Barbary Coast. Toward the end of his second term, Washington sent Joel Barlow, the diplomat-poet, to Tripoli to settle matters, and the resulting treaty, finished after Washington left office, bought a few years of peace. Article 11 of this long-ago document says that “as the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,” there should be no cause for conflict over differences of “religious opinion” between countries."

Ah, I still see us - US rapidly approaching the time of "A Handmaidens Tale."

A very fine summary

"Remember Lynn Cheney calling Kerry a "bad, bad Man" when he had brought up the daughter's sexual preference in a debate? So Kerry was a "bad, bad Man" while her husband, tortures, screws the Geneva Conventions and the American Constitution, slaughters his very own in a fake war while dishing out no-bid contracts to his war scavenger buddies?! It's all fake anger ... and ... genuine hypocrisy!!!"

My compulsion to edit, cut, simplify, everything, is delighted with the sum of Cheney in 25 (well, 30) well chosen words or less, from a comment on Huffington Post.

Last Will and Testamemt

I've started this thing a coupla times - this week of repeated a-fib propels me to write a quick one.
I leave everything I possess to my oldest son Joseph M. Zaouk. After he takes what he wants (he claims he wants very little of mine, ie., it's all worthless (pity me poor me) but, Whatever. After he picks up those three ha ha ha things, ** Andrew Bennett, his father Walter Bennett, his wife Leah Bennett; Carmen Jean Silva, Marcy Pineda and her children Crystal De Nova, John De Nova and Zoe Angeles, in that order, should get whatever they want, and then someone, for Pete's sake should have a garage sale or use E-Bay. ** My sister, Linda Oliver McCoy of Alva, Florida, should she chose to transport anything, or even FLY out here (little dig there Sis) would be # 2 in line. My youngest son Rached A. Zaouk, if he choses to make an appearance, will receive his portion of the US Savings bonds (8 or 9 of them in $50.00 denominations) which I have already endorsed over to Joseph M. and Rached A. Zaouk. Omar Zaouk, younger brother of Joseph and Rached Zaouk, may also be interested in salvaging some item or another.
My good friend, Karen Higa, of San Francisco, has promised to take care of my cats should I die. You didn't think I'd forget that did you Karen?

I think that just about covers it.

About my week: yeah. Called in my rx refills to
General Hosp. last Friday night ("if you request a refill when you have more than 2 days of medication remaining, the prescription will not be filled and you will not be notified" Gen. Hosp Pharmacy) I had 2 days left of 4 meds which had been prescribed to KEEP ME ALIVE. I figured I would take the last dose on Saturday, pick up the scripts on Monday, and only miss one day. Whoops, I failed to take into consideration the Monday holiday, in my count. Well, hell, two days shouldn't kill me, should it? I was headed to Gen. Hosp. to pick them up when I needed to call an ambulance with BP of 200/160 HR 122. It was 130 when the Red Truck got there; and back to 121 at St Luke's triage desk, and normal by the time I got on a table. However - 1/2 hour later, I was tripping along at 155 beats per minute, way into a-fib. ( Meanwhile, Marcy has taken a bus to Gen Hosp to p/u the meds: But NOOOOO. my payment status had changed from co-pay to Medi-Cal then to Medicare, so I was no longer eligible for some strange reason, so no, you can't have these meds we told you to take to stay alive. ) St. Luke's admits me, and they all marvel at how I got there - GH not giving me my meds. Sheesh, I sound like someone on Judge Maxine (or something.) I spend the night, and another day; my third blood test comes back negative for the heart attack enzyme; my HR and BP have been normal for 20 hours, so they send me home. With all the prescriptions I need, and having fed me the appropriate meds during my stay. Thursday, I'm just about to go to Walgreen s (St. Luke's Social Worker: "No problem, just take them to Walgreen s, they will help you sign up for Medi-care Part D, and give you your Rx." Well, nooooo, again, but it was Marcy who ended up going for me) Meanwhile, I'm ticking along at 122 or so beats per minute, going on 4 hours, now. I call Walter, he takes me back to the hospital. As soon as I lie down, HR returns - gradually- to normal. Another Social Worker tells me: "No problem, just go to Social Security Office at 22nd and Valencia, tell them you need to apply and you need a letter saying your are eligible, just not quite covered." Well, noooooo again. A really nice lady at SS goes above and beyond - calls Walgreens, calls Medi-Cal even!! I end up at Walgreens talking to the nice lady who'd helped Marcy at great length the day before. I put over $200 worth of just the 4 I need desperately on the credit card I swore not to increase balance on. WTF is a dangling proposition, anyway? My mood is all bad.

USGS says Polar Bears will disappear within "our" lifetimes - 40 years. I can live with that! laughing hysterically.

U.S. Constitution

With the Pentagon's blessings and assistance, apocalyptic evangelists are proselytizing US troops in Iraq. (AlterNet)

What the hell is my country coming to? I suppose I should say "Hell." The Feds are sending copies of the "Left Behind" video game to the troops (that's the one where you have to kill or convert the 'non-believers' - gosh, sounds like Muslim extremism, as well) - along with an apocalyptic group of live entertainers to make sure their End of Days scenario is hammered into the soldiers' little heads. One Two Three Four, what are we fighting for? Not our Constitution, that's for sure. Just to be on the safe side, they are sending a 'highly rated' (by the evangelistas) text -printed in English/Arabic, to explain the whole 'come to Jesus and live, or don't and die' thing so allegorically presented in Revelations. That will give the local ME's (Muslim extremists) a whole 'nother reason to kill Americans.

STS118

Watching NASA TV covering the shuttle to ISS mission. Thought it was in real time, for a minute there, but now is hard to tell. Well! Bloody amazing, I say. "Crossing eastern pacific ocean approaching the equator" Space walk to rearrange fittings for new module, attach said module, etc. They have electric wrenches that calibrate torque and how many turns it took to get there. The sort of feature you need to work on a Subaru, heh heh heh. Frequently, I could see the earth past the equipment the camera was focused on. How - tragic, that that is as far as we've gotten in 30+ years. Never been back to the moon, barely planning for Mars.

Another night of 'shoulda gone to work' but didn't. I cleaned up - mostly, the growing shuffled pile of "to do" items, some of which are a month past due. There has to be a drug to cure this. Pulled a few weeds, cut flowers, made a bunch of bouquets; made some butterscotch brownies, ate a lot of them smile

NASA does seem to be showing Houston Control live, with no sound, or nobody is talking. They scoot back and forth between monitors, or stare fixedly at one. Some one sporadically stands up and moves a few steps.
(now my very own Satellite aka Dish Network, is doing its daily 'checking for important system upgrades' ' don't touch me' thing)
Means it's time for me to go to sleep. 04:00

fox-in-the-henhouse statuette

"Across six years, the Bush administration has mocked all standards of conflict of interest by choosing private industry zealots for high regulatory posts — where they worked to roll back hundreds of rules on transportation, workplace and mine safety, the environment and other issues. The latest in this subversive chain must surely take the fox-in-the-henhouse statuette: President Bush has nominated Michael Baroody, lobbyist for the powerful National Association of Manufacturers, to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission."


The article goes on to point out how very, very, many industry insiders are regulating their own industry.

I just started reading a Sci Fi (not so much!!) story about some poor scientist (35 or so years down the road - Pres. Jenna, VP Barbara, former Pres. Jeb) trying to convince them all that a new method of extracting energy from the vacuum will precipitate a galaxy wide explosion. But there are no real scientists left in govt, of course, because the real ones wouldn't lie for the govt. He finally convinces them he's telling th truth when he explains that the Tau Ceti intelligence warning us had taken 5 years of bureaucratic snarffle before they decided to risk contact with us.

The 'most trusted man in America' Walter Cronkite, being profiled on CBS right now. My first speaking part! 4th grade: the boy picked to play WC on the Columbus Day "You Are There" play in my class called in sick. I guess he must have called in the day before, because I remember I was wearing a nice little 'girl' suit my Mommy had made. I was the only one in class who could read well enough to read it cold. I was a little ham.

Fascist America, in 10 Easy Steps

An article on/in AlterNet by Naomi Wolf describes the process we have begun under the Shrub and company. I actually sent it to my sister, for whom I still hold hope for enlightenment. Usually I leave her out of my political ravings, knowing her Republican bent. And bent it is, IMHO. Unfortunately her every political leaning is tied directly to RTL. Supporting that seems to give them a pass on everything else. I'm afraid there are a fair number of Americans in the same circumstance.

The following is a bit from a link from the above listing provisions of a bill signed last year by jr. shrub. 1800 years of common law gone to hell.

" Habeas corpus, or the Great Writ, is the legal procedure that keeps the government from holding you indefinitely without showing cause. When you challenge your detention by filing a habeas corpus petition, the executive branch must explain to a neutral judge its justification for holding you. It’s been a pillar of Western law since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215."


"The last Congress passed the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006. . . . the MCA revoked the right to habeas corpus for anyone detained at Guantanamo Bay, as well as for any foreigner the government detains anywhere and labels an “enemy combatant,” including legal residents of the U.S.

"• Allows for evidence obtained through torture and coercion to be used in military commission prosecutions;

• Retroactively immunizes government officials and private contractors for their involvement in torture and abuse; and

• Strips Guantanamo detainees, and potentially all non-U.S. citizens, of the right to challenge their indefinite detention through a writ of habeas corpus. "

The Internet may very well be the salvation of us all. (Do I need to reiterate my long ago prediction that this would be so? Well, probably not, but it feeds my ego.)

Riverbend

"There are moments when the injustice of having to leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is overwhelming."
All the stomach acid I've generated over the months worrying about this girl! She vanishes from the blog for long periods, from time to time. I restrain myself from querying the Family in Bagdhad folks, cuz I know they're fielding questions. But she always turns up, as J #4 said. Or maybe it was J#3? It's occurred to me that her Publisher, for pete's sake, shoulda coulda musta tried to get her out. Having been a faithful reader of her "Bagdhad Burning" blog for 3 or more years, I did buy her book, but gave it as a gift.

To say the least. The collective guilt I feel a part of - my wonderful country did this to other human beings. Faiza posted a UTube link showing her "Beautiful Bagdhad" being desecrated.

More on law of the jungle

New Jersey governor moved from intensive care

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was injured April 12 in a crash on the Garden State Parkway.

New York (CNN) -- New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine is no longer in critical condition .

His left thigh bone was broken in two places, with the femur bone popping through the skin, and he had several broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken collarbone, a slightly fractured lower vertebrae and a deep cut in his face.

He was sitting in the front passenger seat of an SUV being driven by a state trooper and was not wearing a seat belt, a violation of New Jersey traffic laws. {emphasis mine}

The vehicle was traveling about 90 mph


Well, he probably has already reproduced. Too bad. This is surely a herd culling event.

Law of the Jungle again

What happens when technology overcomes (clumsiness, stupidity, lack of attention-don't remember) brought to you by Zurich. Shows three guys on a high scaffold on a billboard, when one of them steps back too far and falls to the ground, where his personal body air bag inflates and cushions his landing. My answer is always: too many stupid people live to pass on their stupid genes. (now I see I've blogged this one before - still irritates me!!!)

Moving on to another Law: just read a really scary psychiatric evaluation of GWB and how he may still plunge us into WWIII. By father and son shrinks, no less from a New Zealand online news and commentary site called "Scoop." The 'no less' comes from the focus of the article on GWB's inadequacy feelings vis a vis his father. It leads me to think george may well be the first US President to commit suicide.

42% of WHO??

Just when I get to thinkin' CNN is on the side of the angels - figuratively speaking koff koff - Kitty Pilgram (love that name) is sitting in for Lou Dobbs, posting an answer to some kind of poll - 42% of someone (certain NOT the Iraqis-) thinks things are better in Iraq now than they were under Saddam. That just HAD to be a poll of illiterates in Red states. I know the average IQ is this country is a pretty scary 100, but really! 42% of the country has been on Mars for 4 years??
They might, possibly, get a similar answer in Iraq if they only asked in the Kurdish region.
I'm gonna have to research that one, before I spout off any more.

The Supremes just ruled that a high school student had no right to hold up a banner - off school grounds - saying "Bong hits 4 Jesus" while watching the passage of the Olympic Torch in some recent past. Drug related. So if you want to speak of drugs, your school can suspend you.

I did find this in a article about a poll of Iraqis. "Fewer than half in the country, 42 percent, said that life in Iraq now is better than it was under Saddam Hussein, the late dictator accused of murdering tens of thousands during a brutal regime." Again, Kurdistan! I think it's just Iraqis trying to be polite to the obviously US news person asking the questions.

But then, there's this from CNN:

Failing Grades

A startling number of Americans are functionally illiterate, according to a new study. The State Education Agency says one in five Americans cannot read maps, comprehend bus schedules or fill out job applications. We'll have a special report on the costs of this devastating discovery.

RIP Anna Nicole

More bizzare on top of bizzare. The lady died today. One wishes to send serenity and inner strength to the 6 month old baby girl- whose father has not been identified yet.

Not enough soul to go around for this poor little girl - the little girl that was Anna Nicole.

Remember those guys?

The whole
apocalyptic movement will result in "this."


Amazing how many Sci Fi writers envisioned this or similar scenarios. I've certainly seen it coming, and done the only thing I can do-bring up my kids to think for themselves.