It's All Fixed, and You Can't Change It Pt.II. .

or, Change You Can Believe In? redux.

From AlterNet:

"On March 4th, Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman introduced a bill called the "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010"

Half way down the first page, is this heart-breaker:

"Now, however, as president, Obama has helped pave the way for such radical legislative efforts as the one introduced by McCain and Lieberman, by embracing -- and re-branding -- the military commissions he once opposed."

and concludes:

"A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity."

This is a defining characteristic of a military dictatorship. Where's the outrage? And will it come before it's too late?

I wish I said that !

Another awesome from top to bottom Mark Morford SF Gate column.

I'm tired. YC's quasi-functional computer / software continues to make me CRAZZZZY ier by the minute. By the end of my 3rd straight day, I'm pounding the table top and hollering a lot. "I used to be so good at this job," is my frequent lament. SW has always been not quite professional (imagine a data base that crashes if more than one user opens the same file - an item that elicits howls of laughter from the cognizant.) but as it has been "updated" incrementally over the years, it now approaches the perfect pie crust.

A lovely Cat story

by VERLYN KLINKENBORG for the NY Times Linked above, but I am reproducing most of it, because I love the mood it puts me into (into which etc., . . .)

" For wildlife, there are cats. In fact, I seem to be living in a feline observatory. Large windows look out onto the porch, and the porch seems to have been used — for how long, I have no idea — by the cats of the neighborhood as a kind of theater, a place to work on their soliloquies. One by one, they come across the yard and up onto the porch, where they rehearse a fixed repertory of poses. Then they make their exit, stage left, departing through a small gap between the gate and the fence.

I cannot see these cats — I’ve counted nearly a dozen so far — without thinking of a sentence by the writer Guy Davenport: “My cat does not know me when we meet a block away from home, and I gather from his expression that I’m not supposed to know him, either.”

Perhaps that’s the value of my backyard as feline habitat. It’s a college-owned house, and it sat empty for the past few months. I’m unknown to these cats, and therefore they put on no pretense. Perhaps some are genuinely feral street cats. I suspect most of them have good homes with owners who let their pets out. My yard is where they come to be themselves.

I especially admire one nimbus-gray cat that comes walking across the yard looking as much like a feline bull as it is possible to look. I’m fond, too, of the longhair that spends a good part of the day sitting on top of the van parked across the street but takes a tour of my backyard around dusk. I stand back from the windows, hoping to remain undetected, but at least one of the cats — a gray and white — has found me out. It sits watching me as though it has never seen a writer in its habitat before. Then it walks away, jaded.

I would trade these cats for birds, of course, but the one precludes the other. I’ve seen a flicker and a scrub jay, also a hummingbird and several doves. The rest of the birds have been turned into cats over the years, just as the desert has been turned into houses with cats in them. Meanwhile, the neighborhood dogs stand behind their fences and bark at what they think is going on."

Oh, those imaginative puppies! Another whole tangent to drift into . . .(ibid)

depression

if I don't start soon, I'll continue to sink farther and farther into the slough of despond. I've always liked that phrase. I cannot sleep right. went to sleep at 0300. or rather, lay down then. still awake when the TV went into its 0400 reset. I was making endless movies on my eyelids. people i didn't know places I'd never been, viewing them totally outside of my body - i'm just not involved.

so i'm up again at 0730. oh yeas, and I've got some mysterious belly ache for 3 or 4 days. feels like gas that can't get out. no matter what i eat, it sits there and hurts. if I stand up and walk, i'm able to belch much of the pain away.

i'm so profoundly depressed, i can barely get out of bed. i manage to make it to scheduled events - like my JOB fircrissakes, two out of three days, most weeks. to the symphony, with effort.
I need to make an appointment with the cardio doc. - have needed to since October. I need to call medicare again and see if they've straightened out the "she has kaiser NO I DON'T" problem.. I could go to my local clinic if i knew this - and could convince them of this

i desperately need to get my house cleaned. i have a little cash, i could hire someone. the kicker here is that so much of the mess is insurance and medicare papers, and other personal junk probably from5 years back which absolutely requires my participation. same for the yard I've been meaning to call Mary Ho for both the dog and cleaning help. Just like the October time since when I should have called the doctor. I DESPERATELY need to have a dog keeper set up I can call if/when I'm hospitalized. Last time around, seems Leah has decided I'm too much trouble. I got no response asking them to go open the door for the dog. My amazing puppy lasted 17 hours I went to work at 2230 -straight to the hospital where I stayed all day getting the atrial fibrillation under control - receiving an increase in the medication that was already making me depressed as fuck. I got home around 1700 and the floor was still dry.
When I lay down this mooring at 0300, I felt really pretty bad, and I noticed that Martina made herself especially available to cuddle, so i could rest my head on her and my arm what a fine puppy. and that's another thing my poor baby hasn't been to the park in two weeks. I've GOT to get out of the house.

Every day I expect to feel better tomorrow. Every tomorrow I'm still a day older and feeling closer to death

The next great depression is only a moment away

Greece is almost in default. Japan is in massive deflation. Spain is putting new austerity measures in place. Much of Europe (see last article) is struggling to maintain solvency. Might be time to buy gold. Without looking it up, I'd guess the price of Au is well past $1,000 an ounce now. Wish I had some

So many fat cats getting fatter by eating all the fish. We've almost come full circle to the days when the rulers took all the production and left the serfs to starve. So the serfs got educated, took over the rule of law, and saw government as 'benevolent rulers,' supposedly doling out benefits paid for by the tax on their production. The big cats want most of the fish, so they pay for a rule of law that exempts them from taxation and responsibility. The biggest cats soon owned all the fish.

It's all fixed and you can't change it

Once again, a line from a rock song sez it all. read the story - the whole thing.

"I don't pretend to understand much about how derivatives work or what hedge fund managers do, but I've been watching the ups and downs of Apple's stock price long enough to recognize a pattern when I see it.

This one was a classic slingshot, described succinctly by Jason Schwarz in his seminal Apple: Seven Reasons Shorts Love It:

"If you can keep a good stock down," he wrote, "then you are able to load up for the ride back up. It's like a slingshot — the harder you pull, the more propulsion you generate." "

Whence?

"I won't die. Of that I am all but certain. My life is too contingent to lead to anything so absolute as death. No doubt I will eventually fade away and be lost in oblivion, as I would have done long ago if the poet hadn't summoned me into existence. Perhaps I will become a false dream clinging like a bat to the underside of the leaves of. . ."

Got to find where this comes from . . . an ending quote from a recent Jon Carroll column.

Ursula Le Guin - new novel, "Lavinia." Le Guin picks a bit player out of Virgil's epic poem, "The Aeneid," and builds that character's story into its own epic.

Le Guin learned Latin in her 70's to read Virgil in the original. Today's lesson

Oh My Goodness

Inner space discoveries

An under-sea city - discovered from space. They are looking for funding to explore on the ground (so to speak) er under the sea on the bottom. Location a secret - but some Caribbean island probably owns it. Wow! nice to know where to buy up some real estate. Someone knows already, no doubt. The proper records search should show where property sales pace has recently picked up. The things I could do if I had $ and/or motivation! The picture is compelling. I'm trying to figure out how to request news on this subject to be delivered to me regularly. Maybe after some sleep :)

Religion

. . .belief in invisible beings, inaudible voices, intangible entities, undetectable forces, and events and judgments that happen after we die.
Straight from the DSM IV

"And therefore, it still disables reality checks... making people more vulnerable to oppression, fraud, and abuse."

An alternate view:

Society Without God

Whoopee! Who needs to tweet when I only wanna talk to myself, anyway!

Just a little test of my new mobile bloggerama!

The more things change. . .

Joe Stalin's grandson is suing a Moscow newspaper for libel for saying his papa ordered the death of thousands. Jean Sarkozy, 23, son of the French President, is about to be appointed head of the richest, most powerful business group in central Paris. Cries of nepotism, and 'dynasty' abound. Thanks to BBC America. Can no longer get channel 32, Russia Today news. They were way too real, in our US un-real news. Gone off the cable.

Needed: a catastrophe

If this is not a red flag . . . If the Goddess is listening. . . If we don't blow ourselves up, we will destroy the human genome with chemicals. A civilization leveling event is in order. Not necessarily a species obliteration (that'd be us) but certainly any one of the easily forseeable events now on the horizon. Catastrophic climate overload; a stray nuke, in, say, the Panama Canal; eruption of the Yellowstone subduction zone. I'm really gonna have to live to 120 ! to see if all my predictions come about. 60 more years. groan smile I'd better start working out heh heh heh.

Ground Control to Major Tom

NASA crashed the LCROSS really big rocket into a dark crater near the pole on the moon. Idea is to blast a bunch of surface material into space so they could analyze it for content - water, hopefully, and other hydrogen compounds. It all happened around 04:00 but I just watched it on the DVR. Watching the craters of the moon growing larger and larger as the craft descends put me in mind of the vastness of the universe, and my infinitesimal size in relation to it all. Really - take a second or two: picture it all expanding outward from your center; be overwhelmed!

Jarrod

Andrew's Best Friend Forever died in a car crash last night. For about 4 hours this morning I didn't know where Andrew was. Jarrod was his single Mom's only child; they were probably as close as Joe and I were during his younger teens. I can't even partially imagine the pain. I believe I would still be screaming. Andrew and one of the "girl" friends and her mom were en route to J's house by 11AM and there now, still, I imagine. Leah says Mom is a woman of faith, and I do pray her church folk are there for her. Perhaps that would make her way a bit easier.

I do believe there are other dimensions we can pass to. I believe light and learning abound there. We scream only for ourselves in this one, even knowing that. Leah said she was going to urge Andrew to spend the night there (if Mom wanted) and my first thought was: knowing that "other" little boy - young man - was in that room and MY SON WOULD NEVER be there again would kill me. I'd scream all night, as well. I don't even know this woman, never met her, but the urge to hug her and cry with her is overwhelming me right now. There will be those close to her doing that right now, again I pray.

Maher on Huffington Post

Andy Borowitz: Palin-Prejean Alliance Predicted in Book of Revelations

According to Dr. Logsdon, in 1555 Nostradamus predicted the alliance between the two right-wing beauties when he wrote, "The slayer of beasts shall meet the barer of breasts."

Or somebody. . . I've been clicking through for so long, I've lost track; the page is here

The dog is outside alone -no kitty to chase- enviously listening to, and I suppose , smelling, the party going on a notch or two down the hill in back. Such a social creature, my darling dog. She deserves more than me.

Just what we need-a new drug

just what the world needs. NightLine just did a story on South Africa where the latest fad is smoking Anti Retro Virals. It appears to be a stupifying, violence inducing high. ARVs are plentiful (and cheap thanks to a US group sponsoring them) due to SA having the highest HIV rate in Africa. As a little kicker, the ARVs have no prophylactic effect when smoked, but they do introduce enough of the ARV to the person to produce a resistance to ARV drugs when introduced to treat HIV.

I see the planet entering a long period of die off of all species, all the way up to the top of the food chain. So, the next generation of HIV persons will not have any extended period of life -perhaps to not infect others? And of course, to create ARV resistant HIV strains. Every single other STD has rigorous reporting and notifications required. Which shows you how powerful the gay lobby was in the 80's when the plague first manifested at large. I know that is not politically correct, but truth is truth. I am the most gay LGBT person on the planet, claiming a couple of those initials myself, but let's be real folks. I believe the Mother has no intention of letting Herself be sucked lifeless by the parasites upon her.

She relentlessly kills off entire populations with flood, fire, wind, pestilence. Maybe She even effects the mental state of our leaders who start lethal/illegal conflicts. Certainly the brains of the young, disaffected males who shoot up groups of their peers on a regular basis.

Which could bring me back to fretting over Pakistan, a severely dysfunctional state, with nuclear capabilities and one of the most sexually repressed religions on the planet. Combined with the other Muslim states, the potential for "Let's Play Global Thermonuclear War" All that excess testosterone. Oh my.

Another WOW moment

After a day spent watching Obama's inaugural everything, crying, laughing, crying some more. . .

Quel surprise!! Qaddafi, who seems to have achieved a sort of wisdom in his old age, offers a solution to the Israel/Palestine dilemma. I can hardly wait to see the reactions of the Mid-East bloggers I follow. Also to read the historians' take on the veracity of his points.

Bells and things

Learned a -to me- amazing new thing tonight. PBS show about the dinosaurs of the arctic; the appearance, or lack thereof, of serrations, or 'teeth' on the edges of leaves is an almost perfect indicator of how cold or temperate the climate during a particular period . " fewer teeth, smaller tooth area, and lower degree of blade dissection in warmer environments.^" . A complicated water exchange mechanism. This was my paradigm shift moment. the rest follows nicely. So, the North coast of Alaska was far more temperate 70 million years ago. But the high latitude also made for a greater swing in high and low temps, leading to the conclusion that the 'arctic' dinos were far more adaptable than the southern cousins. Diversity was enormous then, but was already shrinking by the time the 65 million year ago asteroid climate disaster happened. Then the planet wide long winter that arose wouldn't necessarily be the extinction triggering event, since the ''arctic' dinos proved they could survive much cooler climes. Lack of diversity seems to be a species killer. We are now spiraling down that very path.

Another amazing PBS thing: The Raleigh Ringers: hand bell ensemble, with holiday music. I recently read a book in which 'ringers' appeared in a subplot. I understood the concept, but never pictured the intricacies of music they could perform. They're just a treat to watch and marvel over. "English hand bell ringing" The book, scifi alt future, was set in England. I'll remember the name of it soon.

The foriegn press, oh my!

( look up contributors list )
this prompted by a long piece on Russia Today the "mood in America" by showing some right wing radio host ( a solidly believable group NOT)about all the Obama contributors from off shore accounts. Reminds me that's exactly what my sister said. This guy was positively rabid! Is it some mineral in the soil causing otherwise intelligent humans to believe any of that crap? When it's so easily disproved with a bit of reading effort. Russia Today "poll 40% think Obama's term will end with a graceful bow before a period of US decline. 29% say change possible, whether for better or worse (these people really like decisions) 20% think it will produce a humble America (more hysterical laughter), first among equals. 11% think it will show greater tolerance and hope for minorities.

One must read or watch the foreign press. Reality knocking.

The Oprah factor

An economics pre-doc proved that Oprah's support got Barack over 1 million votes - in the primaries - leading to his place. . . in place to change history. Everything happens for a reason. Hmmm, one wonders how Hilary feels about that.

Change has come. Little black boys - and girls - can now know that anything is possible. The rest of the world is pretty happy, too. But here, we have collective guilt, responsibility, for living in, yes, the greatest country on this Earth, that was founded on genocide, inquisition and slavery. And maybe we have made an evolutionary step forward. Maybe the aliens will land now. ha ha ha ha.

I had a flash earlier about Black folks having a Sally Fields moment, where they can actually put away the pervasive feelings that no matter what, white folks will always put them down. That would certainly be a transformative paradigm shift. And there is really no other country in the world that could understand that, because there is no history anywhere else to have created our personal racial issues.

My sister - oh my goddess, an otherwise intelligent woman, today was telling me "you know, he's NOT African American, he's half African and half American, and 1/4 of his background is Muslim, and they were not the slaves, they were the slave takers." Oh. My. God. And then I asked, " so how does this pertain to him, now?" "Well, we'll see." And more from the right wing hate spewers - it was there, just waiting to pop out. Well, that didn't sound very hateful. Maybe I'm just projecting. She finished it off by saying 'well we won't have that argument right now.'

The "ultimate" color line has been crossed? Brown babies. smile

"Without contention, without having to march in the streets to get our votes counted." Gloria Steinem on Oprah (the late rerun)( cuz you know, 16:00 is for the dog park)

still tryin to publish this from the 28th

well, lookit that - it's there - twice. in IE right now. gotta switch back -. . .well, it's saved twice in draft form. let's see if i can publish from here.

(this from the 28th - when blogger.com was not lettin' me publish. or maybe it's my browser, in some inexplicable way. The 'button' "publish" connects to "Javascript:void(0)" ie., it goes nowhere and I get a "invalid character" message. Well, the hover over shows the same, now. I started up blogger.com w/IE tab in Firefox. (FF and IE tab having both worked here just fine in the past.) I suppose I'll have to try native IE. My frelling links work. but theirs don't go figure

Pakistan is on the verge of being a failed state, and it has 50 nuclear weapons. The Pashtun region, encompassing Afghanistan and Pakistan. Completely The U. S. govt. is threatening to go across the boarder into Pakistan. This, of course, is totally illegal, world-law wise. But we did. 50 nuclear weapons. Frontline has me overflowing with post-atomic world visions. That part of the world virtually glows with potential death and destruction - as I see it flashing before my eyes in clouds of light and energy. It only remains to be seen how far the glow will spread, and how far the destruction will go toward total disintegration of society.

August 4th, 1961

Barack Obama was born two days after my 19th birthday, so I could (have) be(en) his mother. Although that was several years before I decided that brown babies would be the salvation of our society. Big smile. Golly gee whiz. We've taken a step toward racial blindness. Forget equality - people are equal - as equal as the individual person can aspire to be. The Supreme Court! Ta Da! However, the three most likely justices to retire soon are already the liberal 3.

I'd wish to be more eloquent and profound here . . . I'd also wish that Blogger.com would let me publish my frelling posts without the damned javascript(void)0 error.

pre death post

laughing maniacally. . . Lying here, feeling my arteries harden. . . still having trouble, however, actually believing that this is me ME still me being, not getting, older.
I just keep putting off doing those things that will help me live. like working. and then there's the quitting . .or not . . smoking part. I was suddenly very afraid of dying - right then, or in the immediate 'next' tense. both the gray cat and the dog made sudden appearances in my face, so to speak. wrong part of the cat, however, and I had to send her packing, followed by Martina. I was thinking about what Linda told me of her mom's leg veins being totally full of plaque when she died.
goddess bless me, I almost called Joe. That would drive him crazy. Then he'd be sure I was crazy and set about having me committed. So I took an anxiety pill, instead. time will tell if. . .
So far, I've resisted clapping on the blood pressure machine.
I believe I'll take this opportunity to re-post my revised Last Will and Testament. Ah, mortality

Last Will and Testament slightly altered 10-20-2008

I leave everything I possess to my oldest son Joseph M. Zaouk, and his wife, Sandra Zaouk. After he takes what he wants , ** Andrew Bennett, his father Walter Bennett, his wife Leah Bennett; 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 chooses 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? If any cash could be squeezed out of my estate to ship her,(the very word 'estate' sets me to laughing hysterically), I know my sister, Linda would take care of my best puppy, Martina. But - I'm planning on outliving all of them, and will more than likely have replacements. When asked if she'll take care of my puppy . . . if, Crystal answers, "Well, duh! But we're not gonna talk about that!" I think I'm gonna need another 5 or more years to get C. settled and aiming higher. Then I'll want to live to see her shining star ascend.

". . .the candidates' debate. . ."

Everything is a line from a rock and roll song.

Sara Palin knocked it out of the park - in terms of the questions to her debating prowess. I don't agree with (more than) half her policies. However, she expressed herself well, responded sorta on point with about 1/2 the questions, and probably conquered the "wanna drink a beer with her" group. Pundits still say J MC needs to prove himself. Is 'she' ready to be VP? No. Secretary of of Agriculture, maybe. (per some CNN pundit.) So all ya'll who were expecting/hoping ( I have to admit that thought floated in my head for a second)) she would fall on her face . . . should have checked her clips from debates in Alaska Gov. race. She rocked.

more punditm (pundit - got to be derived from the Latin - I suppose I could look it up, but no)

"Who was more in touch with the problems of people like you?" 70% for Biden. oops - CNN snatched that stat and replaced it with 50%/44% Biden/Palen. Cute. And "who seemed more like a 'politician'." that was the 70%/21%, Biden/Palin stat.

All the punditm are saying both need to address how they're going to handle the severe recession we are about to go into. I so hate to be right. If "they" had listened to me 5 years ago. . .

ego surfing

Not enough tasks; must multi more. Olympic swimming (now) on TV, (was just men's basketball (Greece vs. Spain) (don't see how that game cd be over but. . .) . . . women's soccer (Sweden vs. Argentina - and boy, are those Swedish girls big! compared to the Argentinians, who all appear to be Indias. Lawd knows, there are plenty blonde and blue Argentinians, descended from the Nazi in flux after WWII) streaming in another window on the computer. I always expect the women from Brazil and Argentina to be awesome, like their male counterparts. We'll see. Poor babies, they're just small. That could prove to be an advantage. oop - back to bb they have 1/2 time! at Olympics, just like in rl, Marian.

Once again, I am NOT working the late shift at YC cuz I need a frelling puppy sitter. My spoiled rotten puppy! She is the cutest, smartest puppy on the planet, of course. But she can't be trusted alone all night. Right now, the major problem is the family of skunks living in the back yard. I think there are at least two babies - getting bigger all the time. One almost completely black, with white blaze on face and white tail tip. Mommy has a white strip on her back. Junior hasn't got his spray on yet, but last night he charged the dog as she circled him barking her brains out. No spray, tho - I suppose there must be some time during puberty when they start charging rear end first, but this guy wasn't yet. That is certainly one of the funniest (but only in retrospect) visuals in animal behavior: the cute little furry thing running backwards toward you lickety split.
So anyway, silly puppy has been sprayed 3 three! times. The first was a face full, after which she tried to rub her face off on the living room rug. I managed to get her into the shower before she got to my bed! The next 2 01:20 showers (!) were less of a full spray, but enough - all accompanied by heavy barking, of course.

But, since the skunks are nocturnal, I can safely work a short shift and be home by dark! Here's hoping the little critters move out before the days get shorter. I really need to follow my sister's advice and call some pest control outfits and ask questions.

Spain is way ahead. No score in the soccer game yet. I suspect this is a replay. I cd probably look up the final score somewhere. I don't get "The Soccer Channel"(??) which seems to be the only place you can watch it on TV, unless you wanna watch /tape 8 hrs at a time of NBC and clones coverage, and hope what you want shows up eventually - they're not telling ahead of time, not on the TV guide on the Dish, not on nbc's online schedule info. I guess that's how they guarantee the sponsors eyes thruout.

My Missing Son

Well, missing from my life. No doubt still present in his own reality. With a $10. subscription to some 'find them' service, I'd gotten a new address and phone number for my second son, who disowned me 4 years ago. Joe and I both had rather disturbing dreams about him a week or two ago, so Joe called the number - it turned out to be really Rached Zaouk! $10. well spent. Of course, he got hung up upon as soon as his brother recognized his voice, but we've confirmed his alive-ness, if not detail health info. I'm pretty sure Jonelle would call me (now that I think about it) if there was something wrong with him. Not too happy to join his father on his shit list, but. . . My latest google of his name turned up a couple of new things - two quotes from a CSUN publication, identifying him as a "Senior History major." Date was 2007, so I guess this means he has just graduated.

Watching a great PBS "Nature" show about the rain forest. Quote: We know only 5% of the creatures living here now.
The Sumatran tiger supports its own ecosystem - a species of bat that circles it catching the flies that surround the tiger.

Anyway - my brain is multi-tasking, and I'm thinking of Rached getting a job teaching. His first student teaching assignment (musta been more than 4 years ago, cuz he told me about it) was in a 5th grade class. "I want to transfer to a lower grade - those 5th graders are little assholes!" So now I'm mentally writing his opening speech to his first (and/or maybe subsequent) class. "When I was your age, I was a little asshole. I'll be sure to recognize my fellow a-holes, so stay tuned. I was the only white kid in class my first 3 years of school - I speak the language of the street. I indirectly started the band Guns n Roses. so - welcome to my jungle! ( and maybe more, with music? nooo laughing hysterically. I really really miss my kid.)

Personal breakthough

I have just called someone - Walter and Leah - and . . .wait for it. . . asked for help! 4th day of diverticulosus -puppy desperately needs some one (else) to play with - big boys would be her preference. I texted John (DeNova - Marcy's 15 yr. old) but he claims he's not in the City. I could also use some GatorAide - Leah's JOB is roving store rep for them!! - since I can't frelling eat anything solid for at least another day. So, Walter says he'll send Leah and Andrew this afternoon - he has to clean out their garage. Terrific news all around - especially from Martina's pov.
I have a puppy! has been my answer to every "how are you feeling" question since November. She makes me laugh 50 times a day - much better than meds!

Just stopping by

Just a note to keep this thing alive.

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.

Ding Dong,

The witch is dead. . . " tra la. The recent demise -by hanging- of Saddam Hussein moved that little tune to the forefront of my brain.

Why, oh why, do the NS, Mozilla, IE peeps find it necessary to hide so thoroughly the location of one's personal book marks and addresses. Every time I wipe and reinstall, they seem to be hiding in a new and different location. my 2nd (maybe the 3rd?) back up hard drive, seems to have lost track of an entire directory, *MINE* under "Documents and Settings." Arrrgh

stayin alive

From Alternet

speaks to my long held contention that Internet was going to change the world. Change the dialog, change the paradigm, of civilization as we know it.

Hopeful Signs For Global Justice

By Mark Engle

Thousands of similar campaigns stood up to local injustices, challenged corporate power, and provided the energy that ultimately unseated presidents. As we are reminded daily of the hard realities that persist in an era of executive excess and superpower militarism, their victories might seem disparate and few. But they have shown that they can accrete and build, gradually bridging the divide that separates us from once-distant possibilities: the death of neoliberalism, the political re-creation of the Americas, the end of extreme poverty, a democratic globalization. The quiet wins of 2006 together remind us that change is more possible than we might sometimes despair -- and that it is not entirely naive to invest hope in the promise of a new year.

Tagged as: globalization, neoliberalism, justice, bush, democracy

Mark Engler is a commentator for Foreign Policy in Focus. He can be reached via DemocracyUprising.com.

Stand and Wait

Here's a picture: four Major Generals, standing , fidgiting, behind a platform in front of which the Shrub will be speaking shortly. Fidgit fidgit

An inconvenient Truth

Just watched a rerun Oprah featuring Al Gore and a full hour of dire global warming warnings. Dire, meaning dire - not to denigrate the seriousness of the state of the climate. I was watching it on purpose, preaching to the choir, and all that, so I was free to pick it apart heh heh. About half way in I began to wonder what the drop out rate was going to be. Near that point, there came a recorded message from Leonardo Di Caprio to keep the girls looking, but it was quite serious, too, and maybe it kept a few feather heads tuned in. There was some information on how each individual could do just some small things, most of which save you money, to reduce CO2. If half the audience finished it, I'd like to think they'd tell their friends who'd quit watching. Pipe dreams, maybe. Oprah changes the world - again- smile.

I began to see that the 2000 election 'debacle' as I like to call it, may have been a blessing in disguise, leaving Gore free to focus on what probably IS the biggest threat to Mankind, with a capitol M.

Blog for a Change

(started on 102906)

On my "not read by anyone in the known universe" blog, the Moveon.org folks have requested I post a link to their latest attempt to bring "the Amerricun People" to their senses regarding the political process and those in control of it now. Let's see if it works. Go ">here Whoo hoo, it works! Now, if we could only get the election systems to work - can you say Diebold? With a CEO who has publically stated he would do anything within his power to se that "bush" et al win the election.

120806
right up to the minute I am.

Barbarians At the Gates

Or Bush in the White House, your choice. Another NYT amazing op ed piece kind of describes our current dilemma, politically, by looking at the precipitation of the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Anna Nicole

Her teen son somehow died in her hospital room, very shortly after she gave birth to a daughter. Maybe she only had enough soul for one child? How surreal. Tonight, her lawyer claimed to be the 'babydaddy,' while her publicist had previously claimed the spot. After all, is she not a wispy voiced, cuddly blonde, who has not really displayed great intelligence, past what allowed her to grab an 85 year old millionaire husband at Death's door, before he passed through it, making her rich? Naturally, she's still fighting his kids for it- but she has received a major chunk of $
Sad little girl; And here I've delivered an (other, no doubt) entirely mean-spirited little piece of drivel. No no - I reject that! (yes, you can disagree with yourself within a paragraph) The curious juxtaposition of new life and young death sent me seeking a cosmic truth of some sort. What if it's all random, and NOBODY gives a rat's ass about our virus-like existence?
Anna Nicole: will anyone remember her name in 1,000 years? Or mine, ftm. A most curious fact of early 21st Century Man: our ability to be fascinated by people who are famous just for being famous.

Ground Zero 9-11-01

5 years later, it seems to be making news that the folks -first responders, other volunteers- are sick from the toxic air they breathed for 2 to 3 weeks. Of course they're sick. At that time, the Feds and their honchos were announcing that "No, there isn't any danger - the air is perfectly fine." And 'they' the mass media, unwashed masses, believed it?? Oh. My. I said at the time- "My Goddess, you can SEE the air; they are breathing the 'weaponized,' if you will, residual atoms of multiple heavy metals, silica, human beings, firpete'sake. How could any reasonably intelligent, semi-educated, thinking person believe that was safe? Key word being 'thinking,' apparently.

From today's NYT - QUOTATION OF THE DAY -

"There should no longer be any doubt about the health effects of the World Trade Center disaster. Our patients are sick, and they will need ongoing care for the rest of their lives."
- DR. ROBIN HERBERT of Mount Sinai's World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer
Medical Screening Program.

And I ask again - what sort of brain-dead folks were questioning this in the first place??

A navel of a different sort

Another NY Times op\ed piece, here showed me a new perspective. By an Iranian Jewish woman who writes poetry in Persian. I'd love to ask "Another Irani on Line" about this. I hear much the same sort of remembrances from Iraqi's in so far as "We are ALL Iraqis!" I like to believe everything I read by women (my bad) and especially non US women, and I know I'm gullible. But I would also like to hear what Niki's perspective is regarding the poetry and music issues mentioned. I' believe I will write and ask her.

Navel Gazing

We have no security, just distance. Watching the Surreal News (CNN) Here's a list of all the landmarks, nuclear plants, shopping centers, in case you need to update your target list. Laughing hysterically. Earlier they were talking about a little known port (I don't remember its name he he) in Louisiana, which handles 1/3 of the US oil imports. And those coordinates are: 108.345 34.888 (don't try this at home, folks: {Poetic Lic.} I'm making a wild extrapolation based on my here and now #'s which I know) And how "they" could not very well use small aircraft/ports cuz a: not enuf bang for the buck, and b)small ports are clubbish, and wd recognize an outsider and rat him/her out. Not if 'she' had a fabulous body, and the willingness to use it. Is this so far outside the "Muslim" sensibility as to render it impossible? I dunno if a man would order it, but I betcha there are a whole lotta widows and orphans who would relish the role.

Can't recognize the difference between nuclear waste and cat sand. We're doing the Homeland Security Waste issue. Waste of $$, that is. Just a comment on a nuclear plant employee. They don't' have enough auditors to keep track of how their contractors are spending the $$. DHS bucks are pork barreled out. The 9-11 Commission recommended the pork be partitioned based on high visibility targets. That was 5 years ago. Do you think SF/Oak with it's multitude of targets has received any extra cash? NO, in spite of the Guv and the Mayor major pleading. Not to mention two strong Senators and the Democratic Congressional Whip, all women. Rep. Nancy Pelosi is pretty darned good, I think.

Too soon for ?

Kinda hard to imagine the two phrases 'too soon for' and 'cease fire' making any sense whatsoever in the same sentence.

Trouble right here in River City

I suppose I'll have to go to the durned Taxi Commission meeting tomorrow night. Big Trouble in little SF TC recently. The Commission fired the "Executive Director," Heidi M. Reasons: she was carrying out her own agenda, completely apart from what the Commission had in mind, her so-call "employer." She went on a vendetta after Jim Gillespie, GM at YC these days, but mgr at Lux before that. In the works, per Commission vote & recommendation, is/was (it's passed now) a Board of Sups resolution granting cab company managers an exemption from the bloody driving requirement. JG has never tried to hide his non-driving status (like many many others who never drove, aren't driving, will never drive - there's Richie's ex-wife, a trauma nurse at UCSF Med, a sheriff in Marin Co., etc), and the measure had been hammered out at the TC over many weeks. JG felt he was having communication difficulties with Heidi, and as GM of YC representing 2/3 of the cabs in town, he requested and received an audience with hiz honor, GN. The day after that, Heidi sent her personal team of auditors to pull all of JG's waybills, (none, cuz he wasn't forging them like the above mentioned.) and brought him up for revocation for not fulfilling the DR. Then there's the matter of her bosom buddy, (isn't this a name for a '70's (1870's!) melodrama? ) Tristan Bettancourt, who she hired as her assistant at the TC (was her roomie for 10 years, also hired by her as assistant in her *last* Civil Service job (water dept., IIRC) TB is a former YC driver. Convicted in 1987 for robbing his taxi passengers' homes after he'd dropped them off at SFO or the theatre. During the late '90s he did internet scams - lots of news about that on line! Now he has access to all our personal info. Presumably he'll only try to scam out the upper income ones among us, leaving me out heh heh heh. Every bleedin' media rag in this town took the story from the Heidi perspective: "The company's wanted me fired, because I was enforcing the rules." Hmmmm. As I recall, Mary McGuire (a Commissioner fired for her vote against Heidi)had been raising the subjects of company financial reports and waybill audits being lacking, overdue or non-existent - from approximately the 2nd meeting of the TC 7 years ago. It's all on tape somewhere. Channel 7 Eye Team -Dan Noyes- did a bit on it tonight, I learned on the TaxiL. Lots about TB, including interviews w/vics. The cameras will be at the meeting tomorrow - might even be pictures at 11 - but 'twould be surprising if the meeting concluded the "rehiring" (agenda Item) of Heidi, (or NOT) by 23:00

As I was Saying . . .

He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t
By DANIEL GILBERT

"Research shows that while people think of their own actions
as the consequences of what came before, they think of
other people’s actions as the causes of what came later."
NY Times bit

My darling 'daughter,' as her deceased mother, my good friend Carol, called her, did another one of her "I'm coming home" things last night. Cried a little bit, got 'yelled' at a bit - not nearly covering all the items I meant to cover, as I planned this rant, went to sleep, got dropped off on Mission, and. . . . She has a full 24 hours sober she says. But she's not coming home tonight.


a "'diplomatic move' by the Bush administration." Isn't that an oxymoron

15 minutes- stretched

"Most of all, it was the kind of fame -- that peculiar blogosphere kind of fame -- that made Congdon's fans feel they knew her intimately" (Not that I'd ever heard of this person til I read the online CNN bit).

OK, that explains it. Why I have always felt the bloggers I read regularly are personal acquaintances. Perhaps they 'get it.' I'm sure they get emails from tons of people who address them as tho they were brothers, sisters, sons, daughters. Oh BTW, tylenol can kill you. Violent video games w/Christian message. CNN again. I need a cigarette.

Ah ha - it's those gosh darned "Left Behind" folks, again. Reading one of those books (well, the small part I was able to consume before becoming 'full' of babble)remind me strongly of Ron Hubbard's pretense at sci fi.

"The people came out of a very large building, with multiple windows on the ground floor, and a variety of balconies above. Balconies which were variously made of concrete, different kinds of wood, such as pine, maple, mahogany, oak. These people were young and old, fat and thin. The young children were walking more slowly than the adults. A parent sometimes had to stop and wait for the child to catch up. Some of the people had red hair, some were sporting long black hair; some with blonde hair, which might have been long or short. They wore multiple colors; some were in blue, some were in green, some were in pink, some- - - -" etc. etc.

etc. Using every possible word that could be used, inflating the text to cover the maximum pages, with really very little substance involved. Hmmm L. Ron Hubbard, heh heh, the man who told a Sci Fi convention in the 1920's that the ideal way to make as much money as you could would be to set up your own religion.

And so he did. The rest, as they say, is history.

I was thinking, last night, of how extremely screwed up our government is these days. Industry insiders being appointed as overseeing regulators of their own industry, courts packed by right wing nuts ruling against our very own Constitution; president 'w' (small 'w') with his evil twin executor (the anti-Christ, Cheney)- all beginning to remind me very much of a couple of Robert Heinlein books written in the 50's. One in which the trend toward total minority employment in government offices led to a society ruled by the 'bureaucrats' who were all of colour, and loftily condescending toward all the fairer folk they oversaw: a simple extrapolation of the times. (ad.)At least three other books (one was a trilogy - can one say that?) which posited a far flung starry Empire ruled by or being attacked by a People of MiddleEastern Muslim heritage. Since they were always the villians, the most radical form of Sharia played a part in at least one of these imagined universes (universi?) IIRC, these were spawned in the late '70's, when the West was experiencing its first oil shortage, ie., gas prices skyrocketing, wide spread shortages. Who else could we vilify? Amazing isn't it, the human animal, either individually or in nation wide groups, can always find the "other" to blame for what every ill visited upon it.

Other books less clearly remembered, paint pictures that merge in my musings with the current events in our government.

Beam Me Up

I find it beyond incredulous that NASA cannot develop or find a foam product that will not crack with minor temperature variations. {{ok I get it - much more than 'minor' temp differences what with the liquid nitrogen/oxigen.}} How can this be? Was it contracted out to one of Cheneys co-conspirators? The miniscule variations on the planet shrink in comparison to the difference between here and Space. I keep shaking my head and trying to form a different question here, but it is what it is. A piece of insulation with 30 years of research behind it's composition and deployment, which curiously enough, never failed in 10 or so years of flying that bird - till over Texas, Feb. 1 of 20??. What's really going on here?

I'm tired, and leaning toward conspiracy theories tonight. Gavin Newsome trots out Gay Marriage just in time to bring all the right wing nuts out of their states of denial to vote the Shrub back in, (or rather 'in' for the first time legally)(that's a whole 'nother conspiracy). Of course, Rove kick started anti-gay marriage initiatives in several states - 4 or 5 IIRC. Plan for The New American Century. They're serious, folks. Read it and weep - or get active!

I gotta go off and find the Analog Boards- someone there may have a perfectly sane explanation of that :?)

Ongoing Gitmo situations. I would really, really, like to know which of these diametrically opposed scenarios is true.

"Former detainees at Guantanamo have alleged in the past that military personnel at Guantanamo have intentionally mishandled the Quran. The military has repeatedly denied the charges.

Durand said Wednesday that when a Quran is handled, it is handled by the detainee himself or by a Muslim translator.

"We have consulted with numerous Islamic leaders on the subject and have been informed that our procedures far exceed the accepted standard that only requires that the Koran (Quran) be handled with respect and dignity. We do this in deference to the detainees religious beliefs and to affirm our respect for Islam," Durand said."


Oh, and they finally "terminated" al Zarqawi in Iraq. CNN: "Optimism on the street in Baghdad is really hard to find."

Bears!

There is a guy somewhere in Minnesota or Iowa (will check CNN again) with a license - a LICENSE! to breed wild animals - hence a black bear's painful trip through a suburban house (wife!) They have other bears, Coyotes, big cats, !racoons! no doubt to stock the many commercial establishments who collect big bucks from the the big $$ small ' ' guys who just gotta kill something to feel manly. It's really a shame there are so many of 'them' with big $$, spawning the next generation of self-centered, amoral spoiled brats, eg., GWB

law of the jungle

"What happens when technology meets accidents?" {scene of guy stepping back too far on a scaffolding, falling three stories or so, and massive numbers of medium sized air bags sprouting from his heretofore unseen harness.} Want to know what Really happens? We begin to breed stupid people. Better these types are dealt with before contributing to the gene pool. Oh yeah, I AM a population nazi. I admit freely I believe in natural selection - if I were Goddess, I would arrange for mass die offs on a regular basis. Oh wait, She is! Bigger better tsunami, hurricanes, earthquakes, and we seem to be getting closer every day to the 'pestilence' aspect of the End of Days. Humans do, indeed, need to rearrange their paradigm of 'how things work to make me richer and move on to how we can help one another

Prez Shrub will sign the new budget bill. It extends into the future the existing tax cuts on capital gains, and investment credits. In a (n hysterical) nod to budgetary concerns, it will cut tax breaks for college tuition, and certain deductions for income earners under $50K. The Repubs are propagandizing that "MoveOn.Org" is trying to 'regulate' the internet. Um - no - there's a beautifully written discussion of the "regulation"(actually a bill before congress) at WINXPnews.com, May 9th edition The means of exchanging ideas freely among all the peoples of the world is seriously in danger here. Call your representatives.

There was another crazy mixed paradigm thingy on the news just now, but I'm brain dead and must sleep.

Jack Abramoff ha ha

"These are the men that fleeced the tribes that paid the
money that made the bribes that purchased the Congress that
Jack built."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/opinion/31seely.html?th&emc=
that's pretty funny.

Operation "Swarmer:"

oh my,haven't we killed enough of the poor Iraqis. Very few of the liberal professional people are still there. I feel like I need to write an apology to every Iraqi blog I've read. The only way they could establish a representative and secular, government is a mass return of Iraqis. I know many (I feel I know them) are very pro-active, and seeing the "(gag) Coalition " get out of Iraq immediately is the only thing they can see. The Iraqis are losing the chance to reclaim their own oil rights. Permanent US bases (garrisons?) are under construction. They want US out, every one.
Now the 'operation' is n/e of Samarra. Another of the oldest cities in the world. "The largest air assault operation since the initial invasion." I'm pretty sure CNN didn't use the word 'invasion,' probably a euphemism. or "NewsSpeak."
hmmm, my bad, CNN did/is using the word.
Did you guess? Yes, this event WILL be televised.

NY Times Editorial snippet

Mr. Roberts is trying to stop an investigation into Mr. Bush's decision to allow the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without getting the warrants required by a 27-year-old federal law enacted to stop that sort of abuse.

Mr. Roberts had promised to hold a committee vote yesterday on whether to investigate. But he canceled the vote, and then made two astonishing announcements. He said he was working with the White House on amending the 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to permit warrantless spying. And then he suggested that such a change would eliminate the need for an inquiry.

Stifling his own committee without even bothering to get the facts is outrageous. As the vice chairman of the panel, Senator John Rockefeller IV, pointed out, supervising intelligence gathering is in fact the purpose of the intelligence committee.

Out Loud?

"The U.S. and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government to produce a Hamas failure and new elections." topic of a NY Times article today.
Apparently, my country only supports Democracy if it happens to support us.
Happy Valentine's day. We love you. If you do everything our way.

State of Dis Union

From an article in (on?) BBC on line, asking various Americans (North) what they thought of the SOTU speech. I have snipped this a bit, for space. Original available.

(Right after I figure out how to insert a link. snerk. I am the most likely to post ad nauseum late after work (that'd be early morning in the real world), when I'm brain dead as far as following instructions is concerned.)


"Name: Shankar Iyer
Age: 55
Lives: Fairfax, Virginia
Last year, the president viewed his re-election as giving him political capital and confidently boasted about using it to fix established social programmes such as social security and Medicare.

He also vowed to continue with his policies favouring the well-heeled and to establish democracy in Iraq.

A year later, with the blood of thousands of dead US troops and Iraqi citizens staining his presidency, along with corruption and scandal in his administration and legislature and the revelations of extra-constitutional civilian and military activities in fighting terrorism, the president began in a more conciliatory tone.

The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts.

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL -THE REST ARE MINE this is a smoothly inserted knife blade. Bravo!

He lumped the elected government of Iran in with the dictatorships of Burma, North Korea, Syria and Zimbabwe, while assuming the mantle to "deliver the oppressed and move the world toward peace".

** "The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."


In the president's view, the ever-so-modest loosening of the dictatorial reins in Egypt and Saudi Arabia called for celebration.

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

The electoral victory of Hamas in Palestine did not. Iran became a country "held hostage by a small clerical elite".

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

He continued with his push to reform social security and to make his tax cuts for the well-to-do permanent.

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

His reference to Hurricane Katrina offered a more positive picture of ongoing relief efforts than have been reported.

AND AGAIN

**"The president seemed comfortable, as always, shaping and distorting the facts."

( In sum, the president's State of the Union continued "the world according to me" view held by this administration, where rhetoric replaces realities and terror is used to justify compromises of core democratic values."

One of my mother's rules of life: A true lady or gentleman never insults anyone, *UNintentionally.* I think she may have cadged it from Winston Churchill

next day -still seething at the temerity of "them" in DC- from the NY Times , today:

"Mr. Bush threw out a dizzying array of misleading analogies, propaganda slogans and false choices: Congress authorized the president to spy on Americans and knew all about it ... 9/11 could have been prevented by warrantless spying ... you can't fight terrorism and also obey the law ... and Democrats are not just soft on national defense, they actually don't want to beat Al Qaeda."

And checking it twice

Multiple fraud investigations in progress in Katrina areas. They're investigating the little guys, of course!!, individuals who've filed false FEMA claims over 2K- not much news about Halliburton hiring scores of undoc Mexicans to do clean up and then not paying them in many cases. N.O. has 70% unemployment iirc. Not much news about the fraud investigation into the original non-bid letting of recovery projects. Every thing is fixed and you can't change it. Oh please, let that become history as individuals take up the good fight. Amazing grass roots progressive movements going on on-line these days.

what did he know and when ...

Now it comes out that Bob Woodward heard the Valerie Plame story from ("source" who he refuses to name but=Cheney iirc). Then later, Libby leaked more of it to Judith Miller, and the Time guy. Can't you just hear it: (Cheney to Libby): Well, I dropped it by Bob Woodward a couple of weeks ago, and it looks like he is not going to go public with it, so I guess you need to drop it to a few other people, so it gets published." Which then brought us to the bottom feeder guy from CNN (senior moment) who was happy to run with it. Novak. I cannot imagine why no one is asking HIM who he got it from. "With all those people at the deposition, are you afraid that one of Them might leak?" (Larry King to Woodward) answer skirted direct response, of course.

What is wrong with you people (Sen. Biden now)? There is NO WINNING gonna happen in this occupation/war

As long as Cheney says the Emperorr IS wearing clothes, I supposed we should believe him. Not. He's telling us the Dems are lying about the lies they (Admin.) told. Rummy is saying 'he' didn't make any errors in judgment- it was the CIA that told them the wrong stuff. I bet the CIA is seriously demoralized at the grunt in the field level, probably on up to the Dept. head level. Rummy failed to answerer the question about DOD having its very own intelligence service.

White phosphorus

A quote from some general or other denying anti-human use of white phosphorus:
"go into Fallujah. We were trying to ensure we had perfect targeting so that we could limit the damage. There was the ability to surround the city to allow no one to escape that was considered hostile" An awful lot of really telling pictures of the white phophorus victims. Not to mention comments from a grunt on the ground that the stuff was ignited in the air when used for lighting, but this group was firing directly at the population. I logged on to rage at some insanity just reported on CNN. There are just so many-heh heh senior moment. but it will be on again, if I stay awake that long.
Yesterday they reported that US had captured a bunch of "insurgents" in whatever Iraqi city they're pounding now - among them, the "deputy mayor, Two police captains, (a couple of other citizens in high places)" Gee, that certainly sounds a lot mmore like 'rebels against the occupation" to me.
World markets are all down - as is oil, amazingly. I've got to dump those mostly worthless stocks I spent 6K on in 2000 sigh. I'll be lucky if I get $1K, with fees.
Musharaf barely had his "we don't have terrorist attacks" out of his mouth (one day?) before a - guess what -terrorist bomb of some sort blew up 20 or 30 people in Karachi.

Gen. %$#@ Casey

Under pointed questioning by George Stephanopolus (?) he adheres firmly to the neocon party line on our "helping" the Iraqis and is
STILL using the words "war in Iraq" and "preventing another 9-11" in the same sentence. Makes me wanna puke.

Now interviewing Supreme Stephen Breyer. I'm kinda liking him.

My dear friend Ijaz Q. was picked up by the Feds and taken off to Marysville, where I presume is a Federal Prison. Guilty of being Muslim; and some minor immigration snafu. Student Visa means you can't work. I'd forgotten that one. The Pakistani Community came up with the 10 grand needed to bail him out, it seems. Raif Dentkas, Turkish guy, Long long time YC driver, had written to the Univ. on Ijaz's behalf to sponsor him for his last year of Doctorate studies. I called Tariq. He'd told me in a phone conversation on my way from the Symphony to work Thurs. nite,that I. would be out 'tomorrow or the next day.' When I got to work, there was a taped shut note for me from "Raheel" (or Raheef?) informing me that "driver I. will be bailed out tomorrow." One Hundred Thousand Dollars bail. My goodness, gracious ! You would think he had hurt someone or something.

So, I send Ijaz an email - forwarded, damn my eyes, of the exchange with Raed. On 9-25, Raed posted on his blog for the first time in weeks. And lo, he and Nikki are HEre In SF! I whip off an email, inviting them to lunch, and describing Ijaz, Mort, and Mariana, which friends I think would be very interested in meeting R & N and they, them. Forwarded to Mort and Ijaz, thinking I. would have M.'s email. Forwarded. Dear Sweet Jesus. I send Raed another email on Wed. telling about the I. arrest thing. It bounces back immediately.

Permanent Failure: Other address status
Delivery last attempted at Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:37:17 -0000

<sort of immigration problem. I had forgotten the Student Visa catch
22: you cannot work with just a Student Visa. That way we only get
rich folks children, apparently. I don't recognized my country
any more. Marianna, who is out of the country, I just learned,
would certainly be raving mad and calling her contacts. Another
Pakistani friend, Tariq (the rest of his peers like to joke that he
is Musharif's brother-in-law), an older man -my age- 60 or so, is
"calling his people" as they say in Hollywood. I picture Ijaz on a
concrete floor, with ice water being poured over him twice a day.
This is Guantanamo style. Maybe that hasn't made its way to
California, yet. Much as I was imagining Khalid being tortured.

And yet this news story about a judge denying the gov't. request to
kill the lawsuit against Ashcroft, et.al. by two Muslim guys
detained somewhere for some lengthy time, not charged with anything,with no reason other than their religion. Altho, to be fair, the each had some minor little peccadillo crime on record.
Maybe there is some hope fo r us after all.
Thank you for listening. Sorry to be a pain. Usually I cry to Faiza
about these things, and she always sends me strength. Your Mother is
a Force of Nature, you know.
Adios
Marian Z.>>

Maybe I'll send one more 'test' email before I panic completely that I've caused some unknown harm to R. & N. Maybe it was just that he finally posted after so long, and got so much email his mail box exploded?? Yes, that has to be it.

The Mother is Speaking

A burned out bus full of aged, ill, evacuees from somewhere in Texas, ahead of Hurricane Rita, -fire then explosions -they carried oxygen - 14 people escaped; 30 or so died. If this series of storms is not a culling of the herd, I've never seen one. Those people were *supposed* to die. N.O. is flooding again, already. Two nursing homes full of people died in N.O. well, one - only 1/2 of the other one. I AM a population nazi, sorry.
Gas is $3+ a gallon and due to rise sharply right after Rita whacks the Texas refineries. 18 of 26 in Gulf area already closed.
Bush finally said a true thing: "We cannot imagine our Country without New Orleans." or words to that effect.
If you were to review all the imperialism and worldwide manupilation of other governments, and misc. other atrocities, you would have to say the U.S. is way overdue to pay some massive kharma debts.

Godess is trying to tell me something

Goddess is trying to tell me something
Red Cross may not need my tiny lil' $10. Of course, they need about 10 million $10.
First I try to click through MoveOn.org. Resulting page accepts minimum of $25. For 'different' amounts gotta call an 800 number. So I figure PayPal will probably have a link, and that would be easy. PayPal seems to have forgotten me. I go through the rigmarole of security questions, I get to 'send' and the cable connection takes a peak time dive. I now appear to be on line - not a problem getting Here. PayPal 'submit' gives me the same error message about not being able to access. I clear my cache - twice- same 'you can't get there from here' message. Expending my angst here heh heh

Complete social chaos rules in New Orleans. Nwarlins. Same story as yesterday. CNN has been broadcasting live as things get worse. Officials say 'we had no idea these people were here, or ' no one told us, snivel' about Convention Center, Super dome etc., when all they needed to do was watch CNN. This is frelling insane that 5 days have passed and nothing has happened for about half a million people. Official : "We're going to get there." yeh a Federal Public Health Emergency. I hear France and Germany were the first to offer aid. "Old Europe" heh heh heh. Don't recall seeing anything at all about world aid offers. Maybe cuz they're so embarrassingly few? The Mother is trying so hard to wake people up to the overburdening of Her capacities.
What does it say about the mental condition in Iraq that a thousand people killed themselves/each other in a stampede during a pilgrimage. In fact, this is a recurring theme in such crowds. Does no one take a message from that? Fanaticism kills?

Now Who has refugees?

Watching Alfred E. Newman er Bush while he listens, and only listens, to several disaster relief folk give him a synopsis of their work so far. The three of them talked fast and non-stop, no way for the pres. to speak. Do we think they were instructed on that, so jr. had no opportunity to do his duh routine?
New Orleans is a science fiction movie now. Complete break down of civilization as we know it. Can't help but imagining the rest of the world we've thumbed our political noses at having a quiet satisfaction. The U.S. has it own, personal massive, refugee problem. not as many as we have "created", but many. Around half a mil, I guess. And on day 4 of this disaster, still thousands of people stranded somewhere with NO food, water, medicine, no help of any kind. Don't mess with Mother Nature. Fourth day in the AsstroDome for 30,000 peeps, no - - any thing. Tishia Walters, calling CNN from her cell phone. Oh my. Can't find a link to her call on CNN, but doubtless, they'll replay it - it's pretty surreal. Girl Scouts in Long Island selling hemp bracelets to donate to Red Cross. Reality is for people who can't deal with drugs. This is beyond a bad trip. the name of the book about a city in total anarchy is "Dalhgren" I think. In a minute I'll remember the author.

The only hospital in N.O. has 200 pts. and and staff- snipers fending off rescuers, no electricity - or anything else- for 4 days. Beyond comprehension why they - some "they" could not have choppered in a relief drop or 10.

We'd all be SOL if some sex starved sufi dropped a dirty bomb that devastated a similar area. Emergency response sucks.

United What?

There he goes again -what part of United NATIONS does he not get? "The United Nations needs his firm hand to reform." bah humbug. They don't call it the "united states united nations' because IT'S NOT !! And so we have Joihn Bolton as UN ambassador - almost difficult to use the term ambassador for this bad tempered suck up. And a new King in S.A. Still one of the major Bush Family long time buds.

And the good news: Khalid is free!

During Presidential announcement of the newly nominated Judge Roberts to replace Sandra Day OConner on the Supreme Court. Well, Hil, he's got that Alfred E. Newman look on his face again. Shrub is so over awed by his own importance, it strikes me absurd - again and again -! that this guy is actually a two term president. In 2002 when I was in Ireland, I was talking to a taxi driver about Bush and his ilk. This was during the run up to Iraq. My constant mental picture of Shrub was Alfred E. I was explaining to the cab driver about this US centric cartoon icon. He'd never heard of it/him. I promised him that one day he would encounter Mad Mag, and/or Alfred E. and he would then have a "I get it!!" moment as he remembered this conversation.
I was checking prices to Ireland this afternoon. miles of smiles heh heh. More plastic bravado, though.

Khalid Jarrar has been taken prisoner by the newly reconstituted Iraqi Secret Police. Much comment on them being a wholely owned CIA subsidiary right now. I googled (G) Khalid's name and got over a hundred hits. The blogosphere is in an uproar. Some pointed out that the child is being punished for the Mother's outspokenness. I'm afraid that Faiza thinks that, as well, as she was reportedly removing all the 'in Arabic' posts on her blog. Funny this happened right after she returned from U.S. conference.

Raed's blog 'comments' gave an email for this entity. Someone mentioned that the email bounced. I sent one, bcc to Faiza (possibly against her wishes - sorry) and it bounced; tried again the next day and it stayed put.

There are several petitions, legions of bloggers poised to take action - SOME kind of action, only awaiting the signal from the family. No update today.

Drat, the spell checker doesn't work. Usually, I'd past it into a Netscape Mail msg. and check it there. Now that I've changed HDs I thought I''d geek out and just use Firefox and Thunderbird, which does not seem to have one. Drat !!

and then there's this

"Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action."

from The Times of London" quoting the now infamous "Downing St. Memo."

Where the hell are the cries for impeachment of Bush and all his little (gee, I want to say 'drooling' here, and I've no idea why.) neocon sycophants. **MY** country is sliding down a hill into intolerance, vast differences 'tween have and have not, religious litmus tests for every public job, etc., etc., along the path of so many 'future' tense scifi- some of it brilliant and terrifying. And why has not the media made a recurring sound bite out of the Shrub's comment: "This is my base: the haves and the have mores."

Occasionally, he speaks the truth, inadvertently

eat the world

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Thousands of hungry moths may hold the key to eradicating cocaine production, Colombian scientists have said, but critics say the idea could open the way for "ecological mischief" from CNN dot com

Oh My. Immediate vision of when the 'worm' runs out of cocoa leaves and begins to eat the world.

Constitution 101

" U.S. officials played down a report
on Monday that the administration might seek a United Nations
resolution empowering nations to intercept shipments in and out
of North Korea that may contain nuclear-related materials"

Now, if that's not enough to scare the bejeezus out of you. . .

and then there is:


"Marines From Iraq Sound Off About Want of Armor and Men
By MICHAEL MOSS
Marine leaders and infantrymen of a unit that sustained
heavy losses say a lack of armor and manpower hampered
their efforts."

It was more than 3 or 4 months ago Rumi stood red faced in Iraq and vowed every 'soldier' would be adequately armored asap (a 'sap' would believe him.)

Chopin

They finally put him in the box -(Cedar wood) he was starting to look pretty crispy. But, people are already "calling him a Saint" per CNN. I think that a miraculously preserved body is an indication of saint hood? He was, indeed, a formidible peace maker. I remain skeptical of an institution which can sanctify a Father Serra, mass murderer of California native peoples.

Charles and Camilla were supposed to be married today. I can picture Diana calling out to John Paul - "come home now! They deserve to be eclipsed, as 'they' eclipsed me in life.

More Crowned Heads, and Heads of State in one place at one time in--
"two Italian F-16's intercepting a jet approaching local air space" but Aaron Brown doesn't know about that. My exact fantasy, as I watched the funeral on TV at work: I'd sure like to see all those Italian fighters enforcing air space, circling around Rome.

moving on

yes, Heads - what an opportunity for a quick SCUD. Another dark fantasy.
play some Chopin for Il Papa on his way.

Play some Chopin

for Il Papa, on his journey. No, I'm not a Catholic, altho I tried, once apon a time, going to Mass every day after work, at St Mary's Cathedral (now Old St. Mary's) two doors down California street from my work. The TV waves are full of John Paul II and his extraordinary life and work. He visited the Wailing Wall; he prayed with the Imams in a Mosque; he, unfortunately, couldn't allow women or gays to pray, formally, in his church. But now he knows - knows that all love is good love; all prayer is acceptable in God's eyes. All of us are one, no differences of race or gender or origin.