Musings on a summer afternoon

Warning. I'm on a rant, talking into the gale here. I'm sick of nursing this leg. It hurts. Yes, it's getting better. Yes, I was the star at the gym again today but it's getting old. I want my leg back. I'm sick of hobbling around on the cane and crutches. I'm sick of being in the house all the time. I'm sick of being grateful because I'm not in war zone. What kind of touchstone is that anyway? Just be glad I'm not beating you today? Fuck that. And yes, I'm sick of the wars that the crazy, wingnut, authoritarian, fundamentalists are waging upon us all. Who cares what label they give themselves, christian, muslim, jew, conservative or whathefuckever, I'm sick of em all.

And no, I don't feel better for ranting. I sick of humans in general. All this talk about human rights, humankind, humanity, human life. I'm sick of humans taking the center stage on every fucking thing. Human history, human needs, human achievements, human casualties. I’m sick of human exploitation of all the other sentient beings residing on this planet. I’m sick of the gut wrenching cruelty inflicted on animals round the clock, year in and year out. I’m sick of so-called decent people turning a blind eye to the exploitation, torture and murder of peaceful species for food, for clothing, for medicine. For fun. For the hell of it. Because they can. On and on and on ... all humans all the time. Religions that are strictly about humans and god, humans and their fucking fantasies of salvation. And that's another thing. Salvation is a crock a shit. It rubberstamps more atrocious behavior than everything else combined. Do it for Jesus. Praise Allah. They all make me sick. You all make me sick. Piss off. Your gods suck. They are war masks. Nothing more. There may be a god, but it ain’t what you think, mother fuckers.

Okay then.

Bear naked truths

painting by: Michael Onona


It's 3:30 pm in Alaska now and the grizzlies and sea gulls are finally out in force while a volcanic cinder cone steams and glows in the distance. I just watched a video of a huge, battle scarred bear snag a giant fish out the rapids and carry it to shore as another bear moved quickly out of the way. Rules of the game. But watching the doomed fish struggle for life reminded me that the bear is enjoying more than a sushi and caviar lunch. It's a blunt look at life in the food chain. We're all food for somebody and I don't fault the bear for his way of life but as a human I abhor the cruelty our of farm factory system and haven't eaten meat for decades. I fall short of my own goal though. I do eat fish, eggs and dairy and kind of hate myself for it. We did switch to cage-free eggs a couple of years ago, but I'm not strict about it. I eat in restaurants and I know they don't include compassion in their bottom line.

But it was another good day for the bears and most of the fish swimming upstream to spawn their young and die.

Dancing bears and knees

I was the star of the gym at physical therapy yesterday. I better well be. I did my exercises at home, pushed into the pain, and want the damn credit even if it was done in fear of Dave the Therapist JUMPING on my knee if it doesn't improve pronto. It's not exactly pronto, but my knee is improving.

I just checked the Alaska bear cam but they are no where to be seen. The sea gulls aren't even up yet. The cam operates from 5am to 11pm Alaska Standard Time but the website notes that the best time to watch the bears fish is between 1 and 5. I've gotten kind of hooked on bear watching. I guess it's something of a replacement for my cockroaches as it's another floating world that doesn't know or give a damn about us oh-so-complicated humans and our hel-bent-rush towards, not only self-destruction, but global undoing. Watching the bears fish as they have always done temporarily soothes my feverish mind and aching soul.

The Bird Park is all abuzz today over the Thursday Special, crumbled saltines. I found a few stale crackers tucked away in a bag this morning and put them out. Big hit!

Neocon chicken hawks

I've had a long standing working idea of the word "chicken hawk" but never read a definition of the term until today when I stumbled on Glenn Greenwald's (Unclamed Territory) article ,"What makes someone a chicken hawk"? It's a much used and often misunderstood term but, even if you already, positively know exactly what it means, I think the article is still worth a read. I've included a couple of paragraphs below and found a nice image at to help illustrate the idea.

GEORGE BUSH - CHICKENSHIT LIAR
LYING US INTO AN UNWINNABLE WAR
photo: FireDogLake

"A "chicken hawk" is one who strikes the pose of a warrior, who imputes the personal courage of a soldier in combat to themselves by virtue of the fact that they are in favor of sending that soldier off to war, or who parades around with the pretense of personal courage and resolve while assuming none of the risks. And a "chicken hawk" will, conversely, attempt to depict those who oppose such wars as being weak, spineless and cowardly even though the war opponents are not seeking to avoid any personal risk to themselves, but instead, are arguing against subjecting their fellow citizens to what they perceive are unnecessary dangers." ~ Glenn Greenwald

chicken hawk bush conservatives cheney rumsfeld neocon

Bears, birds and a lazy afternoon with shade

I've got the National Geographic grizzly cam open in another window and the headphones on so my head if filled with the roar of a wild Alaskan river and from the corner of my right eye I can see giant bears fishing its rapids. As usual there are plenty of seagulls hanging around on clean-up detail. It kind of surprises me that the bears don't swipe at them, especially when the birds crowd within inches while they strip a freshly killed fish, but I guess it's ancient bear wisdom that seagulls are quick and not worth the effort. A bald eagle is also on the river today and that does seem to bother the bears. No doubt the rap on eagles is that they are pushy bastards you have to keep an eye on. The grizzlies will be at the river all day, just like yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and how many more years and centuries of yesterdays before that, deep in ice water, amid the swirling gulls, eyes trained on the rapids, occasionally lunging into the swill and coming up with a fish.

In the corner of my left eye it's another scene, the Bird Park. Mr. Lee put the off-road trailer out there, the one he got in Idaho a couple of weeks ago and the birds here have claimed its shadow for themselves. They are there for hours nibbling in the grass, taking quick forays into the high desert sun for a drink or a dip in one of the baths. Periodically someone arches their wings to get a little air under their feathers. I'm sure it's hot in those down vests. I scattered bits of goodies in the weeds and the few birds not chilling in the hot shade are hopping through the bramble looking for them. The house special today was a left over fish stick from last night's dinner. Yum!

Oops, a bear just grabbed a huge fish and is casually stripping it as a crow looks on longingly. He hops towards the bear, then jumps away but can't get his eyes off the feast. The bear is huge with a big, sagging belly. The crow is getting bolder and, at the same time defending his territory, running at sea gulls that land nearby but you can see all this yourself, that is if it's between 1 and 5 pm Alaska time during the salmon run.

I graduated to a crutch the other day and started physical therapy for my knee. My god! Until now, I have completely pampered it but the therapist showed no mercy. He gave me one week to straighten it out myself. After that, he promised to straighten it for me. Shit. The first day and I was already yelling in pain. He is a nice guy though in spite of the torture but you can believe I'm doing the exercises he gave me. I don't want my poor knee straightened for me. Plus, I've got to get it straight or I'll walk with a damn limp the rest of my life.

A magpie who was here this morning just showed up again, this time with a friend. I recognize him because of the distinguishing little patch of gray feathers on his shoulders, but faster than I can write it, they're gone. It's slim pickings around here in the afternoon.

YouTube: Bird Park Afternoon - 00:06 seconds



So that's it. A lazy afternoon rambling. Nothing more. It's a quiet day here in Nevada. The quail will be by soon. They prefer visiting in the afternoon but, although I'm sure Bush has done plenty of things since I last checked that I could rage about, I just had a lovely baked potato with soy sour cream and salad and am feeling pretty mellow, like a bear after a good day at the river. At the moment, the webcam is doing a close-up of that same bear with the sagging belly. She has another fish. Before that they did a close-up of a grizzly snoozing on the rive bank. Seems the bears have had a good day too.

I did just finish an excellent book, Crashing the Gates, but I'll save the details for another time. It's worth a post of its own.

Conservatives rewrite NASA mission statement

At the beginning of this year, the Bush administration used heavy-handed measures to silence NASA scientists reporting on global warming. In spite of their efforts Dr. James E. Hansen, longtime director of the agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, made it clear that without leadership by the United States, climate change would eventually leave the earth "a different planet." At that time Charles Stern wrote a short article called Harassing NASA in which he criticizes conservatives for their effort to cover up global warming. He wrote:

NASA'’s mission statement includes the words, "To advance scientific knowledge and understanding of the Earth."” If the top scientific thinkers in the world feel strongly enough about their conclusions toward these ends (global warming) that they are willing to voice their concerns publicly, perhaps President Bush should concentrate less on shutting them up and more on listening to what they have to say.

But, as AeroNews.Net noted yesterday, instead of reviewing the data and heeding the warnings on global warming the Bush administration, always adverse to science, simply wrote NASA's mission statement, dropping the words "to understanding and protection our home planet". Another of their head-in-the-sand dirty moves to keep the Corporatocracy's "business as usual" plan running at open throttle, no matter what the cost. The secret conservative mission statement must read something like: "Screw earth and everybody on it, but us".

In a manner that has come to define conservatives, the change was done secretly, behind closed doors. Not even NASA knew. The news is only now making its way through the agency. It was reported in the New York Times on July 22nd in an article by Andrew C. Revkin titled, "NASA's Goals Delete Mention of Home Planet". In it he writes,

"The change comes as an unwelcome surprise to many NASA scientists, who say the "“understand and protect" phrase was not merely window dressing but actively influenced the shaping and execution of research priorities. Without it, these scientists say, there will be far less incentive to pursue projects to improve understanding of terrestrial problems like climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions."

Typical of this sneaky administration that places itself above all review.

As senior NASA climate scientist James Hansen, director of the agency'’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies put it, "The Bush Administration wants to have an open, honest debate on climate change as long as that debate involves people who agree with their position."


In a all out effort to censor his writings and lectures on global warming, the Bush Administration has made a personal target of Dr. Hansen. They desperately want to shut him up because he says things like, "without U.S.-led changes in emissions controls, the world will be left dramatically and irreversibly altered due to global warming." I love this guy. It's encouraging when anyone breaks the silence and dares to stand up to these fucks.

An administration-appointed public affairs official, George Deutsch, regularly screens Dr. Hansen'’s documents and news media interviews in order to "“make the President look good." Hansen has also received several phone calls warning of dire consequences for his critical commentary but hearing of the change in NASA's mission statement he was quick to point out that the change "might reflect White House eagerness to shift the spotlight away from global warming.

For starters, visit Stop Global Warming. We can't afford to wallow in the problem any longer. It's time for solutions.







global warming nasa conservatives bush secrets earth nasa mission statement

Saturday at the Roxy - short versions, latest episodes and ...

I guess I really am a low brow because I was laughing out loud at these excerpts from The Big Lebowski.

Warning.... Graphic Language

Now, to raise the bar a bit, here's the second part of this Saturday at the Roxy, the latest from Ze Frank...

The Show

The third and final feature at the Roxy today is ... coughs. What's that? You didn't catch what I said? Sorry. The last part of today's triple feature is a little ... poetry... I know. I know. If you're like most people, you probably don't like/hate poetry but really .... don't blame Poetry. It's the poets themselves but ... that's a rant for another day.

Anyway, I think the poem queued up here is pretty good, certainly easy listening and quietly provocative to boot. Decide for yourself. It's a poem by Allen Ginsburg called "A Supermarket in California". When you get to the page, click on the player, sit back and enjoy...

And if you want more, check out National Geographic's live cam of wild grizzly bears fishing in a raging river in Alaska.












big lebowski allen ginsburg ze frank grizzlie cam

Mysteries of netiquette revealed

I have only bad things to say about people who include me in Cc'd group emails. An acquaintance did that recently, beginning her letter with something lame like, "Oops. Sorry for the Cc but I'm really busy". Yeah, well thanks a lot, bonehead. Now I am getting 200 to 300 pieces of spam a day. I'm furious. Before she tossed my email address into the shit river of spam, my inbox was virtually spam free.

So, in hopes this may spare someone else the misery, I'm posting something I found online that lays out, in plain language, why savvy people use the Bcc instead of the Cc. I don't know why people have such a hard time switching to the Bcc. I myself had an irrational fear of it and it took me several attempts before I was willing to try it. Big surprise. It worked just fine but so many people I have sent this to prefer to take me off their email list rather than Bcc me. It's weird.

"This came to me direct from a system administrator of very large corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELY applies to ALL of us who send e-mails.

Please read the text below....

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% do NOT. Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it? Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every E-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are two easy steps:

(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message and forward the message, NOT all the other forwards that came with it! For this reason, we must open multiple messages before we get to the real meat message. Just forward the message that's within the message and that's right, DELETE the email addresses. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message.

If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: columns for adding e-mail address.

Always use the BCC: (blind carbon copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way that people you send to only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it.
Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses. A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry listname and email address on a petition.

So please, in the future, let's stop the junk mail and the viruses.

Finally, here's an idea!!! Let's send this to everyone we know (but strip my address off first). This is something that SHOULD be forwarded (via Bcc of course).

spam email netiquette

Conservatives / fascists

I found an intersting article today by Jack Fairweather published by a newspaper in Socorro, New Mexico called Mountain Mail. In it, Fairweather quotes Italian dictator Benito Mussolini saying,

"’Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”

Speaking of his brand of fascism, Mussolini said, “Anti-individualistic, the Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with those of the State.”

“The Fascist concept of the State is all-embracing -- outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist.”

He then adds a definition from the The American Heritage dictionary stating

fascism as a “system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merger of state and business leadership, together with a belligerent nationalism.”

It's a short, clear article, well worth the 2 minutes it takes to read but, if you don't want to do that, then here's my half minute recap,... fascism is the guiding principle of the modern day American conservative party. The radical right has hypnotized and enamored masses of people via media brainwashing but the sad and frightening reality is that these sleepers at the trough are guzzling poison and are drunk and belligerent on its false, fatal numbing comfort.


Photo: "America Fascist Mind Magazine" by artist Stephen Pitt at light-to-dark.com






fascism conservatism republican party politics right wing

Crows and canes

Every morning a crow does a fly-by of the Bird Park to see what's out, which lately hasn't been much due to my knee surgery. To his credit, Mr. Lee has been keeping seeds in the tubes for me but the crows like the marvel meal (veggie suet) I make so the last few days I've got gotten out there on my crutches and stuffed the suet cage with the delicious, peanutbuttery delight. Now, just yesterday, the doctor upgraded me to a cane and prescribed some physical therapy to get me moving so it's a lot easier getting out there plus it's a great relief not clicking around on those crutches. It made Mr. Lee nervous and that makes me nervous.

So, now it's afternoon and Minerva and her companion just showed up and they're nibbling on the marvel meal. Last year she had one gray feather on her right wing. This spring she had a couple of new gray feathers on her breast and just now I noticed that the gray has spread all over her breast, down onto the fluff at the top of her left leg and over onto her left wing. She must be a ancient. She's a regular here and I'm delighted she considers the Bird Park a friendly place to be.

Well, it's raining now and some pigeons have just arrived and are cold tubbing. Seems they prefer bathing in the rain. Go figure. Two are in one tub and a third is trying to crowd in but, combined, they are too fat for all three to fit. A fourth pigeon is in the second tub and has it all to herself. So it goes. Anyway, there's plenty of the marvel meal left in the feeder, seeds in tubes, fresh water in the tubs so, all and all, life is good again at the Bird Park.

Lucky Pierre arrives at last

Lucky Pierre arrived today. Actually Roy kindly mailed him to me weeks ago (thank you again, Roy) but, because of my recent knee surgery, I have yet to make it to the post office. Mr. Lee went there today for me.

After living under Roy's house for who knows how long I must say, Lucky Pierre is in great shape ... physically. But he's despondent. I couldn't get him to look at the camera. I understand. He's embarrassed to be seen in public dressed in a Santa clown suit. You must understand, Lucky Pierre is actually an artist, a Parisian and a very proud fellow. God knows what brought him down so low but better times are ahead.

Perhaps it was the nipping of the wormwood, the absinthe, as was so popular among the surrealists when he was still known as Lucky Pierre. Perhaps he had too many Pernod Fils too many times at the dark and smoky bistros. Something sent him on his downward spiral. To gig as a Santa? Ah, Pierre. But now you are found, my friend. It will be slow. Everything around here happens on ashatime but things are looking up my friend. Things are looking up.