Surge for Bush

Current US Body Count

"Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results".

Now the Republicans have announced they are going to do what we all knew they were going to do in Iraq, repackage the same old failed same old plan ... send more and more Americans to needless injury and death. Bastards all.

Dirty talk

Note: A Different Iraq Metric

US SPENT $1 MIL FOR EVERY DEAD IRAQI - CIVILIANS INCLUDED:

Early this year the Bush administration is to ask Congress to approve an additional $100bn for the onerous task of making life intolerable for the Iraqis. This will bring the total spent on the White House's current obsession with war to almost $500bn - enough to have given every US citizen $1,600 each... with over half a million dead, it means that the world's greatest military superpower has spent a million dollars for every Iraqi killed...
[THE GUARDIAN]

surge Bush Iraq poetry kinky roleplay sex

Walkabout and dirt bath party

I was in Carson City twice in the last couple of days running errands and naturally brought my camera with me so it ended up being a photo walkabout as well.



I also stopped by Comma Coffee to talk with June about relocating a portion of Bill Cowee's poetry collection there. Sadly Bill, Godfather of Ash Canyon Poets, is in failing health and is in the process of moving into a care facility. One of his primary concerns is to find a home for his vast, wonderful collection of poetry books, journals, little magazines and obscure, single run chap books. He has an amazing collection. Ash Canyon poets get the first pick. After that, the majority of the books will be donated to public and school libraries.

The remainder, six book shelves worth (shelves included), will go to Comma Coffee. This is the lovely little library that Bill used to house at Carson City's Brewery Arts Center where Ash Canyon Poets have met every Friday night for many years, that is until recently when the center rate hikes forced Ash Canyon to seek a new home. For the last several months the Brewery Arts books have been tucked away in Terry Breedon's basement. Today I was hoping to make the final arrangements with June to move them to the cafe but she was too busy to discuss it. I stayed for a while anyay, had coffee and read. I am finally in the last thrilling pages of volume 4 of the Otherland series. Good read.

It was a blue sky day in Nevada. The quail were certainly enjoying it, especially as just a few days ago they were scurrying around in a blizzard looking for whatever frozen seed they could scratch up. To celebrate the warm weather, they had a dirt bath party in my back yard.

Dirt bath party

01:03

New Year resolutions and troupe members

I am very impressed with Roy's decision to post every day this year. Never mind he's been under the weather and already missed a day. That just makes him human, for which I am grateful. I am inspired by his resolve. It's a good way to insure that one writes every day so I secretly decided to try doing it myself but, after switching to one of Blogger's new templates this morning and fiddling with it all day, I decided to abandon the goal. This is the best I can do at this late hour, and once the bloom of the new year fades, I know it won't get any better. Once again I resort to photos to fluff things up. She hasn't revealed her name yet but Wolfie recognized her the minute she arrived, and has been at her side ever since. As you can see, he's very protective of her so I've been leaving them to themselves. Seems they have some catching up to do.

Ryan

M. Lee turned me on to this documentary by Ryan Larkin and Chris Landreth. It won an Academy Award in 2004 for Best Animated Short which is kind of sweet, given the story. More on Larkin here.

Ryan

Ryan Larkin animation Ryan Chris Landreth Bingo

Nevada at night

It's (finally) snowing ... big, fat flakes ... just why now when I have to go to town? I hate driving in weather like this but gotta go. Wish me luck.

Masks for the New Year

A couple of friends and I had a New Year/Winter Solstice, vegetarian feast, mask making, I Ching party on the 1st. Naturally, I took a bunch of photos and videos. The masks aren't painted yet but here is a video of Susan wearing hers, playing around with homegrown mudras and a set of japa mala. Happy New Year!

Mask & Mala

00:50

New Year's day masks mudras

WPIX yule log

Snowy morning

We finally got a little snow on the valley floor yesterday, not a lot but it's nice and powdery. On Friday the birds ate about three times their normal amount so I wasn't surprised when the snow came. I wish I had built a little warming hut for the quail. I think they would appreciate it.

I did put out a Marvel Meal buffet this morning however.
It was a big hit all around.
Breakfast in the snow
(YouTube 02:02)

Will write for money?

Here's a little something I found over at Craig's List that was just listed today, a paying, free lance writing gig. If you like the prospect of getting paid for writing, check it out. Typical payment per story is between $100 and $200 for up to 2,000 words but they prefer less than 1,000. Common Ties.

Excerpt 34

One word, one sentence at a time I will reconstruct the story. I've written it before on countless scraps of paper. One word, one sentence at a time I will reconstruct the story. Forgive me. It is composed of a seemingly endless succession of beginnings. The original order of the words has been lost so I rely on you to supply the details. One word, one sentence at a time I will reconstruct the story. Forgive me. The original has been lost but I promise to stay true to its drift. That is not a matter of memory. It is a matter of being. One world at, one word at a time. Forgive me. The original version of this story does not exist. One word, one sentence at a time, this is its drift. This is the drift. The notes are scattered. No. Not scattered. The notes were never collected. Jotted. Scribbled. On scraps, in notebooks, on flaps. They have never been collected. They have seldom been re-read. Or read. The words, disjointed, have been set down and abandon. No, not abandon. There is much thinking between them, the phrases, the paragraph and elimination of words. And ideas. "Why?" I am telling a story. Build the house. Paint it later. And later still introduce the particulars. Each letter reverberates, twists but... if morning brings a promise it is a simple thread strung between opposites requiring a wire dance in thin air...

Christmas cheer

Mr. Lee emailed me this fine bit of Christmas cheer to help kick off The Season. It's a little clip from Space Bass Films.

Santa

Open mike finder

Want to know where the open mikes are in your area? I just stumbled on a cool website that lists them. Check it out. Openmikes.org.

In passing

NaNoWriMo ends tonight at 11:59:59. I'm glad I'm already done. I would hate to be grinding words out at this late hour but I'm sure people are. Right now the collective word count is 909,464,173. Crazy. So... to commemorate the end of the wonderful madness that is NaNoWriMo, here is a recent photo I took up in Virginia City during my daughter's Thanksgiving visit and a great little poem by A. E. Housman. I think the two compliment one another and NaNoWriMo in a fitting and oblique way.

Infant Innocence
A.E. Housman

The Grizzly Bear is huge and wild;
He has devoured the infant child.
The infant child is not aware
It has been eaten by the bear.

Nevada poetry Housman

New troupe member

A new actor joined the cast here at the Language Barrier's Invisible Theatre over the holiday weekend. She was living up in Virginia City when I spotted these fellows through an open door off the boardwalk. That's her just right of center, between the white lamb and the golden dancer; the one with the long, gray hair.

NaNo's end and holiday cheer

Virginia City, Nevada
Big happings around the Language Barrier. First off, my daughter and her very nice fiance came home for a Thanksgiving visit. We had a great time. Also, I finished NaNoWriMo while they were here. That's 50,000 words in one month, babeee! Naturally my ... uh... novel ... is crap, throat clearing, but I expected that. It was all about the word count. It is a beginning or not but at least I got out from under the boot of the bastard inner editor for a month. And like they say, you can't edit a blank page. Anyway, I hate to disappoint you but that's it for the What I did on Thanksgiving and My NaNoWriMo posts for now. I've got errands to finish before the snow hits. In the meantime, here's a little casino love to keep you going. I recorded this from the platform of the huge, crazy, indoor mining diorama at the Silver Legacy in Reno. Enjoy.




Silver Legacy casino, Reno, Nevada
00:58











nanowrimo

Reality cliff notes

Today at washingtonpost.com Joshua Muravchik, a neoconservative at the American Enterprise Institute, is quoted as saying

"There's a question to be sorted out: whether the war was a sound idea but very badly executed or was the mistake the idea itself?

Hmmm??? Let's see .....
preemptive war....

sound idea very badly executed
or
is the mistake the idea itself?

Rummy or the neocon agenda?
Rummy or the neocon agenda?
Rummy or the neocon (i.e. fascist) agenda?

Warning: plot spoiler ahead...

The geniuses in the neocon think tanks will do their best to keep our focus on Rummy and off themselves and Bush Inc. for as long as we will let them. Heaven forbid any of them should have to take responsibility for anything! But it's an obvious answer so I'm not really spoiling anything when I say that, even beyond the fact that the "reasons" they gave us were big fat lies, invading Iraq was a very bad idea. Using the American military or mercenaries to invade sovereign nations is a terrible, terrible idea and if you have half a brain or one quarter ounce of moral fiber you know it too so why should we pretend otherwise or wait for a cabal of spiritually retarded geniuses to decide for us?

Ken Adelman (the guy who famously said that invading Iraq would be a "cakewalk") is suffering from shattered ideals: "The whole philosophy of using American strength for good in the world, for a foreign policy that is really value-based instead of balanced-power-based, I don't think is disproven by Iraq. But it's certainly discredited."

Actions speak louder than words, Ken.

Ken is right about one thing though. Invading Iraq did make "them" more "like us" ... violent.

But I indulge myself. It's still November, NaNoWriMo time. I've got miles to write before I sleep.






iraq neoconservatism bush

Life beyond NaNoWriMo?

Twilight.
Nevada State Legislature
from Comma Coffee

I didn't get any writing done today and less than a thousand yesterday so tomorrow it's back to Comma Coffee for a NaNoDay ... just me and the laptop, no editor, no plot, no problem. I'm doing okay, 38,008 words - 51 pages, but I have to keep at it. I would like to be done by the time my daughter and her finance arrive next week for Thanksgiving. Here's what's odd. At this point I have separation anxiety whenever I think about finishing this thing. I have grown very fond of NaNoWriMo.










NaNoWriMo