Truth or squirm

Ass-kissing shills and craven hate mongers run interception for Bush Co. & Amerika Inc. I wish we had real journalists in this country like the BBC's John Snow.

UK Journalist confronts Israeli Ambassador

israel lebanon journalism

Saturday at the Roxy - 05.06

Just a quick note about the feature of the day, "Night Life in Reno". However tame and cliched it looks now, it shocked and outraged a lot of people in it's day. They felt it glamourized "modern behavior" and in reaction pushed for the Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, aka the Hays Code, which started being enforced in 1934. It's a simple plot but almost an hour long so when I played it, I diminished the window to the size of the viewer and half watched it as I surfed other sites.

Get ready to take the
Boob Test


Feature Film
Night Life in Reno
1931 - run time 57:33


The Show, by ZeFrank
Yes, I'm shamelessly grinding the birthday theme
into the dirt but still I think you'll enjoy this epidsode
which he claims is Run out of Underwear and Contemplate
how far you can get on an Empty Tank of Gas Day.

Alex Baldwin does the voice over for the last clip of the day.
It's the video the meat industry doesn't want you to watch
so I won't blame you if you chicken out
but I hope you have the heart to open your heart and
take the plunge.

alex baldwin zefrank boobs reno nights roxy

Overview

Long day. I accidentally deleted half of my blog template this afternoon. A moment's inattention. I hate it when I do that. I've have a positively lovely afternoon reconstructing things just so they look halfway the same. Another check in the "Why Bother" column but the encouraging comments from yesterday kept me going and I got through the worst of it without pulling the plug. I'd only regret it anyway.

It's evening now, the worst of that is over and it looks like rain may be on the way but you can never be sure in the desert. I watch weather moving towards me from miles away, rain trailing below the clouds like a long gray veil that never touches the earth. But the wind is up and whistling around corners, rattling the trees and sunflowers in the Bird Park and the light is yellow bouncing back from an increasingly gray sky fringed with dusty rose. And thunder overhead. It's kind of nice.

Aftermath

Yesterday was my birthday. It was also the 9th anniversary of William Burroughs' departure to Interzone. I really like Burroughs and as far as I'm concerned August 2nd is our day. I even wore my Burroughs' tshirt with the quote, "We intend to destroy all dogmatic verbal systems". My kinda guy.

The day started out on a low enough key with a trip to physical therapy. Still working on loosening up that knee. After that, it was a non stop party. The birds got the last of the scrumptious veggie Marvel Meal and a special mix of various seeds and Mr. Lee and I poisoned ourselves with mammoth helpings of lemon-strawberry cake and too much ice cream. My friend Susan even dropped by with a couple of cool gifts, which was totally unexpected. I offered her cake but she wisely ate watermelon. In the evening we went to a second birthday party. Big day.

Today, I'm a bit depressed. Don't bother telling me it's the sugar. Susan already kindly pointed that out. Plus I'm beginning to hate the pathetic "Dear Diary" quality of this blog. I don't know why I do one. It's embarrassing. All well. I'm a chronic sufferer of symbol overload. Blogging is a overflow valve. I've been in the house too long, almost constantly since the Summer Solstice. It's evening. The quail have just arrived in their little hats. In case you forgot, they spend the day under Dwayne's sprawling Indian Willow Tree, or whatever the fuck it's called. They stroll over here to the Bird Park for an evening snack. The finches spend all day on the feeders spewing seed everywhere and the quail drop by to see what's left when the temperature cools.

In case you're wondering, the image at the top is of the front of the birthday card Mr. Lee made for me this year. I love his cards. They are always unique and delightfully disturbing. Circuses are my thing anyway and this year's card has circus images on front and back and under his signature a tasteful gif of twisted barbed wire. The image on the back is very faded and grainy, in keeping with it being of a small, Depression era traveling circus. I'm not posting a photo of the backside. I have to keep something for myself. He always nails it. I'm sure I spent many of past lives in various traveling circuses and wandering theatre troupes. The backside also has a wonderful quote from Anne Sexton. I like her a more than Sylvia Plath these days although Mr. Lee was quick to point out that poor Sylvia was over-exposed. What can you expect when you stick your head in the oven and gas yourself, what with the children and a big mouth husband. She is a fine poet though. They both are.

An dear friend of mine, Michael O'Rourke (himself a fine poet and playwright) wrote me yesterday and had some nice things to say about Driftwork... "Driftwork is like pure cold well water in the desert. My gratitude to all who contributed--it's wonderful to know that the universal loners, pit stop desperadoes and holy whores, pacifists with fists full of poems and diehard prose, can face down the high noon tactics of oil fume ghosts gurgling in the blood of the indigenous soul." Michael was probably thinking of me when he wrote "holy whore"; and probably "pit stop desperado". Both apply. Shit, it all applies. That's the problem with old friends. They know too much.

So that's it for now. No politics today.

"For God was as large as a sunlamp and laughed his heat at us and therefore we did not cringe at the death hole." - Anne Sexton

The last written words of William Burroughs

Love story

Ann Coulter think Senator Joe Lieberman "should just come all the way and be a Republican". As usual this bitch misses the point. Lieberman already is a Republican.

senator lieberman ann coulter Connecticut primaries republican senator iraq war

Primeval Tide

Following links today, I found an alarming article on DailyKos by Mike Stark called "The scariest fucking thing I ever read." I decided to read it. Perhaps I'm getting inured to bad news. I don't know. I don't think so but today I thought what the hell? Might as well start at the bottom. So I read it. It's scary.

I don't want to force it on you. After all, you might prefer squinting at reality today and resent being snapped into sharp focus. Besides far be it from me to force anything. No. In these twisted times knowledge is optional. All I'll say is that it starts out like this:

"From Jeff Wells ' terrific Rigorous Intuition, I was tipped to this Climate Ark article."

Personally I suggest you go ahead and click one of links, either The scariest fucking thing I ever read, Rigorous Intuition or, if you're somebody who insists on going directly to the source, Climate Ark. But it's up to you.

I'll give you a hint though. The lock is broken. Beware the primeval tide.






climate change toxic oceans Amazon global warming drought

No fee writer's contests - August 06

I take it as something of a civic duty to occasionally post information about writer's contests so here's a short list of upcoming deadlines from Poets&Writers. These are all no-fee contests, which I prefer. I don't know about you, but I balk at paying people to read my work but entry fees are a permanent part of the writer's world and they are a legitimate way for small organizations to help writers out. The long list, including contests with entry fees, is here.

New York Public Library
Young Lions Fiction Award
A prize of $10,000 is given annually to honor a novel or short story collection by a U.S. citizen who is 35 or younger. Publishers and agents may submit 10 copies of a book published (or galleys of a book scheduled for publication) in 2006, a nomination form, an author biography, and book reviews by August 25. There is no entry fee. Send an SASE, call, e-mail, or visit the Web site for complete guidelines.
New York Public Library, Young Lions Fiction Award, 476 Fifth Avenue, Room 73, New York, NY 10018. (212) 930-0887. Katie Sanderson, Manager.
ksanderson@nypl.org
www.nypl.org/yl

Delaware Division of the Arts
Individual Artist Fellowships
Established Professional Fellowships of $5,000 and Emerging Professional Fellowships of $2,000 are given annually to Delaware writers who are at least 18 years old, have lived in Delaware for at least a year prior to application, and are not enrolled in a degree program. Submit 20 pages of poetry or fiction by August 15. There is no entry fee. Send an SASE, call, or visit the Web site for complete guidelines. (See Recent Winners.)
Delaware Division of the Arts, Individual Artist Fellowships, Carvel State Office Building, 820 North French Street, Wilmington, DE 19801. (302) 577-8278. Kristin Pleasanton, Coordinator.
www.artsdel.org/grants/default.shtml

Graywolf Press
Nonfiction Prize
An advance of $12,000 and publication by Graywolf Press is given annually for a book-length work of creative nonfiction by a writer who has published no more than two books in that genre. Robert Polito will judge. Submit a manuscript of 200 to 400 pages between August 15 and September 15. There is no entry fee. Send an SASE or visit the Web site for complete guidelines. (See Recent Winners.)
Graywolf Press, Nonfiction Prize, 2402 University Avenue, Suite 203, St. Paul, MN 55114. Katie Dublinski, Editorial Manager.
www.graywolfpress.org

Illinois Arts Council
Artists Fellowship Awards
Fellowships of $7,000 each are given annually to Illinois writers. Finalists receive grants of $700 each. The fellowships, which alternate yearly between poetry and prose, are given to Illinois residents who have lived in the state for at least one year prior to the application deadline and who are not enrolled in any degree or certificate-granting program. Poets may submit no more than 15 pages of poetry completed within the past four years, proof of residency, and a resumé by September 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the Web site for the required application and complete guidelines. (See Recent Winners.)
Illinois Arts Council, Artists Fellowship Awards, James R. Thompson Center, 100 West Randolph, Suite 10-500, Chicago, IL 60601.
www.state.il.us/agency/iac/
guidelines/guidelines.htm

Ohio Arts Council
Individual Excellence Awards
Fellowships of $5,000 and $10,000 are awarded annually to Ohio poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. Writers who have been residents of Ohio for one year prior to the application deadline and are not enrolled in a degree- or certificate-granting program are eligible. Submit 10 to 15 pages of poetry or 20 to 30 pages of prose completed within the past three years by September 1. There is no entry fee. Call or visit the Web site for the required application and complete guidelines.
(See Recent Winners.)
Ohio Arts Council, Individual Excellence Awards, 727 East Main Street, Columbus, OH 43205-1796. (614) 466-2613. Kathy Signorino, Program Coordinator.
kathy.signorino@oac.state.oh.us
www.oac.state.oh.us/grantsprogs/
guidelines/individualcreativity.asp

Wyoming Arts Council
Blanchan/Doubleday Memorial Awards
Two prizes of $1,000 each are given annually by the Wyoming Arts Council for works of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. The Neltje Blanchan Memorial Award is given for the best work inspired by nature, and the Frank Nelson Doubleday Award is given for the best work by a Wyoming woman. For both awards, Wyoming residents who have published no more than one book in any genre are eligible. Full-time students and faculty members are ineligible. Submit a poetry manuscript of no more than 10 pages or a prose manuscript of no more than 25 pages by August 11. There is no entry fee. Send an SASE, call, or e-mail for complete guidelines.
Wyoming Arts Council, Blanchan/ Doubleday Memorial Awards, 2320 Capitol Avenue, Cheyenne, WY 82002. (307) 777-5234. Michael Shay, Literature Program Manager.
mshay@state.wy.us
wyoarts.state.wy.us/applications.html

Olivet College
Sandburg-Auden-Stein Residency
A three-week residency at Olivet College, including a stipend of $3,100, will be given annually to a poet who has published at least one book of poetry. The resident will teach a class and host two events. Submit four copies of five poems from the most recently published book, a personal statement, a resumé, and two references by September 10. There is no entry fee. Send an SASE, e-mail, or visit the Web site for complete guidelines.
Olivet College, Sandburg-Auden-Stein Residency, Humanities Department, 320 South Main Street, Olivet, MI 49076. Martha Perkins, Humanities Department Chair.
mperkins@olivetcollege.edu
www.olivetcollege.edu/departments/humanities

writer's contests poets writers no fee

Specter's FISA bill - Neutering the Constitution

Conservatives are like zombies,

brainless and senseless.
After reading Roy's post "On Being Human" last night I decided I wasn't going to do a political post today. I really wasn't. I swear. Like everyone else, I'm sick of staring into the whirling blades of the political shit fan. Then I read "Echoes of the Nixon era" posted at Salon this morning. It's so disturbing, well ... I just had to write about it. I'll give you 3 seconds to scram, go watch some funny dogs or something ... 3-2-1 ... otherwise, if you want to know what's trying to totally change your world ... proceed at your own risk.

Just after the Supreme Court finally ruled against the administration for something, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Senator Arlen Specter proposes a bill (S. 2543 - the National Security Surveillance Act) that would permanently put the office of president above and beyond the law. If passed the President of the United States would be replaced by an executive branch whose "president" would answer to no one and be accountable for nothing Instead the "president" would be a completely free agent, a dictator at liberty to do whatever he wants in complete, total, and impenetrable secret.

Bush and Senator Arlen Specter

It doesn't matter that Bush is on his way out.
He was just a place holder anyway, a lure to attract evangelicals. The real power brokers in D.C. are groups like the Project for the New American Century which has been around since the middle of the 20th century and plans to rule the entire 21st. Big surprise, its members include guys like Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Dan Quayle. They only make cameo appearances on the main stage to set things up, then it's back to the shadows where they can best do their nefarious deeds. At this point they must feel pretty confident that whoever steps into the presidency next will do their bidding. Why not? Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Specter's bill requires that...

"all pending cases challenging the legality of the NSA program be transferred to the secret FISA court, if the attorney general so desires, which he will. Second, it makes judicial review of the administration's behavior virtually impossible, as it specifically prohibits, in Sec. 702(b)(2), the FISA court from "requir(ing) the disclosure of national security information ... without the approval of the Director of National Intelligence of the Attorney General." That all but prevents any discovery in these lawsuits. Third, it authorizes, in Sec. 702(b)(6), the FISA court to "dismiss a challenge to the legality of an electronic surveillance program for any reason." Arguably, that provision broadens the authority of the court to dismiss any such lawsuit for the most discretionary of reasons, even beyond the already wide parameters of the "state secrets" doctrine."

Chilling and surreal but unfortunately all too real. In this article Greenwald writes that...

"worst thing that Specter's bill would do is place the president's FISA decisions beyond any kind of meaningful judicial review forever, and immunize the Bush administration from any real scrutiny of the legality and constitutionality of its conduct."

If this bill gets passed we might as well change the, "In God we trust" to, "In Secret Government we trust" and add the old motto of Germany's SS, "My honor is called loyalty."

We may be powerless to stop what going on but we damn sure won't able to do anything about it if we chose to remain ignorant about what's going on. As Greenwald concludes...

"It is one thing for specific warrant applications to be conducted in secret, with only one side present, and with even the decision itself always sealed from the public -- the standard operating procedures for the FISA court. But those procedures are plainly inappropriate for deciding critical questions of constitutional law that determine the protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights to all Americans against the government. The parameters of the Fourth Amendment and decisions as to whether our highest government officials have been continuously violating it cannot possibly be determined in secret and then kept secret from American citizens. Yet the Specter bill would ensure exactly that disturbing, and quite extraordinary, result."

specter S. 2543 National Security Surveillance Act FISA "state secrets" conservatives

Voices in the divide

Generally, I think my opinion of the conservatives hell bent on turning America into corporate police state is pretty clear. And I think my horror of the glassy-eyed minions who support the conservative's wars, Karl Rove's zombie marching band, is well established. So it's downright refreshing to write about a Baptist minister (no less) who stands up to the idolatry of merging Church and State, in which so many Christians are currently mired.

Predictably, when Rev. Gregory A. Boyd denounced the right's infiltration and whopping successful take-over of evangelical Christianity, one thousand members of his mega church in St. Paul left. But four thousand remained. I'm from Nevada. That's a pretty good split. The house wins. Good for him. Good for them. I wish this were a trend but most of Christendom, even the so-called "moderates", are keeping a wormy profile as the right-wingnuts slash and burn their jagged path through the world. We shall see but at least Rev. Boyd is awake and making trouble. He's no liberal but he tossed out the politicians and money changers while the rest of shepherds and their flocks stand dutifully in the slaughter house line in Bush Co's deranged parallel universe.

The New York Times did an article on Rev. Boyd but I don't know how long it will be accessible before they lock it up in their archives and slap a price tag on it but there's also a thread on DailyKos that will remain available if you want to read more. Treat yourself. It's encouraging news, which is rare these days.








Rev. Boyd conservative religion christian church

Saturday at the Roxy extravaganza

Above all, Saturday is a state of mind. It's a time to get down and loosen up. Even I have to lighten up sometimes. A couple of the videos I'm posting today have been around for awhile but I re-watch them from time to time and still enjoy them and if you haven't seen them, you might like them too.

To get things going there's a couple of high thrills sport shorts, then an a rather odd animation which leads to today's dark, somewhat disturbing main feature. Don't worry. It all ends on a happy note. Today is septuple Saturday, so get plenty of pie, popcorn and your favorite beverage and settle in for the show.

Tyson
Ride on the wild side!


Trials Riding
Holy shit!

After you


Main Feature:
Salvador Dali
15:41 minutes


You kicked my dog
Oldie but still hilarious.


ZeFrank 07.28
Did you forget to watch The Show?
Don't worry. Here it is.


Jazz
about :30
A brief mellow short to conclude
what I hope has been
an entertaining visit to the Roxy.

saturday roxy dali dog trials riding neistat zefrank

mmmmmmmmm pie

click image to play

Weebl and Bob

Be sure and come back later with your popcorn and pie because today is Saturday at the Roxy.



Ps. Asia and Roy, I had insanely over-buttered popcorn last night instead, although Mr. Lee was willing to do an emergency pie run at 8 pm. I am happy to report that the magic worked! This morning I'm brimming over with love again; well at least for today all the idiots get a pass. After all, it's Saturday. Pie for everybody.

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






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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.

Conservatives suck

Paul Waldman at TomPain.commonsense posted a clear-minded critique of conservativism on his website the other day, from which I quote:

"Conservatives supported slavery, conservatives opposed women'’s suffrage, conservatives supported Jim Crow, conservatives opposed the 40-hour work week and the abolishment of child labor, and conservatives supported McCarthyism. In short, all the major advancements of freedom and justice in our history were pushed by liberals and opposed by conservatives, no matter the party they inhabited at the time."

In his article, It's The Conservatism, Stupid, Walden elaborates on why conservatives suck in three bullet points. It's definitely worth a read.

1. Conservatism has failed.
2. Conservatism is the ideology of the past, a past we don'’t want to return to.
3. Conservatives are cowards, and they hope you are, too.

Thanks to Jodi at I cite for the link to Walden's article. I couldn't agree more. For all the chest pounding about how decisive they are, it's clear that conservatives have no spine. How can they? Their minds are closed to facts. They do not think for themselves, they believe what they are told to believe. They do what they are told, when they are told, the way they are told to do it. They are ready and willing at all times to sacrifice everybody else for the advancement of the conservative agenda. They ignore even the most blatantly criminal actions of their leaders because they are gray men and clone-like womem lapping up the "trickle down", clinging to a corrupt hierarchy chiggers on a dying dog.

Sunday at the Roxy - cartoon shorts

Here's a few animation videos for your Sunday entertainment. They are from a Canadian site that has a large archive, going back many years. I watched several and have to say I found them a bit on the grim side. Maybe it's the effect of the long, dark winters. Anyway, they're interesting and well done.

The Cat Came Back 1988 - 7 min 37 s

The Owl Who Married a Goose: An Eskimo Legend
1974 - 7 min 38 sec

Night Angel 1986 - 18 min 41 s

Morning in new world

It's 3am and I just woke up thinking about global warming, about how we continue to debate and deny it and how trivial this debate is. The planet's climate is changing as we speak. World wide, global climate change. It effects every aspect of life as we know it. We could have avoided global warming if we started making changes years ago. Patterns this massive, this complex develop slowly but there is a tipping point for all change and scientists say we're past it now. A new global weather cycle has already begun. Noticed? It will replace the old one, the one we evolved with, rose to dominance in and eventually unbalanced with our smoke and gasses, our destruction of carbon dioxide-eating, oxygen-producing trees, with our daily breeding of billions of methane-producing animals for slaughter, with our sprawling, worldwide mile after mile of concrete high rise, heat producing cities, we are past the point of no return. I'm afraid it will be interesting. Change one. Change all.

I don't think I'm being a doom bird about it. I guess I woke up with global warming on my mind because of a conversation I had with the Charter guy yesterday afternoon. After he (hopefully) fixed the problem we've been having with our internet connection he came to my office and we chatted for awhile. I think he was curious about what I was up to. My office is, well, colorful I guess you could say, especially as the rest of the house is practically empty, nothing on the the walls, no book shelves, no TV, no mementos scattered everywhere, no treasures on display. White walls, white rugs, and emptiness. We call it our zen house, then there's my room, with a tiny puppet theatre built into one of the book shelves in my "shipping department" amid a general overflow of rocks, shells, trilobites, feathers, piles of papers, boxes of zines, briefcases, my Chaitanya deities and world alter, including a hand-carved coyote some old guy I met in the desert gave me and a fabulous, fiddling frog. You get the idea. My little world. It's a big contrast to the sense deprivation in the rest of house. Anyway, we talked about global warming. I started it naturally. I guess it's been in the back of my mind ever since.

At the moment, five little fruit fly guys have made themselves at home on my monitor. One is crawling off to the right and another one is standing on the third word in the second to the last sentence of the last paragraph. On my monitor the word is "naturally". I don't know what it is for you. It all depends on the size of your monitor, your browser, resolution, all that. Or was. They move quickly. And another fellow is rubbing his legs over the fourth word of the first sentence of this paragraph. That should be "five" for everyone as it's at the beginning of the paragraph rather than the end. They are having quite a time of it but I'm going have to close their little light field down now and see of I can get back to sleep. Ta.