NO YOU CAN'T!

So, you REALLY think that you can be inspired to reach greater heights and purposes with that silly, "Yes We Can" stuff written by some guy who can't even spell his name correctly?

The Billionaires For Bush would like you to remember that while you may consider for a split second a vote for a Democrat (even one who sends tingles down Chris Matthews' legs when he speaks), you will be voting a vote for health, clean climate, rebuilding infrastructure and the return of big money for little people... you! Oh, the horror of it all!

Pshaw, my little friends! The Billionaires have banded together again (or actually, they never go away) in order to remind you that only their power and money matters! So, VOTE GOP to continue their healthy bottom line!

Billionaires are constantly at work in the dark recesses of their walk-in vaults planning new ways to ensure that their power structure remains the status quo! Watch their new video answer to "Yes We Can," answered with a rousing, NO YOU CAN'T!

If this video angers you, then do something about it. Vote for a Democrat!

Summing Up McCain [and the Republican Party]

I was reading a blog entry on Daily Kos tonight after the "Potomac Chesapeake Crabcake" primaries in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. As you may know, Barack Obama and John McCain swept all three primaries, with Obama winning with some impressive numbers and McCain getting by against Mike Hucklebee.

Hillary Clinton spoke in El Paso, Texas tonight without acknowledging tonight's losses, though I do think the little Mexican-American boy with his traditional mariachi outfit who brought her flowers was darn cute. Obama followed up with a moving and powerful speech. McCain came along toward the middle of Obama's speech and he basically said all you would expect him to say: if he doesn't win, America is in danger of Democrats deciding things for you, getting you attacked, taking your money, and doubling the size of government. And he said the last two with a straight face despite his party's reckless spending and bloat. Go figure. I guess if you can believe Bush for the last seven years, you can believe that shit smells good. I sat and watched McCain's entire speech (thank the FSM that it was short) and I laughed out loud at the end of his dog and pony show: Obama is certainly making McCain nervous; McCain stole one of Obama's lines. (As if he's the only one on this campaign who has done that.)

"ipsos," a blogger on Daily Kos said,

[Obama] is no longer running for the Democratic nomination for president. He's running for president, period - and even John McCain knows it, with the addition of his lines about "platitudes" to his speech tonight. (And what a hell of a contrast between the tens of thousands of people of all ages and colors at the Obama rally and the little crowd of old white people, including the exhumed corpse of John Warner, in suits behind McCain a few minutes later!)

Yes there was a definite contrast between both Clinton's and Obama's audiences tonight, not the least of which was the diversity of the crowd... and heartbeat.

At the end of the speech McCain riffed on Obama's line of "Fired Up and Ready to Go." McCain's riff was this: "My friends, I promise you, I am fired up and ready to go." Ok, I know it's verbatim and not much of a riff, and I also know that imitation is the highest form of flattery but can't these people come up with anything of their own?

At the end of ipso's blog entry, he wrote the following signature line that pretty much sums up McCain's run for presidency and why he won't be President, whether he goes against Clinton or Obama:

John McCain: Tired out, and ready...for bed!

I don't want to enter another "ism," ageism, into the 2008 presidential race to join its partners, sexism and racism, but man, McCain looked tired... and more than that, he sounded that way, too.

Americans have been hypnotized into the same old stale rhetoric of the Republican Party, and frankly, it's tired out. Just like John McCain.

Fired up, indeed.

Take the Newtown Creek to the BQE

Newtown Creek Trip
Summer, 2007
Video by Elderta

This video was taken on a trip up the Newton Creek. We usually only go about a quarter mile up the Creek, but on this trip, a smaller group took the Creek further up until we reached the Kosciuszko Bridge. We went a little past the bridge and hung out for a bit at a small bird sanctuary.

The Newtown Creek is still very industrial and is not quite as clean as the the East and Hudson Rivers have become over the last few years. However, it's getting better. Or at least I like to tell myself that as I'm kayaking in a small boat and watching the Creek bubble up from the massive 17 million gallon oil spill that still exists under the Creek bed.

I Dream of Summer

A Future Park
Brooklyn Waterfront, Summer 2007
Video by Elderta

Just a short video from last summer of some kayakers from the Long Island City Community Boathouse. We had just spent the day kayaking down the East River to the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way back to the boathouse in Queens, we stopped by a small cove that one day may be a animal and bird habitat and park.

I want summer to come so I can get back out onto the beautiful water that surrounds New York City. April seems so far away.

Hell and Handbaskets

Sums up my current feelings exactly...

Can We?

Can we really have hope and work together for the good of our country and the world?

Sometimes, I just don't know.

Kenya: How Genocide Begins

A few years ago, I wrote a paper on the archival collections of a man named Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin is the scholar who first coined the word, "genocide" and systematically wrote about its meaning, origins and affects on society. He singlehandedly pushed through the "Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide."

Article 2 of the Convention reads:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Now read the Vigilante Reporter.

An excerpt:

There are accounts of groups of people moving east across the country toward the capital, instigateing organized ethnic cleansing. In Nakuru, countless died and were injured in clashes between the Kikuyus and Luos and Kalengins. A new displaced persons camp was opened in the stadium for a group of Luos fleeing violence by the Mungiki sect. Saturday afternoon nearly a thousand men, women and children were taken by the red cross to hide in the stadium after the Mungiki sect murdered 6 people the night before. Police presence was heavy after the first day of fighting and things cooled down dramatically on Monday when people could be seen returning to work and shops opening up for business again. The hospital on Friday evening, however, was a horror scene, with over 60 wounded mostly by machete, stoning and arrows.

To add to what is already happening, yesterday's killing of an opposition leader in Nairobi enters the mix. The Washington Post reports:

Even with former U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan in Nairobi to mediate between Kibaki and Odinga, many Kenyans say their country is just a spark away from blazing out of control.

For a while Tuesday, it appeared that the killing of [Mugabe] Were, a 38-year-old lawmaker from Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, might provide it.

Were was shot once in the head and once in the chest as he was pulling into his driveway, his security guard said. Police are investigating whether it was a robbery, but his supporters immediately called his death a political assassination.

Were was a hero in his district, a mostly poor neighborhood of dirt paths and corrugated-metal homes where he funded an orphanage and paid children's school fees. As a successful candidate for parliament, Were also embodied the hopes Odinga's followers had to win political power.

If you will recall, the 1994 slaughter in Rwanda began in earnest when the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a helicopter crash.

All it takes is a spark to ignite the flames. I hope that cooler heads prevail and soon. I hope it's not too late but fear that the time has come and gone to prevent what's about to happen.

May the Universe have mercy on Kenya and all of its people.

What About Iowa??? It's Not White Enough for You?

I was listening to Sam Sedar today, sitting in for Randi Rhodes today since it was her birthday and she took the day off. A couple of the callers today said that South Carolina went for Barack Obama this past weekend because of the African-Americans in that state. They made it sound as if that's the only reason why he won 55% of the vote. I've heard folks repeat this on the talking heads shows on the teevee, also.

I know that Iowa was a caucus and it's a different system of voting for a candidate, but if I remember correctly, Iowa has a hell of a lot of white folks in it. In fact, according to 2006 Census data, the state, with its population of 2,982,085, is 94.6% Caucasian-American. Obama won the caucus with 38% of the vote, compared to Clinton's 30%.

It's not the huge margin of victory seen in South Carolina, but still, Iowa's got a lot of white folks who voted for a black man. And yeah, New Hampshire's got a lot of white folks too (as well as Florida, which Clinton won tonight, despite the lack of delegates to be seated) who didn't vote for a black man, but really, can you say that only black people are voting for Obama? Really?

Note to people: that meme don't necessarily fly. Stop embarrassing yourselves by repeating it.

FISA on for Another Day

OK, I know that was a bad pun for a title, but hey, it's late! I'm just glad that the telecomms who illegally spied on you and me won't be getting amnesty... yet.

An update on today's FISA vote from TPMuckracker:

The fight goes on.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) cloture vote failed 48-45 just now, well short of the 60 votes necessary.

In the end, four Dems crossed over to vote with the Republicans: Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was the lone Republican to vote with the Dems.

For now, the old FISA law, perfectly legal and more than adequate in that a warrant is required for wiretaps, will come back online Friday. However, there may be a vote in the House and Senate over the next few days to extend the present Protect America Act for another 30 days.

Now I want to know: why are Senators Pryor, Nelson, Lincoln and Landrieu Democrats? Once again, this Gang of Four have banded together and voted, not only against the best interests of their Party, but against the best interests of the American people as well. Makes my head spin. And thanks, Senator Spector, for being the only Republican to vote with the Dems.

Both Senators Clinton and Obama came back from the campaign trail to vote "Nay" on cloture, and Obama was endorsed by three members of the Kennedy family: Ted, Caroline, and Patrick.

Lastly, some dude gave a speech tonight. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster that I don't have to listen to him give another one.

Thank You, Senator Dodd

This video (which contains yours truly somewhere in it), was made as a thank you to Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut regarding the stand he took recently on the FISA bill's immunity stance toward the telecomms.

Firedoglake wants you to fax your Congresspersons regarding the bill.

Big Damn Romney Hair Contest

I was completely surprised when I won last night's Big Damn Romney Hair Contest at Cafe Wellstone. Jacqrat Pizzicato was the men's winner. His afro was so big that we only saw his feet. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of him and I, so I only have a pic of me at the winner's board and of course, the hair.

Ouch, that's gotta hurt...

Speaking of the mud wrestling I talked of yesterday, this video, submitted without comment from me, has gotta sting...


*Originally seen on Andrew Sullivan's "Daily Dish"

They Should Just Mud Wrestle

Life Ring -- Chicago 2007
Photo by Elderta

I've got to say that the arguments between Barack Obama (whom I support for the Democratic Presidential nomination) and Hillary Clinton (my Senator here in New York, whom I like as a Senator) are so over the top that I think that they should just mud rassle for the nomination. Don't think that Obama has the upper hand; Clinton could take him since she has Bill who'll tag-team her in the ring and whomp on Barack.

Obama has said that he will not let accusations and swiftboating go unchallenged as John Kerry did in 2004, and with that I agree. Clinton is maligning his record and she should really stop it. She's no saint, that's for sure. The Clinton campaign is going after him fast and furious in order to stem the momentum he had coming out of Iowa. And you know what? It's working. Why? Cause Americans sometimes are pretty easy to lead around by their noses.

I tell you now, from what I've read coming from Republicans over the years, Obama may have trouble winning the White House, but the only thing that can unite the flailing Republicans is Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. How will they unite? By voting the Republican nominee into office.

Maybe I'm wrong, but they hate her with a passion and they aren't too happy with Bill, particularly with the prospect of having to hear him for a potential eight years. For my part, I am tired of the Bush / Clinton / Bush dynasties and I want someone new, particularly if that someone new is a Democrat.

Yep. They should just mud rassle... oh wait... maybe they are doing just that.

A Word About Heath Ledger

I think that word would be, 'damn.'

Other words would be: too talented, too handsome, too young to die.

The worse thing--besides his death at 28--is that he sought to shun the media and gossip spotlight, moving to Brooklyn with his girlfriend and daughter in order to find some respite from the swarming paparazzi. Now, his body, in a bag, is flashed across the world on television. His poor mother and father have to hear of his passing on the news millions of miles away from their son. Rumors fly around about drug use, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, all of which are suffered by scores of people worldwide whose names aren't dragged through the papers, despite not knowing what exactly killed him. His friends must grieve to the pit of their stomachs, knowing exactly who he was, having laughed and played and worked with him while having to hear terrible stories about the person millions of people didn't know. His daughter now has no father and will only be comforted by celluloid memories that won't be the touch of her dad.

Too sad.

I saw him on the street in Brooklyn once, and being the New Yorker I am, I didn't say a thing to him as I stumbled past, but I can tell you, he was unbelievably easy on the eyes.

"10 Things I Hate About You," "A Knight's Tale," and "The Brothers Grimm" are three incredibly fun movies, while "Monster's Ball" packs a punch and "Brokeback Mountain," I've heard, is so sad that I can't even bear to watch it.

All in all, folks young and old pass every day. The greater majority of these folks we never know about, while some of those we do hear of make us sad that they are gone, and still others that we hear of, we don't regret their passing one bit. In the case of Heath Ledger, I personally, feel saddened that I will no longer see his face on new and different streets or that we will no longer see his face in new and different roles on the silver screen.

Damn.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ledger, rest in peace.

365 Days...

... until George W. Bush officially leaves the White House. My sidebar time clock widget is a wee bite off, but still, mark your calendars. Only one more year. It may be the longest year of them all.

Giraffe Kisses the Sun
St. John the Divine Sculpture Garden, New York City, Fall 2007
Photo by Elderta

UPDATE: And it's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, too! See what happens when you're not working? The days blend into one!

Life is Incredibly Easy

Sun and Water and Gehry
Chicago 2007
Photo by Elderta

A friend of mine who is a social worker and who's been helping me cope with the past two years told me the other day that I needed to say some mantras in order to comfort myself when times get tough as well as enforce changes in my pattern of thinking. She's not the first person, nor probably the last, to tell me this. I've had a quasi-easy life, with a bunch of rough patches here and there, but the conditions of the world and the neverending voice in my head that tells me I'm gonna go to hell has taken its toll. Now, the cycle of life is being replaced by the cycle of death (the longer you live, the more people you know will pass away, until it's your turn), and while I'm generally happy, I do get down now and then.

Starting in January 2006, my kitty daughter, Zanzibar, died of an adrenal gland tumor. My dad then passed away in August 2006 of colon cancer. My foster brother, Brandon, died at the age of 20 in March 2007, and then on December 21, my aunt Helen died of a heart attack. On January 2, I found myself no longer working. Happy New Year!

Not having a job at the moment is actually a godsend, truth to tell. I've been so tired and emotionally drained over the past two years, that having a break is not necessarily a bad thing as long as I am able to find a position in the next three to five months. I have an entrepreneurial streak that I inherited from dad that will get me through this, and heck, I have three or four simultaneous careers, so something is bound to pan out. I'm trying to take this time to reassess and care for myself without going crazy that I have no job. (I've added a donate button to my sidebar, just in case anybody out there wants to throw me a buck or two... thanks!) Luckily, my social worker friend gave me some excellent mantras to recite, the most relaxing and comforting of which is: "Life is Incredibly Easy."

Now, as you can probably tell from my blog, I quite understand that life is NOT incredibly easy. Wars, genocide, bad government, etc., happens all the freaking time. To top things of, I'm become addicted to reading Andrew Sullivan (ack!) and a para-military force in Second Life has moved in next door to my tranquil house and they've just built a friggin' firing range in what was once a peaceful sim (eek!). Compared to what others are going through at this very second, I have it pretty damned easy. I just corresponded with an independent journalist (The Vigilant Journalist) who was very recently in the Kibera section of Nairobi, Kenya, where clashes between citizens and the military have taken place. People keep asking her if another Rwanda is about to happen. Not. Easy.

So, I'm well aware that life is NOT incredibly easy, but actually saying the words over and over again is quite comforting. Repeating the phrase helps get me through the day, even when I see documentaries like "Taxi to the Dark Side," which I saw last night with my fellow Billionaire, Yvonne. Thank goodness I immediately was able to go to a potluck party afterward because the documentary is quite devastating as well as on target. I said my mantra about a million times afterward on the subway ride out to Brooklyn. In other words if I compare myself to others, life is damned easy.

I wish everyone an incredibly easy life. Even under impossible circumstances. Well, everyone but Dick Cheney. That dude needs to be impeached yesterday.

Flick[e]red Past

J.W. Gates Funeral, N.Y.C., August 23, 1911
Library of Congress Collection on Flickr

A while back, I posted on an amazing late Depression Era--early World War II-collection of photographs newly digitized by the Library of Congress (LOC). The "Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939-1943" exhibit published over 1600 public domain photographs which were produced from slides and negatives. The online-only exhibit was first presented on the LOC's website and allowed the images taken by the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information as a photographic chronicle of America.

From the LOC webiste:

This U.S. government photography project was headed by Roy E. Stryker, formerly an economics instructor at Columbia University, and engaged such photographers as Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn, Jack Delano, Marion Post Wolcott, Gordon Parks, John Vachon, and Carl Mydans. The project initially documented the Resettlement Administration's cash loans to individual farmers, and the agency's construction of planned suburban communities. The second stage focused on the lives of sharecroppers in the South and of migratory agricultural workers in the midwestern and western states. As the scope of the project expanded, the photographers turned to recording rural and urban conditions throughout the United States and mobilization efforts for World War II.

This group of photographs has joined a larger collection of materials from the Library of Congress and published on Google's Flickr website. Not only that, you can help the LOC "tag" the photographs, too. Just don't use too many profanities, eh?

The 1600 Depression Era photographs have been joined by 1500 additional "News in the 1910's" set. Gothamist wrote a piece about the New York City-tagged items from this set.

God Save Us From Mike Huckabee

Lately, I've been saying that I would be really mad if America ever made me say the words, "President Huckabee." Why? Well, for one, I've read the Handmaid's Tale and frankly, I don't put it past Christian fundamentalists one bit in this country to want a society that is similar to that rather depressing novel. A society like that (even one iota like that) scares the crap out of me, just like living under a theocratic Muslim society scares the crap out of me, too. Secondly, I grew up in a home that had one foot in sin (my dad owned a bar) and the other near saintdom (my mom knows Jesus), and let me tell you, the sinners were a lot more clear-headed than the saints ever were, even if the sinners were alcoholics and drug addicts.

Personally, the 2004 election made me stop trusting the good sense of Americans who gave us four more horrendous years of George W. Bush. If another Republican comes to office in 2008, particularly one that would like to change the Constitution rather than live within its boundaries, then God help us who don't believe exactly like the Huckabees of the U.S. of A.

Having grown up in both types of worlds, I know that there are not just two types of people, but many variations between both extremes. The Constitution is written for the people in the middle, to protect us from either extreme.

Now, you may think that there would be no way in hell that a man like Huckabee would win the Presidency of the United States. Moneyed and mainstream Republicans alike don't care for his rhetoric, but they have created a monster and may have to sleep with him, too. It's their courting of Christian fundamentalists that have brought them to the possible brink of getting what they asked for... even if they were lying through their teeth about what they really wanted from the fundamentalist masses in the first place. Democrats have stood by for too long laughing at the fever nightmare, thinking that it could "never happen in America" and hoping that Evangelicals would just go away and leave them alone.

I'm here to tell you that a Christian fundamentalist never leaves you alone. They either pray for you secretly in their closet or tell you to your face time after time that you need to repent and embrace Jesus. No matter how much you may believe in a Unitarian, Unity, Lutheran, Catholic or Episcopalian way, they will tell you that your God is not their God. They will also pray that the Devil stops telling you lies so that the veil of righteousness will reveal the true nature of the Holy Spirit. Whatever that means.

I was on the subway the other day and a lady got on, preaching preaching preaching. It didn't matter that she kept contradicting herself... "Jesus loves you and gave you free will and he'll love you no matter what... Jesus will send you to hell if you don't believe" that I had to chuckle to myself. Really? He loves you no matter what that he'll send you to hell if you don't believe. Really? Did you really mean to say that?

Christian fundamentalists and Evangelicals are full of contradictions that you are suppose to believe. Believe with faith, not fact. Believe or be thrown forever into the pit of neverending fire because Jesus loves you and wants you to give yourself freely to him. Believe that their God is the only God. Believe that the Constitution (supposedly, according to them), was written by a bunch of ministers who based the Constitution on the Bible but that this Constitution written by these "minister" Founders should be changed to reflect the "word of the living God" so that the Constitution "[is] in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards."

For my part, I pray that God saves us from men and women like Mike Huckabee. Amen.

Here's a video by a Huckabee supporter.

Contradiction, much?

Kenya Update

From my post yesterday regarding Kenya, I noted how I didn't know much about Kenyan politics, but I did know that Kenya is relatively stable compared to much of the Continent. A colleague of mine, Angelique Haugerud, writes about Eastern African affairs (as well as Billionaires For Bush). She appeared on NPR yesterday speaking about the origins of the post-election chaos in that country. You can hear the program here.

If that link doesn't work, go here and search for "Haugerud."

Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane
Results of your search for "Haugerud"

There was one program that matched your search.

1/16/2008
Hour 1
Kenya continues to recover from unrest following its recent presidential election. We get an update on the situation, learn more about Kenya's internal politics and ethnic groups, and discuss the implications for US foreign policy. Our guests are ANGELIQUE HAUGERUD, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University and BETH WHITAKER, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Kenya in Turmoil

Africa as a continent, as many may know, has been in turmoil for a number of years now. Too many years to count, actually. The country of Kenya, a former English colony, has been relatively stable over the years and has served as a democratic leader for the Continent.

That was a few weeks ago. Now, it's a bit of a different story.

A recent wrangle over the country's elections has left Kenya ravished and there are threats of genocide looming. I don't pretend one bit to understand Kenya as a nation, and I certainly don't understand its current crisis except to say that there are widespread reports that the election results were flawed.

I was listening to the BBC's "Digital Planet" tonight and heard that a Kenyan living in the United States has, upon the suggestion of Kenyan bloggers, developed a website where Kenyans can report on any violence that takes place near them. The site, called Ushahidi ("witness" in Swahili), can be accessed either through the Internet or through SMS text messaging. While the Internet is not widespread in rural areas of the country, text messaging is a staple of Kenyan society these days.

The effort of getting the word out by Internet of violence and protest was highlighted recently with the Burmese uprising of late last year. The Internet in that country was shut down in order to prevent news of atrocities getting out to the larger world community. While the Ushahidi.com site has only been up for a few days, I doubt that the country will shut down the Internet in response to citizen reporting.

I truly hope that the situation in Kenya rights itself quickly.



Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya

"Suck It Up"

Over the past week, I've been told by three people to do that very thing, suck it up. I ask you: what is the point were you get to stop sucking it up?

Hello World

It's been so long since last we spoke!

Sorry for the hiatus, but I was starting a new job (which I actually no longer have), and I didn't have the time or inclination to write.

Now that I have some more... uh... free time, if you will... I'll hopefully post more than once every two months. I've evolved into a Flippery Fish in the TTLB Ecosystem, so I guess I have to continue my onward and upward evolution.

And thanks Cath, for the prodding!

Meet my Daemon, Boreallus

If you haven't read the "His Dark Materials" book by Philip Pullman, run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore and read them. The movie of the first book, "The Golden Compass," comes out this Christmas.

A Different Kind of Protest for Burma

Send your undies in protest to the Embassy at:

Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
2300 S Street NW
Washington D.C., 20008

Hattip, Jillan.

BOO!

Tanna Kohime, Halloween Maze.
Snapshot by Elderta

Hallo! OK, it's been a few weeks, and I missed Halloween, but really, I've had nothing to say, so I've said nothing. Plus, I was preparing to leave my job and I was helleva busy. So now here I am with a teeny teeny tiny update. Plus, the world is as it was two weeks ago: cccrraaazzzzyyyy!

Good news! I got a new J.O.B.! And I cleaned and rearranged my room. Egads, productivity galore! I start tomorrow and I'm very very very happy about this job and that I have a clean, rearranged, room. Woohoo!!

Just a few seconds ago, I saw the first commercial for the film, His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. If you haven't read this trilogy of books by Philip Pullman, I recommend that you run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore, take a turn in the young adult section, and get these books. I hope the film is as good as the book, but I completely doubt that's going to happen. I'll see them, but I'm sure there are arguments already brewing among geeks and hardcore fans.

I watched Saturday Night Live yesterday, and last night's host, Brian Williams was actually funny in a few places. The Weekend Update was hysterical, and Barack Obama showed up in the opening skit, completely unexpected. All in all, a good "shew," which is saying a lot for any of the SNLs these days.

In less entertainment-related news, I read that there have been small protests in Burma, led by monks and new protests may be led by farmers soon. Nothing large, but they still sprout up and continue. The country is about to sell off a bunch of rubies, which is a bi-yearly mainstay of the economy. Human rights advocates are requesting a boycott of buyers at the sale. Boycotts have a shaky track record, so we'll see if it actually pans out. Unfortunately, it's just been announced that the UN representative, Charles Petrie, has been booted out of Myanmar. He was a little too truthful when his office released a statement regarding Burma's recent protests, which were spurred by a sudden spike in the price of fuel, when he said that these "events clearly demonstrated the everyday struggle to meet basic needs, and the urgent necessity to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country. These are the same messages that the United Nations Country Team in Myanmar has been endeavouring to bring to the Government’s attention for some time."

Good luck with bringing that to their attention. Apparently they have not gotten the message and continue to blame the unrest on "outside foreign operatives." I guess that would be someone like me, but I wouldn't want to think that I had anything to do with people wanting better and more humane conditions in their every day lives. Buddha forbid.

The Congress is still playing around with torture, and my Senator... not Hillary... the other one, Chuck, caved in and, along with Dianne Feinstein, let the new nominee for Attorney General, Michael Mukasey get out of committee, even though he wouldn't firmly call waterboarding torture. Mukasey is a blowhard from the Bronx, and though his nomination was originally touted as a breakthrough in the Justice Department, once he started hemming and hawing about waterboarding, his lights went down in Saneville and his stats shot up in Crazytown. No, I don't have statistics to present to you. Sorry. Of course, Chuck thought him a wonderful candidate and couldn't say no to him after praising him to the high heavens.

Chuck: I'm not voting for you again. Cheers.

I won't even go into all the hissy fits that President Bush has been having on live teevee lately. Really, they are about as juvenile as a president can get without crawling around in a diaper in the Oval Office.

OK, that's about it for me. It's already 11:30, and I have a new job to start tomorrow.

Wish me luck!
And I wish you luck, too!

Just Call Me Paranoid

Why can't I get to this NYT article about Myamnar?
Of course, it's 'probably' a slow Internet connection.
Or it could be the time of the night.
Or maybe some ad waiting to be annoyingly loaded.
Or it could be deliberate.

OK, it's back now.

In this day and age, you have to ask the question.

They Clap for Freedom

From the New York Times

Lives
Through Myanmar Darkly
By CHARLES LONDON
Published: October 21, 2007

By that rainy Saturday, my last day in the country, I couldn’t help but follow the three young monks as they wove through the downtown crowds. I saw another group hop off a bus, sloshing through puddles, also walking intently to Sule Pagoda. I noticed a crowd forming outside the temple. I joined it. Behind me, the police at City Hall unlocked the barbed-wire gate there. They started the engine of a jeep, but no one in the crowd took notice.

Suddenly, 500 monks emerged in rows four across. They carried flags and overturned alms bowls. When the first group stopped and chanted a prayer, some people in the crowd dared to clap. It was timid at first, but as more monks emerged to begin their protest, the clapping grew louder until the whole crowd seemed overcome by it. A Burmese man leaned toward me. “They have never done this before,” he said. “They clap for freedom.” The faces in the crowd were excited, part bliss, part terror.

--Charles London, a former research associate for Refugees International, is the author of “One Day the Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War.”
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LOLCAT Bible

Thus spoke Ceiling Cat:

Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat waz invisible, An he maded the skiez An da Urf, but he no eated it.
Genesis 1:1
LOLCAT Bible

An Internet friend, Not_Over_It, found this amazing new Wiki version of the Bible... in LOLCAT language!

You can find the LOLCAT Bible here, and they are also looking for people to help translate the Bible as well, particularly the New Testament.

If you don't know the LOLCATs, then you don't know what fun you're missing.


Ceiling Cat looks down at his Creation.

A Common Word Between Us

Interesting letter written by top Muslim clerics to their Christian counterparts.
Read about it here.

This is America?

America is amazing; completely head-'explodingly' amazing. With all the crap going on in the world these days, the only thing that people are concerned over is whether Barack Obama wears an American flag lapel pin or not. Unfrickingbelievable. I thought we were America, land of the free; free to be individuals, not pin-wearing automatons.

Why is it that in America the depth of one's patriotism is measured by whether a pin is attached to one's lapel? Can this be any more of a false whine that has ever left the lips of a right-wing operative? Is this really the measure of how much or how little an American can love his country? Is a lapel pin really the measure of a man's soul?

An Internet friend sent me a link to a William Rivers Pitt column at Truth Out, in which Pitt believes he may have developed a touch of the insane from the way that Republicans have successfully warped reality. I would like to tell him that he has not gone insane. The Republicans who are worried about this shit as well as Republicans who still shill for this administration, are the insane one and they have lost their fucking minds. And nothing, and I mean nothing, will bring them back to sanity. Why? Because they do not want to think clearly, they have created their own reality, and yes, it's backwards, opposite land. They are lost in their own need to win, to control, and be part of the "in" crowd of patriotic, hyper-American lapel pin wearers.

I declare that Obama is my candidate. He doesn't have to wear an American flag or yellow ribbon pin to prove to me that he loves his country or supports the troops. It's actions that count, not canned rhetoric. And if anyone needs that symbolism in order for him or her to love their country, it's a hollow, false and dead patriotism that I do not want and do not need.

Peaceful Protest Can Lead to This

UK Daily Mail: Thousands Dead in Massacre of Monks Dumped in the Jungle.

Almost makes you think that an armed population is better than an unarmed one.

Please sign this petition. It's the least we can do.

Burma and the Monks

Click on the picture for a current blog on the Burmese uprising of 2007.

This picture pretty much sums up what I love about Buddhism, particularly Mahayana Buddhism (The Burmese practice Theravada Buddhism but while some things are different, the basics are the same.) These monks are using peaceful prayer and ritual as their protest in the face of their enemies. Several monks (and a Japanese journalist) lost their lives today because of it. In Buddhism, enemies may have guns pointed at you, but a Buddhist sees no enemy, only a being who needs compassion. Buddha has given these monks the strength to become bodhisattavas, humans made divine by suffering for the benefit of all.

It's hard to live up to and takes great patience and an open heart through all obstacles that comes one's way. I certainly hope that these kind monks help free their people and restore the democracy the people of Myanmar voted on but was denied. Good luck, Burma.

All who comprise the great assemblage of Bodhisattvas are equally powerful and equally beneficial to countless beings, so that all things seem to be at their command. Sometimes beautiful lotuses and lotus trees are caused by them to grow from the middle of the ocean, or a teardrop is transformed into an ocean. Everything in nature is at the Bodhisattva's call. Fire can appear as water; water can appear as fire. It is all because of the strength of the Bodhisattva's attitude, the aspiration and action. For us this says that the practice of compassion must be given full consideration, and it must at all times be in our awareness and at all times performed." ~ 16th Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, teaching on Compassion. (Extract of article in I K H newsletter at Ngawang Geleg's site.)

LOL Conservatives

Hattip: Jillan McMillan!

Privatize Everything!

America's New Army - Can you live with it?
Blackwater USA
Blackwater USA - Wikipedia
Democracy Now
Sourcewatch
Corpwatch
Iraq For Sale - Blackwater
Hattip list, Rare!

The Age of Irresponsibility - Newsweek - Michael Hirsh
U.S. Repeatedly Rebuffed Iraq on Blackwater Complaints - Washington Post
Top Ten PR Moves for Blackwater - Danger Room Blog; Wired
Iraq Limits Blackwater's Operations - Time - Adam Zagorin and Brian Bennett
Iraqi PM disputes Blackwater's Version - USA Today














Blackwater accused of Illegally Smuggling Weapons Into Iraq - CNN/Youtube

A different view
Warriors for Hire - Weekly Standard
Iraq Reviewing Security Firms After Blackwater Shooting
Blackwater Blackballed - Captain's Quarters Blog

Just asking.

And yes, I remember this.

Friday Cat Blogging

Paikea Renee Esme

She looks all sweet and such... but don't let her fool you!

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

Today I got an email saying that the Senate was going to vote on a resolution condemning MoveOn.org for wordplaying on Petraeus' last name and replacing it with Betray-Us. I couldn't believe what I was reading, particularly the day AFTER the Senate couldn't pass a bill to mandate equal time on and off the battlefield for soldiers and couldn't muster up the courage to restore habeaus corpus, too.

By a vote of 72-25, with 3 not voting (including Obama and Biden), the Senate condemned an advertisement or, more specifically, they voted to...

...express the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.

It's ok, however, for Republicans to do and say and advertise all sort of things. Here's a nice little list from Paul Begala, of all people:

* In the 2000 South Carolina primary, George W. Bush stood next to a man described as a "fringe" figure - a man who had attacked Bush's own father - at a Bush rally. With Bush applauding him, the man said John McCain "abandoned" veterans. McCain, who was tortured in a North Vietnamese POW camp, was incensed. Five U.S. Senators who fought in Vietnam, including Democrats John Kerry, Max Cleland and Bob Kerrey, condemned the attack and called on Bush to repudiate it. When pressed on it at a debate hosted by CNN's Larry King, Bush meekly muttered that he shouldn't be held responsible for what others say. Even when he's standing next to them at a Bush rally.

* In the 2002 campaign, draft dodger Saxby Chambliss ran an ad with pictures of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, then said Sen. Max Cleland lacked courage. Max Cleland left three limbs in Vietnam as an Army captain. Mr. Bush's political aide, Karl Rove, later refused to disavow the ad, saying, "President Bush and the White House don't write the ads for Senate candidates."

* Also in the 2002 campaign, the PAC for the Family Research Council, a close Bush ally, ran an ad in South Dakota that pictured Sen. Tom Daschle and Saddam Hussein. "What do Saddam Hussein and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle have in common?" the ad asked. Apparently, they both opposed drilling in the Arctic wilderness. First, I had no idea that supporting drilling in the wilderness is a family values issue. Second, I have seen no reporting on the late Iraqi dictator's position on Alaska drilling. But I do know Tom Daschle is an Air Force veteran. Mr. Bush never disavowed the smear.

* But perhaps the worst was what was done to John Kerry. Kerry earned five major medals in combat: the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. And yet supporters of Bush and Cheney decided to smear his war record. The despicable, dishonest Swift Boat attacks alleged that Kerry fabricated reports that earned him the Bronze Star. The Swifties also suggested that Kerry's wounds were insignificant - and that one was even self-inflicted. Kerry's wounds were certainly more serious than Mr. Bush's, who suffered a cut on his finger from popping a beer can while avoiding his duty in the Alabama National Guard. At the 2000 GOP convention, rich, white Republicans were photographed gleefully putting Band-Aids with purple hearts on their chubby cheeks. Mr. Bush refused to condemn the attack - blandly noting he didn't like 527 groups generally - and later nominated one of the men who financed the smear to be Ambassador to Belgium.

This entire episode is unbelievable. It's ok for organizations such as "Gathering of Eagles" to spew all sorts of hateful speech against "moonbats" and "libruls" and the fathers of dead soldiers who say that they were beaten by members of that organization, but say the term "Betray-Us" and the right goes so far as to pass a resolution in the Senate of all places. Give me a freaking break.

God help us all. It's gotten just one more step scarier out here.

The End of Times Select

If you haven't heard yet, the New York Times will lay to rest their failed experiment of containing some content, including their Op-ed writers, behind the Times Select subscription firewall. I stole this photograph from Crooks and Liars, but really, it's my sentiments exactlY:

Hagel on Petraeus Report

Maher: Isn’t a dirty trick on the American people when you send a military man out there to basically do a political sell-job?”

Hagel: It’s not only a dirty trick, but it’s dishonest, it’s hypocritical, it’s dangerous and irresponsible. The fact is this is not Petraeus’ policy, it’s the Bush’s policy. The military is — certainly very clear in the Constitution — is subservient to the elected public officials of this country.. but to put our military in a position that this administration has put them in is just wrong, and it’s dangerous.”

Kinda puts the Move On ad into a whole new light. The light that Move On wanted to shed before outrage set in over a hard-hitting headline.

Over-the-Top Alert #7,322

I had to chuckle earlier this week when Republicans and Democrats alike went ballistic over MoveOn making a play on General Petreaus' last name in the catching pun, "General Betray Us"

Since Bush came into office there has been a steady stream of invective thrown at "libruls." It's been a verbal slugfest between both parties, actually, and the language is only going to ratchet up as time and Bush's term... uh... moves on. The Move On added fuel to the fire because it's directed at a soldier. Since Vietnam, which had legends and real problems of citizens maligning soldiers, we tend to steer away from harsh verbal criticism of our military.

Whether one agrees with the Move On ad or not, they did present facts to back up their claim. They created a headline (which Randi Rhodes of Air America has claimed began with her) and they ran with it. However, the ad's headline has overshadowed the actual information that they wanted to bring out, and that is quite unfortunate.


Republicans went completely ballistic over Move On's ad, and every Democrat that has been paraded on the teevee lately has had to answer for the ad, usually in the form of adamant disavowals. As I'm writing this, Blitzer is asking Sen. Evan Bayh if Democrats should accept money from Move On now, as Sen. Cornyn says it's abominable for Move On to be accusing Petreaus of treason. Where did treason come from??? As the soldiers in the NYT op-ed said, the political debate in this country is "surreal."

I don't know where all this language is going, but really, I don't think it's going to be a happy, fun, and fluffy place.

The War As We Saw It (The War As It Is)

This New York Times Op-Ed was published on August 19, 2007 and written by seven current duty soldiers serving in Iraq. I'm not sure if many people saw this Op-Ed, but I did. At the time it was being written, one of the soldiers, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Murphy, was shot in the head but recovered. Today, it was reported that two of the sergeants, Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance T. Gray, were killed as the truck they were riding in fell off of an elevated highway in Western Baghdad into a 30-foot ravine.

I will offer no "thanks for your service." These men did not ask me for that. What they asked of me as an American is to think logically about this war and to change our current course. It saddens me to great end that two of these brave men have lost their lives. First, they were brave for serving, and they were brave for speaking out. My condolences to their families.

Here, whether the NYT cares or not, I post their op-ed because you need to read it.

Op-Ed Contributors
The War as We Saw It
By BUDDHIKA JAYAMAHA, WESLEY D. SMITH, JEREMY ROEBUCK, OMAR MORA, EDWARD SANDMEIER, YANCE T. GRAY and JEREMY A. MURPHY

Baghdad

VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)

The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the “battle space” remains the same, with changes only at the margins. It is crowded with actors who do not fit neatly into boxes: Sunni extremists, Al Qaeda terrorists, Shiite militiamen, criminals and armed tribes. This situation is made more complex by the questionable loyalties and Janus-faced role of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Army, which have been trained and armed at United States taxpayers’ expense.

A few nights ago, for example, we witnessed the death of one American soldier and the critical wounding of two others when a lethal armor-piercing explosive was detonated between an Iraqi Army checkpoint and a police one. Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and Army officers escorted the triggermen and helped plant the bomb. These civilians highlighted their own predicament: had they informed the Americans of the bomb before the incident, the Iraqi Army, the police or the local Shiite militia would have killed their families.

As many grunts will tell you, this is a near-routine event. Reports that a majority of Iraqi Army commanders are now reliable partners can be considered only misleading rhetoric. The truth is that battalion commanders, even if well meaning, have little to no influence over the thousands of obstinate men under them, in an incoherent chain of command, who are really loyal only to their militias.

Similarly, Sunnis, who have been underrepresented in the new Iraqi armed forces, now find themselves forming militias, sometimes with our tacit support. Sunnis recognize that the best guarantee they may have against Shiite militias and the Shiite-dominated government is to form their own armed bands. We arm them to aid in our fight against Al Qaeda.

However, while creating proxies is essential in winning a counterinsurgency, it requires that the proxies are loyal to the center that we claim to support. Armed Sunni tribes have indeed become effective surrogates, but the enduring question is where their loyalties would lie in our absence. The Iraqi government finds itself working at cross purposes with us on this issue because it is justifiably fearful that Sunni militias will turn on it should the Americans leave.

In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear. (In the course of writing this article, this fact became all too clear: one of us, Staff Sergeant Murphy, an Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head during a “time-sensitive target acquisition mission” on Aug. 12; he is expected to survive and is being flown to a military hospital in the United States.) While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse — namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force.

Given the situation, it is important not to assess security from an American-centered perspective. The ability of, say, American observers to safely walk down the streets of formerly violent towns is not a resounding indicator of security. What matters is the experience of the local citizenry and the future of our counterinsurgency. When we take this view, we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.

Coupling our military strategy to an insistence that the Iraqis meet political benchmarks for reconciliation is also unhelpful. The morass in the government has fueled impatience and confusion while providing no semblance of security to average Iraqis. Leaders are far from arriving at a lasting political settlement. This should not be surprising, since a lasting political solution will not be possible while the military situation remains in constant flux.

The Iraqi government is run by the main coalition partners of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, with Kurds as minority members. The Shiite clerical establishment formed the alliance to make sure its people did not succumb to the same mistake as in 1920: rebelling against the occupying Western force (then the British) and losing what they believed was their inherent right to rule Iraq as the majority. The qualified and reluctant welcome we received from the Shiites since the invasion has to be seen in that historical context. They saw in us something useful for the moment.

Now that moment is passing, as the Shiites have achieved what they believe is rightfully theirs. Their next task is to figure out how best to consolidate the gains, because reconciliation without consolidation risks losing it all. Washington’s insistence that the Iraqis correct the three gravest mistakes we made — de-Baathification, the dismantling of the Iraqi Army and the creation of a loose federalist system of government — places us at cross purposes with the government we have committed to support.

Political reconciliation in Iraq will occur, but not at our insistence or in ways that meet our benchmarks. It will happen on Iraqi terms when the reality on the battlefield is congruent with that in the political sphere. There will be no magnanimous solutions that please every party the way we expect, and there will be winners and losers. The choice we have left is to decide which side we will take. Trying to please every party in the conflict — as we do now — will only ensure we are hated by all in the long run.

At the same time, the most important front in the counterinsurgency, improving basic social and economic conditions, is the one on which we have failed most miserably. Two million Iraqis are in refugee camps in bordering countries. Close to two million more are internally displaced and now fill many urban slums. Cities lack regular electricity, telephone services and sanitation. “Lucky” Iraqis live in gated communities barricaded with concrete blast walls that provide them with a sense of communal claustrophobia rather than any sense of security we would consider normal.

In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days ago with deep resignation, “We need security, not free food.”

In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are — an army of occupation — and force our withdrawal.

Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.

We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.

Buddhika Jayamaha is an Army specialist. Wesley D. Smith is a sergeant. Jeremy Roebuck is a sergeant. Omar Mora is a sergeant. Edward Sandmeier is a sergeant. Yance T. Gray is a staff sergeant. Jeremy A. Murphy is a staff sergeant.

A 43-Year Old Boom: the Daisy Commercial

If you're over 40 or even the least bit interested in the side show that is American politics, you have either seen or heard of the following political commercial that only ran once:



I was reading the Society of American Archivists listserv today and one of the subscribers posted the CONELRAD ("All Things Atomic: The Golden Age of Homeland Security!") website that has methodically chronicled the history of the political commercial known as "Daisy" but officially named "Peace, Little Girl."

September 7th was the 43rd Anniversary of the airing of the "Daisy" commercial, and it is quite possibly the reason why Lyndon Johnson beat Barry Goldwater in 1964. CONELRAD chronicles the making of the political ad with documents, biographies of the admen and others, quotes from those involved, and as an added bonus, there's an interview with "Daisy" herself.

CONELRAD is the acronym (CONtrol of Electronic RADiation) given to the first radio Emergency Broadcast System, which could, at one time, be found between your 640 and 1240 AM frequencies.

By the way, this commercial aired at about the time I first came home from the orphanage. I wonder if my mother watched it with her new baby in her arms? If so, it must have been frightening.

More for the Li'l G Files

Robert Greenwald on Rudolph "Li'l G" Giuliani:



See also: "The Real Rudy."

The Boogeyman Cometh...

So, I get home tonight and turn on CNN's "Situation Room" and Wolf Blitzer is hyperventilating about a new videotape. Apparently, it's going to be a tape of the boogeyman himself, Osama bin Laden, who hasn't been seen since October 29, 2004.

RUN FOR THE HILLS! HIDE THE CHILDREN! BOMB SOMETHING!

OBL plays us like a teeny, teeny, tiny violin. Maybe it's not going to be bin Laden at all, but some guy in a wig claiming he's from Canada.

Yep, folks, the sixth anniversary of 9/11 is just around the corner, and it's time to wind up the populace with fear and videos again. Are you scared? Are you shaking in your boots? Are you anticipating a loud and deadly boom somewhere?

I hope not. Fear is not a good thing. Let OBL blabber on because goodness knows I've heard a lot of blathering in the last three years of him not appearing in front of the cameras. It can't be any worse than that.

By the way, I wouldn't particularly recommend stunts like the one the Chaser Non-Stop News Network from Australia attempted to pull off during the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC), but I will say, in the spirit of merry pranksters and cognizant dissonance everywhere... Good on ya, mate!

If you don't know the Chaser Non-Stop News Network (CNNNN) or The Chaser as they are now known, then feast your eyes on this video from a few years ago:

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

As I noted earlier, I usually treat the summertime as a three-month vacation. Yeah, sure, I go to work and do my work, but mostly, my frame of summer reference has been molded by years of schooling. The summer (except for my three H.S. summers where I went to summer school because there was nothing else better to do), has mostly been for traveling and finding fun things to do in the sun. 2007 was no exception. Except that I didn't do much traveling, but I did have fun!

I didn't do anything spectacular this summer. I would define "spectacular" as some great trip abroad, like my friend Julia's three-week trek to Africa. I did not go to Africa this year. Maybe next year. Who knows?

I usually go to beaches in the summer or friends' summer houses, but after falling out with one friend with a summer house, another friend getting divorced and there no longer being a summer house to go to, and other friends going to their own summer houses with their families, I only went to the beach twice this year. It happened to be a friend's family's year-round "summer" house. It's in Rockaway Beach and is where he grew up. So that makes their summer house a year-round beach paradise! I spent July 4th there and a nice August day as well. I usually stay over July 4th, but this year I had to go back to the Bronx homestead in order to get up the next day and do the one thing I did the most this summer... New York river kayaking!

Now, it might be great to head off to Martha's Vineyard (a real treat) or spend three weeks on safari (a great treat!), but to be able to spend May - October (if the weather holds) on the East River, the Hudson River, Hudson Bay and what not, wow, now there's a summer to remember!

Elderta in a Kayak on the East River in Front of Domino Sugar
Summer 2007
Photo by Elderta

I started kayaking in NYC in late 2006, and Summer 2007 has been my first full season of participating in group kayaking. I haven't gone solo yet, and truth to tell, I'm a little afraid of heading out on my own at this point. There is so much to learn and several times over the summer I did things that only an amateur would do (like getting stuck in an eddy and not turning into it to get out of it). Only time and learning from more experienced kayakers can bring safety and confidence to go out on your own. One of these days, I will!

I did get to travel a little as well. A family reunion on my dad's side of the family took me to Charlotte and Shelby, North Carolina. I had a great time with my aunts, uncles and cousins. It was sad that Dad wasn't there, but my Uncle Charles and I had a great conversation, and we all went to visit their mother and sister's gravesite in Boiling Springs, NC.

Hopper Family Gravesite, Boiling Springs, NC

Photo by Elderta

The gravesite is a little sad. The church that it is attached to seems not to have enough money to maintain the site. There are about 50 graves of various families buried there, and it's dry and parched and pretty desolate. My grandmother Vertie died in 1937 and Aunt Jaunita died in the early 40s at the age of five. A few other relatives are also buried there, too. My aunts and uncles hadn't been to the site in like forever, so they didn't know how bad off it was and vowed to help its upkeep. My mother mentioned to me that Dad wanted to visit his mother before he died, but really, it's probably best he didn't see the graveyard in that condition.

On a happier note, my cousins are I are like the Four Amigos, and we had a heck of time together. I hadn't been to North Carolina in ages, and I'm really happy I went.

My other trip this summer took place over Labor Day weekend. I would love to say that it was a great time, and in many ways, it was... in actuality, everything that could go wrong, went wrong! I was amazed at how things went from bad to worse in a short five days. On the other hand, I had a great time with my mother and friends. I had been thinking about moving to this city, but so many things went wrong that I don't think the great city of Chicago is in my future.

Where's the O? by Elderta

Here's a list of what went wrong in Chicago:

• I had to go to Chicago for the Society of American Archivists conference and planned on going to either Milwaukee or Detroit to visit my mother for a week after the conference;
  
• That didn't happen;
• The conference hotel where I stayed (the lovely Fairmont Hotel on N. Columbus) had to charge my debit card twice... I didn't have enough money upon arrival to have one debit, so the next day they did a second debit without taking off the first debit;
• My mother had to leave Milwaukee for Detroit on Friday and took the train to Chicago; she had a four-hour layover at Union Station, so I picked her up and brought to the hotel, thereby missing the ONE conference session I needed to go to;
• I took her back to Union Station and thought I would die from being crushed by Chicagoans rushing to their trains home (and I thought NYC was bad!);
  
• Meanwhile, the hotel took over a $1000 of my cash to hold, leaving me almost broke and not being able to rent the car I had planned to rent for the remainder of my trip;
  
• I was so distraught that the hotel offered to fly me to Detroit; I was so distraught that I told them just to fly me back to New York and home;
• The day I was suppose to leave, I went to a Chase ATM, put my Chase debit card into the ATM... and the ATM promptly ate the card on the Sunday before Labor Day;
• The flight home was great on JetBlue; JetBlue lost my luggage and I didn't get it back until the day after I arrived in New York;
• My kitty kitty got sick and I might have to take her to the vet tomorrow.., if the hotel actually puts my money back into my account, that is....

The World is Round by Elderta
Chicago Millennium Park

Other than that... Chicago was great! I visited Navy Pier and rode the Ferris Wheel, got drunk at a bar and threw up in a garbage can from the heat, went to see Second City ETC with some Internet friends (one of whom is the musical director for the show), saw a high school friend, and got to see my mom for a few hours. So, all in all, despite everything that went wrong, it was a great trip nonetheless. Chicago is a fantastic town and though I don't think karmically I could live there, it's always a great place to visit.

I would even daresay that Chicago is more beautiful than New York.... but don't tell anyone I said that.

And that's what I did on my summer vacation which lasted the entire summer. Please note that I haven't mentioned politics in this entire post. While I didn't ignore the wider world burning around me, I did put it on the back burner for a few months. Now, it's time to settle back into reality... and another "school year."

School's In... Goodbye, Summer

Lost Swing by Elderta
Chicago Navy Pier, 2007

After spending roughly 21 years of my life in either kindergarten, grade school, middle school, high school, undergraduate, and graduate (twice) schools, I realize that not only have I spent a little under 1/2 my life in school, but that I'm still on a nine-month schedule of life. That's right, I can only get down to 'real' business on a September - May schedule. What does that mean? It means that I mostly took the summer off from blogging, as you can probably see by the dearth of recent posts.

New York City public schools started today, and not only are those little tykes back to school, but this big tyke is back to the blog. Hopefully I'll post about four times per week... if you (or I) are lucky.

Right now, though, I'm going to go and grab something to eat.

Cheers!