I hear...

... that the speech was great but I haven't seen it yet. I briefly scanned it earlier today but that's about it. Portions of it made me emotional.

Enough of that right now.

I also hear that we're in deep bank doo-doo, too.

Oy.

The race talk means little in the face of an imploding economy and lingering war.

We need to talk issues besides the color of our skin, folks. We know it's there, and we know we need to do something about it. If we don't have any cash in our pockets, that green color we all love is the only thing we'll be worried about.

I hear there's worst to come.

By the way, Obama is NOT the "black" candidate. Joe Scarborough, you're an idiot.
(Sorry, watching David Gregory's new show and Scarborough just called him "the black candidate." Oy. Idiots.)

Half-White and High-Yellow Like Me

I'm the product of an act which was illegal at the time it was committed.

OK, first of all, it happened in Pakistan, so I'm sure it was illegal there (sex, that is), but when I finally came out of my birth mother's canal here in the United States, I was literally born illegally.

I am miscegenated.

Just like Barack Obama.

I am a miscegenated bastard out of Detroit.

(Michigan, luckily, repealed its anti-miscegenation laws in 1887 regarding the legal marriage of blacks, not necessarily births. The last anti-miscegenation law was repealed in 1967. I was born in 1964.)

I'm a house Negro. I'm the Master's girl. I'm the Oreo. I'm the toast (white bread, black burn). I'm the outsider.

Just like Barack Obama.

And all I really want is for America to live up to the ideals that it's suppose to believe, that are written in the Constitution.

But sometimes it's not so easy to do so.

At times the anger becomes so great. And my skin attracts that anger. And I understand every freaking drop of it.

And I can step away. Because of my skin.

If, of course, it was 1934 or 1959 or something and the movie was Imitation of Life.

But it's not, and I wouldn't turn my backs on my brothers and sisters for anything in the world.

But others have (and maybe I have at times, too) and so it's not so easy to trust. Anyone.

The other side of my miscegenated self feels all of the freedom in the world. It walks freely to the store, to the good neighborhood, the fancy restaurant, the Hermes store. Humph, who am I fooling? I've never been in a Hermes store. But I have been to Disney World.

There's a lot that my other side likes to do, but mostly it likes to get away from race. It would like to live in peace, above it all, but there's just so many different people in the world who aren't like me.

In America, there is no way to get away from race, no matter how hard you try.

I grew up in an African-American home with my wonderful, pre-Depression Era black parents. They were cotton and tobacco pickers. They were treated like dirt. Not poor dirt, but poor, Black dirt. They raised themselves up from nothing and obtained more things than either of them thought possible. They found dignity among their people, and were always wary of white people. And through it all, they did not hate white people, but they never could learn to trust them. And can you blame them?

I have heard everything from AIDs was a manufactured disease to OJ was innocent to God Damn America. And I have shaken my head and thought, how could anyone believe any of that?

Well, it's easy if you've been lied to time and again and you try to find some reason why bad things keep happening to you. It's easy if you try everything within your power to become fully human and you aren't allowed to. In fact, after a while you don't give a damn anymore and you stay within your community and say "fuck you."

But really, that's crass and boring. So crass, so boring. And it's a model that doesn't work anymore.

My other side has a model, too. Prior to Geraldine Ferraro's words recently, I never wanted to believe what I've read and heard regarding white liberals: they only care about you when you are poor and on the bottom. Once you reach a certain nadir, then it's time for them to put you back into your place. I know this is not the full truth, but if a black man who has obvious qualifications for the presidency of the United States (Harvard Law School, Harvard Law Review, State and U.S. Senator) is just lucky to be black and in the position of frontrunner to the presidency, then you've got to wonder about what you've heard all of these years.

I live in an incredibly poor neighborhood in the Bronx. It's not dissimilar to my hometown of Detroit. Here are some things I have wondered. I have often wondered why there is trash in the streets, why there are loud talking and rude children, why the houses are falling down and why it seems like no one is trying to pick themselves us.

I lived in Philadelphia for a few years. I have wondered why the Badlands are worse than portions of Detroit and the Bronx combined. I was in New Orleans the week before Hurricane Katrina blew into town. And I screamed at the teevee for five days after that Sunday and wondered why thousands of people were stranded in the hot, humid, flooded streets of downtown New Orleans.

And I realize that there are answers to these questions that are both false and true. And I don't know what to do about it. There almost seems to be no answer. No relief. No justice. No peace.

===================

You all just crack me up, America. You really do.

First he was a radical Muslim. Now he's a radical Black Nationalist Christian. Nevermind the Harvard. The career. The carriage. The words. Some people just think he's a house Negro. I'll leave it up to you to figure out who thinks that last one.

Yes, America, through it all, you do make me laugh.

When Obama gives his speech today regarding race in America, it's going to make one hell of a talking point for several days. But I wonder, will we finally laugh together? If we cannot heal this most deep and festering of wounds, how are we going to get through all of the other problems that face us?

I just wonder at it all.

Happy O'bama Day!

Beware of leprechauns!

Bobby Kennedy in Indianapolis, April 4th, 1968

Thanks to irishamerican at Daily Kos for the video link.

This past weekend's events surrounding Senator Barack Obama and the issue of his minister's rhetoric were highly emotional for the country as well as for myself. The vehemence of Rev. Wright's text was charged, to say the least, and I'm sure highly offensive to many. And while saying that, I also believe that many people believe what he says. Whether it's rumors about 9/11 being planned or rumors about AIDs as a constructed and planned African plague, some people will believe crazy stuff no matter what the proof. These rumors are pervasive. Some religious and non-religious people also believe that gays are bad and bacon is too.

I have also noticed that while both people and press have been horrible on Clinton, Obama has had to walk a much hotter gauntlet then she has lately. She went through the wringer back in the day, and possibly misogynist and sexist overtures have clouded people's judgments now, but there are also quite compelling reasons not to fully back her for the presidential nomination, namely, her vote on the Iraq War "Authority to Use Military Force" and her vote for the Kyl-Lieberman Act.

Meanwhile, Obama has had to walk not only the "he's a closet radical Muslim" Rollerball game, but now he's about to be made to fit into the "he's a closet radical Black Nationalist Christian" Running Man scenario. He's been alluded to as an Affirmative-Action Candidate doll (with With Amazing push-button Running of Dynamic Campaign Action!), but really, let's just say he's only where he is because he's lucky to be black. Oh, and he's lying about his house, too. He probably not only eats babies (as a Clinton supporter once said of her candidate in a fit of rage at how Obama supporters where treating her candidate) said to me, but probably worships the Angry God of All Black People, too.

Hey, I know that Angry Black God dude, and let me tell you, he's one angry Mofo. (Dude, you know I love you.)

So, I was dismayed, to say the least, at seeing the sermon of Rev. Wright when it hit the virus waves on Friday. Dismayed because a part of me believes them (a subset of affluent Americans, regardless of race, is determined to keep and hold onto power for the sake of money and control; while 9/11 wasn't an inside job, there were obvious miscues in the Bush administration regarding their wealth of information on possible al Qaeda attacks (see "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the United States.")). I have also said, a few times, at least, words similar to "God Damn America." Boo hoo. Live with it. 100% patriotism without a bit of anger now and then over these last eight years is asking for a whole heck of a lot from someone who so vehemently disagrees with the present administration.

Other sentiments professed by Wright, I have some harder issues with. While Sen. Clinton may have never been called the N-word, she has been called a host of other crude words. After all, there is a group of freakenoids (by way of Republican lobbyist and "I Scream at Spitzer" nightmare Roger Stone) who has created an anti-Hillary site that spells out the acronym: C.U.N.T.

Believe it or not. That crap hurts as much as being called a boy.

So, now, Sen. Obama has had to reject and denounce a host of people in order to calm the brows of the American people who have been once again stirred up by Race Fever. And now, it's at an emotional height instead of a "let's burn down the neighborhood" height. Well, thank the FSM for small miracles.

Luckily, Senator Obama, faces this explosion head-on. How? He faces it by sitting down with the Netroots first (Huffington Post), moves on to friendly teevee media (Keith Olbermann), and then proceeds to choppier waters: CNN and ultimately, the central hub of our Race Fever: Fox News.

If you haven't guessed it by now, I'm satisfied with my candidate, Senator Barack Hussein Obama for President of the United States of America. If he is 1/3 as good as I think he will be as President, then I'll be ok. I know that he is both progressive and centrist, with a healthy combination in between. (Of course, he could be more progressive for me, but then again, you should know that by now, too.)

So I was happy that Obama sat down not only with the press teevee outlets, but then he went one step further, to the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday as well. Both newspapers have endorsed him in the primary and both have said that he needed to come clean about the Rezko / house buying allegations regarding possible influence peddling between him now indicted Rezko. So, a few days after his campaign issued a huge list of the earmarks that have been requested by Obama since he's been in the Senate, he spent over 1.5 hours with each of the papers individually. And the Tribune actually put the entire taped interview online.

I'm sure Sen. Obama will have to jump over a few more hoops before his final destination as the Democratic nominee, and that's ok. November, is, after all, a long way away.

Finally, Obama addressed a rally on Saturday in Indianapolis. Just prior to finishing his remarks and answering audience questions, he evoked a speech made by Robert Kennedy in the days after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. He reminded the audience that it was in Indianapolis where Kennedy gave his speech, and it is these words that I would like to hold onto as we continue down the road to electing Obama as president and hopefully producing some healing to not only internal American wounds but external wounds as well.

By way of Mother Talkers and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, here is the speech given by Bobby Kennedy upon the death of Dr. King:

I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black--considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible--you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

In our current fever, I hope that there is a calm head amongst us to lead. I will try to be a calm head myself.

Here's to another week at the races and one more day closer to the White House.

The Fox Virus: Obama 2

Don't let them do it to you.

Don't.


hattip* NOI

There Will Be Bud

Hahaha.... via Andrew Sullivan:

Happy Birthday to Me

Once a year a day comes around that's all about celebrating yourself. It's your birthday! Woohoo!

Normally I really like celebrating my birthday, but this year, with no job or prospects, feeling low about the turn of events of the Democratic Party and the Governor of New York; and generally feeling a bit blue about the state of the world, it's just another day today and I'm going to try to ignore it as best as possible. (Which isn't true, I'm meeting some people from the Boathouse and we're going to have a planning meeting over drinks and food in my neighborhood.)

At 44, I feel like a gigantic failure at everything. Theater, writing, libraries, archives, relationships, the whole nine yards. I told some friends of mine at a part-time job I have that I'm pretty sure that my mom is actively praying against me (because you know, I'd like to blame it on Ma rather than on myself, really.) I can hear it in her voice. "Dear Lord," I imagine I hear her pray, "Please let my daughter know the power of your ways and let her bow down her head toward you, even if you have to bring her low so that she can cry out to you since I know that you will hear her voice and give her peace of mind and joy in her heart and fulfill all of her desires as long as she follows your ways forever." Of course, I have no idea in hell if she's actually saying this, but sometimes I feel it from her. There's really nothing else that we can talk about, or actually, there's really nothing I can talk about because she's always talking about how I should believe more and pray more. She's so worried about me going to hell that it makes me physically and mentally ill sometimes. A few days ago she even suggested that I could always come home if things get too rough.

It's always been like that, though. I get no words of support or encouragement, but a constant, "if only you'd believe enough." And then that makes me want to believe in myself more, but frankly, I keep making a mess of things anyway. Maybe I should just stop trying and getting a little apartment somewhere out in nature and never speak to anyone again. While she's trying to encourage me and I know part of her wishes I would believe in myself, most of the time, it just sounds like I'm a great disappointment to her and to God.

So. Happy birthday to me. Break out the teeny, tiny, violins.

At least I have a roof over my head, an Internet connection, and some family and friends who care about me. It's pretty much the only thing that keeps me chugging along, besides an overwhelming sense that this too shall pass, but really, I'm feeling about low as possible right now.

Eliot, Eliot, Eliot

Gothamist's "We Can Haz Spitzer Photoshop" Contest

My goodness, can Eliot Spitzer be more stupid? Hmmm... Don't answer that. I voted for the guy, so what does that say about my judgment? His hamhanded way of getting rid of the reprehensible Joseph Bruno up in Albany was... well, as reprehensible as Bruno himself. Spitzer has built his entire legacy on getting rid of criminals and trapping corporatists; well, all of that "legacy" goes out the window now. While I don't care that he had sex outside of his marriage, he spouts off so much about doing the right thing than turns around and pays $1500 AN HOUR for a total of $4300 for a high-class call girl. And he pretends like he's untouchable so he phones and texts the prostitution ring... as if nothing can touch him! Egads, I want him gone. Let Lt. Gov. David Paterson step into his position. Please. Now. I don't even want to see or hear from him again, and we have another three years to go in his term! I can't do it. I don't want to do it.

Please, just leave.

Why Do We Need Every 5 Minutes?

Why Do We Need Every 5 Minutes?
#6 Train, NYC
Photo by Elderta

Beats me.

And Closer To Home... Too Close...

Photo from the New York Times/Reuters/Chip East

A small bomb went off in Times Square last night at around 3:43AM, in front of the Armed Forces recruiting booth in the heart of the Square.

Pop Quiz: Somalia

Raise your hands if you knew that the U.S. aimed a missile into Somalia on Monday.

Go ahead, let's see those hands.

Bad Vibes Closer to This Continent

Meanwhile, down south, things are heating up between Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Wow, it just never ends, does it?

Chávez Sends Forces to Colombian Border

By SIMON ROMERO

Published: March 3, 2008

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela and Ecuador mobilized troops to their borders with Colombia on Sunday, intensifying a diplomatic crisis after Colombian forces killed a senior guerrilla leader at a jungle camp in Ecuador.

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, whose government has warm ties with the rebel group, threatened Colombia with war and mobilized tank units and fighter jets near the border between the two countries.

The killing on Saturday of 17 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, Latin America’s largest insurgency, also generated a fierce diplomatic reaction from Ecuador and Venezuela.

Speaking on television Sunday night, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador called Colombia’s action a violation of Ecuador’s sovereignty. He expelled Colombia’s ambassador and withdrew his ambassador from Bogotá.

Mr. Chávez, meanwhile, said he was shutting down Venezuela’s embassy in Colombia.

[snip]

Heads Up: Israel / Gaza / Hamas / Lebanon / Eek

While the United States political bandwagon plays on, there's other things going on in the world, and believe me, they aren't pretty. I, along with a lot of others, have been lulled by the Presidential battle currently on display here. I will admit that at times my brain has turned off what is happening outside of the realm of the US elections. That's probably because I want a new president badly and truthfully, the world is continuing on its spiral Crazytown loop and I have consciously taken a needed breather from the rest of the world. Sorry dudes, sometimes, you're on your own.

However, I do believe that the next month is going to bring about additional and serious fighting in the Middle East that has nothing to do with Iraq and only minimally with our elections. Since the border wall that held economically strapped (and that's putting it lightly) Palestinians, was broken between Egypt and Gaza and millions of desperate and hungry folks came rushing over the border, new attacks in Israel from Gaza has locked Israel and Hamas into yet another battle of the Qassams. This cannot be good. The death toll in Gaza stands between 60-100 people now and it's bound to go higher if both sides insist on the current facedown.

I really don't see either side backing down at the moment.

Laura Rozen at War and Piece predicts (as noted by an article in the Israeli paper Ha'aretz) that a ground operation by Israel into Gaza is possibly coming this month.

Meanwhile back in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia is urging its citizens to leave that country. According to MSNBC, Saudi Arabia issued this statement after one of the cars driving an SA diplomat was grazed by possible "celebratory" gunfire, though the article also mentions that the appearance of "U.S. deployed warships off the Lebanese coast...at a time of increasing international frustration at the political deadlock in Lebanon" may have something to do with it, too. The assassination of a Hezbollah senior member in Syria might mean an escalation of torment through both Hezbollah and Syria with Lebanon squarely in the middle. Accusations of his killing are pointing to the Syrian government on one hand to the Israeli Mossad on the other hand. No matter who killed him, he's still dead.

I understand how we sharply focus on the current Presidential race in order to change our leadership and hopefully make some positive action in the world. But you and I both need to keep our observing eye open. With this situation in particular, something bad this way comes.

Good News From Kenya

Hooray for Kofi Annan's negotiations in the country of Kenya! Due to his efforts there has been a breakthrough in talks between the two parties and hopefully they will be able to work together to keep the country stable and strong. This is excellent news. The Vigilante Journalist shares some brief thoughts http://vigilantejournalist.com/blog/archives/362.

Here are the key components of the current agreement:

Its key points are:

* There will be a Prime Minister of the Government of Kenya, with authority to coordinate and supervise the execution of the functions and affairs of the Government of Kenya.

* The Prime Minister will be an elected member of the National Assembly and the parliamentary leader of the largest party in the National Assembly, or of a coalition, if the largest party does not command a majority.

* Each member of the coalition shall nominate one person from the National Assembly to be appointed a Deputy Prime Minister.

* The Cabinet will consist of the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister, the two Deputy Prime Ministers and the other Ministers. The removal of any Minister of the coalition will be subject to consultation and concurrence in writing by the leaders.

* The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers can only be removed if the National Assembly passes a motion of no confidence with a majority vote.

* The composition of the coalition government will at all times take into account the principle of portfolio balance and will reflect their relative parliamentary strength.

* The coalition will be dissolved if the Tenth Parliament is dissolved; or if the parties agree in writing; or if one coalition partner withdraws from the coalition.

* The National Accord and Reconciliation Act shall be entrenched in the Constitution

Right Wingers are Easily Led by Idiots

Back in October I wrote about the stupidity of Lapel Pin Politics. Isn't it time for Republicans to start thinking on their own instead of being lead by idiots, particularly liars like Jack Kingston? Aren't you all sick of it already?

19.... It's a Magic Number

According to the American Research Group, President Bush has acquired the lowest approval rating yet of his "career" as Commander-in-Chief. His approval rating has fallen to a dismal 19%.

N-I-N-E-T-E-E-N percent.

The ARG says:

A total of 78% of Americans say the national economy is getting worse and 47% say the national economy is in a recession. A total of 42% of Americans, however, say they believe the national economy will be better a year from now, which is the highest level for this question in the past year. This optimism does not spread to improvements in household financial situations as 17% of Americans say they expect their household financial situations to be better a year from now, which is the lowest for this question in the past year.

Hmm, I wonder why next year? Maybe because Bush won't be in office next year? It's possible.

19%. What a joke. Who are those 19% of people who still think he's doing a good job? I'd like to have a word or two with them. What am I saying? I don't want to get near those 19%. Whatever flesh-eating disease they might have, I don't want to catch it.

It's There... If You Look For It

I'm getting a little tired of hearing that Barack Obama is just an empty media meme. So, here's a quick cull from the Internet, of some of Obama's accomplishments in the Senate.

First of all, thanks is owed to a diarist at Daily Kos.

Graph of Obama's legislation in the Illinois Senate.

A second Kos diary with links to bills from Illinois. My favorite? The bill he sponsored to make it mandatory that all interrogations of suspects be videotaped.

A third diary from Kos that compares Clinton's and Obama's records in depth and presents a list of both of their accomplishments in the Senate.

A 2006 article from Obsidian Wings.

More from Hilzoy, 2008

From an Internet comment:

Just a few things a doer (Barack Obama) has done:
• Passed a bill making Illinois the first state that required that interrogations and confessions be videotaped
• Passed Illinois' first earned-income tax credit to help the working poor
• Passed first Illinois ethics and campaign finance law in 25 years
• Co-authored, with Tom Coburn, the new lobbying reform law that requires lawmakers to disclose the names of lobbyists who "bundle" contributions for them
• Passed the Lugar-Obama Non-Proliferation Legislation, expands U.S. cooperation to destroy conventional weapons and the State Department's ability to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction
• Opposed the war in Iraq from the start and only Barack Obama established legislation that would, by force of law, begin a phased redeployment by May 1, 2007, and have all combat forces out of Iraq by March 31, 2008 (not passed)
• Co-sponsored legislation in the Senate to close a tax loophole that permitted hedge fund investors to pay levies on billions of dollars in profit at a lower rate than most income earners.
• Authored legislation with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to provide $20 million in emergency aid to African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces in Sudan that passed the Senate as part of a larger Department of Defense (DOD) spending bill to be signed into law by the President
• The AU is the only international force in Darfur working to prevent a further deterioration of a situation where 400,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes.
• Obama met with AU commanders in Eastern Chad where thousands of Sudanese refugees have fled from the violence that has engulfed their country," Obama said. "It quickly became clear to me that bolstering the AU mission is critical to short-term efforts to protect innocent civilians and allow humanitarian operations in the region. While we have so much more to do to stop the slaughter of innocents, this funding, combined with recent pledges of assistance from European governments, is an important step in the right direction."
 In late August, 2007 Senator Obama visited the Mile Refugee Camp, one of 12 encampments on Chad's eastern border. The camp is home to 15,000 refugees who crossed the Sudanese border seeking safety from Janjaweed militias who have been terrorizing ethnic African tribes in Darfur. During his visit to Eastern Chad, Senator Obama met with refugees from the Darfur region, AU military commanders, local Chadian officials, U.S. military officers, and U.N. personnel.
• Sponsored legislation that allows gas stations to receive tax credits for installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps.
• Introduced legislation along with Tom Harkin, establishing a National Low-Carbon Fuel Standard that would reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions in the short and long-term. The bill requires a reduction of about 180 million metric tons in emissions in 2020 - the equivalent of taking over 30 million cars off the road. The Obama-Harkin fuel standard embraces the growth of the renewable fuels market, including corn-based ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel as a key component of fighting climate change, while incentivizing lower carbon emissions in their production. (May, 2007)
• Sponsored legislation, bill dedicated to pandemic flu preparedness
• Introduced Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2006, a bill to improve access to and appropriate utilization of valid, reliable and accurate genetic tests by all populations
• Introduced legislation to better secure one of the most vulnerable gaps in our homeland security-chemical plants
• Passed amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would help speed the creation of regulations to protect our nation's children from dangerous lead paint poisoning
• His "health care for hybrids" bill
• An Energy Security Bill
• Various bills on relief for Hurricane Katrina, including aid for kids and a ban on no-bid contracts by FEMA
• A public database of all federal spending and contracts
• Legislation to raise CAFE standards
• Veterans' health care
• Making certain kinds of voter intimidation illegal
• Proposal to revamp ethics oversight, replacing the present ethics Committee with a bipartisan commission of retired judges and members of Congress, and allowing any citizen to report ethics violations. This would have fixed one of the huge problems with the present system, namely: that the members have to police themselves.
• Supports the Employee Free Choice Act, an act to restore workers' free choice to join unions
• Marched alongside striking hotel workers in Chicago last year

Posted by: Katy7540 | January 9, 2008 08:37 PM

Lawrence Lessig, he of Creative Commons and the Electronic Freedom Frontier, thinks his technology plans are the bees knees.

First the importantly balanced: You'll read he's a supporter of Net Neutrality. No surprise there. But read carefully what Net Neutrality for Obama is. There's no blanket ban on offering better service; the ban is on contracts that offer different terms to different providers for that better service. And there's no promise to police what's under the technical hood (beyond the commitment already articulated by Chairman Powell): This is a sensible and valuable Net Neutrality policy that shows a team keen to get it right -- which includes making it enforceable in an efficient way, even if not as radical as some possible friends would like.

Second, on the important: As you'll read, Obama has committed himself to a technology policy for government that could radically change how government works. The small part of that is simple efficiency -- the appointment with broad power of a CTO for the government, making the insanely backwards technology systems of government actually work.

Need more? What about 260 more reasons?

Just a few things to gnaw on. You don't have to agree with them all, as I'm sure a lot of folks won't. But it's time to put this "empty suit" nonsense to bed.

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.”
Read More

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.