Update: Virgin Mary fence post torn down

Yahoo! News: Oddly Enough Reuters UK: "Vandals have torn down a fence post in Australia's largest city, Sydney, which devoted Catholics had begun to flock to because they believed it projected an image of the Virgin Mary."

Amen.

I added the Tagboard thingy

<~~~ over there

so leave me a message!

Sleepy Time
I have been sleeping about 11 or 12 hours a day for the past few days. When I am awake I feel like going to sleep. I couldn't even stay up long enough to see Saturday Night Live last night, I was out by about 10:45.

I think I will call tomorrow to see if they can put me on a cancellation list for my tests. Six weeks is a long time to wait.

Yeah, so that's about it...so exiting.

Scott Simon Essay: The Columbia Tragedy (audio 3 min)
NPR: "NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the Columbia tragedy and human exploration of space."

Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act

The Center fo Public Integrity: "
(WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2003) -- The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information."

He's at it again - Patriot Act II will reduce or eliminate judicial oversight over surveillance, authorize secret arrests, create a DNA database based on unchecked executive ?suspicion,? create new death penalties, and even seek to take American citizenship away from persons who belong to or support disfavored political groups.

Health Update #2

I did some research and now I am concerned about the patellar hyperreflex or knee-jerk (click on movie icon below). Everything that I am finding points to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). I also called a doctor friend and she said that it is a serious finding and mentioned MS.

The tests that I have to take are SomatoSensory Evoked Potentials (SSER) and Visual Evoked Potentials (VER). Both tests are used to diagnose MS. There is also a history of autoimmune diseases in my family.

I was trying to find something less serious listed patellar hyperreflex as an indicator. The only thing that I found was a drug side effect. It was actually kind of funny when he was doing it and my leg would fly up.

Health Update

I'm back from the neurologist. I have to go back for more tests next month, but for now the doctor thinks that I have essential tremor. Which is good, I guess. I was worried that it might be from a brain tumor or something serious. My dad has this same kind of tremor. The bad news is that it does not go away unless I want to be on medication for the rest of my life.

Also, when he was checking my reflexes I almost kicked him in the face. So, he is concerned about that as well (something about hyperreflexes?). Then he stuck needles in my muscles and shot electricity through them...ooohhh fun!!

When I go back next time I get to be hooked up to a machine for four hours worth of testing.

Preacher sneaks past secret service again, gives President Bush an eight page note about Iraq from God

Washington Post: "The Rev. Richard "Rich" Weaver, nicknamed "Handshake Man" because of his knack for getting up close and personal with the high and mighty, struck again yesterday morning."

<~~ Crazy people always look so happy.

Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist changes mind, now sees evidence for Iraq war. Journalists still don't understand nobody cares what he thinks

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865

Catholics Flock to Fence-Post Virgin Mary
Yahoo! News: Oddly Enough: "Catholics in the Australian city of Sydney are flocking to pray at a fence post at Coogee beach which they believe projects an image of the Virgin Mary."

The neurologist had a cancellation so I get to go the doctor tomorrow. Yippee!! :-|

This morning's headlines:

NPR's Morning Edition:
Teaching Patriotism in Time of War: "What does it mean to love America? What does it mean to be patriotic? Should teachers instill in their students a love of country?"

Performance artist wins grant for kicking a curry carton around street: "A performance artist has been given a £12,200 grant to kick an empty curry carton up and down a high street while wearing white platform boots. In Ananova: Quirkies

Mothers better at coochy-coos: "Although infants don't really understand when their parents speak to them, women seem to be better at baby talk than men.
In Yahoo! News: Oddly Enough Reuters UK

"I’m just a little wary of most home-schooling advocates, because they are most likely doing it not because of a lack of faith in public education, but because, really, they’re racists or religious nuts who don’t want their precious little lambs exposed to reality."

David Cross

UN Cover-Up: Guernica Hidden as U.S. Speaks on Iraq
Yahoo! News: "In a bold cover-up, the United Nations on Wednesday concealed behind a blue cloth and a row of flags the world body's treasured tapestry of "Guernica," the celebrated Picasso anti-war masterpiece."

Powell briefing: Key points
From BBC World

• WAR
• OIL
• WAR
• OIL
• WAR
• OIL
• WAR

Bumper Sticker of the Day

Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. Hosea 13:16

And you think that YOU have problems? Check out this guy.

Girls that rock: Sleater-Kinney

"You love them, you just don't know it yet. You want to take the three of them home and never stop hugging them." -- maeve, emergentmusic.com

They were on Latenight with Conan O'Brien a few months ago and they gave a great performance. In case you haven't noticed, I get all of my music news from Conan.

*listen here*

Also, Laura Cantrell was on a few weeks ago. I'm not a country music fan but there is something about her voice and understated performance that interested me.

*listen here* (2.9 MB)

What is depersonalization?

18 times the speed of light?!

CNN

It must be true, I saw it on CNN. :-|

Rice News: See Rice for Peace

Happy Groundhog Day!

(Candlemas for you Catholics)

Well, not so happy, according to Phil we get six more weeks of winter.

The Gert Jonnys make us all feel a little better about ourselves.

Read: Quick, Form the Box Office By Al Kamen from The Washington Post

If you want to expand your musical knowledge check out ClassicalisCool.com. They have music streams such as mood fix, relax your brain, and warm your heart.

Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry this morning and once again Scott Simon provided compassionate and intelligent coverage on NPR. I was enjoying Weekend Edition and a cup of coffee (my normal Saturday routine) when they broke in with a special report.

"I think the American people—I hope the American–I don't think, let me—I hope the American people trust me."—President George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002

Trust? Hmmmm? According to a Washington Post story the FBI is working with campus police departments to spy on organizations and individuals at American colleges and universities. The government does not trust its own citizens.

Professor David Cole recently talked to Terry Gross about government surveillance. *listen here* (about 20 minutes) Among other things, he talks about the FBI infiltrating groups (anti-war, etc.) under COINTELPRO in the 1960s and using "snitch jackets" to undermine leaders.

Americans either do not know their history or they have learned nothing from it. Why is everyone so willing to go along with whatever these guys tell us?

Attorney General John Ashcroft and his colleagues demand that we give them unlimited power to search, watch, listen to and detain people in the name of national security. Before long they will start watching and gathering intelligience on their political enemies in order to stay in power longer which allows them to push through their political agenda. They question the patriotism of anyone who questions their motives but how can anyone be unpatriotic for protecting the Constitution.

I found this synopsis of Bushy's State of the Union: Click Here

For some reason this makes me laugh. Actually, I was sitting here eating oatmeal and checking my email and I started laughing.

I am preparing to watch Dubya's State of the Union address tonight. I assume that it will be little more than a pre-war pep rally.

Rummy can't wait to start the War against Iraq and Ashcroft will just continue his domestic operations against the American people.

Dave Barry has a new weblog.

It is freakin cold! :-) And, I hate snow.

I had a bad weekend. Snow, cold, aches, pains, tremors...blech.

Another movie recommendation: Amélie. It is just a really enjoyable film, especially visually. The title character is played by Audrey Tautou who reminds me of a combination of Audrey Hepburn and Björk (so, of course, I am in love with her). I wanted to see this film when it was in the theatre, but, living in Central PA, foreign films rarely make an appearance near me. So, sadly, that was the high point of my weekend.

I watched Naked on IFC the other night. I've seen this film about five times and I enjoy it each time. There are several sexual "encounters" in the film which are really disturbing, but I find myself laughing (yes, alone in the dark) through the rest of the movie.

The character Johnny, played by David Thewlis, seems to derive his only joy in life by playing mind games with anyone he meets. I get in trouble all the time because when I am at a family gathering I automatically take the opposite view in any conversation just to see what kind of response I get. Johnny takes this to the extreme.

He shows up at his ex-girlfriend's place in London and she asks:

Louise: How did you get here?
Johnny: Well, basically, there was this little dot, right? And the dot went bang and the bang expanded. Energy formed into matter, matter cooled, matter lived, the amoeba to fish, to fish to fowl, to fowl to frog, to frog to mammal, the mammal to monkey, to monkey to man, amo amas amat, quid pro quo, memento mori, ad infinitum, sprinkle on a little bit of grated cheese and leave under the grill till Doomsday.

Louise just looks at him with a straight face.

There is also this exchange with a security guard at a vacant office building:

Johnny: And what is it what goes on in this postmodern gas chamber?
Brian: Nothing. It's empty.
Johnny: So what is it you guard, then?
Brian: Space.
Johnny: You're guarding space? That's stupid, isn't it? Because someone could break in there and steal all the fuckin' space and you wouldn't know it's gone, would you?
Brian: Good point.

Okay, I know, I am nuts, but I find that amusing. If David Sedaris was a homeless man from Manchester he would be Johnny.

The internet is great for one thing--LISTS.

So here are some movie lists (in no particular order):

• Favorite films (general)


• Ratcatcher


• Mike Leigh's Naked - read a review from J.R. Arinaga, an "average american" (possibly slightly below average)


• Ghost World


• Hudsucker Proxy (You know...for kids!)


• This is Spinal Tap


• Monty Python and the Holy Grail


• Favorite films (documentary)


• Les Glaneurs et La Glaneuse (The Gleaners and I)


• Salesman


• Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton


• Gimme Shelter


• Favorite Films (other)


• The Lenny Bruce Performance Film (the DVD and VHS versions also include the animated short Thank You Mask Man which is great
  
• Latcho Drom


• La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc)


• La Grande Illusion


• Le Roi de Coeur

Here is an analysis by Stewart Nusbaumer of the "balanced" ;-) TV coverage of the Anti-War March in DC.

Read the article

When I checked CNN and MSNBC (I don't even bother with Fox) they were not covering it.

I have nothing to say today, but for your reading and listening pleasure Ive included a few links:

• They Know When You Are Sleeping by Katha Pollitt from The Nation


• The Cruelty of Children *listen* (if you have an hour) from This American Life

A nice little haiku

Unwanted plastic
Arrives in the mail daily
Crap from A O L

- ZV


Purveyors of Spam
Billions sent as landfills bloat
How far will they go?

- Lunch Muscle

(from NoMoreAOLcds)

Scott Simon had an excellent essay on today's Weekend Edition about Gov. Ryan commuting the death sentences of 160 Illinois death row inmates. *Listen Here*

Today was the big peace rally in DC. I had it on C-SPAN and I thought that I would check to see if the cable news channels were covering it so I switched to CNN and there was a full screen shot of orangish-red clouds and a big title: CLOUDS of WAR. MSNBC had on Headliners and Legends about Russell Crowe.


So, anyhow, there were some very good speakers at the rally and it looked like there were a lot of people there in the cold. I wish that they would have focused on the anti-war message instead of evry other speaker pushing their own issue. I heard speeches about gay rights, abortion, free Palestine, free Mumia Abu Jamal, etc. That is the problem with the left; instead of coming together today under one issue and pushing that message exclusively, they continued to get off message and alienate more people with each speaker.

Patti Smith was there towards the end and got it right when she said "We are not a black voice, we are not a white voice, we are not an American voice...we are a human voice, one voice" then she sang People Have the Power. C-span is replaying it tonight at 8pm.

Molly Ivins' article: Demand peace

I saw Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players on Conan O'Brien a couple of weeks ago. I was shocked to see something so offbeat and interesting on network television.

There is plenty of info on their website, but basically they are a father, mother and daughter act that writes and performs songs about old slides that they find at estate sales. The father plays piano and sings, mom works the projector and eight year old Rachel plays drums and harmonica and sings.



Read a New York Post story about them here.

There is also a documentary about them here.

So now I have to see their show next time I'm in New York.

---

Topic #2

A picture of the All-Powerful Generalissimo Ashcroft:

I want to go on a mountain-top
With a radio and good batteries
And play a joyous tune and
Free the human race
From suffering


It doesnt scare me at all


I'm no fucking buddhist
But this is enlightenment


- Björk, Alarm call

One of my favorite Saturday Night Live commercials is the Bathroom Monkey. Click on the picture to view it.


To download (on a PC),
1) right mouse click this link
2) choose "Save Target As"
3) Then click "Save As" to a folder on your Hard Drive (recommend saving to your Desktop)
4) now play the movie by double-clicking on the file you have downloaded

We're all monkeys

Teenage angst has paid off well
Now I'm bored and old
- Nirvana, Serve The Servants

Visit the Information Awareness Office website.

I just ate a whole pizza. Not a big one, but still.

I watched Ghost World again today. I love that film.

Yes, it is a sad, sad existence. :-(

Yes, I watched bowl games all day yesterday. Penn State lost. :-( I am really tired of listening to former football players turned color commentators. Most of them seem to think that the louder they talk the more authoritative they sound but they just sound stupid. There are only a few that do a good job, Bob Griese, Dan Dierdorf, and Pat Hayden. Well, there may be others, these guys are the best.

Does any of this really matter? No, I agree. But, only one more day left in the college football season. Then three long months of suffering through basketball and hockey while awaiting baseball's opening day. Go Phils! :-D

Sudafed = Good

Unless you want to sleep. I couldn't sleep because I of my sinuses so I took Sudafed at 4am, then I couldn't sleep because I was wired. So I've gotten a few hours of sleep each of the past two nights.

Hey, I'm back online.

I spent xmas snowed in at my parents' house. It was okay, we lost power for most of the day so I spent a lot of time shoveling and trying to stay warm.

Now I am sick. I have a sore throat and I ache all over.

I'll write more later.

After a week of feeling pretty good, I was kind of out of it and shaking all day today.

Well, I am headed home Wednesday morning. I am not looking forward to it but I haven't seen my niece and nephew for a few months, so that will be good.

My brother will be home this weekend and we will do our xmas deliveries, he as Santa and me as Santa's driver and lackey. I really do look forward to that; the kids get so excited when Santa shows up at their door.

I probably won't write here again until after Christmas so here is a xmas story for you. I have listened to it every Sunday morning before xmas for the past 7 or 8 years on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. If you have 10 minutes click here to listen or go to the NPR webpage. I really love that story, especially on a cold Sunday morning.

It has been very hectic here lately. I'm trying to finish a conference paper before I go home. I leave Wednesday morning for home, I'll be there for a week, come back here for a few days and then to Chicago on the train for a few days for a conference. And, I hate snow.

"I Know You”

I know you
You were too short
You had bad skin
You couldn’t talk to them very well
Words didn’t seem to work
They lied when they came out of your mouth
You tried so hard to understand the others
You wanted to be part of what was happening
You saw them having fun
Seemed like such a mystery
Almost magic
You thought that there was something wrong with you
You would look in the mirror trying to find the flaw
You thought that you were ugly
And that everybody was looking at you
So you learned to be invisible
To look down
To avoid conversation

The hours, days, weekends
The weekend nights
Alone
Where were you,
The basement, the attic, your room?
Working some job?
Just to have something to do?
Just to have a place to put yourself?
Just to have a way to get away from them
Staying away from the ones
That made you feel so strange
And ill at ease inside yourself

Did you ever get invited to one of their parties
You sat & wondered if you would go or not
For hours you imagined what might transpire
If they would laugh at you
If you would know what to do
If you would have the right things on
If they would notice that you came from a different planet
Did you get all brave in your thoughts
Like you were going to be able to go in there
Deal with it & have a great time?
Did you think that you might be the “life of the party?”
That all these people were going to talk to you
And you would find out that you were wrong
And that you had a lot of friends
And you weren’t so strange after all?
Did you end up going?
Did they mess with you?
Did they single you out?
Did you find out that you got invited
Because they thought you were so weird?
I think I know you

You spent a lot of time full of hate
A hate that was as pure as sunshine
A hate that saw for miles
A hate that kept you up at night
A hate the filled your every waking moment
A hate that carried you for a long time
Yes, I think I know you

You couldn’t figure out what they saw in the way they lived
Home was not home
Your room was home
A corner was home
Anywhere they weren’t
That was home
I know you
You’re sensitive
You hide it
You fear getting stepped on one more time
It seems that when you show a part of yourself
That is the least bit vulnerable
Someone takes advantage of you
One of them steps on you
They mistake kindness for weakness
But you know the difference
You’ve been the brunt of their weakness for years
Strength is something you know a bit about
You had to be strong to keep yourself alive
You know yourself very well now
You don’t trust people
You know them too well
You try to find a special person
Someone you can be with
Someone you can touch
Someone you can talk to
Someone you won’t feel so strange around
You found that they don’t really exist
You feel closer to people on movie screens
Yea, I think I know you

You spend a lot of time daydreaming
People have made comment to that effect
Telling you that you’re self involved & self centered
But they don’t know, do they
About the long night shifts alone
About the years of keeping yourself company
All the nights you wrapped your arms around yourself
So you could imagine someone holding you
The hours of indecision
Self doubt
The intense depression
The blinding hate
The rage that made you stagger
The devastation of rejection
Well, maybe they do know
But if they do
They sure do a good job of hiding it

It astounds you how they can be so smooth
How they seem to pass thru life
As if life itself was some divine gift
It infuriates you to watch yourself
With your apparent skill in finding every way possible
To screw it up
For you life is a long trip
Terrifying & wonderful
Birds sing to you at night
The rain & the sun
The changing seasons are true friends
Solitude is a hard won ally
Faithful & patient
Yes I think I know you

By Henry Rollins from “Black Coffee Blues”

www.dubyadubyadubya.com

Here is your art lesson for today: Picasso's Guernica

Well, here we go...an amateur photographer was arrested and harrassed by the Denver police and Secret Service for...drumroll please...get this...taking pictures in a public area where VP Cheney was staying. All in the name of the bogus "USA Patriot Act". Read the story here.

Topic #2 - I saw an excellent documentary on HBO last night. It is called Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton about poverty and its effects on education in the Mississippi Delta. The film is by Maysles Films, Inc., who have made such films as Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens, and Salesman. Anyhow, it is an excellent film and I recommend it highly, along with the other three that I mentioned.

I really hate snow!!!

Snow Cams

Good news! The Phillies Have now signed two veteran players, David Bell from San Francisco and Jim Thome stolen away from the Indians. (HaHa...Suck on that popsicle Cleveland! © 2002 CMW ;-) ) Maybe that will give them a better chance of getting Glavine from the Braves also. Anyhow, I am looking forward to a good season for the Phils in 2003.

I am back...holiday, relatives, school, illness... :-|

But, right now I am tired so check out the sites below.

I probably won't be online much for a couple of weeks - maybe an hour in the afternoon. And, I may not post anything here--maybe I will--but if I don't, I didn't die :o).

I love this poem. I heard a few years ago but forgot the title and author.

Poem: "Topography," by Sharon Olds from The Gold Cell (Alfred A. Knopf).

Topography

After we flew across the country we
got in bed, laid our bodies
delicately together, like maps laid
face to face, East to West, my
San Francisco against your New York, your
Fire Island against my Sonoma, my
New Orleans deep in your Texas, your Idaho
bright on my Great Lakes, my Kansas
burning against your Kansas your Kansas
burning against my Kansas, your Eastern
Standard Time pressing into my
Pacific Time, my Mountain Time
beating against your Central Time, your
sun rising swiftly from the right my
sun rising swiftly from the left your
moon rising slowly from the left my
moon rising slowly from the right until
all four bodies of the sky
burn above us, sealing us together,
all our cities twin cities,
all our states united, one
nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Still shaking, but getting used to it. It's just strange.

Now I am totally fucked up. Not only am I shaking from head to toe but I can't concentrate and today I started crying for no reason. I just want this to stop.

I took me about five minutes to this far and remove the typos. :-|

The doctor gave me Ativan but said that is addictive and to only take it when needed. I took it yesterday and it made me sleep and then I felt like shit when I woke up. :-/

bye

Back from the doctor. He thinks it is from anxiety but they did some blood tests and we will know next week.

First, I don't know what I would be anxious about. Second, I am shaking all over all the time. Anyhow, I hope that he is correct. The other thing that they are checking for is thyroid problems.

She may look clean...

ruin
by Charles Bukowski from Septuagenarian Stew

William Saroyan said, "I ruined my
life by marrying the same woman
twice."

there will always be something
to ruin our lives,
William,
it all depends upon
what or which
finds us
first,
we are always
ripe and ready
to be
taken.

ruined lives are
normal
both for the wise
and
others.

it is only when
that life
ruined
becomes ours
we realize
then
that the suicides, the
drunkards, the mad, the
jailed, the dopers
and etc. etc.
are just as common
a part of existence
as the gladiola, the
rainbow
the
hurricane
and nothing
left
on the kitchen
shelf.

Okay, I think I may have mentioned this berfore but John Ashcroft is a very, very dangerous man.


Today Ashcroft held a news conference about the snipers. Apparently the feds moved in and filed charges first for the sole purpose of deciding where these guys would face trial. The federal charges on which they were being held were dropped and the accused snipers sent to the jurisdiction where they would have the best chance of being convicted and executed the fastest.

Why is the Justice Department in the middle of this? These guys, if convicted, will certainly be sentenced to either life in prison or death. I think Ashcroft will delight in playing a part in putting black non-christian men to death.

He should read his bible again. Commandment Six is "Thou shalt not Kill." Four simple words. Or are right-wing christians above their own god's law as well as their country's laws?

I know I sound like a black-helicopter-anti-government whacko, but I really am not. My idea of the role of government just differs from this administration's. Government should help the citizens and protect them, not look for people who are not like them and do its best to oppress them and force its religious beliefs on everyone else.

I am distraught over the election results. I just wanted the Democrats to hold on to enough Senate seats to keep the Republicans from ramming all kinds of laws through Congress. The Republicans now control all three branches of the federal government, with the Presidency, majorities in the House and Senate, and the ability to appoint federal judges and Supreme Court justices.

Less than 40% of registered voters went to the polls yesterday (I did vote). After the next two years of All-Bush-All-the-Time maybe more of us will get off our asses (but I doubt it). Well, enjoy your civil rights while you still have some.

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." -- Jesus (Matthew 10:34)

Jesus was a Terrorist

Jesus was a terrorist
Enemy of the state
That's what the Romans labeled him
So he was put to death

He died for his beliefs
What's changed today?

Today bible-thumping cannibals
Reap money from his name
Buy cable networks & power
With old ladies' checks

If Jesus saw Pat Robertson
What do you think he'd say?

Tax-free they re-write our laws
And sick 'em on you
Women don't control their bodies
TV preachers do

Censor everything from bathing suits
To science books
From the schoolroom to the bedroom
They want our thoughts - or else

They treat us like the Romans
Used to treat the Christians
Even some churchgoing folks are scared

Modern catacombs of fear
Built with money, power and threats
Rock'n'roll is labeled porn
Sell a record, you're under arrest

Instead of fighting AIDS
They try to stop us having sex
They brag that they won't quit
Til they take dominion over our lives

Is freedom of speech such a terrorist act
Is spiritual peace such a satanic threat
Believe what you want
But we'll fight to keep
Out heads from being cemented in your sand.

-- Jello Biafra

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
Voltaire

Here and There

Here and there nightfall
without fanfare
presses down, utterly
expected, not an omen in sight.
Here and there a husband
at the usual time
goes to bed with his wife
and doesn't dream of other women.
Occasionally a terrible sigh
is heard, the kind that is
theatrical, to be ignored.
Or a car backfires
and reminds us of a car
backfiring, not of a gunshot.
Here and there a man says
what he means and people hear him
and are not confused.
Here and there a missing teenage girl
comes home unscarred.
Sometimes dawn just brings another
day, full of minor
pleasures and small complaints.
And when the newspaper arrives
with the world,
people make kindling of it
and sit together while it burns.



"Here and There," by Stephen Dunn from New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton).

mmmm

Molasses Crumb Cake

2 cups sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter
1 cup molasses
2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon baking soda

• Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking
  pan; set aside.
  
• Combine sugar, flour and butter together, mixing well. Reserve 1 cup mixture for crumbs.
• Stir in remaining ingredients and pour into prepared baking pan.
  Sprinkle crumbs on top of batter.
• Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

No EGGS ;-)

Shooting at Arizona College of Nursing this morning.

See Bowling for Columbine

Yankee dollar talk
To the dictators of the world
In fact it's giving orders
An' they can't afford to miss a word

I'm so bored with the U...S...A...
But what can I do?

-- Strummer/Jones

Thirty pieces of silver?

The television was on in the background as I was reading. I heard London Calling by The Clash so I turned to look at the TV and I realized it was a commercial for Jaguar. How ironic is that? Punk bands, especially The Clash were anti-authority, anti-capitalist, anti-status quo, anti-rich. Now their music is being used to sell luxury cars to rich people.

Iggy Pop, the godfather of punk, has allowed his music to be used by numerous companies in their TV ads. After being told for years by record companies that he wasn't "commercial enough" now his music is being heard by most people for the first time in commercials. Do you think that Ford knows that Lust For Life is about trying quit heroin?

Unlike the "artists" that appear regularly on MTV, no one can say that The Clash or Iggy Pop has sold out artistically. Iggy Pop has been making music for more than 35 years and has never compromised his music in order to sell more records so he never sold (relatively) a lot of records. He should be allowed to reap the long-overdue benefits without people questioning his integrity (not that he cares what other people think.) In fact Iggy said "those songs were written 30 years ago with no regard to commercial success whatsoever. If the check clears, they can use them to sell dog food now for all I care. I know what they were about."

Today was Be-rude-to-Rob Day. I swear that every person that I had contact with today was rude to me. Normally I don't care because I think to myself that if I was doing their job I would be unpleasant too.

The kid waiting on me in the library would not speak in sentences. He would grunt an unintelligible sound and then when I asked him to repeat himself he rolled his eyes and gave me an attitude. I think that he may have even insulted me but I could not understand him.

The other thing that bothers me is when people are walking toward me on the sidewalk and refuse to yield. I usually move out of their way but today I tried an experiment. I walked on the right side of the sidewalk and whenever a group approached me I just held my ground, looking straight ahead and moving forward* like they weren't even there. I think that four guys ran into me.

* thanks to Carey for the heads-up on the video :-))

Plastic girl with plastic gun
Plastic smile under plastic sun
You burn my heart with your frigid stare
Rip me off with your greasy hair
I hate you and your fishy friends
I hate you and it never ends

-- Plastic Sun by Kim Gordon, Sonic Youth

"There is nothing more frightful
than ignorance in action."
-Goethe

Which John Cusack Are You?

"It's worth remembering that extreme sports are not political movements and rock, despite its historic claims to the contrary, is not revolution. In fact, to determine whether a movement genuinely challenges the structures of economic and political power, one need only measure how affected it is by the goings-on in the fashion and advertising industries. If, even after being singled out as the latest fad, it continues as if nothing had happened, it's a good bet it's a real movement." -- Naomi Klein, No Logo - Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies

"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."

Justice Louis Brandeis,
Olmstead v. United States, 1928

(e.g. John Ashcroft)

These are the first two headlines that I heard on NPR's Morning Edition today:

• President Carter Wins Nobel Peace Prize for decades of tireless work for peace.
  
• Congress Approves Iraq Resolution to allow Bush to invade.

I think that speaks for itself. :|

Who's watching us?

"Only someone completely distrustful of all government would be opposed to what we are doing with surveillance cameras."
NYC Police Commissioner Howard Safir, 27 July 1999

The fight over surveillance cameras in public spaces has come to Central Pennsylvania. The campus chapter of the ACLU is planning its protest yet most people are either unaware of the controversy or they just don't care.

Beaver Avenue is lined with student apartment buildings that feature balconies and is the site of past "riots" by drunk undergrads. After a big win (or loss) some people feel the need to take to the streets and break things.

There are already numerous cameras around town on private property at banks and department stores. Also several webcams are set up around campus. Now, as part of a plan to deter future disturbaces State College and the University agreed that "security cameras may be installed to monitor public spaces in the area. Private security cameras will be installed to monitor balconies." The cameras along Beaver Avenue will serve both a deterent to future rampages and as tool for police to identify participants in such distubances.

The ACLU folks plan a conventional protest with a march, petition and letter-writing campaign. But, there is a group that has been at this for several years called the Surveillance Camera Players (SCP). Their form of protest is a little more creative. They give Big Brother something to look at by performing plays for the cameras. In November 1999 they performed The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich for cameras in a New York subway station.

Even though the right to privacy is protected by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution it takes groups like SCP to focus attention on violations and erosions of our fundamental rights.

Mix It Up http://www.mixitup.org

“It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed toward ‘having’ rather than ‘being,’ and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself.”
Pope John Paul II
Centesimus annus

In the United States consumerism is taking over. Not only has it become almost a national religion but in the days following September 11 the Bush administration was on TV telling people to go out and buy stuff for the good of the country. Thus equating consumerism with patriotism. Patriotism is not about spending beyond our means to perpetuate the status quo.

There is this sort of conventional wisdom that one can find happiness in things. Work more to make more money to buy more things to be happy. However, that happieness is fleeting. As soon as the novelty of the faster computer or fancier car wears off the cycle starts again.

Now it is getting closer to the holidays and time to look for gifts for my nieces and nephews. I always enjoyed finding gifts for them--musical instruments, books, art supplies, etc. But this year I am considering something different. I might end up doing something like a gift to charity in their names. (Just what a kid wants. LOL)

There are great programs like Heifer Project International which gives livestock and trees to families around the world and then provides them with training. You can get a goat ($120) or a share of a goat ($10) or some other animal for a poor family. I just know that that family will appreciate that goat (and its milk, manure, and offspring) a lot more than my niece would appreciate the latest "cool" toy.

My family thinks that I am nuts because I don't have this drive to earn lots money. As long as I can feed myself and have a place to live and clothes to wear I am OK.

This is my "depressed stance"; When you're depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you'll start to feel better. If you're going to get any joy out of being depressed, you've got to stand like this.


Charlie Brown

The poem below is why, even though I enjoy movies, operas, plays, etc., I rarely attend events. :-)

A. P. Herbert
1890-1971

"At the Theatre:
To the Lady Behind Me"


Dear Madam, you have seen this play;
I never saw it till today.
You know the details of the plot,
But, let me tell you, I do not.
The author seeks to keep from me
The murderer's identity,
And you are not a friend of his
If you keep shouting who it is.
The actors in their funny way
Have several funny things to say,
But they do not amuse me more
If you have said them just before;
The merit of the drama lies,
I understand, in some surprise;
But the surprise must now be small
Since you have just foretold it all.
The lady you have brought with you
Is, I infer, a half-wit too,
But I can understand the piece
Without assistance from your niece.
In short, foul woman, it would suit
Me just as well if you were mute;
In fact, to make my meaning plain,
I trust you will not speak again.
And – may I add one human touch? –
Don't breathe upon my neck so much.

Christopher Hitchens on George Orwell
• BBC 5 minute essay, Why Orwell Still Matters


• The Internationalist, LA Times

"A Poem for Emily," by Miller Williams from Living on the Sun Face (Louisiana State University Press).

A Poem for Emily

Small fact and fingers and farthest one from me,
a hand's width and two generations away,
in this still present I am fifty-three.
You are not yet a full day.

When I am sixty-three, when you are ten,
and you are neither closer nor as far,
your arms will fill with what you know by then,
the arithmetic and love we do and are.

When I by blood and luck am eighty-six
and you are someplace else and thirty-three
believing in sex and god and politics
with children who look not at all like me,

sometime I know you will have read them this
so they will know I love them and say so
and love their mother. Child, whatever is
is always or never was. Long ago,

a day I watched awhile beside your bed,
I wrote this down, a thing that might be kept
awhile, to tell you what I would have said
when you were who knows what and I was dead
which is I stood and loved you while you slept.

Red Pop

It was a hot late summer day in the 1970s. My brother and I were perfoming our bi-weekly duty of washing the gold 1972 Chevrolet Impala while my dad and the neighbor sat on the porch listening to Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn calling the Phillies game on the transistor radio.

On this day my dad decided to send us to the neighborhood corner store for sodas. "Here's five dollars," he said "bring me the change." Usually he would walk to store with us, but this time he sent my brother and me by ourselves. So, off we went, with Abe Lincoln in hand, the three blocks to the store seemed like miles back then. We picked up horsechestnuts along the way, peeling open the green prickly shells to reveal the shiny brown buckeyes inside.

When we reached the store we pushed open the heavy green door which slammed behind us ringing the bell. This place was a kid's dream. There was a Hershey's ice cream freezer, shelf upon shelf of Taskykakes and behind the glass display case was every type of candy that you can imagine -- Swedish fish, string licorice, bottlecaps, etc. After checking out all of the possiblities we make our decision - a big bottle of Red Pop. So we tell the shopkeeper we want two 16 ounce Pepsis (one for dad and one for the neighbor) and a bottle of Red Pop for us.

The man handed the change to me and the paper bag with the three cold sodas to my little brother and we started home in the heat and humidity. We couldn't wait to get home so dad can use the bottle opener on our purchase. This was a real treat for us, we usually had only iced tea or Hi-C at home, but this was a first for us.

At about the halfway point the unthinkable happened--the three bottles came crashing through the bottom of the bag which was by this time soaked from the condensation on the cold bottles. All three bottles lay lifeless and broken on the hot sidewalk. A mixture of Pepsi and Red Pop stained our Keds and Dr. J tube socks.

As we made our way way home we were dreading telling our dad what happened. We approached the porch with frightened looks on our faces. "What's wrong," he said, "is the store closed?" We explained what happened. He wasn't angry, he just said "next time carry the bag with your hand on the bottom. Let's go make some Kool Aid."

• Local man attempts sex with horse

  
  
  OK...whatever turns you on. :-/ ...Central PA, where the men are men and the horses are scared. 8-O
  
  
  

• Fewer objects thrown by students at game

  
  
  "Throwing water bottles at the helpless people down front was half the fun of the football game" --- Brian Phillips (sophomore-computer engineering), The Collegian, Monday, Sept. 30, 2002

  
  

  The Penn State Alma Mater
  
  by Fred Lewis Pattee
  
  For the glory of old State,
  For her founder strong and great,
  For the future that we wait,
  Raise the song, raise the song.
  
  Sing our love and loyalty,
  Sing our hopes that, bright and free,
  Rest, O Mother dear, with thee,
  All with thee, all with thee.
  
  When we stood at childhood's gate,
  Shapeless in the hands of fate,
  Thou didst mold us, dear old State,
  Dear old State, dear old State.
  
  May no act of ours bring shame
  To one heart that loves thy name,
  May our lives but swell thy fame,
  Dear old State, dear old State.
  
  

  
  

  Hear the Alma Mater sung
  by the Penn State Glee Club