Xmas-time

Sunday (today) is my yearly stint as Santa's chauffeur/elf/photographer. My brother always gets the gig as Santa, but I get to watch as the kids get so excited when they see him at their door.

A small group in my hometown finds a few needy families every year to help out at Christmas. There are usually about five families with kids and two or three elderly people to whom we deliver.

Best of all the group does not tell the recipients who is giving them the stuff and they don't get a sermon with their gifts...just a smile. What happens every autumn is that the group contacts a local agency and asks for a few families that have fallen on hard times, maybe because one of the parents has become disabled or they have had some other hardship. They also work with a local funeral director who recommends a family or two.

The women purchase clothes and some toys for the kids. They also pack boxes of groceries for each of the families. Then Santa and I pack up the car and make about seven or eight deliveries in about four or five hours. At each place he has one gift for each of the kids to open and the rest are for Christmas morning. Some parents make arrangements for us to put the gifts on a back porch or in their car so that they can surprise the children on Christmas.

I really love being Santa's helper for the day. And the women like hearing the stories after each visit.

Maybe I'll have a story or two for you when I get back.

Until then go here and listen to this Christmas story.

A-rod contract - no snow cones

The Red Sox say that the trade which would send Alex Rodriguez to Boston is off. The players' union rejected the deal because they say that contracts cannot be reworked unless it benefits the player. I guess if he takes a pay cut to go to a team with a chance of winning a World Series that does not benefit him.

Now if he would have negotiated a deal like Kirk Jones, the Niagara Falls jumper, he would have had no trouble with the union. Jones's contract "stipulates he is entitled to an unlimited supply of shaved-ice snow cones." A-rod needs an agent that could get a sweet deal like that for him.

A defeat for the Bush Administration

Big news: the government cannot hold people indefinately without charges. The only surprise was that one of the judges disagreed.

See:

Bush Overruled on 'Dirty Bomb' Suspect

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - President Bush does not have power to detain American citizen Jose Padilla, the former gang member seized on U.S. soil, as an enemy combatant, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision, which ordered that Padilla be released from military custody within 30 days, could force the government to try the "dirty bomb" plot suspect in civilian courts. The White House said the government would seek a stay.

In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Padilla's detention was not authorized by Congress and that Bush could not designate him as an enemy combatant without the authorization.
(read more)

Lyrics du jour

Political Science

No one likes us - I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money - But are they grateful
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us - so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada is too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an all American amusement park there
They got surfing too

Boom goes London and boom Paree
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us any how
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now




-- Randy Newman

^{Copyright © 1969 January Music Corp.,
a division of A. Schroeder International Ltd. (BMI).}

Dubya: "The world is better off without you Mister Saddam Hussein"

Bush catch-phrases of the day

• He used the term "rape rooms" during his press conference this morning.



• And, he's back to saying "Nuke-U-lar."



• "Lessons of 9/11"



• Apparently the phrase of the day is "solemn duty."

Free phone offer extended

Accept Jesus Christ as Your Savior Before January 1, 2005 and Receive a Free Wireless Phone!

I love that. And this.

They found him...

Saddam -- check.

Weapons of mass destruction -- ummm...no.

Link to 9/11 -- nope.

False premise for starting this war -- absolutely.

So what now? I suppose that Karl Rove is planning the schedule right now. They will keep Saddam in an undisclosed, secure location for a few months, have a show trial next summer, sentence him to death, and hold a public execution in Baghdad a few weeks before next November's election.

Of course I am happy that they captured him. Maybe this will expedite the end of the US occupation, but I doubt it.

So far it has taken us nine months, the lives of 541 coalition troops, 2591 wounded coalition troops, thousands of Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the war, thousands of dead Iraqi soldiers, and the scorn of the world to catch one dictator that was supoosedly a imminent threat to the United States and Europe. Was it worth it? Was it worth it to set a precedent for "preemptive war"?

Well, we will see what happens.

Faith-based prisons?

Where? You guessed it--Florida.

There is no way that this is constitutional. The state of Florida will pay to indoctrinate prisoners in christian beliefs. Have they heard of the establishment clause of the Fisrt Amendment down there in Florida? Apparently not. What if a Muslim group wanted to take over a school district? How would that go over?

The story is below.

Florida first in U.S. to dedicate prison to faith-based program

By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- Hard time will soon be hallowed time for nearly 800 Florida inmates who will be given the option of repaying their debt to society in the nation's first prison dedicated entirely to faith-based rehabilitation programs.

Gov. Jeb Bush made the surprise announcement Friday at a White House-sponsored news conference in Tampa that spotlighted President Bush's attempts to give religious organizations a greater role in solving social problems.

"I believe that when people commit violent acts, it is appropriate to enforce the laws and that people should be punished for their actions," Gov. Bush said. "But I also believe that lives can be changed. (read more)

Site of the Day

Bush Sucks

And you thought that you had a bad week...

My friend Stef went home for Thanksgiving break. She works for a retailer that has stores in both towns and usually is scheduled at the other store when she goes home. After a couple years of this arrangement the manager at the college location decided he knew nothing of it and (long story short) she was fired.

While at home with her family Stef came down with the flu.

When she returned to her apartment after Thanksgiving break she found that her door had been kicked in. Gone was most of her DVD collection and all of her liquor collection.

Then, on Wednesday she woke up with conjunctivitis.

Stef, I hope things are going better for you this week.

Site of the Day

Despair, Inc :-(

Words of wisdom...

So there, we have figured it out, go back to bed America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed America, your government is in control again. Here, here's American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up. Go back to bed America, here's American Gladiators. Here's 56 channels of it. Watch these pituitary retards bang their fuckin skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go America, you are free... to do as we tell you.
-- Bill Hicks

Here's a little quiz for you...

Take this Quiz

Let me know how you do.

Free speech zones

I saw this on CBS Evening News last night

View - Real Video 2:49
(excuse the commercial at the beginning)

This story really got me angry. I think this has more to do with politics than security. Why are all of those flag-waving Bush supporters allowed to have signs and line the streets? Because the news will show how much everyone loves the president. Meanwhile dissenters are rounded up and penned in somewhere where nobody will see them.

In 1992 when Poppy Bush visited Penn State they did not allow usin the main area but we were fenced off to the side. At least we were in the same area, not on the other side of campus. Even the guy in the chicken suit was allowed in (Poppy refused to debate Clinton, so the chicken man was following him).

The "free speech zone" is just another example of the Bu$hCo doublespeak--Clear Skies Initiative, Clean Water Act, Preservation of Open Competition and Government Neutrality Towards Government Contractors' Labor Relations on Federal and Federally Funded Construction Projects, No Child Left Behind, etc. And they complained about the Clinton Administration using focus groups. Every Bush appearance is scripted and produced to look good on television.

[Listening to: I Walk the Line - Johnny Cash - Hits (02:41)]

Snow = Bad

[Listening to: Big Fat Woman - Leadbelly - Huddie Ledbetter - Leadbelly (01:21)]

In monkey news...

BBC: monkeys not only think, they think about thinking!

I'm back...

I was at my parents' house all last week. I am happy to be back here sleeping in my own bed and in a cat-free home.

They got a new computer ( I also talked them into broadband) a few months ago and they wanted to network the two computers. I ordered a wireless router and a USB adapter for the old computer so that they could just plug it in and be ready to go. Well, this ten-minute project took me two days due to several factors; I'll spare you the details.

We ended up installing a NIC and running a cable through the floor; this involved drilling, borrowing a drill and a drill bit. Anyhow, they now have two computers connected to the internet.

My sister and her family went away for the whole week so it was just me and my parents. I got her back because her five-year-old has a birthday next week so I got him a drum. That'll show her.

[Listening to: Galaxy 500 - Reverend Horton Heat - Like A Rocket (album) (03:17)]

Friday

Just a friendly reminder that Friday is Buy Nothing Day

Photo of the Day

Protesters toppling a statue George W. Bush in Trafalgar Square, London.

I guess that means that the protesters win! The American people are free from the oppression of the Bushists.

Perle: Iraq invasion Illegal

More evidence that the Bush Administration believes that it is above the law:

War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal

Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday November 20, 2003
The Guardian

International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal.

In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."

President George Bush has consistently argued that the war was legal either because of existing UN security council resolutions on Iraq - also the British government's publicly stated view - or as an act of self-defence permitted by international law.

But Mr Perle, a key member of the defence policy board, which advises the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable. (read more)

...and that they continually lie to the American people and the world.

Ashcroft-style democray in Iraq

From fairandbalanced.us:

Iraqi arrested for criticising U.S
Tue 11 November, 2003 10:46

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - American soldiers handcuffed and firmly wrapped masking tape around an Iraqi man's mouth after they arrested him for speaking out against occupation troops.

Asked why the man had been arrested and put into the back of a Humvee vehicle on Tahrir Square, the commanding officer told Reuters at the scene on Tuesday: "This man has been detained for making anti-coalition statements."

He refused to say what the man said. (read more)

Bushy tails

Dubya will be wearing a rented tuxedo at the State Dinner with Queen Elizabeth tonight.

Now that's classy!

He's known about this for over a year I think he could have gotten a tux of his own in that time.

Whose values?

I saw Reverend Louis Sheldon from the Traditional Values Coalition being interviewed on CNN or MSNBC this morning. He has got to be one of the most hateful men I've ever seen.

How can these men who claim to be spreading the word of Jesus be so full of hate.

Gay marriage ban ruled unconstitutional

My position has long been that homosexual couples should have the same rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples as long as they have made a legal partnership or union. The problem is that there are very few places that allow such unions.

Today's ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional to ban same-sex marriages goes one step closer to giving homosexual couples the same rights as the rest of us.


From BBC:

Massachusetts backs gay marriage

The US state of Massachusetts has ruled that same-sex couples are legally entitled to marry.

Massachusetts could become the first state to recognise gay marriage.

But the Supreme Judicial Court stopped short of ordering that marriage licences be issued to seven gay couples who challenged the law.

Gay marriage is banned in the US, but one state, Vermont, has enacted a law which gives same-sex couples the rights of traditional marriages.

The Massachusetts court ruled that barring same-sex couples from the benefits of civil marriage was "unconstitutional." (read more)

Bush II: a Jeffersonian?

"After decades of a dictator's sustained assault on Iraq's society and dignity and spirit, a Jeffersonian democracy will not spring up in a matter of months" --George W. Bush, 2003 Veterans Day speech to the Heritage Foundation

Does Dubya even know what Jeffersonian democracy is? I really doubt it. Mister Jefferson is surely spinning in his grave at the notion of Bush invoking his name.

Jeffersonians wanted a federal government with limited powers, a respect for civil liberties, and that placed power in the hands of the average citizens and small family farmers (not the wealthy and aristocratic). Jefferson also favored an isolationist foreign policy and a small military.

• "The presumption of dictating to an independent nation the form of its government is so arrogant, so atrocious, that indignation as well as moral sentiment enlists all our partialities and prayers in favor of one and our equal execrations against the other." --Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 1823. ME 15:435


• "Not in [my] day, but at no distant one, we may shake a rod over the heads of all which may make the stoutest of them tremble. But I hope our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Leiper, 1815. ME 14:308

Does any of that remind you of the Bush Administration? I don't think so.

This administration is Hamiltionian to the extent that they believe that the power should be in the hands of the wealthy business owners and well-born. They combine that with the nationalism and inherent racism of the Jacksonians. A federal government in the hands of the wealthy and promoting nationalism to the poor so they go and fight the wars of the rich. That sounds like a recipe for class warfare.

Where do I stand? Well, I guess I would more closely identify with the Wilsonian ideas of anti-imperialism, respect for international treaties, federal aid for education, and support for labor and human rights. I know that the neo-cons who pull Dubya's strings somehow think that they are upholding Wilsonian ideals but does anyone buy it? Of course, all of these ideologies have good points and bad points. That's why idealogues, no matter which ideology they advocate, are doomed to fail.

Quote of the Day

''George Bush killed my son''
-- Rosemary Dietz Slavenas,
at a memorial service for her son Army 1st Lt. Brian Slavenas

Ave Maria

The Virgin Mary is back! This time she appeared as a tree stump in Passaic, NJ.

Former Chief Justice Roy Moore

It is good to know that there are some reasonable people in Alabama. The Alabama Judicial Court removed Roy Moore from his office of Chief Justice for defying a federal court order and the state canon of ethics.

The people of Alabama may decide to secede. There seems to be a lot people supporting this religious zealot. The same people who cry about judges "legislating from the bench" are the ones who have rallied behind Moore while he has decided to change the meaning of the Constitution and laws of this country.

People are so ignorant of their own history that they actually believe that the United States was founded as a christian nation. Nothing could be further from the truth. I won't get into it again here, but people many fled religious persecution in Europe when they settled here.

I am just happy that I don't live in Alabama.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

I was in the mall a couple of weeks ago, it was a day or two before Halloween, and I walked into a department store. To my surprise, the whole store was decorated for Christmas. It wasn't even November and and already they were selling Christmas.

That reminded me that it was time for one of my favorite days of the year -- Buy Nothing Day, observed here in the US on the day after Thanksgiving. Americans have traditionally observed this day, Black Friday, by spending time looking for a place to park their SUVs at the mall and waiting in line to buy more stuff.

According to Adbusters.org 5% of the world's population consumes about 30% of its natural resources and 20% of the earth's population uses 80% of its natural resources. Of course, we in the United State are part of the 20% that overconsumes.

Over the past few years I have adopted a new way of thinking. I have not become an ascetic but I have realized that by spending less I actually can have more. I buy most of my clothes at the Goodwill store. I have a 17 year old car that I drive very rarely. I get a lot of my food at a bulk food store and at the farmers' market. This isn't an all-or-nothing lifestyle, and by no means do I deprive myself of things-- I love my computer and my cable television. But, I have been gradually adapting my buying habits.

We have been told by the Bush Administration that it is our patriotic duty to buy stuff. After we were attacked on September 11, 2001, by an unknown enemy the President and his handlers took to the airwaves to tell us to go out and live life as normal and spend money. If we are at war one would think that we should conserve resources, instead the Bushies were fanning the flames of consumerism.

Schoolchildren are even encouraged to buy softdrinks and and candy from vending machines in schools. They are exposed to product placement in their textbooks, and advertisements in their schools.

This holiday season take a break from the malls, spend some time with your family and friends. Instead of buying things that people don't need visit Heifer.org and make a gift to someone who could really use it.

Resources:

• http://www.ibuydifferent.org/


• http://www.newdream.org/


• http://www.adbusters.org/


• http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/

(President) Gore Speaks

Where Civil Liberties are concerned, they (the Bush Administration) have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, “Big Brother”-style government -- toward the dangers prophesized by George Orwell in his book “1984” -- than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America. -- Al Gore, 11/9/2003

High school drug raid

Click the link below to see video from a high school in South Carolina where police went in with guns drawn.

** watch this **

Welcome to Dubya's police state.

Would you like police coming in with dogs and pointing guns at you?

By the way, no drugs were found

Late Night...

A very funny Late Night with Conan O'Brien last night. There was a report from American Idol tryouts in Hawaii by Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. He was thown out of the auditions and the local NBC affiliate did a news story about it. There is also a funny clip of him doing the weather report on the local news in Hawaii.

Will Ferrell was on talking about his movie Elf. He is always funny.

Finally Sarah Vowell was on promoting the audio release of her book The Partly Cloudy Patriot. I think that she was uncomfortable being out there with Will Ferrell at the other end of the sofa. Vowell and Conan talked about the Civil War, pointing out that Conan is the same height as Lincoln and Sarah is as tall as Lincoln's Secretary of State William Seward. She also explained her idea for a show similar to MTV's Cribs only it would show the homes of prominent historians such as Doris Kearns Goodwin.

If you missed it, I think that it will be on Comedy Central on Monday. Set the VCR.

A haircut and recollections

This afternoon I went to the barber for the first time since I was five years old. No, my hair doesn't reach my waist, my mother has always cut my hair but it has been getting thin and graying lately so I thought maybe I should let a pro have a look at it.

I opened the door and the old man in the barber's chair looked at me and said "can I help you." I explained that I wanted a haircut. The old man pointed to a hand-written sign on the back wall: "No new customers" it read. I apologized and and before I could get it out of my mouth the man said "but, since you're here I can give you a quick trim."

He put down his newspaper and motioned for me to sit in the dark green vinyl and chrome chair. The old barber with unruly white hair and big bushy white eyebrows explained that he likes to work but is trying to cut back. "There were three of us here; now it's just me...48 years," he said "in this same chair."

"A medium trim okay?" he asked, as he put the gown around me and tied it in the back. "Sure" I replied, and he spun me around and removed my glasses. The console TV in the corner had the local news on it. Without my glasses I could only see fuzzy blue images as I listened to the forecast for next few days.

The barber used an electric trimmer to do the back and sides. Then with a comb in one hand and scissors in the other he trimmed the top. "I did my apprenticeship about an hour south of here," he reminisced, "back in '56."

Then, with his left hand holding firmly on to the top of my head, he trimmed around my ears with a straight razor. I could feel the tremor in his hand as he positioned the razor. "Not many old-time barbers around anymore," he told me, "there used to be one on each corner here; now it's just me." Without warning he applied cool shaving cream to the back of my neck and again with just a bit of a tremor he used that straight razor to put the finishing touches on my haircut.

He spun the chair around and faced me towards the mirror and as he placed my glasses on my head he asked "how's it look?"

"Perfect" I said.

He told me the names of some good barbers in the area and suggested that I try one of them next time. I thanked him for the haircut and handed him a ten dollar bill. He thanked me, picked up his newspaper, and sat down again in his chair.

Cowboy up!

Cowboy wannabe and failed oil man George W. Bush speaking to the National Endowment for Democracy threatened the Middle East to democratize. How does El Presidente propose that they accomplish this? He doesn't.

Why would he decide to further alienate Muslims around the world if he does not even a plan to help them meet his demand. He should just concentrate on getting us out of Iraq, Bush and his handlers have already convinced Muslims that that the US is hostile to Islam.

Maybe this is a poor attempt at what his daddy called the "vision thing."

Lady

"Mom & Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three." -- Billie Holiday

God Bless the Child

Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own

Yes, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own

Money, you've got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
When you're gone, spending ends
They don't come no more
Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own

Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
He just worry 'bout nothin'
Cause he's got his own

For some reason I got the urge to listen to this song this morning. I find it hard to listen to Billie Holiday anymore without thinking of David Sedaris singing the Oscar Mayer Bologna song.

Three guesses...

1. terror


2. rape rooms


3. suiciders


4. thugs


5. regime


6. the terrorists


7. war


8. September 11


9. terrorism

Proselytize schmoselytize...

Daniel Zwerdling's story on Weekend Edition Saturday this morning illustrates the lack of regard for the Constitution that the Bush Administration has. Zwerdling profiles a Colorado faith-based social service program (Faith Partners) for mothers on welfare.

I cringed as the christian "social workers" prayed with their clients, as they tried to take them to church, and the program's director spoke about their "covert religious mission."

Bush's faith-based program clearly gives federal money to religious groups who use that money to "witness" and to proselytize. That is what I would call state establishment of religion.

There is a simple solution for religious groups which would like to do this. They can run these programs and pay for them with their own money.

• Listen (13:09)
  
• Transcript
  

Lies...

• "The 'Mission Accomplished' sign, of course, was put up by the members of the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying that their mission was accomplished. I know it was attributed some how to some ingenious advance man from my staff ..." -- President George W. Bush, 10/28/2003



• " they asked if we could help take care of the production of the banner. And we more than happy to do so" -- White House Spokesman Scott McClellan, 10/29/2003

So the White House made a huge banner that read "Mission Accomplished" and some crew members of the Lincoln put it up. McClellan claims that it was the crew's idea and the White House was just happy to help. Oh yeah, the banner just happed to be right over Flyboy's shoulder in the televised address. Hmmmm....okay...I believe that.

FREAKS

I watched Tod Browning's Freaks on TMC last night. I've seen it about three times now and it is disturbing and moving each time.

The 1932 film is a tragic love story set in a travelling side show. It turns out out the the real freaks in this film are the "normal" people.

There is an excellent scene where the "freaks" are stalking in the night rain. I really like the shots from beneath the wagons.

It is a short film (66 minutes) with a long history. If you get a chance to to see it, especially this time of year, you should.

First Franken then...

... The Simpson's?

Strange but true. Apparently Fox wanted to sue itself over a parody of itself.

Doh! Murdoch's Fox News in a spin over 'The Simpsons' lawsuit
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington

29 October 2003

Serious news is no laughing matter. Especially at Fox News Channel. That, at least, is the allegation of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who has accused Rupert Murdoch's "fair and balanced" news channel of threatening legal action after a particularly pointed episode poked fun at Fox.

The episode in question featured a "Fox News Crawl" at the bottom of the screen, which parodied some of the more unlikely items featured by the right-wing news channel.

The cartoon ticker read: "Pointless news crawls up 37 per cent ... Do Democrats cause cancer? Find out at foxnews.com ... Rupert Murdoch: Terrific dancer ... Dow down 5000 points ... Study: 92 per cent of Democrats are gay ... JFK posthumously joins Republican Party ... Oil slicks found to keep seals young, supple ..." (read more)

Listen to Matt Groening on Fresh Air

On life and death...

A couple of life and death issues have been in the news over the past week or so. These are some complicated and divisive issues but my view is pretty simple: the government should not be in the business of making medical decisions.

The easier (for me) is the abortion ban passed by both houses of Congress. Although I probably could not advise any woman to opt for an abortion, I do not think that the federal government can outlaw medical procedures and once again make women second class citizens.

If I had to make a choice between

1. deliver a baby that will have no chance of survival and at the same time putting my wife's life risk; or
2. opt for a late-term abortion to ensure the life of my wife

the choice would be easy for me. I would choose to have a healthy, living wife.

If abortion is outlawed women will continue have them, as they always have. Does the christian right think that before the US Supreme Court ruled that abortion is legal women did not get them? Well they did.

The right-to-die issue in Florida is more complicated for me. I would find it very difficult to stop feeding someone and starving her death. However, this is not a decision for the state. If I knew or felt very strongly that my wife would not want to "live" in a persistant vegetative state I would try to do as she wished. But, if I did not know and her family felt strongly about keeping her alive I would try do what they wanted, even if that meant divorcing her and giving them custody.

Let's hope that none of us ever have to make such decisions, but if we do let's hope that we have a decision (within the law) to make.

Pastor Fred is at it again...

In a show compassionate conservatism Pastor Fred Phelps, of GodHatesFags.com fame, wants to erect a monument celebrating the murder of Matthew Shepard.


From AP:

Ten Commandments Debate Draws Anti-Gay Preacher

Fred Phelps Building $15,000 'Matthew Shepherd In Hell' Monument

POSTED: 2:25 p.m. MST October 27, 2003

CASPER, Wyo. -- An anti-gay preacher known for his fiery protests over slain University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard has thrown a wrench into another emotional issue in Shepard's hometown.

The city of Casper -- like other communities across the country -- is debating the fate of its Ten Commandments monument, which has sat in the corner of a city park for nearly 40 years.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation last month asked Casper to remove the monument, citing recent legal decisions against similar monuments in Alabama and elsewhere.

Two weeks later, city officials got another letter, this one from the Rev. Fred Phelps, whose Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas has led protests in Casper and Laramie on the anniversary of Shepard's death since the gay college student was murdered in 1998. (read more)

Speakers at yesterday's march were good...

...for me to poop on.

I saw some of C-SPAN's coverage of the March on the White House yesterday. Actually I was doing something else but had the television on and I was listening to it. Every time the "Free Palestine" guy introduced a new speaker I thought that it was Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

The Birth Tax

10/23/2003 @ 2:46pm by Matt Bivens

American Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof says President Bush's government is the "worst ever" in US history, and describes its budget policies as "a form of looting." New York Times columnist and economist Paul Krugman argues that since he has borrowed the money for his feed-the-rich tax cuts, "George W. Bush is like a man who tells you that he's bought you a fancy new TV set for Christmas, but neglects to tell you that he charged it to your credit card, and that while he was at it he also used the card to buy some stuff for himself."

We already owe a monstrous amount of money. As of Wednesday, the US federal debt was $$6,834,787,133,873.25.

So divide $6.8 trillion by the estimated US population of about 292.4 million, and it turns out every American, right down to those in hospital nurseries, inherits an obligation to cough up $23,372. For a family of four, that's a debt of more than $93,000.

Remember when Bill Clinton was president, and instead of adding to that national debt we were paying it off? (read more)

Late-night TV...

I was flipping through the channels at two o'clock this morning and came across Life is Worth Living with Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen on EWTN.

The show was from 1956 and he was speaking about economic systems. He started by defining the two extremes of monopolistic capitalism and authoritarian communism. Being at the height of US anti-communism, I thought that this would be a rant about the evils of communism and praise for capitalism. Instead, Sheen explained that every person is entitled to property enough to live and care for his family, anything beyond that he owes to the poor.

It was a very interesting lecture.

Our right-wing conservative Christian Republican friends today believe that each person should amass as much wealth and property as possible and that the poor are poor because they are lazy. Not only do they think that they don't owe anything personally to the poor they also think that society owes nothing to the poor. These people like having a big strong military and it takes tax money to support the military, yet they are outraged that a tiny fraction of the amout of the tax money spent on bombs and tanks is spent to feed poor children.

Movies

I saw Sofia Coppola's new film Lost in Translation on Friday. It is one of the best films that I have seen in a while. Bill Murray once again shows the world that he is not only funny but yes indeed an actor. The film is filled with funny moments yet tragic at the same time.

In addition to wonderful acting by Murray and Scarlett Johansson, there are some visually stunning shots of Tokyo and the opening scene of Miss Johansson certainly grabbed my attention.

I watched Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Delicatessen again this weekend. I love that film. One of my favorite scenes is when the handyman is trying fix a spring on a woman's bed. The two of them sit on the bed bouncing as Hawaiian music is playing on a black and white TV. And last night after the ballgame got out of hand I watched another of Jeunet's films -- Amélie, delightful film and the colors are beautiful.

Leaves...

This is what it looks like in my yard when I look up. It is beautiful right now but in a few weeks all of those colorful leaves will be covering the ground. That means lots of raking for me.

I spent much of the weekend on the first round of raking and pruning. Maybe I'll get lucky and they will all blow away.

A Nation Under the "Real" (Christian) God?

Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Lt. Gen. William Boykin has been giving speeches to evangelical church groups and making statements like this:

from Top terrorist hunter’s divisive views By Lisa Myers and the NBC Investigative Unit
During a January church speech in Daytona, Fla., Boykin recalled a Muslim fighter in Somalia who bragged on television the Americans would never get him because his God, Allah, would protect him: “Well, you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.”

I just wanted to remind everyone that Dubya, while Governor of Texas, proclaimed Jesus Day in Texas. Is this an evangelical christian theocracy in disguise?

You gotta have heart

This man played for the Yankees, the Knicks, and the Rangers -- all in the same season! And, after the World Series he is retiring - after 38 years with the Yankees.

Who is he?

Why Eddie Layton, of course.

Bush ignored warnings

President Clinton warned Dubya about the threat of al Qaeda during the transition but in typical Bush cowboy fashion he didn't want to listen to "the enemy." We all found out eight months later who the real enemy was. Bush's advisors had told him that Iraq was a threat to world peace because they already had a plan to take over that country. They could go in and use their multimillion dollar toys to blow up things. It was a lot simpler to invade Iraq and declare "Mission Accomplished" than to defeat an oscure entity like al Qaeda.

Clinton warned Bush of bin Laden threat
Thu 16 October, 2003 03:27 BST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton says he warned President George W. Bush before he left office in 2001 that Osama bin Laden was the biggest security threat the United States faced.

Speaking at a luncheon sponsored by the History Channel on Wednesday, Clinton said he discussed security issues with Bush in his "exit interview," a formal and often candid meeting between a sitting president and the president-elect.

"In his campaign, Bush had said he thought the biggest security issue was Iraq and a national missile defence," Clinton said. "I told him that in my opinion, the biggest security problem was Osama bin Laden."

The U.S. government has blamed bin Laden's Al Qaeda network for the September 11 attacks.

Time magazine reported last year that a plan for the United States to launch attacks against the al-Qaeda network languished for eight months because of the change in presidents and was approved only a week before the September 11 attacks. (more)

Marlins get a hand...

With Prior on the mound pitching a three-hit shutout through seven innings the Cubs just saw everything turn around in the eighth. A Cubs fan failed to get out of the way to allow Alou to catch a foul ball that would have been the second out of the inning, Alex Gonzalez made an error on a routine ground ball, and the Marlins went on to score eight runs in the inning.

I feel bad for the fan. He will take the blame for the loss but the Cubs lost it on the field.

It should be an exciting one tonight. Kerry Wood will be pitching for the Cubs and he has been pitching very well in the post-season.

Also, anyone who is tired of listening to Tim McCarver on the AL games should do like I do and turn down the sound and listen to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on ESPN Radio.

Red Sox vs Yankees -- MLB or WWE?

Home video of Zimmer vs Pedro:

copy and paste into RealPlayer

rtsp://necn.mirror-image.com/media/video/101203_pedro_12p.rm

Codrescu on Texas History

Andrei Codrescu gives us his version of Texas history in 3 minutes 35 seconds:Andrei Codrescu Commentary: Messing with Texas
(from NPR's All Things Considered 10/10/2003)

To your health...

If there are any doctors or other health professionals who read this I would appreciate anything you could tell me about these symptoms:

• tremors - started about one year ago, get worse under stress
  
• constant ringing in ears
  
• occasional weakness in lower left leg/foot
  
• occasional tingling in last two fingers on both hands
  
• fatigue
  
• hyper patellar (and other) reflexes
  
• occasional dizziness
  
• MRI shows two small bilateral lesions in brain
  
• currently on zoloft 100mg
  
• VEP, BSAEP, and other evoked potentials tests were all normal
  

October Baseball

Wow! There were some exciting games over the past week. Of course I am looking forward to a Cubs vs Red Sox World Series.

Kerry Wood looked great in his two starts against the Braves. I just love to see a good knee-buckling curve ball. He also had a game-winning hit in one of those games.

The Red Sox had some wild games and I thought that they were going to blow it last night but they held on to win.

The Marlins have just been unstoppable in the second half of the season. Ivan Rodriguez almost single-handedly won the series for them against the Giants.

I did not watch any of the Yankees games. Baseball just was not meant to be played indoors on Astroturf and who can get excited about a team that can afford to buy any player that they want.

More Lies...

10/6/2003 - The Times / UK
Blair 'Knew Iraq Had No WMD' before Bush attacked Iraq
By David Cracknell

TONY BLAIR privately conceded two weeks before the Iraq war that Saddam Hussein did not have any usable weapons of mass destruction, Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, reveals today.

John Scarlett, chairman of the joint intelligence committee (JIC), also "assented" that Saddam had no such weapons, says Cook.

His revelations, taken from a diary that he kept as a senior minister during the months leading up to war, are published today in The Sunday Times. They shatter the case for war put forward by the government that Iraq presented "a real and present danger" to Britain. (read more)

What the heck happenned...

Well I got this email:

As you may or not be aware, we suffered a catastrophic failure on the
24-7
net server yesterday (September 30)

For updates please use the following links:
http://247webs.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11

Everything was gone. I had to change nameservers and upload everything again.

I am still working on it.

Aaaarrrgggghhh!

The beginning of the end of the Bush Regime...

David Corn of The Nation broke this story way back in July and the mainstream press is just now picking it up. The Republicans in Congress impeached President Clinton for lying about extramarital sexual relations. This is much more serious; I wonder what they will do about this--a matter of national security.

Does anyone really believe that John Ashcroft will conduct a fair an unbiased investigation? Uhhh...no. If there was ever a time for a special investigator to be appointed this is it.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan spent yesterday telling the White House press corps to let him know if they have any information about "the leak."

This whole thing started because Bush lied about the Iraq-Niger-uranium connection. Ambassador Wilson exposed the lie and the Bush Administration took revenge. Now puppetmaster Karl Rove is probably busy covering his tracks and coming up with more lies that will eventually bring down the Bush Regime.

Justice Dept. Probes Leak of CIA Agent's Identity

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it had opened a criminal investigation into the leak of a CIA official's identity in a case that could revive charges the White House overstated pre-war intelligence on Iraqi weapons.

Justice Department lawyers notified the White House counsel's office on Monday night that they had begun a probe into "possible unauthorized disclosures concerning the identity of an undercover CIA employee," according to a memo sent to White House staff by counsel Alberto Gonzales.
(more)

Lawnmower Man sets new record...

7:00 am

7:00 am!!!

Why would someone mow the lawn at 7 o'clock in the morning? I'm not a morning person and I am usually sleeping at that time. This morning I thought that I was having a bad dream but I looked out the window and there was an old man in a white tee shirt pushing a power mower around his yard.

It was bad enough that he mowing, but he kept running over sticks or stones or something. So every few minutes the sound of grinding metal pierced my semiconscious brain.

Baseball Notes

• Congratulations to the Tigers on their 43rd win of the season - I saw one of their 119 losses and one of Bonderman's 19 losses.


• Congratulations to the Cubs and the Red Sox, both made it to post season this year. Wouldn't that be quite a World Series, one of them would have to win.


• Goodbye Veterans' Stadium! After 33 years the Phillies get a real ballpark--with real grass!

On the Fightin' Phils...

The press is calling for Larry Bowa to be fired. In three seasons at the helm Bowa has not made it to the playoffs, but in his first season the Phils finished two games back of the Braves, last year they got off to a bad start but finished strong, and this year it came down to the final week of the season. I look for Bowa to be back next season and to be there well beyond that.

Jim Thome had an outstanding year. Unless Barry Bonds hits two homeruns today Thome will lead the league in homers. He is also one the best guys in the game.

After a great season last year Pat Burrell struggled all season. The Philly fans who are known for booing Santa Claus even cheered on Burrell throughout the year. Finishing the season just above the Mendoza Line, he has a long off season ahead of him.

I am looking forward to the 2004 season at the new ballpark. My second big league game was at the Vet (the first was at Shea, Mets vs. Expos). Usually once or twice a season my dad and my uncle would take my brother and me to a Phillies game and I was at game six of the 1993 World Series at the Vet. Next year I hope to take my dad to a game at the new park.

"Vive la revision!"

A preeminent historian takes on Dubya's use of the term "revisionist history." Finally. Of course it is in the American Historical Association's newsletter so nobody but historians will see it.

Revisionist Historians
by James McPherson


This summer the Bush administration thought it had discovered a surefire tactic to discredit critics of its Iraq adventure. President Bush followed the lead of his national security adviser Condoleeza Rice to accuse such critics of practicing "revisionist history." Neither Bush nor Rice offered a definition of this phrase, but their body language and tone of voice appeared to suggest that they wanted listeners to understand "revisionist history" to be a consciously falsified or distorted interpretation of the past to serve partisan or ideological purposes in the present. ...(read more)

Trickle-down economics at work...

Hey, at least the wealthiest Americans have a little more in their bank accounts thanks to the Bush tax cuts.

Poverty Rate Rises for Second Year in Row
Fri Sep 26, 7:27 PM ET

By GENARO C. ARMAS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Poverty rose for a second straight year in 2002 as 1.7 million more people dropped below the poverty line, according to Census Bureau (news - web sites) estimates released Friday that provided fresh evidence of the struggling economy's effect on Americans' pocketbooks.

The poverty rate was 12.1 percent last year, an increase from 11.7 percent in 2001 even though the last recession ended in November 2001. That meant nearly 34.6 million people were living in poverty.

Before the two years of increase, poverty had fallen for nearly a decade to 11.3 percent in 2000, its lowest level in more than 25 years. (read more)

More Lies...

• "He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors. So in effect, our policies have strengthened the security of the neighbors of Iraq, and these are policies that we are going to keep in place."
  -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, February 2001



• "Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are a real and present danger to the people of Iraq, to its neighbors and to the world."
  -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, February 2003



• "I didn't change my assessment... I did not say he (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) didn't have weapons of mass destruction."
  -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, September 2003

Ted Rall on Bush

I love this guy...


Ted Rall


WHY WE HATE BUSH

It's the Stolen Election, Stupid
by Ted Rall 9/23/2003
NEW YORK--"Have the Democrats totally flipped their lids?" asks David Brooks in The Weekly Standard, quasi-official organ of the Bush Administration. "Because every day some Democrat seems to make a manic or totally over-the-top statement about George Bush, the Republican party, and the state of the nation today."

True, Democrats loathe Dubya with greater intensity than any Republican standard-bearer in modern political history. Even the diabolical Richard Nixon--who, after all, created the EPA, went to China and imposed price controls to stop corporate gouging--rates higher in liberal eyes. "It's mystifying," writes Brooks.

Let me explain.

First but not foremost, Bush's detractors despise him viscerally, as a man. Where working-class populists see him as a smug, effeminate frat boy who wouldn't recognize a hard day's work if it kicked him in his self-satisfied ass, intellectuals see a simian-faced idiot unqualified to mow his own lawn, much less lead the free world. Another group, which includes me, is more patronizing than spiteful. I feel sorry for the dude; he looks so pathetic, so out of his depth, out there under the klieg lights, squinting, searching for nouns and verbs, looking like he's been snatched from his bed and beamed in, and is still half asleep, not sure where he is. ... (read more)

Bush LIES...

from "A Thousand Points of Plan" by By Dana Milbank, washingtonpost.com:

BAD EXAMPLE: When Bush was stumping for his "jobs and growth" tax cut proposal in April, he went to Timken Co., a maker of steel bearings in Canton, Ohio. "The greatest strength of the American economy is found right here," Bush said then, predicting the tax cut would bring "more money for investment, more money for growth, and more money for jobs."

A month later, Bush signed a $350 billion tax cut, less than he wanted but still what he called "a bold package." And Timken? The company announced last week that it is cutting 900 jobs and lowering its earnings forecasts.

MOVING TARGET: "Acting pursuant to the Constitution and Public Law 107-243 [congressional authorization for military force in Iraq] is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."

-- President Bush, March 18 letter to Congress.

"We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11th."

-- President Bush, Sept. 17.

"Wha' the hey?"

Molly sums it up pretty well

Fear and loathing in America
Molly Ivins - Creators Syndicate

09.23.03 - AUSTIN, Texas -- Among the more amusing cluckings from the right lately is their appalled discovery that quite a few Americans actually think George W. Bush is a terrible president.

Robert Novak is quoted as saying in all his 44 years of covering politics, he has never seen anything like the detestation of Bush. Charles Krauthammer managed to write an entire essay on the topic of "Bush haters" in Time magazine, as though he had never before come across such a phenomenon.

Oh, I stretch memory way back, so far back, all the way back to -- our last president. Almost lost in the mists of time though it is, I not only remember eight years of relentless attacks from Clinton-haters, I also notice they haven't let up yet. Clinton-haters accused the man of murder, rape, drug-running, sexual harassment, financial chicanery and official misconduct, and his wife of even worse. (read more)

"The United States Can Do Whatever The Hell It Wants"

Apart from the invented links between Iraq and Al Qaida, we had the manufactured frenzy about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction. George Bush the Lesser went to the extent of saying it would be "suicidal" for the U.S. not to attack Iraq. We once again witnessed the paranoia that a starved, bombed, besieged country was about to annihilate almighty America. (Iraq was only the latest in a succession of countries - earlier there was Cuba, Nicaragua, Libya, Grenada, and Panama.) But this time it wasn't just your ordinary brand of friendly neighborhood frenzy. It was Frenzy with a Purpose. It ushered in an old doctrine in a new bottle: the Doctrine of Pre-emptive Strike, a.k.a. The United States Can Do Whatever The Hell It Wants, And That's Official.


-- Arundhati Roy, May 13, 2003
from her speech Instant-Mix Imperial Democracy (Buy One, Get One Free)

"The Greatest Love Story of the 20th Century" by Sarah Vowell

Sarah Vowell's essay on Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash was on This American Life on Sunday

*listen* start at 47:40 (10 min)

More Revisionist Science

More "revisionist science" from the Bush Administration

Top 1% could show their PATRIOTISM...

...by insisting that they not receive the Bush targeted tax break for the wealthiest Americans. By doing so they could pay for their war. They should also insist that BushCo accounts for the $1.5B in federal funds that is unaccounted for each moth in Iraq.

Anyhow read this:

_{Published on 9/15/2003 in the USA Today}
Tax wealthy to pay for Iraq war
by Robert B. Reich

President Bush says he will ask Congress for $ 87 billion in emergency spending for military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's on top of the $ 79 billion Congress already has approved to pay for the war and its immediate aftermath. Neither of these figures includes an estimated $ 50 billion more that will be needed to rebuild Iraq, or any additional expenditures we may need for homeland security.

How can we afford all this?

This coming fiscal year's federal budget deficit already is approaching $ 500 billion. Add in the extra spending, and it's close to $ 600 billion. And that's just one year's tab. The total over all the years it will take to stabilize both Iraq and Afghanistan and win the war against terrorism is likely to be far higher. (read more)

Dept. of Homeland Security is on the job...

From NewsNet5:

Officials Say Cloistered Nuns Are Security Risks

CLEVELAND -- Two Cleveland nuns pray day and night, but it may not be enough to keep them from being deported.

NewsChannel5 reported that the Department of Homeland Security is ordering two Korean sisters out of the country, saying they don't qualify for visas. But the cloistered nuns are hoping a higher power will intervene.

The women live as cloistered nuns with the order of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Inside, the nuns pray for the entire world 24 hours a day. They never leave the church except for when they need medical care, and they have almost no contact with the outside world.

But on Friday, they spoke with NewsChannel5 behind steel bars in the visitors' parlor. The bars are a symbol to their commitment to God, prayer and their separation from society.

Sister Mary Cecilia and Sister Mary Catherinia, of Korea, must now deal with the outside world. The Department of Homeland Security said the sisters are security risks. Both Korean sisters may be deported because the U.S. Immigration Service said they don't qualify for religious worker visas. (read more)

Arrrr! me mateys...

Avast! It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Conservatism 101

Thanks to Joel for this:

Right Stuff: conservatism made simple

By Jim Spencer, Denver Post Columnist

Lately, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Senate President John Andrews have been criticized for trying to force state colleges to hire more conservative professors.

Guys, I feel your pain.

This society is awash in such anti-conservative programs as Social Security, Medicare and government-mandated minority rights.

That's why I propose a new college course called The Right Stuff.

Today, I offer an outline of this course free of charge. Tomorrow, in keeping with free markets, it'll cost you $1,500. (read more)

Let's get our story straight...

• “We’ve had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th.”
  George "Dubya" Bush, September 17, 2003



• “It’s not surprising people make that connection.”
  Vice President "Uncle Dick" Cheney, Meet the Press 9/14/2003
  (referring to Iraq and the9/11 attacks)


• "We learned more and more that there was a relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the ’90s"
  Vice President "Uncle Dick" Cheney, Meet the Press 9/14/2003

Gee, where where would people get that idea? Maybe from the Bush administration, which has spent the last year telling us that Iraq was involved. And people are stupid enough to believe them.

A new day...

Yesterday I was obviously a little cranky; thus the post below is to lighten the mood. :-)

400 million-year-old Penis Found!

via Dave Barry's Blog:

World's Oldest Genitals Found in Scotland
Wed September 17, 2003 02:02 PM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered fossils of the world's oldest genitals -- belonging to 400 million-year-old insects -- in ancient rocks in Scotland.

The penis of the ancient harvestmen insects, commonly known as a daddy-long-legs, was two-thirds the length of the body and remarkably similar to the modern-day species, New Scientist magazine said Wednesday.

"The discovery of the world's oldest genitals proves that little has changed over the last 400 million years -- at least for daddy-long-legs," the magazine said.

Jason Dunlop and a team of researchers from Humbolt University in Berlin, Germany, who will present their findings at a conference in Aberdeen, also uncovered a long egg-laying organ called an ovipositor from a female.

"As well as genitals, the fossils have the oldest known arachnid respiratory system, suggesting harvestmen's ancestors had long since crawled out of the sea and learned to breathe," the magazine said.

Harvestmen arachnids are sometimes mistaken for spiders but they are more closely related to ticks or mites because they do not spin webs.

The previous oldest penis, which dated back 100 million years and was found in Brazil, belonged an ostracod, an early crustacean related to crabs, shrimps and water fleas.

The United States: A Deist Nation?

I know that I have written about this before but it continues to bother me. Every time that some right-wing christian wants to justify prayer in school or public display of the Ten Commandments they argue that the Founding Fathers were christians and that this is a christian country. They point to a mention of of "God" and "Creator" in The Declaration of Independence to support their assertion.

In fact, "God" is preceded by "Nature's" as in the "watchmaker" god of the deists. That is, a god who set down the laws of nature and set things in motion but then was hands-off. This is the god that Jefferson believed in not the God of the Baptists or Catholics or Anglicans.

In his letter of April 1803 to Doctor Benjamin Rush Jefferson states

I am a Christian, in the only sense [Jesus] wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other.

Jefferson also says that he is opposed to "the corruptions of Christianity" and in his attached Syllabus and later in a letter to William Short he disputes the divinity of Jesus.

While Jefferson believed in the teachings of Jesus he was not an admirer of christianity. He called Paul the "first corruptor of the doctrines of Jesus" and believed that Jesus was "a great Reformer of the Hebrew code of religion" and places him in a line of philosophers such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Epicurus, Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca, Antoninus.

Jerry Falwell would have you believe that Jefferson, Washington, Franklin and others were christians but it is just not true. Jefferson's version of christianity would be closer to what Jesus taught than the version of "christianity" that Falwell teaches. Jesus taught forgiveness, philanthropy, peace, and kindness not hate and "with us or with the terrorists."

So the next time someone from the "christian" right tells you that the United States is a christian country founded by christians please point them to Jefferson's letters to Rush and Short. They can read Jefferson's own words and see that he says christianity "resulted from artificial systems, invented by ultra-Christian sects, unauthorized by a single word ever uttered by [Jesus]." Those artificial systems include Jesus' miraculous powers, his deification, the Trinity, original sin, etc.

The Word...

For my right-wing evengelical christian friends, here it is in a form that you can understand:

The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus

$87,000,000,000.00

That is one million dollars times 87,000.

From The Boston Globe:

A better use for our $87b

By Jeffrey D. Sachs, 9/13/2003

THE WORLD IS out of kilter when President Bush asks for $87 billion for Iraq and only $200 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The administration displays profound confusion regarding national security as well as moral purpose. It is ready to pump tens of billions of dollars into a middle-income oil-rich country of 24 million people, while utterly neglecting 500 million impoverished Africans, 10 million of whom will actually die this year of extreme poverty, too poor to buys the drugs, bed nets, fertilizers, tube wells, and other basic contrivances that could keep them alive. (read more)

Ashcroft is a "nutjob"

This man is the chief law enforcement officer in the United States...

...and a parttime gospel singer/songwriter.

Tax Cut for the Wealthy

From "Meet the Press" Sunday, September, 14, 2003:

MR. RUSSERT: If you froze the tax cut for the top 1 percent of Americans, it would generate enough money to pay for the $87 billion for the war, if you did it for just one year. Would you consider that?


VICE PRES. CHENEY: I think it'd be a mistake, because you can't look at that without considering what its impact would be on the economy. An awful lot of the returns in that top bracket are small businesses, and they provide an awful lot of the job growth in this economy. If you're going to go increase taxes on small businesses, you're going to slow down the extent to which we're able to reduce unemployment. So I think it's a serious mistake; the wrong time to raise taxes.

If they keep saying it they think that people will believe them. How many small business owners are in the top one percent? Not many. How many hairdressers do you know that are multi-millionaires? Carpenters? Plumbers? Daycare owners? The vast majority of American small businesses are these types of jobs, and they won't benefit from the Bush tax cuts.

Man in Black

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

-- Johnny Cash, "Man in Black"

Some thoughts and reflections...

Peace with all the world is my sincere wish. I am sure it is our true policy, and am persuaded it is the ardent desire of the government.
-- George Washington

I spent much of yesterday at home, alone. When I got up I watched a few minutes of the news and then turned off the radio and television. I tried to get some work done, but then I remembered what I was doing two years ago.

It was a beautiful September morning, a bright blue sky, I got a cup of coffee and I sat down at my computer. The first thing I saw was an AP headline about the World Trade Center being on fire, so I turned on the television. There it was, the now familiar picture of the twin towers with smoke billowing from them.

I spent that day in this room watching and feeling helpless. Like a lot of people, I wanted to do something but what could we do? When I was a kid and the river started to rise we would put on our boots and walk to help the men fill sandbags to protect our neighborhood. But, this was hundreds of miles away and yet right there in my living room. And looking back now I think that may have been the beginning of my current bout of depression.

The horror of seeing first people jumping to their deaths and then both buildings collapse sticks with me. Even more frightening than seeing the collapse were the shots of people on the street watching. The looks on their faces as the first tower started to fall and their screams were just terrible. As were the scenes of people running up the street being pursued by a giant cloud of dust and debris.

In the days that followed there were services on campus and at local churches. I wanted to go but I could not get myself to leave my home. I am not a religious person, and coming from a Congregationalist background, I have always viewed the church more as a community center than a worship center. Sure there was a service every Sunday morning but the things that I remember about my little country church are the picnics and the bloodmobiles and packing boxes of food for the elderly, community-centered more than faith-centered events.

Those of us whose political leanings skew to the left are ridiculed by our flag-waving rightist counterparts. We are accused of treason, of blaming America for everything and being unpatriotic; but in fact we love this country as much as anyone. I feel the same way about patriotism as I do about religion: that actions speak louder than words. You don't need to make a big show of your patriotism (or religion), just participate and do your civic duties and protect the rights of everyone. Putting a U.S. flag sticker on the back of your SUV shows that you are just as much of a hypocrite as someone who prays in public.

A few years ago I spent some time in France. I remember seeing machine gun armed patrols in the train stations and airports. At the time I thought how scary it must be to live in a society where you have to worry about such things. On that same stay I picked up the Herald Tribune and saw that a former professional wrestler had been elected Governor of Minnesota.

So here we are two years after our country was attacked. We are back to mindless "reality" shows and rappers are rapping about about their platinum jewelry and the size of the rims on their Lincoln Navigators. Meanwhile, our leaders are fighting a war that they planned years ago in order to secure a source of oil. We say that the rule of law should prevail throughout the world and human rights should be respected, yet our government refuses to join in the International Criminal Court, we are holding hundreds of prisoners at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, and we are holding American citizens in a military brig without charges, without due process, and without access to legal counsel.

Instead of waving a flag and yelling "let's roll" or dumping French wine and smashing Dixie Chicks CDs, people should take a closer look at what we are doing around the world and here at home. This land was colonized by people who fled from state imposed religion yet we are constantly told that this is a christian country. The founding fathers crafted a Constitution that allowed for rule by the majority but protected the rights of the minority. They recognized that human beings have basic rights that are not given to us by a government but rather they are inherent. Now we have an adminstration in power that loves secrecy. They think that they know best and anyone that questions them is a traitor.

I think that the September 11th attacks made me more aware of the advantages and disadvantages of living in a free society. Also that if we value our freedom we cannot let anyone one take it away, not terrorists and not our federal government. Now that I have rambled and gone off in too many directions I'll quit. So let me know what you think, tell me why I am stupid and naïve.

Quote for Today:

"Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence."
-- Gandhi

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Two years later...

From Slate.com

What You Think You Know About Sept. 11 ...
...but don't.
By David Plotz

A Busy Day at the Feeder

It has been an extremely busy day at the bird feeder. Normally the finches frequent it, an occasional sparrow stops by, and the cardinals pick up what the others drop. Here is what I have seen at my window so far today:

• Tufted Titmouse - * listen *


• Black-capped Chickadee - * listen *


• White-breasted Nuthatch - * listen *


• House Finch - * listen *


• House Wren - * listen *


• Northern Cardinal - * listen *

In addition there are the other birds that don't come to the feeder:

• Robins
• Bluejays
• Common Grackles
• Mourning Doves

If you could play all of those songs at once you would have an idea of what it sounds like around here during the day. At night it is just as noisy. To get an idea of what it sounds like here at night you should turn up the sound as high as you can and click here. I prefer the bird songs to the cicadas, the birds are better looking also.

War on Terror

How are we doing?

• Osama bin Laden - alive and free
  
• Saddam Hussein - alive and free
  
• Al Qaeda - thriving
• Mulluh Omar - alive and free
• Taliban - re-emerging
• WMD - nope
• Jose Padilla - American citizen, still being held as "enemy combatant," incommunicado and without charge
• 287 US troops killed in Iraq
• 1,450 US troops wounded in Iraq

TERROR! Be Afraid!

While Dubya and Rummie fight their war in Iraq, Ashcroft continues to press for expansion of the UPA to make it easier for him to spy on Americans here on the homefront.

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands ... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."


-- James Madison, Federalist No. 47

Read this:

Fierce Fight Over Secrecy, Scope of Law

Amid Rights Debate, Law Cloaks Data on Its Impact

By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 8, 2003; Page A01

In Seattle, the public library printed 3,000 bookmarks to alert patrons that the FBI could, in the name of national security, seek permission from a secret federal court to inspect their reading and computer records -- and prohibit librarians from revealing that a search had taken place.

In suburban Boston, a state legislator was stunned to discover last spring that her bank had blocked a $300 wire transfer because she is married to a naturalized U.S. citizen named Nasir Khan.

And in Hillsboro, Ore., Police Chief Ron Louie has ordered his officers to refuse to assist any federal terrorism investigations that his department believes violate state law or constitutional rights.

(read more)

Protect overtime pay:

Tell your senators to block the Bush overtime take away.

Block the Bush Overtime Pay Cuts

Michigan J. Frog

I saw one of my favorite animated shorts was on this morning. It is called "One Froggy Evening" and stars Michigan J Frog as a singing and dancing frog.

An out-of-luck man rescues the frog from a building that is being demolished and he thinks that the frog will make him rich. The man decides to put on a show but he discovers that the frog only performs when nobody else is around.

Quote for Today:

You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.


- George W. "The Education President" Bush,
Newsweek, March 5, 2001

Poem of the Day:

I Took a Piece of Plastic Clay
by: Author Unknown

I took a piece of plastic clay
And idly fashioned it one day-
And as my fingers pressed it, still
It moved and yielded to my will.


I came again when days were past
The bit of clay was hard at last.
The form I gave it, still it bore,
And I could change that form no more!


I took a piece of living clay,
And gently fashioned it day by day,
And molded with my power and art
A young child's soft and yielding heart.


I came again when years were gone:
It was a man I looked upon.
He still that early impress bore,
And I could fashion it never more.


Spoken on the Senate floor today by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) while arguing for his amendment to a funding bill for the "no child left behind" program.