Friday, June 03, 2011
R.I.P. James Arness
James Arness, Marshal on ‘Gunsmoke,’ Dies at 88
CBS
James Arness portrayed Marshal Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke" for 20 years after the series debuted in 1955.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Only in America...
Only in America...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance. are there handicap parking places
in front of a skating rink.do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the
back of the store to get their prescriptions while
healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front. do people order double cheeseburgers,
large fries, and a diet coke.do banks leave both doors open and
then chain the pens to the counters.do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the
driveway and put our useless junk in the garage. do we use answering machines to screen calls and
then have call waiting so we won't miss a call
from someone we didn't want to talk to in the
first place.do we buy hot dogs in packages of
ten and buns in packages of eight. do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so
well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning
'bloodsucking creatures'.do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
in front of a skating rink.do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the
back of the store to get their prescriptions while
healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front. do people order double cheeseburgers,
large fries, and a diet coke.do banks leave both doors open and
then chain the pens to the counters.do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the
driveway and put our useless junk in the garage. do we use answering machines to screen calls and
then have call waiting so we won't miss a call
from someone we didn't want to talk to in the
first place.do we buy hot dogs in packages of
ten and buns in packages of eight. do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so
well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning
'bloodsucking creatures'.do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.
Friday, May 27, 2011
R.I.P. Gil Scott-Heron
[R]apper Chuck D. discusses the role Scott-Heron played in the birth of rap: "You can go into the beat poets and [Allen] Ginsberg and [Bob] Dylan, but Gil Scott-Heron is the manifestation of the modern world. He and the Last Poets set the stage for everyone else. In what way necessary? Well, if you try and make pancakes and you ain't got the water, the milk or the eggs, you're trying to do something you can't. In combining music with the word, from the voice on down, you follow the template he laid out. His rapping is rhythmic. Some of it's songs. It's punchy, and all those qualities are still used today."
Tea Party Freshmen Hog Defense Pork
After Promising To End Earmarks, Tea Party Freshmen Hog Defense Pork
While talking the big plan to be fiscally responsible the Republican freshmen havepacked a huge $553 billion spending bill with millions of pet defense projects for their home districts.[...]
Convert Schools Into Prisons To Get More Funding
Outraged By Cuts, Superintendent Asks Gov. Snyder To Convert Schools Into Prisons To Get More Funding
Outraged by these cuts, Nathan Bootz, the superintendent of Ithaca Public Schools, wrote a letter to the editor in a local paper proposing an idea that could come out of a Jonathan Swift novel: if Snyder intends on draining funding from public schools, maybe Bootz should convert the schools in his district into prisons to get funding.
Noting that Michigan spends “between $30,000 and $40,000″ on each prisoner but can barely provide $7,000 per public school student, Bootz says that maybe we need to start treating “our students like they are prisoners, with equal funding“:
Note BOLD emphasis is mine.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
National Tequila Party Movement
"We can blame Obama and Republicans and Democrats all we want, but the only way that the Latino community is going to get respect is if we become consistent primary-election voters, as well as general-election voters."
- Belinda "DeeDee" Blase, a spokeswoman for the National Tequila Party Movement, a group aiming to raise Latino voter participation. (Source: Christian Science Monitor)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Why the Rich Love...
Out-of-work Americans deserve more than unemployment checks - they deserve dividends. The rich would never have recovered without them.
[ LINK: Why The Rich Love... ]
Memorial Day
Memorial day is almost upon us. Spare a thought for all those who serve and have served.
"A veteran is a person who at one point in his or her life wrote a check to the Govt for, up to and including, one life. They did it willingly knowing that what we have needs to be protected. For all those who "stood their watch on the wall'. "Well done! You stand relieved" For all those who still stand on the wall, "CHARLIE MIKE". For all those who had their "checks cashed". We will remember
William J. Evanow, MSGT USAF (Ret)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Willie Nelson... about politics.
"I still say that the people have the power to change things and they will if they vote," Nelson replied. "The Teapot Party started as a joke but it could still be a way for people to speak out about important things. I am not a criminal. The millions of pot smokers in this country are not criminals. We don't like being treated as such and I for one will stand up for what I believe in and will vote for anyone I choose. You should do the same. We are not ever going to agree on everything and everybody. The best advice I ever got was from my ex father-in-law. He said take my advice and do what you want to. End of story."
South
South
by Jack Gilbert In the small towns along the river
nothing happens day after long day.
Summer weeks stalled forever,
and long marriages always the same.
Lives with only emergencies, births,
and fishing for excitement. Then a ship
comes out of the mist. Or comes around
the bend carefully one morning
in the rain, past the pines and shrubs.
Arrives on a hot fragrant night,
grandly, all lit up. Gone two days
later, leaving fury in its wake.
For Susan Crosby Lawrence Anderson
by Jack Gilbert In the small towns along the river
nothing happens day after long day.
Summer weeks stalled forever,
and long marriages always the same.
Lives with only emergencies, births,
and fishing for excitement. Then a ship
comes out of the mist. Or comes around
the bend carefully one morning
in the rain, past the pines and shrubs.
Arrives on a hot fragrant night,
grandly, all lit up. Gone two days
later, leaving fury in its wake.
For Susan Crosby Lawrence Anderson
Monday, May 23, 2011
He thinks Palin is...
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2011
Quote of the Day
"He thinks Palin is an idiot. He thinks she’s stupid. He helped boost her up. People like Sarah Palin haven’t elevated the conservative movement."
[ LINK: Deus Ex Malcontent ]
Friday, May 20, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Why the rich don't want poor people to eat well.
And I don’t mean the pretty horses people ride, but the hippocampus (orsea horse) circuits in your brain, which are crucial to memory. New research in PLoS One, Association between Income and the Hippocampus, demonstrates a link between lower socioeconomic status and lower hippocampal grey matter density.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Leadership
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Culture is...
Culture is a kind of language. And as with any language, once we become fluent in our culture, we stop thinking about it.
Doug Pagitt
Monday, May 09, 2011
There were elites before Obama
These days Americans get constant lectures about the need to reduce the budget deficit. That focus in itself represents distorted priorities, since our immediate concern should be job creation. But suppose we restrict ourselves to talking about the deficit, and ask: What happened to the budget surplus the federal government had in 2000?
The answer is, three main things. First, there were the Bush tax cuts, which added roughly $2 trillion to the national debt over the last decade. Second, there were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which added an additional $1.1 trillion or so. And third was the Great Recession, which led both to a collapse in revenue and to a sharp rise in spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs.
So who was responsible for these budget busters? It wasn’t the man in the street.
President George W. Bush cut taxes in the service of his party’s ideology, not in response to a groundswell of popular demand — and the bulk of the cuts went to a small, affluent minority.
Similarly, Mr. Bush chose to invade Iraq because that was something he and his advisers wanted to do, not because Americans were clamoring for war against a regime that had nothing to do with 9/11. In fact, it took a highly deceptive sales campaign to get Americans to support the invasion, and even so, voters were never as solidly behind the war as America’s political and pundit elite.
Finally, the Great Recession was brought on by a runaway financial sector, empowered by reckless deregulation. And who was responsible for that deregulation? Powerful people in Washington with close ties to the financial industry, that’s who. Let me give a particular shout-out to Alan Greenspan, who played a crucial role both in financial deregulation and in the passage of the Bush tax cuts — and who is now, of course, among those hectoring us about the deficit.
The Unwisdom of Elites
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 8, 2011
Anyway
Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered :
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives:
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies:
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous:
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow:
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough:
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God:
It was never between you and them anyway.
Mother Teresa
Saturday, May 07, 2011
America’s “quiet professionals”
The President:
They’re America’s “quiet professionals” -- because success demands secrecy. But I will say this. Like all of you, they could have chosen a life of ease. But like you, they volunteered. They chose to serve in a time of war, knowing they could be sent into harm’s way. They trained for years. They’re battle-hardened. They practiced tirelessly for this mission. And when I gave the order, they were ready.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
National Day of Reason
National Day of Reason.
The National Day of Reason, observed by millions of people in this country and around the world since 2003, celebrates the application of reason and the positive impacts it has had on humanity. Reason and rational discourse have the power to improve living conditions around the world and cultivate intelligent, moral, and ethical interactions among people.
Reason and rational thinking have made our country great. The Constitution of the United States of America is based upon the philosophies developed during the historical Age of Reason and the idea that citizens engaging in rational discourse and decision-making can govern themselves. The Constitution also contains a strong separation of church and state, making it clear that government should continue to be built on reason.
Our nation faces many problems--ending two wars, creating jobs, educating our children, tackling our budget, and protecting our safety net. Although the gravity of these issues may drive many to prayer, the way we will solve them is through the application of reason.
The National Day of Reason is also about taking time to improve our communities--whether that means holding a blood drive or collecting items for the local food bank. It is also about ensuring that our government represents citizens of all beliefs and backgrounds. I encourage everyone to join in observing this day and focusing upon the employment of reason, critical thinking, the scientific method, and free inquiry to the resolution of human problems and for the welfare of human kind. It is the duty and responsibility of every American to promote the development and application of reason.
http://www.stark.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2211&Itemid=84
File under: "Awe, gee, isn't that toooooo bad."
George W. Bush Reportedly Feels Ignored In Obama 'Victory Lap' Following Osama Bin Laden's Death
[LINK: Huffington Post ]
A Giant Malaysian Shield Praying Mantis
A Giant Malaysian Shield Praying Mantis is pictured in Igor Siwanowicz’s studio in Munich, Germany. Biochemist and photographer Igor Siwanowicz has spent the last seven years carefully acquiring, breeding and capturing bizarre and visually stunning images of creepy crawlies.
[LINK: All Creatures [great and small] ]
God in the here
Experiencing God in the here and now
Why are we so enamored with a side of God (His transcendence), an attribute we can't really wrap our minds around anyway, when there is so much of God we can experience right here, right now, with faculties God has gifted us with to know Him, to enjoy Him?
We want to know him in some abstract, spiritual way, when He is cooling us with a breeze and warming us with a sun ray. We look for God in miracles, in some out of this world (supernatural) phenomenon and we miss Him in so many, many ways every single day, every single moment. The question is not where is God, but where are we?
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Independently confirm if L.Graham (R, S.C.) has a brain...
Having already called on the White House to release photos of Osama bin Laden’s body, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) now says that independent experts should have been brought into verify bin Laden's identity before the body was buried at sea.
"I think it would have been smart to have an independent group, forensic scientists, maybe from Scotland Yard or some other organization," said Graham. The South Carolina Republican softened his earlier criticism of the White House being overly sensitive to Islamic traditions in expediting bin Laden's burial—but said Obama shouldn't have rushed the proceedings. "Religious sensitivity is smart... but [we could have held] onto body for period of time to allow for indispensable analysis to help us make the case," he told reporters.
Oh my goodness
"Oh my goodness, that's a great question. Um, gosh, that's a great question, I have to think about it, OK? Because there are many."-- Sarah Palin, when asked at the White House Correspondent's Dinner who she thought was the most influential journalist today The question, by the way, was asked of several of the attendees and each of them -- even Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live -- had no trouble coming up with journalists both well known and obscure.
The Libraries Didn't Burn
The Libraries Didn't Burn
by Elaine Equi despite books kindled in electronic flames.The locket of bookish love
still opens and shuts.But its words have migrated
to a luminous elsewhere.Neither completely oral nor written —
a somewhere in between.Then will oak, willow,
birch, and olive poets return
to their digital tribes —trees wander back to the forest?
by Elaine Equi despite books kindled in electronic flames.The locket of bookish love
still opens and shuts.But its words have migrated
to a luminous elsewhere.Neither completely oral nor written —
a somewhere in between.Then will oak, willow,
birch, and olive poets return
to their digital tribes —trees wander back to the forest?
[LINK: Poets.org...The Libraries Didn't Burn ]
Monday, May 02, 2011
Untitled
Arizona Governor Vetoes HB 2230 During | |
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Our collective Ken and Barbie dolls
"This, apparently, is what it takes to get the media's undivided attention: the marriage between two people who are politically powerless, and who spend their waking lives as designated fetish objects for the United Kingdom's interested citizenry, for Anglophiles the world over, and for the celebrity-fixated media. Our collective Ken and Barbie dolls." -- Matt Zoller Seitz in a brilliantly dead-on piece currently posted at Salon
Sunday, May 01, 2011
The simple history that neo-cons and tea partiers so easily forget.
We must remember that Marie let slip, "Let them eat cake" and their response was "off with their heads"
How wonderfully ironic that in this age of middle class suppression, undermining union and labor rights, imposing draconian laws governing the rights and health of women and general cutting our the tightly strained safety net the wanna be power brokers have forgotten one simple historical fact.
When the populace becomes oppressed enough, when they become hungry enough or even insulted enough that there will be out breaks of civil disobedience.
I suggest that the first job of government is to keep the majority of people mollified. Make food, really healthy food, easy to get. Make housing affordable. Allow families to comfortably meet the needs of their children. Above all we want a sense of dignity, national dignity.
Just a reminder, the revolution will not be televised, the revolution will be tweeted, blogged and you-tubed in real time, right now.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Laughter is the best medicine?
HOSPITAL CHART BLOOPERS (Actual writings from hospital charts) The patient refused autopsy.Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year. On the second day the knee was better and on the third day it disappeared.The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.Discharge status: Alive but without permission.Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch. She is numb from her toes down.While in ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.The skin was moist and dry.Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.Patient was alert and unresponsive. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.Skin: somewhat pale but present.The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Thought Police
The Thought Police are here. They've come
To put you under cardiac arrest.
And as they drag you through the door
They tell you that you've failed the test.
-- Buggles, "Living in the Plastic Age"
The Thought Polic
The Thought Police are here. They've come
To put you under cardiac arrest.
And as they drag you through the door
They tell you that you've failed the test.
-- Buggles, "Living in the Plastic Age"
Why the Facts Don't Matter in Politics
Why the Facts Don't Matter in Politics
Why the Facts Don't Matter in Politics:
If a piece of information doesn’t follow Republican talking points - and Clinton’s deficit reduction didn’t fit the “tax and spend liberal” stereotype - then the information is conveniently ignored. “Voters think that they’re thinking,” Bartels says, “but what they’re really doing is inventing facts or ignoring facts so that they can rationalize decisions they’ve already made.” Once we identify with a political party, the world is edited so that it fits with our ideology.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
...neutering American men...
"We need you to come in and lock shields, and strengthen up the men who are going to the fight for you. To let these other women know on the other side -- these planned Parenthood women, the Code Pink women, and all of these women that have been neutering American men and bringing us to the point of this incredible weakness -- to let them know that we are not going to have our men become subservient. That’s what we need you to do." -- Republican Rep. Allen West of Florida, addressing the members of Women Impacting Nation [ LINK: Hat-tip to Deus Ex Malcontent ]
R.I.P. Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Snow, Bluesy Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 60
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 26, 2011
Ms. Snow, who was nominated for best new artist at the 1975 Grammy Awards, died in Edison, N.J., from complications of a brain hemorrhage she had in January 2010, said Rick Miramontez, her longtime friend and public relations representative.
Ms. Snow’s manager, Sue Cameron, said the singer endured bouts of blood clots, pneumonia and congestive heart failure since her stroke.
Known as a folk guitarist who made forays into jazz and blues, Ms. Snow put her stamp on soul classics like “Shakey Ground,” “Love Makes a Woman” and “Mercy, Mercy Mercy” on over a half dozen albums.
Not long after Ms. Snow’s “Poetry Man” reached the Top 5 on the pop singles chart in 1975, her daughter, Valerie Rose, was born with severe brain damage, and Ms. Snow decided to care for her at home rather than place her in an institution.
Monday, April 25, 2011
The "Donald" or How I came to love the Republican Party
Donald Trump is the best thing to happen to the Republican Party since Sarah Palin.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
"Schneier's Law"
[T]he Dunning-Kruger effect, named after the authors of this paper: "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments."
Abstract: People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities.
Good read: The Things To Do by Flemming Funch
The things to do are: the things that need doing: that you see need to be done, and that no one else seems to see need to be done. Then you will conceive your own way of doing that which needs to be done -- that no one else has told you to do or how to do it. This will bring out the real you that often gets buried inside a character that has acquired a superficial array of behaviors induced or imposed by others on the individual. --Buckminster Fuller
[ LINK: The Things To Do by Flemming Funch ]
He's the tax man, er, uh ... collector.
PAKISTAN'S TRANSGENDER TRIBE OF TAX COLLECTORS
From CNN:
In a move that speaks volumes about the lengths to which Pakistan is going to tackle tax evasion, Karachi officials are using Riffee - who like many people in South Asia works under a single name - and her team as enforcers with a difference. They are sent to the businesses or houses of debtors. The aim -- in this very conservative Muslim society -- to embarrass tax debtors into paying up.
Riffee -- like her tax-collector friends Sana and Kohan -- is physically a man, but prefers to be called and dress as a woman. Their job is quite simple: each morning they turn up to work and get a list of missed payments. One by one, they make house-calls, causing trouble at each debtor's home or office, trying to get them to pay up. It's not clear how effective this tactic is, but officials insist they would not do it if it did not work.
"Their appearance causes great embarrassment amongst the people," said Sajid Hussein Bhatti, the tax superintendent who gives Riffee her orders every morning.
More here.
A fitting tribute: A retrospective of Captain Beefheart by Greil Marcus
“GOD, PLEASE FUCK MY MIND FOR GOOD!” Captain Beefheart shouted at the end of Doc at the Radar Station, his second-to-last album. It was 1980, and it was a dare to whatever version of God might be present to receive it: his audience, maybe; music itself. Or it was a dare to time—the fifteen years since he’d made his first record, or the thirty years to come. Can you shut me up? Can you scramble my rhythm and my words until they’re a labyrinth I’ll never escape? I’ll do it first! [Much more... ]
[LINK: A retrospective of Captain Beefheart by Greil Marcus ]
Saturday, April 23, 2011
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