Pepper Farm

Surama Village

2011-08-30T13:38:00.005-04:00

Surama Village

2011-08-29T22:06:00.002-04:00

Foxhaven Farm - Snowstorm 2010

2010-03-25T13:21:00.006-04:00

The top photo was taken around February 14th or so. This photo represents part of my daily commute to school after the second snowstorm. Take a look at that little wooden sign in the upper right. This portion of the dirt road is just past the Heyward "mansion".

Same sign as mentioned above, photo taken around February 7th or so.

The day after the last blast of snow, February 5th I believe.

Once the semester is over there will be two years worth of stuff to post; photos, commentary and theories about the world in which we live. ,

Fantasy Art

2009-05-25T22:27:00.012-04:00

"Magnetic Storm" Roger Dean and Martyn Dean. Crappy photo due to the flash, but it is interesting the effect the flash has on the artwork itself. One could muse that the existence or absence of the flash 'creates' art as in a different perspective of the same subject.

Same shot without the flash. Click on both pics to see the differences.
"The Studi"
I took all of these photos in my 'cave' at night, so the lighting was terrible and the flash kept insisting on being a part of the process. With the flash turned off the result is a less than defined image. I had to run all of these through image software to make them as presentable as they are now. I had a long day and this was last thing to do on the list.

This book is where most of the art that follows came from.
"The Flights of Icarus"

Reminds me of a girl I used to date...

I wanted to live next to this guy. How cool would that be?

This one always made me think of certain Black Sabbath tune.

This one reminds me of star wars.

This is just a bunch of crabs. ,

Party Time

2009-05-11T23:20:00.016-04:00

In the beginning, there were 250 lbs. of crawfish.

The kids were very interested in 'helping' me 'clean' them for the boil.

Cleaned and ready.

Glad I'm not a crawfish.

We managed to get a decent sized batch. Most of the bags were about 18 - 20 per pound with maybe 20 dead per bag. Not too bad really.

Yummy and gone.

How many can you eat? We got plenty.

Another pile ready to boil.

Oh man. Gimme some rice, couple jalapenos, piece of cornbread...

We're lucky people.

Throw in some corn after you get the crawfish out. The water is tasty and ready to flavor the corn.

This went on for some time.

If you've never been to a crawfish boil, I highly recommend it. ,

A New Day in America

2009-01-20T08:19:00.005-05:00

Iraq - Six Years Later

2009-01-09T13:52:00.003-05:00

Georgetown, Guyana

2008-10-10T15:47:00.005-04:00

These are a few photos I took the first week in Guyana. Georgetown is a very colorful and vibrant city. I really enjoyed our time there before we headed off to the interior. ,

Surama Village, Guyana

2008-10-09T11:52:00.005-04:00

Since the last post: lost my ass selling my house which was supposed to fund my education, went to South America for an anthropology course which has turned out to be my last class for a year due to losing my ass, working a job full time now to get the money to finish my time at UVA, and gained 12 pounds.

The top photo is a view of the rainforest from Surama Village and the bottom photo is the benab where I and two other researchers 'lived' for five and a half weeks. That hammock is where I slept for all but two or three nights. There's another benab just to the left of this one where the other four researchers lived.

Lots to write about and lots of pictures to show regarding this trip to Surama. I'll try to "update my shiz" on a more consistent basis. ,

J'ai fini mes examens.

2008-05-11T11:55:00.007-04:00

Thai peppers. ,,,,,

Let's move to peace. ,

Chimney in the Woods

2008-02-17T19:01:00.003-05:00

(Click for a better view)

Someone lived in these woods in a house that was once attached to this chimney. This chimney is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, in the hills of Charlottesville. Mabye it was built in the late 1800's or early 1900's. Mabye it is much older than that. I couldn't find anything else in this area - no middens, no other structure, no nothing. I wonder who lived here and what they did with themselves all day.

Maybe I'll rebuild and move in. ,

Foxhaven Farm

2008-02-13T21:01:00.006-05:00

Pictures range from August '07 to January '08.

This is the place I've managed to rent while attending The University.

It's a great place to study, hike, fish, relax and contemplate how much debt I accrue while pursuing a higher degree.

The Serpent

2008-02-10T12:54:00.001-05:00

This serpent is about 8" long. Give it a click for a better pic.

Snow

2008-02-08T00:14:00.000-05:00

Hellooooo McFly?

2008-02-01T23:32:00.000-05:00

It's about time someone actually came to this conclusion.

I'm super effing busy with my studies here at UVa. Anyone that has attended this university with a serious goal of truly educating one's self knows how much is expected of you at the undergrad level. That's one of my excuses for not posting more often.

Another excuse is my personal distaste for the ho-hum that is the blogger world - that's another topic for another day.

At any rate, it has been my personal conviction that Obama and Clinton, or Edwards and Clinton, or Obama and Edwards, should team up.

God forbid the best and brightest of the political spectrum actually team up in an attempt to change the direction of the only true democracy on this planet.

Why is this such a novel idea? ,

2007-12-05T22:24:00.000-05:00

The Alaska Report

We all know how stubbornly dillusional Bush is but his latest round of theatrics since the National Intelligence Estimate was released is kind of frightening to me. Not sure what everyone else is seeing but I observe a man that is hell bent on destroying every country in the Middle East. There is something purely evil and confident in his eyes and demeanor when he starts railing against (insert Middle East nation here) and their supposed threat to the United States.
I wonder if the guy suffers from night terrors. Typically they are more common in children, who may 'wake' up screaming and crying and are inconsolable as you try to comfort them.
I wonder if he'll become completely unglued by the time his term is over...barring impeachment in the meantime.
That's something else I wonder about; how much more does this fool get to fuck up completely before he gets shown the door?
If only he'd get a blowjob or something...
,

Wingnut to Visit UVa

2007-11-08T23:11:00.000-05:00

I grabbed this flyer off of a wall tonight in Cabell Hall as I left my French exam.

Horowitz's Frontpage Magazine was touting Frank Gaffney as the speaker for this ding dong event but I guess he was unavailable. It looks like wacky Ricky is going to present the lecture or whatever it's supposed to be.

As much as I would like to go and challenge this fool I have a lot to do between now and next Thursday so I'm not sure if I can make this event or not. I'm really quite curious to see how many ~~brainwashed~~ students show up and who the faculty or admins might be.

It depends on how much I get accomplished over the weekend. ,

Oh the irony...

2007-11-06T00:55:00.004-05:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2007-10-30T20:45:00.000-04:00

Spicy Chili Smell Leads to Evacuation

2007-10-03T18:49:00.000-04:00

These thai peppers are in my freezer. They are my 'winter' stock. I find this article hilarious because every time I make thai food (which is almost every night) my roommates cough and gag, complain and bitch, turn on the exhaust fans and run. What follows is the entire original news article from Yahoo. ,

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - Super spicy chili sauce being cooked at a London Thai restaurant sparked road closures and evacuations after passers-by complained that the smell was burning their throats, police said Wednesday.

London Fire Brigade's chemical response team was called after reports that a strong smell was wafting from the restaurant in the heart of London's Soho district Monday afternoon, a Metropolitan police spokesman said, speaking anonymously in line with force policy.

Authorities sealed off several premises and closed roads. The Times of London described shoppers coughing and spluttering as firefighters wearing special breathing masks sought the source of the smell.

The paper said firefighters smashed down the door of the Thai Cottage restaurant and seized extra-hot bird's eye chilies which had been left dry-frying. It said they were being prepared as part of a batch of Nam Prik Pao, a spicy Thai dip.

"The smoke didn't go up into the sky because of the rain and the heavy air," The Times quoted

Thai Cottage owner Sue Wasboonma as saying. "It's the hottest thing we make."

The police spokesman said no arrests were made in the case.
"As far as I'm aware it's not a criminal offense to cook very strong chili," he said.

Search this blog for 'Thai peppers', 'Vegetable garden' for pics of thai pepper plants and peppers.

Monday Routine

2007-09-26T16:27:00.000-04:00

It starts with this view, the beginning of my commute to school.

A few of the many scenes encountered during a typical day on the grounds of the University of Virginia.

It's humbling to be a part of this institution. ,

Despicable Dozen

2007-09-21T19:50:00.000-04:00

From Crooks and Liars

From the comment section Peter G. penned:

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re all together ooky,
The Fascist Family.

Let’s offer a Te Deum
In prayer that we won’t see’em
If not then I will Scream
The Fascist Family

(replete with concrete)

So get a protective tarp on
Some surface you can barf on
Some network they will be on
The Fascist Family

That's hilarious. ,

President Bush - Genius

2007-09-21T00:53:00.000-04:00

"Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," said Mr. Bush. "He was a brutal tyrant who divided people up and split families and people are recovering from this. So there is a psychological recovery that is taking place, and it is hard work for them."

Yeah, he really said that. ,

Coalition Deaths as of September 17, 2007

2007-09-17T23:41:00.000-04:00

Source: BBC

Plus untold numbers of these:

Iraq

2007-06-21T13:17:00.000-04:00

“Destroying human life in the hopes of saving human life is not ethical — and it is not the only option before us,” Bush said in remarks in the White House’s ornate East Room following the veto.

Gaza City

2007-06-15T08:31:00.000-04:00

"Today everybody is with Hamas because Hamas won the battle. If Fatah had won the battle they'd be with Fatah. We are a hungry people, we are with whoever gives us a bag of flour and a food coupon," said Yousef, 30. "Me, I'm with God and a bag of flour."

Compare this man and his environment with the socialite and her woes (previous post).

And the U.S. is in Iraq because...?

,

The Wisdom of a Young Socialite

2007-06-12T15:15:00.000-04:00

"Hilton told Walters she was severely depressed her first three days in jail and felt as if she was in a cage."

Oy ,

The University of Virginia

2007-05-02T08:47:00.000-04:00

El Jalapeno Rojo es ahora un Caballero.
Le Jalapeno Rouge est maintenant un Cavalier.

That is why my house is for sale. ,

More Relativity

2007-04-28T13:10:00.000-04:00

Ted Rall

Relativity

2007-04-23T09:22:00.000-04:00

A Moment of Zen

2007-04-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

This is so funny yet incredibly sad. ,

Easter Snow

2007-04-11T11:09:00.000-04:00

The "back 40".

It hasn't snowed here all year so I thought I would do my traditional barefoot in the snow thing. It feels pretty good until they start to thaw.

I made a few snowballs and put them in the freezer. I'm thinking a fruity rum drink sometime in July with those snowballs as the ice.

This is why you risk a redo if you put your garden in before the last week of April. Sometimes Mother Nature cooperates and sometimes she reminds us who's boss.

No garden this year anyway.

La maison de jalapeno rouge est à vendre.

La casa de jalapeno rojo es en venta.

Anybody wanna buy it? ,

Mitt Romney Makes it Official

2007-04-04T16:05:00.000-04:00

He has officially pronounced his wingnuttiness:

"Her going to a state which is without question a sponsor of terror, and having her picture taken with (Bashar) Assad and being seen in a headscarf and so forth is sending the wrong signal to the people of Syria and to the people of the Middle East," the former Massachusetts governor said while campaigning in Johnston, a Des Moines suburb.

"It's a very bad idea to be carrying out a separate and independent foreign policy from the president of the United States," Romney added. "I just don't know what got into her head, to be completely honest with you. I think it was a huge, huge mistake."

But what about this!

Hmmmmmmmm. ,

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...

2007-03-27T09:31:00.000-04:00

7225 miles on one bike.

This is a cross racer with roadie tires.

I have two racing mountain bikes, a road racer, and a track racer.

To me cycling is freedom. ,

End of February

2007-02-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

Spring is not too far away, at least in my neck of the woods. ,

Iranian Humor

2007-02-08T13:42:00.000-05:00

"Some people say that the U.S. president is not prone to calculating the consequences of his actions," Khamenei said in remarks broadcast on state television, "but it is possible to bring this kind of person to wisdom." - Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Clearly Khamenei has never met Bush or his loyal syncophants. ,

Anthropology

2007-01-12T09:38:00.001-05:00

Dr. C is having a wonderful discussion concerning Neanderthals and information. The discussion(s) are much wider than just these two aspects and I encourage any and all fools that stumble across this site to go check it out.

Go here and explore.

This discussion coincides with a course I am currently taking: Cultural Anthropology.
Dr. C describes himself as a curious laymen but it's wholly obvious to me he should describe himself as a "highly intelligent curious laymen".

,

Vermont, New York, UVM

2007-01-09T08:44:00.000-05:00

The Vermont side of Lake Champlain.

The New York side of Lake Champlain.

The University of Vermont

A dork, with Vermont in the background.

Yes, I'm the dork. ,

Lake Champlain

2007-01-08T13:32:00.000-05:00

Riding the ferry from the Vermont side over to the New York side. The Adirondack Mountains are in the background. ,

University of Vermont

2007-01-03T11:02:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year everybody.

(click for larger view)

This is part of the campus at the University of Vermont. It is an absolutely beautiful campus and environment. Burlington is a very laid back city and I totally dig the vibe there.
Lake Champlain is right there and New York is a ferry ride away. New Hampshire next door, Boston not far away, an hour plus to Montreal, and Nova Scotia is in reach.
However, it is only one of approximately 22 schools I'm currently looking at for completion of my bachleors degree.

I have a lot - an enormous amount - of stuff to do between now and say...asap, in order to get this ball rolling. Must fill out financial aide forms, must sell house, must quit job, must give away or sell 95% of my worldly possessions, must get accepted and pack my stuff up and get on my way. Oh, must cull down the selection of schools to a number I can manage to apply to before the deadline passes.

Blogging will take a decidely different turn in the coming weeks. Politics has really burned me out and taken the joy out of life in general. Half of the blog links on my tiny blogroll linky list have died or moved. Updates on all that when I get a chance - maybe this weekend. The 'new' vibe will be more educational and less ranty, or maybe more educational and more ranty depending on what pisses me off on a given day.

Meanwhile: a sectarian lynching of Saddam Hussien on the web for all to see. Merely a comma, a hyphen or a space in the story of the worst blunder by the United States government since Vietnam. (Hat tip to George Bush Jr. for this blight on humanity that will be with us for a looooooooong time).
Perhaps the Iraq War - wait: The invasion of Iraq by the United States and the subsequent humanitarian disaster will be the subject of my studies in the future. Criminology and Political Science are two things that I cannot seem to get enough of even though both topics often bring me to tears. Literally.

What this world needs now is a couple of superheros. Not the kind with capes or freaky powers like running fast or being invisible, but the kind with brains and hearts, hearts and brains.

We're doomed. ,

An Edge of Life

2006-12-09T17:12:00.000-05:00

A busy day on the beach. ,

Bolton Resigns

2006-12-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

And this is what Bush had to say:

"This stubborn obstructionism ill serves our country, and discourages men and women of talent from serving their nation."

Now that is rich coming from Mr. Uniter himself!
He added:

"He served his country with extraordinary dedication and skill, assembling coalitions that addressed some of the most consequential issues facing the international community," the president said. "During his tenure, he articulately advocated the positions and values of the United States and advanced the expansion of democracy and liberty."

Ummm NO.
Buh-bye Bolton!

End of the Season

2006-12-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

Switching to the new Blogger format

2006-11-15T12:10:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm going to attempt this switch over to the new Blogger format. It requires a Google account, which I do not have.

If this goes as smoothly as say my Comcast email (which as of two days ago will not let me recieve email, but will let me send email) or as smooth as say my last Windows Update (which totally crippled several applications in the Office Suite) or as smooth as the 6 mile drive to work (which takes about 25 minutes - I can do it in 18 minutes on my bicycle), then there is a good chance this will be my last post for an indefinite peroid.

Life was easy, when it was boring. ,

What Happened?

2006-11-08T17:04:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or does this guy look like he cannot believe what just happened, and that it's gaining on him.

Run motherfucker run. ,

Election Day

2006-11-07T15:59:00.000-05:00

I found this on a Yahoo message board yesterday.
Kinda funny, kinda sad, but true.

What Republicans believe

What You Need To Believe To Be A Republican:

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney then did business with him, and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find bin Laden" diversion.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing UN resolutions against Iraq.

A woman cannot be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy, but providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.

Global warming and tobacco's links to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense, but a president lying to enlist support for a un-winable war in which thousands of Americans die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

Support of "Executive Privilege" only for every Republican ever born who will be born or who might be born (in perpetuity.)

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what G.W. Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

Support the hunters who shoot their friends and blame the victims for wearing orange vests similar to those worn by the quail.

If you don't send it to at least 10 other people, we're likely to be stuck with more Republicans in '06 and '08.
Friends don't let friends vote Republican.

“I mean, think about it. Other than the war in Iraq, the Katrina disaster, the deficit, the CIA leak, torture, stopping stem cell research, homeland security, global warming and undercutting science, we've yet to really feel the negative effects of the Bush administration." -- Bill Moyers

Here in Virginia, it looks like Macacawitz is going down. ,

Ocracoke Birds

2006-10-31T10:05:00.000-05:00

Click for a larger, more peaceful picture.
If you look close, you can see the Ocracoke Lighthouse in the village. ,

Ocracoke Island

2006-10-29T18:57:00.000-05:00

Peace, if only for a little while. (click for a better view) ,

Bush's Fence

2006-10-12T12:38:00.000-04:00

"Bush approved the fence despite strong opposition from Mexico. Its government has warned the barrier would "damage" bilateral relations.

"We are actually building a fence. And we are building a double fence where there's a high vulnerability for people to sneak in. You can't fence a border, but you can make it easier for people with technology to enforce the border," Bush, a former governor of Texas, which shares a border with Mexico, told a news conference.

"My judgment is, if people want this country secure, we have to have a smart border. Between the process of developing now, it's a combination of fencing and technologies, UAV, sensors," Bush said.

He allowed that "it's a pretty vast part of the country down there. It's hard to enforce that border, ... so this fencing will make sense there."

Check that last statement. Once again in neo-con world up is down, violence = peace, etcetera etcetera...

Bush - El Idiota, El Estúpido ,

Bush's War

2006-10-11T12:34:00.000-04:00

"Bush said the leading issue for voters should not be the war, but the economy, where he pointed to signs of significant improvement in job creation, lower energy prices and tax cuts that he said are working."

"He predicted that his party would maintain control of both the House and Senate in next month's midterm elections. In the House, Democrats need a 15-seat pickup to gain control. In the Senate, they need six."

....along with restoring dignity to the White House. ,

Virginia Senator George Allen - Rascist

2006-09-08T13:37:00.000-04:00

One of the assignments of my Political Science class is to provide 15 news summary and opinion reports concerning current political events.
This is the first one. Not all that great really - I've been under the weather and under the gun but hopefully after I get past this illness and get caught up the quality will improve.
(along with Political Science this semester includes French 101 and Akido)

Enjoy ,

Current Event/News Summary # 1

Off-hand remark by senator causes flap
CNN.com
August 15, 2006

Summary:
CNN reports on Virginia Senator George Allen calling a volunteer working for the opposition party “macaca” during a campaign rally in western Virginia.
S.R. Sidarth, who works for the Jim Webb campaign, followed Allen’s “listening tour” filming Allen’s appearances and took notes. During the rally Senator Allen pointed and referred to Sidarth as “…Macaca or whatever his name is -- he’s with my opponent, he’s following us around everywhere…” and “ Let’s give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.”
The spokesman for the Allen campaign, Dick Wadhams, said the name was a variation of "Mohawk," the nickname he said Allen campaign staffers gave Sidarth because he had a Mohawk haircut.
"It's grasping -- it's reaching," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said of Wadhams' explanation. "This was a term meant to demean Sidarth and his presence there at the event."
The article provides evidence that suggests the Allen campaign’s explanation was less than truthful.

Senator denies remark was racist
CNN.com
August 16, 2006

Summary:
CNN continued following the story the next day. Allen had released a statement claiming the remark he used to describe Webb campaign worker S.R. Sidarth was not racially charged and that the media misunderstood his comments.
The article goes on to explain the term Macaca as a genus of monkeys, including the rhesus monkey. The senator's campaign said that Allen did not know that "Macaca" refers to monkeys.
The explanation for Allen’s comments from his campaign: "In singling out the Webb campaign's cameraman, I was trying to make the point that Jim Webb had never been to that part of Virginia -- and I encouraged him to bring the tape back to Jim and welcome him to the real world of Virginia and America, outside the Beltway, where he has rarely visited. I also made up a nickname for the cameraman, which was in no way intended to be racially derogatory. Any insinuations to the contrary are completely false." In the first article Allen claims the term referred to what he perceived as Sidarth’s “Mohawk” hair style. In the second article Allen claims to have “made up a nickname for the camera man” (Sidarth).

Allen apologized for 'Macaca' remark
CNN.com
August 24, 2006

Summary:
CNN continued to follow the story through August 24th. Reported in this article is Allen’s attempt to apologize for the ‘Macaca ‘remark by personally calling Sidarth and apologizing for singling him out of the crowd.
The article rehashes the original event and reported that Webb's campaign posted the video on YouTube, then alerted reporters. Within days of the August 11 rally, it became a dominant political story and grist for late-night talk shows and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."
CNN reported comments from Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta and a specialist in presidential and congressional races, that the damage from the comment will haunt Allen for a while. The Republican senator is seeking a second term while also exploring a potential 2008 presidential bid.
Wadhams on Saturday had sent a memo to Republican leaders saying the media created a "feeding frenzy" over the remarks, saying it "did not warrant coverage in the first place," and accusing Democrats of trying to "play the race card."
"Senator Allen needs to make it clear that he made a mistake, that this was obviously something he should not have done," said Mike Mahaffey, a former Iowa Republican Party chairman.
The article indicates there are various viewpoints on the event and that most do not favor Allen.

Opinion
George Allen’s gaffe to himself is almost laughable. The only thing that keeps it from being so is that he is one of the two Senators of Virginia. That a man with such attitudes concerning race and nationality holds such a powerful position is fairly depressing.

Had he spiritedly and with class, singled out Sidarth and engaged him on a topic, he would’ve possibly came out with political capital as opposed to political fallout. Of course, which is what I suspect would happen, had he engaged Sidarth honestly on any topic he might have had his hands full.

In my opinion there are two main reasons for this; the location of the rally and the Senator himself.

First of all, Allen was playing to part of his base crowd in rural western Virginia, a place called Breaks, which is near the Kentucky border. I would surmise that the community is mostly white and mostly devout religious patrons as is the case in a fair amount of rural towns from northwestern Virginia to the southern most tip. Those attributes aside, there is still racial tension and segregation throughout rural Virginia the entire south. These communities tend to vote for a candidate that espouses traditional conservative values, which the Republican party has adopted as part of their core election draw. Politicians like Allen have convinced these communities that he has their best interests at heart by capitalizing on the racial fear and prejudice that has existed and blossomed since the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center Towers.

According to the CNN August 15th article, Sidarth had introduced himself to Allen earlier in the week so its apparent that Allen knew who Sidarth was before pointing him out and making his remarks. Sidarth commented that he was the only non-white person in the crowd but Wadhams refutes that. In the video you cannot see any non-white people but that does not show the entire crowd. CNN did not address that specific issue.

Secondly, the Senator appears to have a somewhat less than tolerant racial history. Wikipedia.org contains a lengthy biography and profile of George Allen and cited is Allen’s affiliation with the Council of Conservative Citizens, of the largest white supremacist groups. The CCC descended from the White Citizen’s Councils of the Jim Crow-era South. At a 1996 Conservative Political Action Conference attended by then Governor Allen and CCC leaders, apparently Allen suggested they be photographed together and the CCC later used that photograph in it’s news letter; Citizens Informer. The CCC is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, and of course the CCC dispute these claims.

Wikipedia indicates through cited sources that Allen also had an affinity for the Confederate flag; wearing pins and displaying the flag wherever he could. An interesting fact about Allen; he has apparently held the Confederate flag in high regard despite not having lived in the South at all until his transfer from UCLA to UVA as a sophomore in college.

Given Allen’s history both personally and politically, combined with this latest public display of obvious racially charged statements, George Allen has no place as a Senator in the United States Government. He panders to qualities and attitudes that may have once been a part of the American fabric but no longer have a place in the ideals that the United States of America is supposedly based on. Having a racist, and I think Allen can be called a racist, hold such a position of power is the antithesis of democracy and freedom. I’m not sure which of these challenges is most daunting; understanding how a man like Allen can continue to think and behave in the manner he does; understanding how this guy can convince seemingly grown adults to buy into this ideology; or understanding how a community could support a political representative based on such ideals.

It is my personal belief that what we see with Allen along with the rest of the Republican party is the morphology of what the conservative branch of the Republican party truly is. This evolution is being accelerated by two successive terms of Bush and his entourage, and a complete control of every branch of the Federal Government by the Republicans. The part I struggle with is observing the antics of people like Allen and Bush, yet they continue to enjoy large enough support to maintain their grip on power.

Additional Information:
Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
Anti-Defamation League

Thai Peppers

2006-08-30T09:21:00.000-04:00

Click it for sweet hot juicy pepper porn.

Time 0ut...

2006-07-24T15:11:00.000-04:00

... on the field.

Back soon. ,,,

The Descent of Man

2006-07-10T12:25:00.000-04:00

The Descent of Man was a compilation of scientific evidence used in conjunction with Darwin's theory of evolution.

...and...

I'm currently studying ancient civilizations. (Mesopotamia, Northeast Africa, India and China)

...and...

Iv'e been watching the policy of "preemptive strike" employed by the Smirking Chimp and now being considered by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and of course - always being employed by Israel over the Palenstinians, and it's disastrous effect it is having on the world.

...and...

I've been listening to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band lately, and one of the tunes on The New Orleans Album has piqued my interest for some time: The Monkey.

Enjoy.

The Monkey

The monkey speaks his mind.

Now, three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,
discussing things as they are said to be.
Said one to other now listen, you two
“There’s a certain rumour that just can’t be true!
That man descended from our noble race
Why, the very idea is a big disgrace, yea”
Now, no monkey ever deserted his wife,
starved her baby and ruined her life!

Yeaaaa, the monkey speaks his mind.

And you’ve never known a mother monk,
to leave her babies with others to bunk,
and passed them on from one to another
‘Til they scarcely knew which was their mother

Yea, the monkey speak his mind

And another thing you will never see:
a monkey build a fence around a coconut tree!
And let all the coconuts go to waste,
forbidding other monkeys to come and taste
Why, if I put a fence around this tree,
starvation would force you to steal from me!

Yeaaaaa, the monkey speaks his mind.

Here’s another thing a monkey won’t do:
go out on a night and get all in a stew,
or use a gun or a club or a knife,
And take another monkey’s life!

Yes, man descended, the worthless bum,
but, brothers, from us he did not come!

Yeaaaa, the monkey speaks his mind.
Yeaaaa, now the monkey speaks his mind.

Written by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King.

Happy Monday. ,

Garden Update

2006-07-03T11:27:00.000-04:00

This is my attempt at an 'artsy' garden and harvest photograph. That old Caddy in my neighbor's yard helps I guess. Notice the tomatoes...hee hee. I've gotten eight so far and the Fourth of July is tomorrow. Most people 'round these parts don't get ripe tomatos until the end of the first week of July. It's no big deal either way.
The whole shabang.
A tomato close up. It's tomato porn.
Snap beans in between tomatos and zucchini. The zucchini started to acquire this gray mold that we get here so I chopped half of those plants down and tossed them into the compost pile.
This is why I grow zucchini. It's the first week of July, there are about twenty or so in the bottom of my fridge and I've been eating two a day now for about a couple of weeks. I picked some snap beans yesterday but only a handful. Once they start to roll I will probably get rid of all the zucchini plants and maybe throw a more few seeds in the ground for that late season bumper crop. We'll see what happens.

With the world about to come to an end due to the war mongering chimp and Israel about to commit an Adolph Hilter on the Palestinians, this garden is my little oasis. I hope you and yours can find a place of peace, and remember that there are many Iraqi and Palestinian children that have no hope and nowhere to go. ,

Le Tour

2006-06-30T13:45:00.000-04:00

It's about to begin.

No Armstrong this year.
The race should be different and more exciting.
Riders are racing to win this year, not come in second or try to beat Armstrong.

However, it seems that some of the favorites are not using their brains.

I was looking forward to an epic battle between Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Francisco Mancebo, Jose Beloki and Oscar Sevilla. As it stands right now, none of those guys will be in le Tour.

I'm pulling for George Hincapie. Hincapie loves the Paris Roubaix and was instrumental in Armstong's victory last year.

Hopefully with the drama between some of the past top performers lost due to doping le Tour will still be a splendid and motivating event.

Keeping my fingers crossed...,

The Boy King

2006-06-29T15:10:00.000-04:00

By Tom Toles.

I think the Chimp is cooked, finito, powerless...just countin' the days until Amerika becomes America again. ,

Fixing a Hole Where the Rain Came In

2006-06-21T08:50:00.000-04:00

Bucket of aluminum seal. It must be stirred up thoroughly prior to spreading. This thing was heavy and awkward to carry up on the roof.
I'm not afraid of heights at all but I was a little nervous on the roof. It's an old metal roof and its kinda slippery in places.
It's rather angular too. Coating those valleys was the nerve wracking part.
A shot of the "back 40". This whole exercise was done this past October or November. You can see some of the tree leaves have turned in some of these pictures. You can also see my lack of photography skills - that's my arm and camera shadow.
The section where the bucket sits is the "flat" secton of the roof. This was the last shot before I got started.
One side completed, moving on to the front.
A corner where the water more or less channels to. It's an old house and the soffit and gutter system is pretty old. I had to put tar down around each corner and tar up a lot of the standing seams. The hurricane season exposed a number of holes in this roof. During the ten inch deluge in one hour, it was almost as if it was raining inside the house.
Partially done on this side. You can see what a stellar job the last owner did of coating the roof....NOT.
I scraped and swept out the valleys before coating them. You can see where water was puddling and therefore seeping in between the fiberglass matting and metal.
All done except the "flat" section. That "flat" section was a piss-poor job of roofing. There are nails sticking up, seams that don't fit and big gaps where there should be none. The front porch roof and this section are on the list of things to do in the coming weeks. After I do them I will do the entire roof again. It took me two full days last year to do the main roof. I figure it will take about four solid days to get it all done this go around.

That's a long way down. You can see the garden over to the left, or rather what the garden looks like at the end of the year. If you're really bored you can compare the garden then to this post.

Also, I put the ladder on the deck because it lessens the vertical distance by about 6 feet. That's a twenty-eight foot extension ladder and it's about 3 rungs or so less than being maxed out. I just can't reach the roof from anywhere else.

Click on any of the pics for a larger view. Some of these shots are kind of interesting with a larger perspective.

Back to work, schoolwork, etcetera etcetera... ,

Friday Zucchini Bloggin'

2006-06-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

This is the harvest as of yesterday. I get about four a day and eat about two each evening. Tonight there will be five that are ready to pick. Pretty soon I start giving them to my neighbors. Especially once the snaps start coming in.
Last night's dinner: homegrown zucchini, store bought sweet red pepper, garlic, onion, mushrooms and andouille sausage. Normally I am a chicken and fish eater but once in a while I eat andouille. It's a spicy pork sausage made in Louisiana. This particular brand I used last night is not my favorite but the other brand I like was unavailable.
Everything chopped up chunky style except the sausage. I cut that fairly thin.
Olive oil in the wok. Toss in the garlic first to spread that wonderful flavor. Click on this pic or any pic for that matter for the larger image. This one is cool becuase you can see the garlic frying.
Next the onions and mushrooms go in. There is literally only about a minute between each picture. If you don't do this fairly quickly and evenly, the garlic will burn and everything else cooks unevenly. One thing about the wok I like is that it cooks everything fast and lite.
Next in goes the artery clogging andouille sausage. Hey, once in a while I gotta eats some crap.
Finally, the zucchini and sweet pepper.

All done and ready for consumption. Yes yes, that's Tabasco sprinkled on. I rarely eat andouille without a little Tabasco, plus there's garlic and mushroom in this dish. Normally I wash this down with Guiness but last night it was Modelo Especial.

World politics, especially the influence and shaping of world politics along with the stress and disharmony being created at home by the current Republican power mongers have really taken the wind out of my sails. Every day I read or learn something even more depressing than the day before. I feel pretty powerless and washed out. I'm concentrating on my schoolwork more and looking forward to some changes that will be occurring for myself personally in the coming two years.

I have been abstaining from political topics simply because it has become just too damn stressful for a variety of reasons. The United States is screwing up Iraq, people are being killed and maimed on all fronts and for what exactly? Are we really making any type of progress at all? Real progress for the world and humanity?

No. We are not. We are only adding to the cycle of violence. This is so obvious on the most basic and primitive level yet it seems to sail right over most of our population's heads.

Couple that with the Nazi mentality of this administration and the people that continue to support and dismiss domestic spying, torture tactics and attempts to write discrimination into the Constitution has really caused me to examine our nation and what exactly is going on.

Some want to build a fence to shut out Mexico yet we cannot even build a wall to protect New Orleans from flooding? There is no more racist and bloodthirsty group in this nation than the religous right.

There is a whole generation of Iraqi children being scarred in unimaginable ways that this country is going to pay for dearly in the future, of that there is no question.

What are we doing?

Enjoy the little dinner show and remember that we are making it impossible for people in Iraq to even dream about having a quiet day in their garden and making a nice meal for their families, or what is left of their families. ,

Vegetable Garden

2006-06-06T07:55:00.000-04:00

This is the compost pile. I turned this back in February or March.
This is what it looked like as of two days ago. By all means, click on any of these pics for a larger image, for scrutiny, to see what you can find. Notice the number of tomato plants that are sprouting from this pile. These are from last years rotten tomatos that I tossed in from the back porch. It's about a 60 or 70 foot shot from the porch and since they were rotten, it really didn't matter if I hit the pile or not.
Ok, I cheated with these tomato plants. I bought these four. This shot is about the third week in April.
Zucchini sprouts from seed. This picture was taken about the second week of April.
This picture was taken about the last week in April. Once they got too big for the peat cups I transplanted them to these plastic pots. We had a chilly spring this year so it was too risky to put them in the ground or I would've just done that instead. You can also see the three tiny little Thai pepper plants in this group as well. It was so cold this spring that only 3 Thai's sprouted. They like heat and lots of it. You can also see the tiny peat cups just to the left that I attempted to germinate jalapenos in. It was so chilly this spring that none of the 'penos germinated. I think I am going to germinate some in the next couple of weeks anyway. I'm thinking if they get a late start, perhaps I'll get more red ones come fall. We'll see.
This is way back in March, the first tilling of the soil.
First week of May. That's my nephew helping me build a critter deterrent device, aka fence. You would think living in the city there wouldn't be that many critters but there are possums, raccoons, squirrels, dogs and cats that seem to want to get in the garden for a variety of reasons.
A little more progress on the fence. Notice the abandoned cars in my neighbors yard. Nobody lives there. They show up once in a while to cut the grass. As you can see, it's been a while since they did that. Yes, that is an old Caddy.
Booyah! This picture was taken this past Sunday. Everything is growing nicely. That is a Thai pepper plant on the right. I got that from my friends at the Thai Diner. They had two monstrous Thai plants growing out back of the restaurant and were going to pitch'em this past winter. I volunteered to take them home and care for them until this summer. I put one in the ground and the other one is still in a pot. I plan on taking that back to them this weekend.
Another view. From the big Thai pepper plant in the upper left - 3 little Thai pepper plants from seeds, three rows of green beans - one long, one shorter, one shortest, 4 tomato plants, and then all of the zucchini plants.
Upclose snap bean plants. (green beans)
One of my pride and joys: a fourth generation Thai pepper plant from seed!
This is that other Thai pepper plant from the Diner. Notice all the blooms on that baby! This is going back to the Diner this weekend.
These peppers are from the one in the garden. The red tipped peppers are old peppers that hung on over the winter. I have a kind of sun room on the back of the house and that's where I put all of my plants in the winter. They survived but now that the plant is responding to a natural cycle again, it wants to purge itself of these old peppers. They do not taste good at all. Notice the tips are curling up or drying out. When I spot these I pull them off and toss them into the compost pile.
Each one of the tomato plants has at least two tomatos. 'Round these parts you're a tomato expert if you get nice ripe fruit before or on the fourth of July. I think that's going to happen but that doesn't make me an expert, just lucky.
Zucchini!
Zucchini!
They grow really fast.
Check out these three...
Yet another.
Same three as above exactly one day later. They do grow incredibly fast.
There are lots of them growing.

Ta da! These four zukes were picked this past Sunday and one of them has been eaten already! I will be eating the other three tonight.

Pretty busy these days. Taking 4 classes this summer and my job is working me like a dog so there is very little time to update my corner of the blogosphere as often as I would like. That's my excuse anyway.

Enjoy the pictures, enjoy your evening, and let's hope the Senate will quit wasting time on discriminatory amendments based on faulty ideology and get on with the business of finding Osama bin Laden.

Ha ha ha ha ha! That was funny wasn't it? ,

Haditha

2006-06-02T10:23:00.000-04:00

By Mike Keefe

Symptons of a larger disease yes? ,

Rove - Bush - Cheney - Rumsfeld - Rice

2006-05-25T01:14:00.000-04:00

"What good fortune for those in power that people do not think."

Adolph Hitler
1889-1945

America and it's Constitution...

2006-05-23T11:15:00.000-04:00

(click for an upclose larger image)

...under the Bush regime.

My apologies to arachnids. A tick would have been more appropriate. ,

Gay Marriage - Immigration - Iraq

2006-05-15T10:12:00.000-04:00

Gay Marriage
Link

A snip:
WASHINGTON - Some election-year advice to Republicans from a high-ranking source who has the president's ear: Don't use a proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage as a campaign tool.

Just who is that political strategist? Laura Bush.

The Senate will debate legislation that would have the Constitution define marriage as the union between a man and a woman early next month, Majority Leader Bill Frist said on CNN's "Late Edition."

President Bush supports the amendment, but Vice President Dick Cheney does not. Cheney's daughter, Mary, is a lesbian and has been speaking out against the marriage amendment as she promotes her new book, "Now It's My Turn."

Mary Cheney wrote that she almost quit working on the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004 because of Bush's position on gay marriage. Asked Sunday about reports that White House political adviser Karl Rove and other Republicans want to use the issue to mobilize conservatives for the midterm election, Cheney said she hoped "no one would think about trying to amend the Constitution as a political strategy." (ha ha ha ha ha ha who the fuck is she kidding?)

"I certainly don't know what conversations have gone on between Karl and anybody up on the Hill," Cheney added in her appearance on Fox. "But you know, what I can say is look, amending the Constitution with this amendment, this piece of legislation, is a bad piece of legislation. It is writing discrimination into the Constitution, and, as I say, it is fundamentally wrong."

But Frist said he would defend the amendment even to Dick Cheney.

"I basically say, Mr. Vice President, right now marriage is under attack in this country," Frist said on CNN. "And we've seen activist judges overturning state by state law, where state legislatures have passed laws defining marriage between a man and a woman, and that's being overturned by a handful of activist judges around the country. And that is why we need an amendment to come to the floor of the United States Senate to define marriage as that union between one man and one woman."

Emphasis added to point out what ignorant pricks both Bush and Frist are, but that's obvious to anyone that is not on their knees for this administration.

It will be a wedge issue and they will flaunt it around just like before (Fox news link..ha ha). It worked well at the state level, as the discriminatory little neocons rushed to the polls to save Amerika from those pesky gay people that want to get married. Oh God! Marriage is under attack...we must save marriage from the gays!

Have been married and divorced myself - I think gays should have - check that: everybody - should have the chance to be as miserable as the rest of the populace that has been granted the divine right of matrimony.
Or something like that.
Will that amendment pass?
Most likely not.
Will the Republican - neocon - discriminatory - power hungry - control freak - evolutionary stunted - rightwing fascist Hitler wannabe's wave around a "constitutional amendment banning gay marriage" use it as a wedge issue in the upcoming elections? YOU BETCHA!
Will it cause the angry little neocons to rush to the polls? YOU BETCHA!
Is it yet another smokescreen for Iraq? YOU BETCHA!
Doesn't Laura's statements come across as a kind of admission that this was the strategy employed in 2004? YOU BETCHA!

Border Politics
Link

A snip:
WASHINGTON -
President Bush is to order as many as 6,000 National Guard troops to increase enforcement at the Mexican border, part of a $1.9 billion drive to tighten security and win conservative backing in Congress for a broad election-year overhaul of the nation's tattered immigration laws.

Bush's plan to use National Guard troops at the border ran into criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. (because its just a political ploy, a tool to inflame the shortminded box-thinking conservatives that will rush to the polls to "save our border" while completely ignoring the consequences of Bush's toy war in Iraq)

"The National Guard already is stretched to the limit by repeated tours in
Iraq and Afghanistan as well as from providing disaster assistance in their own states," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., though he commended Bush for "courage and leadership" in weighing in on the immigration debate. (courage and leadership? wtf?)

Bush was to say the nation has expanded the Border Patrol from about 9,000 to 12,000 agents during his presidency and has sent home about 6 million people entering the United States illegally. Still, he would add, that has not been enough.

"We will fix the problems created by illegal immigration and we will deliver a system that is secure, orderly and fair," the president was to say.

Emphasis added for obvious reasons.
Catch that last phrase in bold type: "problems created by illegal immigration". That statement is a microcosm of this administrations thinking(?) process.
How about the issues that lead to immigration in the first place? For example economic disparity, freedom, little things like that. Instead of building a fence or incarcerating people that are willing to risk their lives and leave everything behind in order to find a better life, perhaps we should be helping Mexico progress to a point where their citizens largely want to stay home.

I guess we're too busy fucking up and destroying Iraq to do that.

I can see a new Guantanamo...with brown people being tortured and photographed and ridiculed by the same Guard that has done such a great job of it in Iraq.

We want to be the riches, biggest, baddest, strongest nation on the planet and at the same time tell people to get the fuck out and stay out.
Don't get me wrong - not for "illegal" immigration, but I am definitely for making it easier for Mexican nationals to come here and find a better life. I'm also for expanding democracy and economic freedom to a nation like Mexico, but certainly not in the same fashion we are exporting "democracy and freedom" in Iraq. When I say expanding I do not mean an imperialistic adventure. Work with Fox and Mexico, help them, diplomacy, ya know, things like that.
Mexicans = Nazi Germany's Jews in present day Amerika. Just a tool to inflame the passions of the hyperbolic fascist right. Somebody else to blame for all the problems instead of looking at who is the biggest threat to American ideals, aka this guy and his buddies.

Oh, and this guy.
A snip:
The problem has inflamed passions on both sides and divided the state's politicians who do not all agree with Bush's proposed solution. The governor, Janet Napolitano, is a Democrat but agrees with Bush that the United States should allow more foreigners to have temporary work permits to enter the country while strengthening security at the border.

But others, like Republican Rep. J.D. Hayworth, wants to enforce the border before even considering any plan for guest worker permits. Hayworth was riding with Bush on Air Force One Thursday for the visit and said he was giving the president a copy of his book on immigration, which proposes building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, using armed forces to help patrol the region and denying citizenship to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

Arizona "is ground zero," Hayworth said, "when you consider nightly between 6,000 and 6,500 illegals attempt to cross our border and of that group, between 4,000 and 4,500 make it on a nightly basis. That is why there is such concern."

Hoooold on a minute there Hayworth. 4,000 to 4,500 Mexicans make it across the border on a nightly basis? Hmmm. Let's do some math.
30 days (avg. days in a month) multiplied by 4,000 (low overblown estimate) equals 120,000.
Multiply that by say six months and you have 720,000.
Where does Hayworth get his statistics?
Perhaps it is the same place Frist gets his "attack on marriage anti-gay" bullshit.
Perhaps it is the same place the Swift Boat Liars got their "facts" on Kerry's service.
Perhaps it is the same place Bush received his "intel" on Iraq.
Perhaps it is the same place...well, you get the idea.

Let's see what else the article says:

"Some of those who don't make it are caught by the Border Patrol, while others lose their lives with daytime temperatures as high as 120 degrees. At the Yuma station, which oversees 62 miles of the border, authorities said agents are catching 300 to 450 immigrants a day, which is comparable to last year's numbers. But they also are seeing unusual spikes, including 840 on a single day in March. Deaths in the Yuma sector hit a record 51 in 2005, up from 36 in 2004 and 15 in 2003."

Cripes, I'd have to bold the whole damn paragraph.
I think it needs no further analysis, but in case your mentally deficient, an UNUSUAL spike was 840 in a single day. Yes, this is just the Yuma station and there are more numbers to add to the total border, which I believe is 2000 miles giver or take.
There are certain places along the border that are preferred for attempted crossings, and the Yuma area is one of them. Having traveled to Arizona and having hiked the Santa Catalina mountains, I know firsthand that desert is brutal in more ways than one. I know these immigrants must be extraordinarily desperate to risk their lives in such a manner. Hell, I was out there for one day with a Camelbak and drained that puppy in four hours. And this was in March, a "cooler" time of the year in Arizona. It even rained while I was there.

At any rate, take a look at what Hayworth said again: "4,000 to 4,500 make it across the border nightly". Compare that with the numbers the article puts forth.
Note that little "ground zero" reference as well.
Let's see...there is a word for this type of rhetoric...hyperbole?...nah, more like BULLSHIT.

Chopper Down
Link

A snip:
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents shot down a U.S. helicopter during a raid against al-Qaida militants south of Baghdad and killed two soldiers, bringing the weekend death toll of American service members to seven, the U.S. military said Monday.

The military also said American forces killed more than 40 militants, including an al-Qaida operative, in five raids south of Baghdad in an area commonly known as the "Triangle of Death" because of the large number of insurgent attacks.
The U.S. hopes a national unity government that includes Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds will sap the insurgency's strength, but Iraqi politicians struggled against a deadline to form such a government. And with at least 20 Iraqis killed in roadside bombings and drive-by shootings Monday, sectarian violence showed no signs of letting up.

Other Americans killed over the weekend included two U.S. Marines who died Sunday during unspecified "enemy action" in Anbar province, the area of western Iraq that is the heart of the Sunni-led insurgency.

Two soldiers died Sunday in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad, and another died in a roadside bomb in the capital Saturday.

The deaths raised to at least 2,443 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the war began in 2003, according to a count by The Associated Press.

The five U.S. raids south of Baghdad resulted in the killing of an al-Qaida militant blamed for an April 1 attack in the same area that downed a U.S. Apache helicopter and killed two soldiers.
An al-Qaida group had claimed responsibility for downing the Apache and posted a gruesome video on the Internet showing men dragging the burning body of what appeared to be an American soldier across a field as they shouted "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!"

Also Monday, insurgents fired more than 30 mortar rounds at a British military camp in southern Iraq, wounding four soldiers.

Six British soldiers have been killed and five wounded over the past nine days Â all in southern Iraq, an area that has traditionally been far more peaceful that central and northern Iraq where U.S. forces are based.

Monday's violence came as Iraqi lawmakers alternately Â and with varying degrees of sincerity Â withdrew from the Cabinet negotiations or threatened to do so, and accused each other of greed, sectarianism and self-interest. (looks like we're exporting our brand of democracy after all!)

Deputies said Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki could announce a partial Cabinet ahead of a constitutionally mandated May 22 deadline, taking for himself the disputed defense and interior ministry posts. President Jalal Talabani, however, rejected that option.

"The presidency council does not want to see such key ministries excluded," Talabani said after meeting with his Shiite and Sunni Arab vice presidents. "We think the entire Cabinet should be announced."

"The defense and interior ministries are important, and we have previously agreed that they should be taken by independents agreeable to all the main blocs in Iraq," he said.
Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, a member of the Sunni Arab Accordance Front, said it had reached a deal with the main Shiite United Iraqi Alliance in which the Sunnis would nominate the defense minister. In return, the Shiite bloc would name the interior minister.
Similar deals have unraveled over the past few days.

Shiite lawmaker Ali al-Deeb, a member of al-Maliki's Dawa Party, told the AP that "the Defense Ministry is still a problem."

Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's secular Iraqi List, favored to get the defense post, accused the Sunnis of delaying the process and of stoking violence as a pressure tactic.

"The ceiling has been set too high by the Accordance Front who claim they represent the Sunnis. They still insist on the Defense Ministry," Wael Abdul-Latif, the bloc's spokesman, told the AP. "But the bombs are still playing a role in the negotiations."

The violence underscored the pressure al-Maliki faces.
In Balad Ruz, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, gunmen pulled three teachers Â two brothers and a cousin Â and their driver from a minibus and killed them. The assault prompted a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew in nearby Baqouba, a mixed city where six Shiite shrines were bombed Saturday.

In addition to the 20 Iraqis killed around Iraq Monday, five corpses were found in western Baghdad."

Oh yeah. Iraq. Remember that?
Just a guess: Republicans will wave a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, wave around immigration issues, and paint a rosy picture of Iraq in the upcoming elections.

Isn't there an old saying about insanity coming about as the result of doing the same thing over and over and over and over again and expecting a different result?

Definition of conservative. (link: Dictionary.com)

Compare those definitions with what the "conservative party" is doing to America, Iraq and the world.

Have a great day. ,

Can't....stop....laughing.....

2006-05-03T15:27:00.000-04:00

Fox, BBC, Al Jazeera most trusted: poll
(click for link)

"Asked to name the news source they most trusted, without any prompting, 59 percent of Egyptians said Al Jazeera, 52 percent of Brazilians said Rede Globo, 32 percent of Britons said the BBC, 22 percent of Germans said ARD and 11 percent of Americans said Fox News, each leading their respective nations." (emphasis added)

Am I the only one that finds that absofuckinglutely hilarious? ,

Bomb Shelter?

2006-05-02T15:10:00.000-04:00

You might need it:

Gen. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani also said Israel was not prepared to go war against Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly spoken out against Israel and threatened to wipe it "off the map."

Bush has said a military option remained on the table if Iran did not agree to international demands for it to stop enriching uranium. However, he also has said Washington wanted to solve the dispute over Iran's nuclear program through diplomacy.

Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres called on Iran to scrap its nuclear program and warned: "Remember that Israel is exceptionally strong and knows how to defend itself."

Full article here.

You don't think this adventure has anything to do with it do you? ,

War with Iran?

2006-04-25T10:51:00.000-04:00

Attack Iran, destroy the US constitution
By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith

From the article:

Last October, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee whether the president would circumvent congressional authorization if the White House chose military action against Iran or Syria. She answered, "I will not say anything that constrains his authority as commander-in-chief."

When pressed by Senator Paul Sarbanes about whether the administration can exercise a military option without an authorization from Congress, Rice replied, "The president never takes any option off the table, and he shouldn't."

The founding fathers of the United States were deeply concerned that the president's power to make war might become a vehicle for tyranny. So they crafted a constitution that included checks and balances on presidential power, among them an independent congress and judiciary, an executive power subject to laws written by Congress and interpreted by the courts, and an executive power to repel attacks but not to declare or finance war.

But the Bush doctrine of preemptive war, as laid out in the 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States and reiterated this year, claims for the president the power to attack other countries simply because he asserts they pose a threat. It thereby removes the decision of war and peace from Congress and gives it to the president. It is, as Senator Robert Byrd put it, "unconstitutional on its face". (emphasis added)

Israeli child.

Iranian children.

Remember the anti-Bush chants of 2004?

Four more wars! Four more wars!

Think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is bluffing?

Think Bush is?

How are you enjoying your Spring so far? ,

Our President

2006-04-20T10:02:00.000-04:00

This is our president.

Worst President in History?

From the article:

"Historians do tend, as a group, to be far more liberal than the citizenry as a whole -- a fact the president's admirers have seized on to dismiss the poll results as transparently biased. One pro-Bush historian said the survey revealed more about "the current crop of history professors" than about Bush or about Bush's eventual standing. But if historians were simply motivated by a strong collective liberal bias, they might be expected to call Bush the worst president since his father, or Ronald Reagan, or Nixon. Instead, more than half of those polled -- and nearly three-fourths of those who gave Bush a negative rating -- reached back before Nixon to find a president they considered as miserable as Bush. The presidents most commonly linked with Bush included Hoover, Andrew Johnson and Buchanan. Twelve percent of the historians polled -- nearly as many as those who rated Bush a success -- flatly called Bush the worst president in American history. And these figures were gathered before the debacles over Hurricane Katrina, Bush's role in the Valerie Plame leak affair and the deterioration of the situation in Iraq. Were the historians polled today, that figure would certainly be higher."

"Even worse for the president, the general public, having once given Bush the highest approval ratings ever recorded, now appears to be coming around to the dismal view held by most historians. To be sure, the president retains a considerable base of supporters who believe in and adore him, and who reject all criticism with a mixture of disbelief and fierce contempt -- about one-third of the electorate. (When the columnist Richard Reeves publicized the historians' poll last year and suggested it might have merit, he drew thousands of abusive replies that called him an idiot and that praised Bush as, in one writer's words, "a Christian who actually acts on his deeply held beliefs.") Yet the ranks of the true believers have thinned dramatically. A majority of voters in forty-three states now disapprove of Bush's handling of his job. Since the commencement of reliable polling in the 1940s, only one twice-elected president has seen his ratings fall as low as Bush's in his second term: Richard Nixon, during the months preceding his resignation in 1974. No two-term president since polling began has fallen from such a height of popularity as Bush's (in the neighborhood of ninety percent, during the patriotic upswell following the 2001 attacks) to such a low (now in the midthirties). No president, including Harry Truman (whose ratings sometimes dipped below Nixonian levels), has experienced such a virtually unrelieved decline as Bush has since his high point. Apart from sharp but temporary upticks that followed the commencement of the Iraq war and the capture of Saddam Hussein, and a recovery during the weeks just before and after his re-election, the Bush trend has been a profile in fairly steady disillusionment."

The article is interesting, and the approach is far less biased as one might imagine.

In keeping with that theme, and through some serious self-analysis, a new challenge has developed for me personally.
The current state of affairs in the United States under the Bush regime has deteriorated immensely and I have been thoroughly affected by it.
I cannot go about day to day all cheerful and motivated knowing that our once great nation is being rammed into the reef by a cabal of reckless pirates with delusional goals.
My behavior has become less than friendly, I am irritated all the time, have trouble sleeping at night and have taken a less than open view of some of the people around me.

In short, my tolerance, patience, civility and humility are gone.

The challenge is to accept what has happened, what is happening, know that the next presidential election will be as ugly as ever and that the United States will be in the quagmire known as Iraq for many years to come even though we should get the hell out of there now.

There is no solace in the fact that many people knew Bush spelled trouble for the United States back in 2000 and knew that Iraq was a bad idea that was going to blossom into an even bigger and badder idea. When Bush was reelected I was flabbergasted. Somehow the option "lessor of two evils" that I hear from many then-Bush supporters moved them to vote for Bush and not Kerry. This is a red herring argument. Conservatives always vote Republican - regardless.
That "two evils" argument is personal justification for a vote that they now regret - but I am willing to bet my life that the majority of Bush voters will vote Republican again in 2008.

This is not how I wanted to spend these years of my life.
But here we are. All of us.
Those that believe in this President, those that saw him for what he is, those that support this president through their own selfish goals, those that dislike him as intensely as the those that dislike the Clintons, as well as those that stand on the sidelines and watch all of this unfold.

We are living in a historical time, as is any time - at any time.
These are not historical good times though, these are historical terrible times.
We are going to have to face the music for a long time to come. The next president, be him/her either Democrat or Republican has little or no chance of correcting the current administration's mess. And that is what it is: a mess.

The personal challenge for me is to regain my patience, tolerance, civility and humility. I was a far more effective person when I was cheerful and social and I need to get those back.
Part of that process is continuing with my personal goals of education and putting that education to work for our society as a whole - even those people that are ripping our society apart.
It is an American ideal to be inclusive and tolerant.
I cannot let the current administration and it's completely un-American imperialistic and xenophobic policies corrupt me or my society.

Bush and his cabal have done much damage in a very short time.

I have another 30 productive years in front of me, and if I can keep my health, maybe another 40 or so years.

There is a lot of good and a lot of seeds that can be sewn in that time. This has always been my goal but the current state of affairs in our nation certainly has given added meaning and focus to those ideals.

No, alone one cannot save the world, but together and with others one can effect positive change. In order to do that I must take a decidedly less negative tone towards the socio-political forces that support and implement disastrous policies, and instead take a decidedly more scholarly and scientific approach to solving the crisis before it becomes a disaster.

Well, that's my personal challenge to myself. Hopefully I won't stumble too many times, but hopefully will recognize when I do.

Try and have a wonderful day. ,

Marines crying for their lives.

2006-04-12T15:38:00.000-04:00

From Gorilla's Guides:

Marines crying for their lives.

If this doesn't move you, nothing will.

Thanks to Mark from Ireland.

From Dr. C:

The Sobering Truth.

Thanks to Doc.

The man responsible for this mess from Crooks and Liars:

Bush can't answer the question.

Bush get's his ass handed to him by a college freshman, and is too stupid to know it.
Watch the body language as he 'listens' to the question. Note how intelligent and articulate the student asking the question is, and notice...well you'll see.

This is your president.

Thanks to C&L.

,

Gorilla's Guides

2006-04-11T14:00:00.000-04:00

GO THERE NOW.

Gorilla's Guides.

Go there every day and read and look and think.

Go there if you supported this president, this idiot of a president, twice, and take a good long look at the fruits of his labor.

If you voted for this despicable man and his despicable fraternity of idiots, it's your fruit too.

How do you like it? Does it taste good?

You voted out of your own self interests and out of ZERO concern for anybody else, including this nation, the people of Iraq and the people of the world. We are all people of the world, so you support(ed) policies that are against your own self interests. Get it? Understand? Try harder.

Take a good long look and think.

You do know how to think don't you?

While you're there perusing the effects of forced 'democracy' at the hands of the most powerful military in the world, try and convince Mark that this invading Iraq bullshit was even remotely a good idea. Try and convince anybody of that other than dipshit conservatives that cannot think beyond their own little box.

Fucking idiots. ,

Storm's coming, where's Toto?

2006-04-06T14:19:00.000-04:00

April showers bring May flowers.

April hail storms just beat the shit out of everything.

Took this shot from the front porch of el hogar de jalapeño rojo the other night. The research paper I was working on needed a break, plus I was worried about losing power.
Said research paper FINALLY finished and turned in last night.
After many late nights at the library and taking notes and all that, I polished it off with 4 straight days of coffee cake and Italian roast. A sushi fest complete with Kirin and sake occurred right after turning it in.
I-n-d-i-g-e-s-t-i-o-n, but happy.

The topic of the paper you ask? The Scopes Trial.

Turned out to be the largest paper in the class. The professor asked for a 6-8 page research paper and gave out a bunch of topics and of course I chose the Scopes Trial.

Twenty-five pages later it's done BUT, I have asked my professor to critique it thoroughly with the idea that I will continue to work on it when it is returned. I'm having my Lit professor take a look at it too.

My plan is to keep working on this project until I've explored and thoroughly analyzed and documented all aspects of that trial as well as the current and ongoing struggles that relate to it.
There was no way I could even begin to dissect that trial in 8 pages, no way.
What I did produce is still lacking in some aspects that I just could not fit in the paper given the time frame. I wound up reading 7 books in two weeks, plus had to look up a bunch of scriptures in the Bible. Five of the books concerned the Scopes Trial specifically, one book was a sociological study in the Puritan settlement, and one was a sociology text book that covered a wide range of subjects. Of course, I introduced the current battle of the war: intelligent design.

Might not sound like a lot of time and effort but I do have a full-time job that requires travel, and I do go to school full time at night... Needless to say that towards the end there I was fairly stressed and uptight. Lack of sleep combined with excessive amounts of caffeine and sugar can make even the most peaceful and laid back individual a time bomb waiting, no looking, for the fuse to be lit. Whew, can't wait 'til grad school...

My head was about to explooooode! I loved it though.
Here's a shot of the author (me) sitting in front of the computer just before I went outside to take a shot of that storm. The look of someone that has been awake for far too long:

At any rate, now that I am back in the swing and spring has sprung, I hope to bring some more of my hard-hitting and thoroughly biased commentary on the state of our once great nation.

I guess our nation is still great, it's just suffering badly at the hands of the conservative Republican party, aka warmongering - most corrupt - lying - greedy - anti-gay - anti-choice - anti-American - xenophobic - heartless - fundamentalist-religious-zealot - fraternity of idiots.

Did I leave anything out?

Actually I did. There is a student in my Lit class that was in Iraq as an MP guarding and escorting fuel convoys. She has agreed to allow me to interview her and post the interview here. She has also volunteered to turn me on to other soldiers that have come back, for more interviews. After initially speaking with her about it, it is quite clear that the story the administration is attempting to feed the American public is complete bullshit.

The interviews will be Q and A style, and I will offer no opinion. She and her cohorts have been there, seen it, lived it. It will be my questions and their answers in their words. I don't know when the first one will be up, but I'm anxious to get that ball rolling.

In the meantime, please visit Dr. C, Gorilla Guides, fizhog, Old White Lady, and all the other blogs on my tiny blogroll link list. There's a lot of good stuff out there that will make you think.

Gonna warn ya though, the Doc, Gorilla and fizhog don't fuck around. ,

Plantin' Time

2006-03-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

It's almost here.

This is the space where the veggie garden is grown. This is what it looks like after the long winter and before any prep work begins. When I started the garden in the backyard last year, I discovered the previous owners had brought in a truckload or two of gravel and laid it out in the backyard. It has made preparing the soil for gardening rather difficult. I moved two full wheel barrow loads of gravel out of this space after I tilled last year. The soil is not all that great either, as can be seen by the varying shades of grey, brown and green in the grass. Over time I hope to improve that. (by all means, click on the pics for scrutinization)
This is what it looks like after an hour or so of tilling. The soil looks much better than it did last year, and that's due to the mulch and other organic material that I incorporated. In all of the zucchini mounds, tomato plants, pepper plants, and rows of snap beans, I put in some top soil for them to germinate and grow in. Looks like it has helped a great deal. What you cannot see is directly behind that tree with the 'steps' on it, there is a compost heap. I've tossed all organic material from the garden, yard and kitchen in there and keep it turned regularly. What's in there now will be ready for next years garden. I also raked out another whole wheelbarrow of gravel. I surmise it will take several years before I am comfortable with the amount of gravel that remains, and quit obsessing over raking it out of there.
After the tilling I spread some lime. It helps restore and maintain a healthy pH balance for growing. I don't use any chemical fertilizers, only organic compost. This would include some animal material; specifically egg shells, shrimp shells, crab shells, fish heads, and some small chicken bones. How do you think I can grow peppers like these?

This shot is just before the spreading of the lime, but it has the treehouse project in view. I'm building this thing for my nieces and nephews. That shed you see is actually a good wind away from falling down, and I'm rebuilding it from the outside in. The 2x4's I'm using for the treehouse are actually part of the interior re-framing of the shed, but I thought this would be a better use for them at the moment. I can always buy more lumber.

(The Green Robin inspired this post with her vibrant spring atittude.)

Heh, I've got quite the redneck spread going there huh? ,

Happy Birthday!

2006-03-20T11:31:00.000-05:00

About Tony Auth: Jules Feiffer has described Tony Auth best, "His perspective is that of a bemused and often angry comic historian. Irony, never a favorite form with Americans, is his meat and potatoes. He is not smug, and though he can be mean, he is never mean-spirited. Auth is a moralist and an optimist. He insists, even in this day and age, that hope is more than the name of a right-wing comedian or the shtick of a reactionary president."

But hey, at least none of these young kids will have to worry about gay marriage. ,

¡Bebé caliente!

2006-03-16T14:03:00.000-05:00

Great news!

Hot peppers kill prostate cancer cells in study

"Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said. Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research."

Well, this will not increase the amount of peppers I eat, as I already eat enough for 3 people. The above photo is from dinner a couple nights ago, a pork stir fry with a ton of veggies. Every Thai dinner I make starts with garlic and Thai pepper, and lots of both. Not for the meek. (careful, clicking on the photo to enlarge it might induce indigestion, or drool...depending on your tastes)

In other news: the world is falling apart and I just can't blog about it right now.

I have a research paper due for class and my chosen topic is The Scopes Trial. Perhaps when that task has been completed, I'll be ripe for ranting and raving about the fracturing of our nation by the idiots that currently have the controls. ,

Conversation with a Neocon

2006-03-01T13:01:00.000-05:00

Saw this bit first at Shakes Sis, and then read this commentary about the same topic at The Green Knight.

Here's a snip to get that blood pressure up:

"The problem is that Ledeen's view of human nature, as ineradicably corrupt and prone to evil, is the notion that is at the heart of classical conservatism. Conservatism traditionally places great emphasis on stability of institutions and reluctance to embark on ideological projects precisely because it sees human beings as essentially flawed; if freed from the guiding principles of tradition, it believes, people will generally muck things up and eventually come to casually committing atrocities."

Enjoy. ,

Friday Art

2006-02-24T11:24:00.000-05:00

Added The Green Knight to my tiny blogroll linky list.

Between Doc and the Knight, there's some good art to peruse on Fridays, not to mention thoughtful commentary on a variety of subjects.

Enjoy. ,

Shizuka Arakawa Wins Gold

2006-02-24T08:54:00.000-05:00

Took a break from Lit homework last night to watch the ladies free skate. It proved to be the best part of the Olympics so far.

Shizuka Arakawa skated with grace, beauty and majesty. She exhibited humility and perseverance, something I felt was lacking in the two favorites Cohen and Slutskaya.

Shizuka is absolutely beautiful and graceful in her own right. I think I fell in love for a little bit last night!

It appeared to me that Cohen and Slutskaya approached the skate with the self-imposed pressure of "I should win the gold".

Shizuka went out and performed, she skated to skate, to do her best, medals be damned. Lo and behold she won the gold, imagine that.

That's how I saw it anyway.

It's a wondeful story. She captured the first ever gold medal in the ladies free skate for Japan. I believe it is also the first medal of these Olympics for Japan. She will return home a heroine, and beautiful heroine at that.

It's a great bright spot in an othewise fairly dreary Olympics full of pompous athletes and drama kings. Yeah, I'm talking about Davis and Hendrick. Geesh, what a pair. And then there's Lindsey Jacobellis celebrating her win before she had it, which indeed cost her the win. It's safe to say that some American athletes exhibit some awful stupidity and arrogance at the worst possible moments.

I quit watching the NFL after Walter Payton left the game for those very reasons. There's a damn celebration after every play anymore. Same for the NBA; bunch of overpriced hotdogs that think they're gods or something. They put a ball in a hoop...for this they are paid handsomely. Not to mention all the thuggery. How droll and boring. After Jordan left the game there hasn't been much to watch in the way of excellence.

The other bright spot in the Olympics for me has been the Dutch fans and the band Kleintje Pils. It's what the Olympics should be more about, and less about medal counts.

Ok, back to work, and midterms, and other stuff. ,

Still Waters Run Deep

2006-02-18T00:47:00.000-05:00

I'm slow, I admit it.

Slow to add Gorilla's Guides to the tiny blogroll linky list.

Glad to see the Doc back in the swing, and hope this guy comes back soon.

Feeling a little embarassed after losing my cool the other day, but it was therapeutic.

It brings me to a theory; if you are a caring considerate person, if you worry about the big picture of our nation and how we fit into and affect the world, if it is wholly apparent to you that our nation is full of idiots, if you realize that those idiots fully support our dipshit President and his cabal, then there is a good chance you might just lose your cool every now and again.

In my younger redneck days it would be pronounced 'evry nah anagin'. ,

Cheney Jokes

2006-02-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

This post inspired after a visit to The Liberal Avenger.

Crooks and Liars video here, pretty damn funny.
Here's a snip:

"Jon, tonight the Vice President is standing by his decision to shoot Harry Whittington. Now according to the best intelligence available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time-there-were-quail in the brush. And while the quail turned out to be the 78 year old man. Even knowing that today, Mr. Cheney insists-he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face."

Letterman's Top Ten List found here.

Cheney can't go hunting without shooting his partner, and this guy is the VICE PRESIDENT.
Makes one hope that nothing happens to Chimp. ,

Lawyers, Guns and Money

2006-02-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

After yesterday, that should be 'light up', take a shot, or chill out.

The Presidents Intern has an interesting look at Cheney's gun games, and incorporates a one Scooter Libby.

If my diatribe of yesterday didn't illicit a grin or two, surely a visit with the Presidents Intern will.

Cheney better hope and pray to his god that Willington does not pass away from his wounds.

Incidentally, the military-fireman guy I spoke of yesterday indicated that the only mistake Cheney made was in NOT killing the man. Something about hating lawyers and all that.

There's that 'protect the fetus but let's kill lawyers and towel heads' mentality again.

Vote Republican! Destroy America and then the World! ,

Monday, Sushi and Neocons

2006-02-14T01:33:00.000-05:00

What a day it has been. A Monday all the way. Monday the 13th no less. Does that count for something? Only in a superstitious mind.

A quick note regarding our Vice President, Dick Cheney: he’s a dumbass of the grandest proportions. The long and short of his hunting adventure is this: he was the man that pulled the trigger of the gun that shot another hunter. They can slice and dice that bullshit any way they want but in the end it is the responsibility of the man with the gun to know what he is shooting at.
I can only wish that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove would go quail hunting together.

I have no idea what it will take for the American people to wake the fuck up and realize that we have idiots in the White House. Check that; the House and Senate as well.
How these morons were elected to a second term still amazes me, but at the same time it is a reflection of the of the American voting public. Interestingly enough, I’ve had more than one conservative tell me that there should be a mandatory IQ test taken and passed before one is allowed to vote. ...cough cough ahem…

As much as I try to understand the logic of conservatives, it completely escapes me. I have yet to hear a valid argument to support anything, ANYTHING, this administration does.

Reasons given to me by conservatives for voting Republican:
a) Clinton
b) I don’t like Kerry’s wife.
c) They will reduce my taxes.
d) They will uphold traditions such as marriage, which should be between a man and a woman.
e) The democrats wanna give everything away.
f) We would be worse off under Kerry.
g) Democrats are soft on terror.

Let’s address those one at a time shall we?

a) Clinton – you got him on a blowjob with an intern, what else? I realize it tapped into every Neocon’s/conservative’s fantasy, he lived something they can only dream of, but besides that what else have you got? Be prepared to back up your accusations with irrefutable facts. Not WMD facts, real facts.

b) Who the fuck cares about Kerry’s wife, besides Neocons/conservatives?

c) How much have your taxes been reduced and at what cost? Go ahead and show me some data and how it has enriched your life.

d) Homophobia – I hope that you feel secure in your marriage knowing that you denied someone else that chance, even if your single, and once again: at what cost to America do you realize your dream of homosexual discrimination? Basically what Neocons/conservatives are saying is that it’s ok for this group of Americans, the group we approve of, to participate in a particular activity, BUT, this group of Americans, because they are different than us, are not Ok to participate in this activity. Spell it with me now people: D-I-S-C-R-I-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N

e) This one is laughable at best. Please show me the evidence that supports that thesis. I will gladly entertain anyone that wants to show me valid data that supports that statement.

f) I’m all ears on this one; how could things be worse under ANY Democrat, let alone Kerry? Take a good long look at where we are and tell me that things could be any worse. HOW? Remember, facts are important, not conjecture or opinion. All you guys have at this point is conjecture, all I have to work with is this administration and it’s record. Heh heh, I like the odds.

g) Dems are soft on terror. I think that since largely the Democratic party is anti-war, from a Neocon perspective this appears as soft on terror. Please tell me how the fuck exactly invading Iraq and CREATING more terrorists, more attacks world wide, and meanwhile Osama bin Laden (remember him?) goes free, is being tough on terror? How is that the solution? One reply I’ve heard to this, from a conservative who voted for Bush TWICE, is that there have been no terrorists attacks on American soil since 9-11. Never mind that we are losing American military lives daily, maimed and mentally injured. Never mind that world wide terror attacks are up approximately 400% since we invaded Iraq. Well then, it must all be working out just beautifully eh?

Here’s the basic conservative view to any problem: I can’t solve it with my brain, so I hammer it into a form that is acceptable to me. If that doesn’t work I’ll kill it. Problem solved. The other statement that appears during this subject is “we’re drawing them out.” There is a huge difference between drawing them out, which implies a finite number of terrorists, to creating terrorists, of which there will be a NEVER ENDING SUPPLY. This requires critical thinking, logic, reason, and understanding the enemy. None of these things have been exhibited by the current administration, nor the people that voted for the current administration – TWICE.

This essay/diatribe was instigated by my Monday night visit the local Sushi bar to relax and read a little bit. Tonight’s reading selection was Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery.

Upon my entering the establishment, I immediately noticed two male and one female rednecks at the bar. Since I almost always visit this place solo, the bar is where I choose to sit. Without explaining further, the bar is always the best place to sit. Anyhow, I saw the rednecks were drunk and loud, so I chose to sit at the very end of the bar. The whole of the bar is six seats, and the way they were seated only allowed for one seat between me and the rednecks.

Now, before one can call me intolerant etcetera and so on, I am a redneck myself. Born and bred right here in the capital of the confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. As I have explained before, there are varying degrees of redneck.

So, I pull out a chair at the end, seat myself and begin to read my book. A few moments later I hear the closest drunk ass dipshit redneck call out to me: “ Hey queer…hey gay guy…hey queer…can you grab the waitress for me?” I ignored these comments. He continued: “Hey gay guy…”. At this point I become incensed. I turn to him and look him directly in his dumbass redneck drunk eyes and say: “I am not a queer, and I am not a gay guy” and then return to my book. Being the fucktards they were, they laughed and acted all stupid and then started in with the fake apologies. I totally ignored them until it was apparent that unless I acknowledged their fake apologies, they would continue on. Needless to say, the drunk ass loudmouths and my rather stern reply garnered the attention of the ENTIRE place. It is fairly small after all.

First, I was angry at their ignorance and stupidity. Then I was angry with myself with my reply to them, as it was itself somewhat discriminatory. My only defense of such a reply was that I was thoroughly pissed and did not calmly and rationally respond to these idiots. My reply should have been more like “I am not gay however I do find your homophobia and stupidity rather insulting.” I’m not a large man but I do find that intelligence often placates big, stupid rednecks who appear to be looking for a fight.

Well, the drunken stupidity continued on for about 15 minutes, with more homophobic statements and the like, to which all I ignored. Finally they paid the bill, apologized three or four more times, and then left.

Finally: peace.
The bar was empty, my sushi and sake arrived, I went back to reading Booker T. Washington.

Not so fast Junior!

Another gentleman came in and sat at the bar. He was very clean cut and without elaborating further, seemed to emit a gay vibe. That may get me in trouble with some of the gay folks that know me, but rest assured the gay vibe does not register in me a negative connotation. It registers in me someone that is different than me, which in my view of the world is wonderful and natural. Even the stupid rednecks evoke that feeling, although their stupidity makes their presence less tolerable.

At any rate, the gentleman offered up his soy beans to share, to which I declined. I really don’t care for them and I told him so. Well, this led to introductions and so on. In my mind I’m thinking “damn, first a couple of drunk ass dumbshit rednecks calling me gay, and now a gay guy hitting on me.” Maybe I’m the one putting off the gay vibe.

Let’s think about that for a second. I’m well dressed although not impeccably so. I’m flying solo at the sushi bar. I’m reading a book. I live in Richmond, Virginia. Well there you have it, I must be gay!

Sorry fellas, I love the ladies.

Ok, back to the newly arrived gentleman:
Without going into every detail, our discussion turns political. It turns out he is ex-military, and an ex-fireman from New York that lost six of his buddies in the Twin Tower attack.
He’s conservative. He voted for Bush twice.

YET, he can’t stand Bush or his policies, but his training tells him to follow the orders of the Commander in Chief, even if he believes these orders are wrong. Please refer to this post regarding training, as it is explained by Mark Twain. While I do not like to refer to quotes in general, Twain articulates this idea of training in such a fashion that I cannot improve upon it.

At any rate, the discussion with this gentleman was enlightening. I love to discuss the Iraq war and the current admin with any military figures I can find. I chatted with a couple of military officers on the Metro during my travel to this event. Once again I must reiterate how training can so form a man’s mind.

So me and this gentleman went round and round about the war, and in true Neocon/conservative fashion he began to beat on Clinton. I pointed out to him that Clinton was no longer a factor save for Neocons/conservatives and their hatred for him he began to cite Hillary Clinton specifically.
“Can you imagine what would happen to our country if Hillary were elected President?” he inquired.

Geesh, I thought, these Neocons/conservatives just cannot let the Clintons go.
“The only reason you bring up Hillary as a viable contender for President” I said, “is so that she will polarize the conservative base. Since your current conservative leader has turned out to be a total fuck-up in every sense of the word, you guys want a new Clinton to hate in order to turn out the vote in favor of whatever moron you guys will select as the next Presidential candidate, all in order to maintain total power over government, which you all seem to despise.”

I swear there were tumbleweeds driven by a desert wind, heard only above the din of silence within the whole establishment.

He hemmed and hawed, paid his bill, put his hands on my shoulder and said “I’ve got to get out of here before you expose me for the closet liberal I am.” He shook my hand, said it’s been real, and hopes to see me at the bar again to continue the conversation.

I took that to mean that our conversation cause him to think, to think outside of the conservative box.
The box that hates government yet wants to control it.
The box that says discriminate against Americans because they outside of that box.
The box that justifies invading a country that didn’t have shit to do with 9-11.
The box that wants to shut down the borders on illegal immigrants even though that is exactly what this country was founded upon.
The box that wants to blame the poor for being poor but votes for the party of greed and war.
The box that wants to protect the sanctity of life yet supports the death penalty and war.

Back to an earlier part of our discussion: illegal immigrants. This guy was all about shutting down our borders to prevent illegal immigrants from using the resources of this country for a better life.
In his words: “taking resources away from me.” I asked him who was taking resources away from him; illegal immigrants who have next to nothing, or companies like Enron and big oil, companies that have been proven to be in bed with the current administration and it’s power players.
Once again the tumbleweeds blew by.

I’ll give the guy credit, he did think about the points I made, and how all of the things he rails against are the very mantra the current Republican party lives by, the party that is in control of our government, which he totally despises.

All I wanted to do was eat some sushi and get in a good read.

It is no secret that Neocons/conservatives shun education. In their minds all universities are havens of liberal thought and indoctrination. My answer to that is if you educate yourself, you will shun conservatism.
Conservatism is the clinging of the past, is the holding onto the idea of the way things should be in their minds, as opposed to the way things are in reality. Conservatism shuns evolution, and in fact often refers to evolution as de-evolution. Modern society and it’s progress irritates them. The poor souls cannot seem to grasp that evolution is selecting them out, for they do not change. Change is constant, change is natural, change is inevitable. Man is an animal in every biological sense of the word. Therefore, globalization to some extent is inevitable. You may choose to bury your head in the sand and refuse to accept it, but please do not lash out as the world passes you by.

Recently I was asked by a conservative/anarchist (his own description of himself) what I thought would have happened in the United States had the South won the Civil War. “Don’t you think States would have more power, be stronger, and wouldn’t have the Federal government to answer to?”

In response to that question combined with the wonderful evening I’ve had, I will end this post/diatribe with some words from Booker T. Washington, from his work Up From Slavery:

"I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave, though I remember on several occasions I went as far as the schoolhouse door with one of my young mistresses to carry her books. The picture of several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.
So far as I can now recall, the first knowledge that I got of the fact that we were slaves, and that freedom of the slaves was being discussed, was early one morning before day, when I was awakened by my mother kneeling over her children and fervently praying that Lincoln and his armies might be successful, and that one day she and her children might be free."

That about sums it up, no? ,

Cheney Beaten by Quail, Shoots Fellow Hunter

2006-02-13T11:43:00.000-05:00

Shaking my head...

Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter

"A 78-year-old hunting companion of Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering in stable condition Monday after Cheney accidentally shot him during a weekend quail hunting trip, a hospital official said.

Whittington sent word through a hospital official that he would have no comment on the incident out of respect for Cheney."

Out of respect for Cheney? Um..right. Don’t wanna make Cheney look bad or anything like that.

"Katharine Armstrong, the ranch's owner, told The Associated Press that the accident occurred after Cheney, Whittington and another hunter got out of a car to shoot at a covey of quail."

Having spent some of my youth hunting in and around the swamp I grew up next to, I have always despised ‘car hunters’. These fools just drive down the road looking for something to shoot. I imagine that during the rush of getting out of the car to shoot at quail, they lost sight of who was where. We used to call that a ‘feeding frenzy’.

She said Whittington went to retrieve a bird he shot. Cheney and the third hunter, whom she would not identify, walked to another spot and discovered a second covey of quail.
Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself," said Armstrong, who was in the car.
"The vice president didn't see him," she said. "The covey flushed and the vice president picked out a bird and was following it and shot. And by god, Harry was in the line of fire and got peppered pretty good."

Anybody else see the parsing going on here? How did Whittington get shot if he was behind Cheney? Here’s how: Cheney wheeled around approximately 180 degrees, and without knowing where his fellow hunters were pulled the trigger. They can try and blame Whittington all they want, the man with the gun is supposed to know what is in his line of fire before pulling the trigger. It’s that simple. Also, all the quail I've ever hunted flew UP. In order to shoot Whittington in the face Cheney was shooting level, not UP. That’s a technicality and only one that I would breach were I hunting alone. However, even then it's a bad habit to become accustomed to. The fact that there were three of them should have underscored the need to a) know where each other was and b) always shoot UP.

"McBride said the vice president's office did not tell reporters about the accident Saturday because they were deferring to Armstrong to handle the announcement of what happened on her property.
Armstrong said everyone at the ranch was so "focused" on Whittington's health Saturday that it wasn't until Sunday she called the Caller-Times to report the accident. Her ranch is about 60 miles southwest of Corpus Christi."

Needed some time to get the story straight, and attempt to not look like the idiots they are. AFTER they determined that Cheney didn't kill the poor man.

"Armstrong said Cheney is a longtime friend who comes to the ranch to hunt about once a year and is "a very safe sportsman." She said Whittington is a regular, too, but she thought it was the first time the two men hunted together."

“A very safe sportsman” does not shoot his fellow hunter in the face. “A very safe sportsman” does not jump out of a car to shoot at quail.

"The 50,000-acre Armstrong ranch has been in the influential South Texas family since the turn of the last century. Katharine is the daughter of Tobin Armstrong, a politically connected rancher who has been a guest at the White House and spent 48 years as director of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He died in October. Cheney was among the dignitaries who attended his funeral."

Look at those rich and well connected people playing with guns on the ranch. YEE HAW! This is what makes America great…right?

These idiots can’t go hunting without shooting each other.

The Keystone Cops are running this country and invading other countries that don’t have WMD’s while the ones that do are laughing at us.

Vote Republican! Destroy America and then the world! ,

A Little Hope

2006-02-07T15:10:00.000-05:00

Over the last three weeks I have moved from one job to another. It has been in the works since early December and now I’m in the new gig. I have had zero time to post anything of substance but this story puts a bright spot where there has been only darkness.

Like the Doc, I’ve gotten tired of this administration raping our country and it has had a negative effect on me.

My 2006 resolution is to enjoy life more, to enjoy the journey.
It ain’t gonna be easy.

Back to the above mentioned story:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - After 20 years in the Air Force and Bronze Star service during the 1991 Gulf War Democrat Jay Fawcett decided to come home and run for Congress, largely out of disgust with the way American troops were being used in
Iraq.

(snip)

Fawcett is part of a large and possibly unprecedented number of former soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines running for Congress this year. About 40 of the candidates are Republicans, while at least 55 are Democrats. By one count, at least 11 veterans of the Iraq war or Afghanistan are hoping to get elected to the House or Senate, all but one of them Democrats.

(snip)

"One of the things I think is behind this movement is, we're not stupid in the military. We know when we've been used and misused," Navy veteran Bill Winter, a Democrat who hopes to challenge GOP Rep. Tom Tancredo in the Republican suburbs of Denver. (I'm sure Vestal is happy about that)

(snip)

Former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga., who lost both legs and an arm while serving in Vietnam, said the Iraq war veterans running as Democrats will offer "a direct rebuttal" to the administration on the Iraq war.
"This administration, come April, will be going into the fourth year of this war after the president said three weeks into it `Major combat over, mission accomplished, bring them on,'" Cleland said. "You tell me who's out of touch. It's not these Iraqi veterans that are coming back and saying, `This is not the way it was on the ground there, and I'm going to do something to change this.'"

These guys have my support, all of my support. ,

Something to Drink

2006-01-24T11:45:00.000-05:00

Adding Tart Juice to the mix, and it's about time really.

Have seen the Tart here and there, mostly at Spudville and Shakes.

With a post like this one, how could I not add Tart to my tiny blogroll linky list?

I love broccoli, but not that much! ,

Hikin' the River - Update

2006-01-23T14:00:00.000-05:00

Damn, no sooner than I talk about the river and the dangers of it, this happens:

Kayaker who died in James River identified
From NBC12 News
Monday, January 23, 2006
"Authorities have released the name of a kayaker who died in the James River over the weekend.
Karen Abse, 55, of Midlothian, was kayaking with a group of friends Saturday and got trapped under a pile of logs near Belle Isle. Police say there was nothing her friends could do to save the experienced paddler. "

I can't swim.
I catch a lot of grief about that from friends and family. I surf fish, fish the river, mountain bike, road bike, have run marathons, summited a 14,500 ft. mountain in Colorado, snow ski, basketball, soccer, camp, canoe, blah blah...but I don't swim.

When fishing the James, I almost always go alone, thus the crap piled on by my loved ones. They argue that one should not go out in the James alone, much less if you cannot swim.
My argument is: my inability to swim is the very thing that prevents me from doing anything stupid or dangerous. Besides, I carry an ID so if something does happen, the authorities will know who died. If I'm in a canoe I wear a life jacket.

I'll bet you anything that woman was an experienced and highly skilled swimmer, and that skill was useless as she was pinned down under logs. She was a skilled kayaker, she was pursuing her passion and her skill, and unfortunately the James River got her.

When biking in the mountains of Shenandoah, I considered it a victory if I made it off the mountain in one piece, limited blood and no debilitating mechanicals. Not a victory over the mountain, just a victorious ride.

Sometimes, the mountain would break my bones and break my bike. That would be a loss.

At any rate, the James River is beautiful and dangerous, proceed with caution. ,

Hikin' the river...

2006-01-22T11:33:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I took two of my nephews for a hike along the James River. Click on the pic for a larger shot, and you can see the two little imps sittin' on a rock.
This shot is downstream about a mile from my fishing hole where we started. The water is a bit high on this day. During the summer a lot of what you see in this photo is easily traversed without getting in water above your knee.

In the summer months, the water is lower, warm and clear, and upstream there are areas that you can wade into above the waist. That's where I like to hang out. The fishing is good, the current not too strong, and the osprey dive bomb for fish.

Generally though most of the river is pretty rapid and strong, and each year the river claims it's share of people. That means if I can't jump from one rock to the other and make that same jump in reverse, I ain't goin' any further. There's a lot of holes and rocks and timber below that current and if you get pinned you're done. Having spent a couple of decades in the river, I have routes ingrained in my head that I stick too. These routes are sometimes altered if we have a severe flood.

I love the river, it's one of the reasons I stay in this city.

OWL inspired this post, thanks sista! ,

As Regards Patriotism

2006-01-20T14:55:00.000-05:00

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 5 of Mark Twain's autobiography. Mark Twain responded strongly to world events, especially concerning imperialism. He had become a confirmed determinist, convinced that human beings lack moral agency. I disagree with Twain on this issue but do believe that probably more humans fit in that category as do not.
In "As Regards Patriotism" we see Twain struggling to understand how citizens of a republic can substitute "patriotism" for reasoned judgment. This work was compose about 1901 but was not published in Twains lifetime. Many of Twains works were just too outside the mainstream for publication at the time he created them.

“It is agreed, in this country, that if a man can arrange his religion so that if perfectly satisfies his conscience, it is not incumbent upon him to care whether the arrangement is satisfactory to anyone else or not.

In Austria and some other countries this is not the case. There the State arranges a man’s religion for him, he has no voice in it himself.

Patriotism is merely a religion – love of country, worship of country, devotion to the country’s flag and honor and welfare.

In absolute monarchies it is furnished from the Throne, cut and dried, to the subject; in England and America it is furnished, cut and dried, to the citizen by the politician and the newspaper.

The newspaper-and-politician-manufactured Patriot often gags in private over his dose; but he takes it, and keeps it on his stomach the best he can. Blessed are the meek.

Sometimes, in the beginning of an insane and shabby political upheaval, he is strongly moved to revolt, but he doesn’t do it – he knows better. He knows that his maker would find it out – the maker of his Patriotism, the windy and incoherent six-dollar sub-editor of his village newspaper – and would bray out in print and call him a Traitor. And how dreadful that would be. It makes him tuck his tail between his legs and shiver. We all know – the reader knows it quite well – that two or three years ago nine-tenths of the human tails in England and America performed just that act. Which is to say, nine-tenths of the Patriots in England and America turned Traitor to keep from being called Traitor. Isn’t it true? You know it to be true. Isn’t it curious?

Yet it was not a thing to be very seriously ashamed of. A man can seldom – very seldom – fight a winning fight against his training; the odds are too heavy. For many a year – perhaps always – the training of the two nations had been dead against independence in political thought, persistently inhospitable toward Patriotism manufactured on a man’s own premises, Patriotism reasoned out in the man’s own head and fire-assayed and tested and proved in his own conscience. The resulting Patriotism was a shop-worn product procured at second hand. The Patriot did not know just how or when or where he got his opinions, neither did he care, so long as he was with seemed the majority – which was the main thing, the safe thing, the comfortable thing. Does the reader believe he knows three men who have actual reasons for their pattern of Patriotism – and can furnish them? Let him not examine, unless he wants to be disappointed. He will be likely to find that his men go their Patriotism at the public trough, and had no hand in their preparation themselves.

Training does wonderful things. It moved the people of this country to oppose the Mexican war; then moved them to fall in with what they supposed was the opinion of the majority – majority-Patriotism is the customary Patriotism – and go down there and fight. Before the Civil War it made the North indifferent to slavery and friendly to the slave interest; in that interest it made Massachusetts hostile to the other way, and she went raging South to fight under that very flag and against that foretime protected-interest of hers.

Training made us nobly anxious to free Cuba; training made us give her a noble promise; training has enabled us to take it back. Long training made us revolt at the idea of wantonly taking any weak nation’s country and liberties away from it, a short training made us glad to do it, and proud of having done it. Training made us loathe Weyler’s cruel concentration camps, training has persuaded us to prefer them to any other device for winning the love of our “wards.”

There is nothing that training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach or below it. It can turn bad morals to good, good morals to bad; it can destroy principles, it can re-create them; it can debase angels to men and lift men to angelship. And it can do any of these miracles in a year – even in six months.

Then men can be trained to manufacture their own Patriotism. They can be trained to labor it out in their own heads and hearts and in the privacy and independence of their own premises. It can train them to stop taking it by command, as the Austrian takes his religion.”

Just a guess, but I'm willing to bet Mark Twain would've joined us in this event, in response to this event.

"So what?" would be the reply from some, some that no doubt would revere Twain if they had not studied his work thoroughly, only to see that they themselves might be the very product of which he often wrote about. ,

The War Prayer

2006-01-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

The following is an excerpt from The War Prayer, written by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1905.

"I come from the Throne - bearing a message from Almighty God!" The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention. "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import - that is to say, its full import. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of - except he pause and think."

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer. Has he paused and taken thought? Is it one prayer? No, it is two - one uttered, the other not. Both have reached the ear of Him Who heareth all supplicatons, the spoken and the unspoken. Ponder this - keep it in mind. If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it."

"You have heard your servant's prayer - the uttered part of it. I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it - that part which the pastor - and also you in your hearts - fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly? God grant that it is so! You heard these words: 'Grant us the vicotry, O Lord our God!' That is sufficient. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact in those pregnant words. Elaborations were not necessary. When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory - must follow it, cannot help but follow it. Upon the listening spirit of God the Father fell also the unspoken part of the prayer. He commandeth me to put it into words. Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle - be Thou near them! With them - in spirit - we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it - for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, or Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen."

(After a pause.) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak! The messenger of the Most High waits."

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

Clemens is more widely known as Mark Twain. ,

2005-12-25T11:47:00.000-05:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

"MFC!"

,,,,,,,,,,

Wiretappin' - Toe tappin' - Liberty slappin'

2005-12-21T14:49:00.000-05:00

Bush: That's right, I'm spying on all you muthafockers, have been and will continue to, whatcha gonna do about it? Broke a law? I ain't broke no goddam law, I listened to my lawyers and they told me what I wanted to hear, so what's the problem? Ya know, I handled this war the same way and it's going just fine ain't it? Unchecked power? Dictator? I completely reject that! You see, in a time of war, we must throw out all of the safeguards that made this country great. I tell ya, after 9/11, America cannot be America anymore. - ,

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead...

2005-12-20T14:30:00.000-05:00

Federal judge: Intelligent design unconstitutional

Must be one of those liberal activist judges!

Or not:

"Jones said those who disagree with the decision - the
first-ever federal trial on the teaching of intelligent design - "will likely mark it as the product of an activist judge." But the judge, a Republican appointed to the bench by President Bush, said "this is manifestly not an activist Court."

Ouch:

"In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science," Jones wrote. "We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents."

Gaps schmaps:

"The board's attorneys had said members were seeking to improve science education by exposing students to alternatives to Charles Darwin's theory that evolution develops through natural selection. Intelligent-design proponents argue that the theory cannot fully explain the existence of complex life forms."

(snip)

"The Dover policy required students to hear a statement about intelligent design before ninth-grade biology lessons on evolution. The statement said Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps." It refers students to an intelligent-design textbook, "Of Pandas and People," for more nformation."

There is a gap in the proven theory, so let’s throw the whole thing out! Wizards created the universe man! Or this thing. Wonder why the fundies get all freaky about those Harry Potter movies?

Lies schmies:

"Dover Area School Board members violated the Constitution when they ordered that its biology curriculum include the notion that life on Earth was produced by an unidentified intelligent cause, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III
said. Several members repeatedly lied to cover their motives, he said."

(snip)

"Said the judge: "It is ironic that several of these
individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy."

Hold up:

"The Pennsylvania ruling will do nothing to end the battle over the teaching of human origins that has plagued public schools since the Scopes trial of 1925," said Andrew Coulson, executive director of the Cato Institute Center for Educational Freedom. "It, and all the other cultural and religious 'school wars' that divide our nation, will rage on unless we do something about their root cause: our one-size-fits-all government school
system."

So one school should teach one "idea" of science and another school should teach another "idea" of science? How do you teach one set of students that the earth revolves around the sun and another set of students that the sun revolves around the earth? Go ahead, teach nitwit design, just put it in the appropriate place, such as:

"Reinking said the new board will likely move the subject of intelligent design into some undetermined elective social studies class."

Which is exactly where it belongs.

This whole thing reminds me of a certain president and a particular war.

Related links:
Yahoo News
Dover Area School District
National Center for Science Education
Thomas More Law Center
NPR - This is a good article, if you have time click the "Listen" link below the title. It's not directly related to nitwit design, it's more about the construction of the Christian religion.

In the meantime, how does everyone feel having Bush as a dictator? ,

This Week with Bush

2005-12-19T14:22:00.000-05:00

Let me sum it up:

We created a huge fucking mess in Iraq.
We claim we are the only ones that can fix this huge fucking mess.
We claim that Iraqi's want to be free and therefore rationalize the intelligence on WMD's that turned out to be totally false.
We must spy on our own citizens, to keep the citizens safe.
We must jail people we suspect are terrorists in order to protect the American people.
We must stand against torture of these suspects, so we ship them to other countries where torture is ok.
Osama bin Laden has paid no price for his terrorist attacks against the United States.
Vote Repubican.

I hear so many conservatives and Republicans bash bush, yet he enjoys a 70% favorable rating among this group.
"He does not represent me"
"He is not conservative at all"

Uh...so why is backed by the voters that say he does not represent them?

It's not looking good for us, no matter what side your on.

Ok, on to more exciting stuff:

Doxdesk.com

Shortly after I bought a home computer, I got bombarded with spyware and viruses. Doxdesk was a place I stumbled on trying to find solutions for my infected box. ("infected box" heh heh)

Doxdesk provided a lot of information that helped me clean my box ("clean my box" heh heh) and help me keep abreast of that kind of thing.

Doxdesk is also a true web log, long before the word blog was formed.
I urge you to visit and get your geek on.

Might as well, between the end timers, insurgents, terrorists, bird flu, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, droughts, global warming, and these idiots, the end of the world is right around the corner. ,

I'm Shocked!

2005-12-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

Study Links Bake Sales, Weight Problems

"MINNEAPOLIS - Schools that run bake sales and let teachers reward students with candy risk having more overweight pupils, a study in Minneapolis suggests."
(snip)
"Lead author Martha Kubik, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota, acknowledged her research doesn't prove that such food practices contribute to adolescent obesity, but there does seem to be a connection."
(snip)
"Her study's results make sense to Kevin Miller, principal of Fair Haven Middle School, which banned bake sales and went junk food-free as part of a districtwide program in the New Haven, Conn. Miller doesn't allow vending machines, and his cafeteria promotes healthy food.
Kids are actually eating apples and oranges instead of throwing them away. And because there aren't any candy wrappers around, he said, "our hallways are impeccable."

Who says common sense is absent in our American society? ,

"Focus on the Family" Freaks

2005-12-06T11:51:00.000-05:00

Argh!

"Last week, Focus on the Family withdrew its funds from Wells Fargo, citing "ongoing efforts to advance the radical homosexual agenda," according to a statement by Jim Daly, Focus's chief executive officer.
"Those efforts are in direct opposition to the underlying principles and purpose of Focus, and thus a decision of conscience had to be made and a stand taken," the statement
said.
Focus on the Family's primary complaint was Wells Fargo's support of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The San Francisco-based financial giant had agreed to match contributions to a GLAAD media campaign fund."

Go here for the rest of the story.

"SUMMARY: Wells Fargo Bank and Ford Motor Co. are the latest targets in a war to punish firms for gay-friendly policies, and, in Ford's case, one right-wing group appears to claim victory."

As Dorothy walks down the rainbow bricked road...
Wingnuts, fundies and bigots oh my!

I wonder what it will take for the human race to evolve to the point where we can call it human, and civilized.

Right now we're just dogs and rats.

Is that a cynical and bitter view? You betcha.

I guess I'm an idealist, I actually believe that humans are capable of getting along, of tolerance, of evolving, of striving for that day when we can take care of each other and celebrate the miracle that is the human animal.
We have such promise, such ability, yet we squander it all on petty matters while pretending they are important matters.

Ziggy Marley, We Propose:

We propose politicans learn, learn, learn
We propose warmongers learn, learn, learn
We propose fascists learn, learn, learn
Open your ears...listen to the people
We propose...
No one is perfect in this un-perfect world

Cripes, and it's only Tuesday... ,

Minutiae Bloggin’

2005-12-02T11:15:00.000-05:00

It's the end of the semester for me and between exams, work, family and politics I've become an irritable and bitchy ass, snapping at everyone and everything. In the coming year I will be reducing my class schedule, not obsessing over national politics, starting a new job, and maybe - even- kinda - possibly - almost - thinking about it - dating again. Not sure that last item will reduce stress levels, but we'll see.

Recidivist and Dr. C, as well as the other sites on my tiny blog roll linky list, do a superb job of keeping us informed about domestic and international affairs, so there is no need for me to muddy the waters with my ill-informed opinions and diatribes. My health has been suffering for it. Ha! I'm an angry liberal!

So, I think my little free bloggity blog will become less of a bitchfest and more of a recipe and informational web log. More personal stuff that's fun and light, mostly because I need to laugh at myself and hopefully provide a chuckle or two for those that do visit here, as well as those that happen to stumble across The Pepper Farm.

Enough trivial crap and on to the culinary diversion!

I've had a few gigs at restaurants in my day, plus being a consummate bachelor and loving to eat, my kitchen skills ain't too bad.

First up, one of my favorite Saturday evening dinners.
Have you worked in the yard all day? House cleaning? Chased crackheads out of the park? Well then, perhaps you deserve a sit down with your favorite dark brew and some blackened catfish.
It's pretty simple to put together and make, and anybody with an ounce of sense and taste can do it.
(click on any image for a larger, mouth watering image)

Here's what you need:

I prefer rice and broccoli when making this dish. Of course, those jalapeños rojo came from my garden, but the other items; broccoli, green onions (scallions), and garlic came from the market.

Chop all your stuff up and put in a bowl. It's a good idea to keep it separated and later you'll see why. I steam the broccoli, and sometimes I cut it up and sometimes I don't, that's up to you. Melt the butter in a bowl, and a larger one would be better than the one pictured. Put the rice on to steam, that normally takes about 20 minutes. I like to get that done up front as the rest of this procedure is labor intensive. Start the broccoli once the rice is finished, and let it go concurrently with the rest of the gig. It will be ready right about the same time the fish is ready.

Now, slather the catfish in butter completely, all over. Cover that with the blackened seasoning that you can get at any market. Use anything from Louisana, you can't go wrong.

This dish is best done in an iron skillet, but you can use a teflon coated pan as well, but things tend to burn a bit with that utensil. Also, it's recommended that you do this outside, because there is going to be some serious smoke created. I do it inside and open all my windows. The house stinks for a few days, but I like that smell.

Get that skillet hot as hell. Super hot. Throw the catfish on and stand back. Let it go for about 3-5 minutes on each side, depending the size and thickness of your catfish. No pictures of that part, as it's VERY smoky and quick, no time to play with the camera.

Ok, I'm doing two fillets here, so I wipe the skillet down with a wet towel and start fresh on the second fish.

Once the second fish is done, I throw the jalapeños and garlic in the butter and seasoning that's left in the pan:

After they have sauteed for about a minute or so, throw in the scallions. This keeps the scallions from getting over cooked and soggy.

Now, for the final touch: pour your favorite brew into a mug that's been sitting in the freezer. Normally, Guiness is my preferred beverage, however this go 'round I had a Yingling. It's barely visible in the upper left of the picture below. Spoon out the rice, place the fish and broccoli, and top off with the 'peno-garlic-onion mix and...

Laissez le bons temps rouler! ,

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-24T10:26:00.000-05:00

A Little Wednesday Humor

2005-11-23T14:28:00.000-05:00

Ganked this from the Disgruntled Chemist.

Enjoy. ,

Heavy Freakin’ Sigh

2005-11-22T11:15:00.000-05:00

Pretty fried these days.

No class this week but in the infinite wisdom of my college professors, they laid out enough assignments that I have more homework and papers to write than I have had during any one week all semester! Thank Guys and Gals! Two take home tests (history-statistics), a bibliography (history), a long essay and a short essay (literature).

My mom is moving into her new digs and asked me to come over and move a ‘few’ boxes into the pod in her driveway. TWO full days later I’m not done and will be heading that way on Friday to try and finish it off. No help from the dysfunctional elements in the family, meaning I’m the only one helping mom. Sad, no?

Wrapping up my time at the current job, and preparing for the new one. Long story there but one that I will not bore the few people that have stumbled here and read this far.

An old flame has come back to haunt me, and that’s the best way I can put that.

So, I don’t juggle but have at least eight balls in the air. Come the end of January most of these things will settle down a bit and the actual moving down the road as opposed to just building it will commence. That’s not to say there won’t be more construction as we get down the road, that’s called life.

Enough about me, let’s talk about everybody else!

From the AP, on the 4th of November, all emphasis, and snark added, my comments in green:

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 4,12:35 PM ET

President Bush's public support has eroded to its lowest level yet, with Iraq war dragging on, a top White House aide facing felony charges and the White House rushing to replace a failed Supreme Court nominee.
Ok, old news but pertinent.

Concerned that the president has lost his footing, some Republicans have suggested Bush should shake up his staff.
What clued them in? Why the concern now? Lost his footing? Where did he ever have footing?

A new AP-Ipsos poll found the president's approval rating was at 37 percent, compared with 39 percent a month ago. About 59 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved.
Remember, this was 18 days ago, he’s probably much more popular now!

The intensity of disapproval is the strongest to date, with 42 percent now saying they "strongly disapprove" of how Bush is handling his job — twice as many as the 20 percent who said they "strongly approve." Twenty percent strongly approve of Bush’s performance as president.
Obviously, twenty percent of Americans are meth addicts.

"This is the poorest excuse for a president this country has ever had," said Max Hollinberger, a businessman from Stanwood, Wash., who leans Democratic. He cited "the economy, going to war in Iraq for no reason, the way we can get to the tsunami victims before Katrina victims — the whole business."
Max is a Traitor! Liberal! Commie! Terrorist supporter!

A year after his re-election, Bush's second term has been marred by rising U.S. casualties in Iraq, a failed attempt to restructure Social Security, Hurricane Katrina missteps, rising fuel costs and his forced withdrawal of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers.
Oh I see, so he really has lost his footing, because you know, he had such a firm grip on reality from the beginning.

In a case involving the public naming of a covert CIA operative married to an Iraq war critic, Vice President Dick Cheney's former aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, pleaded not guilty on Thursday in federal court to charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying to investigators. The case casts a continuing cloud over Cheney and keeps Bush's closest adviser, Karl Rove, in legal jeopardy.
Really? Hadn’t noticed. I'm too busy pretending that everything is going to be ok.

Republicans are starting to worry about the 2006 elections and hope Bush can reverse his slide.
“…starting to worry…” Man those Republicans are quick I tell ya!

Several senior Republicans who are close to the White House and Rove say there has been a lot of talk inside and outside the White House about the need for him to leave, but they're picking up no indication from him or his associates that it's going to happen — at least anytime soon.
Power, as long as they have it, they ain’t going away. HELLOOOOO!

Neither Bush nor Rove has seemed to get the message, the Republicans say.
No, they don’t seem to get the message, they seem intent on their agenda, they seem like crooks and liars, and that’s being nice.

Democrats have kept up the attack. "The 2006 midterm elections will be our next opportunity to change the environment of corruption and incompetence in Washington," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday in a fundraising letter to Democrats. Reid has called for Rove's resignation and a "thorough house cleaning" at the White House.
Partially agree here. The ‘attacks’ have been withering at best, so much so I would not call them attacks. Reid is correct as far as a house cleaning is concerned, but the Dems need to get on the offensive and come up with viable plans to counter the current debacle that Republicans seem to be ok with. Don’t kid yourself, the Republicans are ok that things are crap, as long as they are in charge of the crap. They make more crap and then say “we can fix the crap”. A minor example of that would be the Iraq war and Bush’s reelection. I heard so many Republicans say THEN that Bush started this war, he needs to finish it. Wow, now there’s a reason to vote! Geesh. How can you expect the guy that fucked everything up to fix it? Only in Republican bizzaro world does that make sense.

In the AP-Ipsos poll, nearly one in five Republicans disapproved of Bush's handling of his job, compared with nearly nine in 10 Democrats. Nearly seven in 10 independents disapproved.
Four in five Republicans still back the president.
DING! DING! DING! There it is people, think about that and then read the following:
"I think he's done a wonderful job," said Gloria Bloecher, a Republican from Sherman, Texas. "He's done wonderful things for the economy. He rescued people who needed help in Iraq — it was the Christian thing to do. I still trust his people and the people he picks for the Supreme Court."
I think we need 80 million more of these people in our country, whaddya say? Rescued people in Iraq, while killing about 20,000 plus? I’m just guessing this lady is one of those anti-abortion pro-death penalty people, after all, it’s the Christian thing to do.

The president has lost support from some key groups of constituents over the past year. He's dropped 16 points in his approval rating with men in that time, 18 points with people who have a high school education or less, 16 points among Southerners and 13 points among Republicans.
The poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 31-Nov. 2 among 1,006 adults nationwide. The margin on sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Look very close at those numbers and groups, read it, reread it, and read it again.
Congress isn't faring much better. In early October, 35 percent of poll respondents approved of the job being done on Capitol Hill, down from 44 percent in February.
In December 2004, soon after Bush's re-election, 51 percent approved of his handling of his job, while 47 disapproved, and 28 disapproved strongly. Speaks for itself.

"I'm surprised it's not even worse," GOP consultant Rich Galen said of Bush's latest poll numbers. He cited three months of unrelenting bad news that have Republicans "beginning to scratch their heads."
There it is again, they’re scratching their heads now. Ignorance is bliss, until it shows up at your doorstep demanding entry.

Away from Washington, Republican leaders seemed concerned about Bush's drift downward in the polls and about Iraq, where the 2,000th U.S. military death was recently recorded, and less troubled about the CIA-leak case and the controversy surrounding Rove and Libby.
“…seemed concerned…” But Santa…can’t you just get in the sleigh and fly around with your reindeer and drop presents on everybody?
"...less troubled..." Screw corruption! We have an election to win!

"I think the war in Iraq being on the front page every day has taken its toll," said Van Poole, former Florida GOP chairman and now a Tallahassee lobbyist, who expects Bush to bounce back. "Americans are impatient. Whatever our job is, Americans want us to get it done."
Well, here is some honesty from a fool. Smart enough to think that the Iraq war on the front page every day has taken it’s toll, but not smart enough to make the connection that this war should have never been pursued. He’s not bright enough to realize that Bush will not bounce back even if he is encased in some sort of super bouncy rubber suit, but he is smart enough to unknowingly admit what non-Republicans (ie: sane world) have seen from the beginning: “Whatever our job is…” They don’t know, it’s that simple. And, they are/were attempting to cram that “whatever” down America’s throat which has FINALLY begun to vomit it back up and out.

It’s not just Bush, it’s the whole cabal in the White House. Bush is just a stupid fool and tool being used by the subordinates in his administration. Those guys have played that dumb little frat boy since day one, with the larger intent of invading and controlling the middle east, and have dragged this great country along for the ride. It’s a great ride ain’t it? Enjoying the view? Apparently 4 out of 5 Republicans do, and I just cannot wrap my head around that completely without serious doubt about the thinking process, or rather the non-thinking process, by which the rightwing can justify the actions of Bush and his gang.

Go here for a variety of news reports concerning our dear leader the repercussions of his wonderful leadership, as well as other peripheral reports and events.

Here is another news report that strikes me as a bit ironic. Bush constantly repeating “stay the course…finish the job”, yet the Iraqi’s want us out. More of that lightning-quick-thinking-on-your feet by our dear leader. Remember how decisive and quick he was when presented with the news that the Trade Towers had been attacked? Oh yeah, Osama, remember him?
Bush is a lame duck, a badly injured lame duck at that, and the only thing left for him to fight for is his own reputation, which is pretty well set in stone at this point, and not how he envisioned it. An impossible task as the sharks are now feeding on themselves. I’m guessing he just runs around the globe making appearances until his time is up or he is forcibly removed from office. Take the perks while you can you fool.

Alrighty then, I’m done spewing for the day, please enjoy yours. ,

Arm Pat Robertson

2005-11-11T11:43:00.000-05:00

That certainly would elevate him from being unbelievably comical to unbelievably dangerous.
Consider that for a moment; imagine if Pat Robertson had command of a military force that had the capabilities of the U.S. military.

God would be a part of all of our lives, regardless.

I saw his little diatribe against the town of Dover, Pennsylvania on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night after class and thought about writing extensively about this fool but then figured I have too much to do and too little time to do it, so I’m going to sponge off of other peoples work to entertain my Robertson post.

S.Z., owner/operator/genius of World O’ Crap has taken ol’ Pat to the proverbial woodshed in her own unique way. Go give it a read when you get the chance, and while you’re there enjoy the other rhetorical beatings she dishes out.

When I lose my cool, get all red-faced and angry, ready to cap off a few wingnuts, I try to head over that way for a comical look at the idiocy that abounds in our wonderful society.

I’m no internet doctor, but if you are experiencing indigestion, a pounding headache, a heartache, or are on the verge of exterminating your neocon neighbor, take one World O’ Crap, toss it back with a shot of your favorite juice, and you might just feel better in the morning. If that doesn’t work, try it again. If that still doesn’t work, use a stiffer juice and maybe compliment it with a toke or two.

Try it out Doc, it might help. ,

Unusually Warm November

2005-11-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

And I'm lovin' it.

With the cost of natural gas skyrocketing this winter, I'm hoping the 60+ degree days last well into December.
Don't want to turn on the furnace 'til I see frost on the inside of my home.
Last winter, the coldest temperature recorded inside my house was 44 degrees Fahrenheit which is 6.6 degrees Celsius. That was downstairs, and it got that cold inside my humble abode because my furnace broke during the coldest part of the year and I didn't have the cash to fix it, and my own attempts failed.
$350 later, it's up and running.
You see, I'm in class 3 to 4 nights a week anyway, so it's ok if my house is an iceberg. After class I grab all my study material, put on the flannel jammies, and finish off my school work in bed before I go nite-nite.

What a glamorous life I lead.

Ok, back to the original intent of this title and subsequent post:

Schwarzenegger is being blamed by his fellow Republicans following his trouncing at the polls concerning his ballot propositions:

"What was defeated yesterday was a caricature of Arnold Schwarzenegger, not the reality of Arnold Schwarzenegger," Republican consultant Kevin Spillane said Wednesday.

Those Republicans are funny aren't they?

Tony Blair is getting to know what it feels like to be Bush and unmasked:

"Today the terrorism bill was receiving a relatively uncontroversial third reading in the Commons before it goes to the Lords - where even the compromise solution of a 28-day detention period could face a rough ride. Earlier today, Michael Howard repeated his call for Mr Blair to go, conceding that the
prime minister would probably still be here this Christmas - but that next Christmas was "another matter".
And in the Labour backbenches, rebel MP Paul Flynn warned that the parliamentary Labour party would no longer be Blair's
"poodle".

Bush is pure destruction plain and simple. Everything the guy touches turns to shit, and although Blair does not appear to need any help in that area he buddied up with Bush all the way. Ignorance does love company.
(better analysis and better commentary on Blair from the Dutch transplant himself...o shit I meant Dane transplant!)

The Asia Times reports on Bush the capitalist and how his foreign policies are anything but business friendly:

"The Bush administration has a reputation for creating an unusually business-friendly White House. Put Vice President Dick Cheney's secretive Energy Task Force and massive tax cuts together with corporate lobbyists writing regulations for their own industries, and you've made an argument that seems
pretty persuasive. There are reasons, however, to consider a contrary notion: Maybe President George W Bush and Cheney aren't very good capitalists at all.
Bush's history as a failed businessman is well known. Cheney, portrayed by conservatives as a brilliant ex-chief executive officer and by progressives as a Halliburton shill, also has a suspect past."
(snip)
"The Clinton administration served as a steady advocate for building a cooperative, "rules-based" international economy - a multilateral order known to critics as "corporate globalization". The Bush administration, while purporting to be interested in issues such as "free trade", has offered up a very different
set of policies. Aggressive and unilateralist, it has fashioned a new model of "imperial globalization", which has even put multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization, decried by globalization activists, in jeopardy.
Rather than working through such bodies, the current administration has regularly shown intransigence in international negotiations around trade and development; it has focused on tying its aid for other countries directly to its
militarist prerogatives; and it has tried to deny war-weary "Old Europe" its traditional role as a junior partner in the globalization endeavor. In the process, it has begun dismantling an international order that served multinational corporations very well in the booming 1990s, and facilitated their rise over the past 30 years."

Had to post that bit about Clinton, I know how much the right loves the Clenis!

The Asia Times also has a very informative article on Al Queada and some of its inner workings. Pretty good read if you have the interest.

Tim Kaine won the governorship here in Virginia despite Bush making a last minute airport stop to support Jerry Kilgore. I really don't think Bush had an impact one way or the other by his airport stop, but may have had an impact because he sucks ass as a President and Kilgore is party line towing - conservative culture of life - all about the death penalty - Republican.
Or maybe it's because Kaine and Warner together made great strides for Virginia and did what needed to be done, instead of towing the party line and playing politics. Hopefully we will see more of this type of politician enter civil service for both parties.

That's a fairly good article about the Kaine victory and the political makeup of Virginia, if you have the interest.

Let's see, what else is making the sun shine?
I have a ton of school work to do but the semester is over December 16th and the next semester starts January 9th. I love school, what can I say?
I have a lovely new job prospect on the horizon for the new year.
And, after a bitter and horrible relationship that drained me of every bit of energy and trust and nearly cost me my life, I might just be ready to venture out and about again.
There is a cute French lady that moved into the cube just down the hall about two weeks ago, a research scientist no less. As luck would have it, French is one of the languages I will be taking in the semester after the next.
Peut-être cette dame assez française serait intéressée donner des cours particuliers m'en français dans le commerce pour un gentilhomme méridional comme une escorte autour de l'état de Virginie, de même qu'autre placer nous pourrions aimer aller, non ? oui ?

There are more reasons for this unusually warm November, but this is enough for today.

Carry on. ,