American Homo

senescence

2011-09-16T20:17:00.001-04:00

somethings missing
some things
I'm missing them
I'm not alone
nor just along for the ride

several symptoms occur
normally involved
in randomness
laxadaisical
heh

aimless, not
unfortunate except
for granted thoughts
elusive waves are feeling me
feelings

upwards again
and in again
and not enough for it to spend
upon its reason
it won't last

but for now
I wander wondering
stop that 'cause of course
I know
I almost always know

sloppy, I leave it the way it comes
too much goes
when somethings missing
some things I need more of
but can only make myself
with help

again

A Snowball's Chance

2011-03-22T19:11:00.003-04:00

As were a pebble or a ball of ice

suspended on the precipice

the drop below would not suffice

to sway into or closer less

the wind would have Its way

As diving for its prey the raptor

so did our friend go forth

and though the wind, a careless captor,

thought nothing of his poor life's worth

fate and luck held sway

So early on the path was figured

and soon the slope did fall

and though it seemed at times configured

to hold him in its palm

the mountain had its say

Down yonder go thee! To the floor!

Down go thee all the way!

I shall hold back your fall no more

lest thou be content to stay

at rest upon my bosom.

So growing with the mountain's coat

of snow and leafy spoils

oft by hard rock was it smote

and slipped past as slicked by oils

of some savagery of nature

With each hard fall and sudden slam

his size did bulge and swelling

from pebble to a well fed ham

with gravity compelling

ever faster towards the bottom

Would think, perhaps, there would be times

when the path would clear for miles

yet though it seemed straight as these rhymes

did he crookedly down defiles

The trickster gods' own slalom

This is where I am now

This is where the story pauses

Halfway down the mountain, How?

With forced and sundry clauses.

My life begins to be mine.

am i am

2011-02-22T19:21:00.004-05:00

i am far too far away from you

and you are closer than you know

than any other would care to come

to feel what is inside me

what calls me to be complete

without constraint of thought or fear

i am too far away from it

and yet it closes in

ever nearer to my head

to the holes in my heart

and my thoughts drifting

always back to it

the way of the world before tomorrow

i am too far gone from then

and still its hold upon me lingers

cloying as the muck of the swamp

to my clothes and skin and thoughts

avoidance is no option

and running in the sand a sham

an excuse to keep on breathing

i am so much closer now

to something I can believe is real

which is pulling me to its warmth

as if now were someone who could care

who would see me as I always have

in my head

in my dreams

in my fantasies of what might have been

had I lived a "normal" life

i am so much closer now

i hope i don't fall down too hard

i know how to rise

i don't know that i'll want to after this

or maybe I do

just maybe I still do

dawning brighter

2011-02-02T20:01:00.001-05:00

I'm thinking on things I need to mend

old wounds I've kept open

developed skills which fail me now

passionate pleas which must always fall upon deaf ears

because they aren't aimed correctly

even though my accuracy is impeccable

I'm facing up to failures denied

belittled and bemused by my own apathy

have I fallen into disrepair and anguish

painful to behold and yet held up as mettle

it is emptiness embodied

it is loneliness entombed in light

the light which only shines forth dimly

I'm canceling my tickets to the ball

to the far flung reaches of imagination

where I've always known I'll never go

but, dreaming of it, have ignored the here and now

and passed on far too many small wonders

given up this chance or that

for some delusion held so dear

it drains my life of spirit

I'm putting out the weary fire

the flickering candle of despair

which has lit my way through life

for all these many years

though often I have dimmed its light

and hid the flame behind my back

as, knowing deep inside, I questioned its source

and begged myself to heed the truth

before the shadows swallowed me

whole

I am still

and forming

daily into more

of what I'm meant for

today

2011-01-05T17:40:00.004-05:00

today is rough
I feel the panic seeping in
not like before
with the ways and means
I used to hide behind
underneath the netting
like covers pulled over a child's head
to keep away the bogeymen
from whom I run

today is slow
I wonder why it comes again
so like before
its creeping tendrils
telling me it's coming
I can't hide
don't bother, but I do
knowing nothing but the want
afraid that I won't run

today is long
it wanders like the crooked river
meanders to an end
nature's grades guiding to falls
just as she does for me
in infinite fractal branching
forging futures
fatalistic and magnanimous
where I might run

today is good
oh, I know it doesn't feel that way
not in these still desperate moments
not with the panic seeping
slowly out and away like the tides
away from the beach of solace
leaving behind the stench
of that from which, of course,
I cannot run

today I breathe
know that which I must clear away
with my own two hands
my back breaking
my head filling up
with aromas so inspiring
so despised by now
and desperate to be without them
do I run

today I would close down
except that I cry out
electronic silence the deepest sighs
soul all akimbo
liminal in some enchanted way
amassed of fortunes
under appreciated until recently
as panic began to wane
I glimpsed the place to run

today is good
tomorrow will be as well
and I will run no more
today is good

It Is Here

2010-12-15T04:14:00.001-05:00

again I lie
it forces its way out through
my teeth

staring into
eyes of amber chocolate
beauty

so true this time
and again not everything
real

I am the wolf
who strives to be the white prince
of dreams

whose soft kisses
open her eyes to life worth
living

silly smile
locked in that way I can't help
feeling

these worn down fangs
promising everything She's
wanting

delivers us
into temptation's empty
belly

where both of us
wallow in our happiest
sorrow

it is here now
awakening to facts not
pleasant

reality
all of those sweet times brushed off
falling

onto my soul
where I will choose to believe
or won't

again I lie
wearing truth's better Sunday
clothing

still just rags
these grand imperial clothes
bare all

baby don't call me buddy

2010-12-09T18:12:00.003-05:00

evening fallen empty again
and so full of everything
that might not have been
would never have become this
wonderful, vagrant friend

kissing softly inside my head
when the sun has settled
behind the far side
shadowing me and my dear friend
to writhe in comforting emptiness

this sport is wild mad insane
and willfully indulged
where no one but the ghosts
of satisfactions never born
can cheer us on and wave their arms

occasionally I'll notice something
wrong it seems but sweet your song
brings me down again to trespass
upon the most natural of things
to lose myself where no one sings

and though outside my door
do people wander and endure
their own sweet nothings poured
out by their own most natural
of nature's whores begotten

they must be less than nothing
for my own is so intensely mine
and only wanting more each time
do I embrace it once again
to fall and swallow all your pain

fallow my mind is hardly so!
it simply seethes with cares and woe
the images my friend does bring
instill such fear and hope enticing
bleeding me out of my mind

but darkness always lifts again
too soon! where is my empty friend
without whom now my life begins
each sun's light rising into morning
another chance to move along
before my friend will find me once again

Believer

2010-12-01T19:50:00.000-05:00

I don't now need
to believe
as hard as I once so truly did
when I was all angst and invective
against the gods
and all their sundry
creators

Is it insensitive
to care far more
for your mortal coil
then for the spin which life
for you has propelled
some kind of order to
this madness

Essences frothing
foaming and devoting
countless little nothings
each of their own
beyond the pail
each with grasping
hands and minds
believing

Awareness settles in
at last I see
at least I see
something more than mere belief
erupting like a plume
of magma from a new land's
birthing cauldron

In salt and wet
unwholesome sweat
and benign accompaniment
of little things
which no one thinks about
lest we be rousted
from our sleeping

For now too long
I have thought about them
though there can never be
enough of thought
expressions of a mind
evolved in trees and
the floor of the world
wide and free and terrifying

Is dreaming still
the night's watchman
the guard upon whom
all lives depend
to waken them
when hyenas roam and salivate
for childrens' flesh and marrow

I believe it's so
but let me be the first
to say that I know not
what favors
mystical unknowns
might deign to bestow upon
our fair and foul
family of humanity
within the jungles
of our complex minds

So wherein lies
the tale teller's crux
that oh so many
believe his sorry tellings
on the screens
and waves of modernity
and soiled by sellings
of mere things to boost morale
to slaver for new needs
to be fulfilled

It's all in the enigma
it's three slight pounds
it's lobes too three
it's aloneness
in the darks of nights
intent on being
someone something gleaming
chrome and bright
which all might to believe in

A portion of our time
elapsed and lost and ruined
yet still alabaster
in pristine and innocent
unconsciousness
alone together
none as one except
in special circumstances

How is the end
to ever come
for ever and the new beginnings
the airs we breathe
and sighing leave behind
to those who
come after all unwilling
until each shall find
our own means to believe

And with believing
cold willing
or the passion of
the fireplace on plains of
ancient dusks' heartless landscapes
and god's
relentless
laughing

Believe believers
or failing that
buy your ways from darkness
it's only what we each are owed
for this life with which we're playing
whether by the rules
we're given to believe in
Or simply until our leaving

shame and remorse - four innocents lost

2010-11-29T04:24:00.006-05:00

I want it out of my head
I want it done with my life
I want it over and done with
I want it finished influencing me

Nine with a need to discover
Seven the guard above covers
Five in blissful attendance upon her
Four an annoyance why must he be here

Two for my own at her pleasure
One mystery to unfold at my leisure
Oh but Four has gone and befouled her
Repulsive a longed for and beautiful treasure

So back to the start again groping
What was it for which I was hoping
A mere child without tools for coping
Alone with three other souls all unknowing

Forty years later and the denial
From others who'd failed this trial
For they in their innocence fading away
Found comfort in letting go of any such day

As might lead to their failure being forced into the open

Where she on her own had already let go
Of the other who couldn't be told since his rage
Uncontrolled would betray them all and destroy them
Denying their chance to recover their sweetly lost full potential

Forty years on and still holding
Candles unlit and shadows unfolding
Peace nearly here my pace finally slowing
As griefs piled high are the proof of unknowing

Innocence lost is not lost for all time
Tragedies' costs carry interest that's fine
For the truth is always available to the mind
Which opens itself fully in hope of some sublime

Ascendancy into the knowing
Life free again to grow how it may
No remorse shame or fear of not knowing
No remorse shame or fear of not knowing

in the empty bottle

2010-02-01T17:40:00.004-05:00

i'm not going to murder
this man that I love

but I know him like few others
no
like no other

and i loathe him
with all my heart

i am wounded and not afraid
to cry about it

like a little girl
forget the boy i've always been
never had a chance
to truly be

exalted in my pain
i am pathetic and deserve ...

far from in love and there
always there
and alone

in dreams and other blissful days
when manic i am

in reality abolished nightly
daily recriminations boil up

falling down the rabbit hole of
my poor me poor me poor me

empty
nothing left to pour

emo mojo rhyme

2008-12-23T06:05:00.003-05:00

Somewhere in the middle
of nowhere, senseless
at the bottom of the top
or the top of the bottom,

Against a backdrop of two score
and three years of greyness
filled with spots of light and darkness
stars and holes;
Bright stars, pitch dark holes,

I would as soon press God into my service
as service such an ogre myself.
E'en as Lucifer, Prince of Lies though he Reign,
would cast away his chance for His love.

An be there Prologue
should beget such horrid honor?
All things have their precedents
in wishes and chance.

Would that I could explain
in Truth, with fictions left to day dreams,
then so might I understand
faults, unrepentant,
and return, at last, to Heaven.

Yet, when Passion is diminished
and the font of Hope turned dry,
some glamouries fetch me back
to sit upon the stones, in doubt.

Would that If would end;
that pity and its fuel, hope,
would leave off and send me no more rope,
hovering relentlessly.
The Morningstar sets free whom He saves.
-

Fucker... what a waste.

Two Haiku

2008-05-06T06:09:00.001-04:00

My foot, tasting burned
Still I munch it. Ecstasy!
No rare occurrence

For a friend.

Sanity subsumed
True/False light envelopes me
Hopeless? Not as such

For me.

Wish I Was Here . .

2008-04-08T20:00:00.003-04:00

. .

fasm push 'em
lost an' roll
crock-a-dill
dilly
over the pole
holp
nope
I can't
but would I
could I
nonsense
none of it
all, now,
run dry
"Pinklequickle", my ass...

tumult

2008-01-17T06:10:00.000-05:00

Rantamble? How 'bout strollin'...
'round about and
far too much lollin'
but that's alright
may be should be
which is oh! so frequently
how it's done
anyhow

along I came
and there I go
succeeding
failing
what's to know
that I can't grasp when
times do come
until it's done
damn! it's done

so now to truth
and sense it so
the wind inside
it swirls slow
as longer
shorter
fuller now
I am again
what once
was how

but all of that
is not to say
that things once done
have gone the way
of dreams and potions
taking lightly
sweetly sipped
no longer nightly

pain escapes
and eases me
into the past
the futures be
all of my time
though wasted still

or what
what will ...

acCid3nt 0f b1rt4

2007-11-30T06:02:00.000-05:00

just this once
nevermore and only
unless because
because well
you know
what if I didn't

what if I didn't take that chance
and I was left
yet again
hanging in the wind
the cold
the emptiness of being
me
alone
as usual

and then again
I feel that I'll change
I don't
I don't have any reason
for that feeling
maybe it's just hope
that shit I won't abandon

even on the edge
so far away now
so far away

On Wikipedia, it goes like this:

"The artist is nothing without gift, but the gift is nothing without work." - Émile Zola

Either way, I'm still one lazy, unmotivated sumnabitch... Catch freakin' 22, eh.

Silence

2007-11-25T12:18:00.000-05:00

I'm so fucking messed up. I mean, sure, most of us are to some extent. I know that. I'm just more so and further along then most "normal" crazy people.

Even explaining that makes it seem enormously apparent.

C'est la fucking vie.

I can't help this longing
...
and I wanted to believe ...

I need a white wave.
I need ...

ego distended

2007-11-18T18:13:00.000-05:00

...in vainglory
emptied of all but life's shade
...gladly let go by the way

sadly informed
...of madness in grey
and spectral colors

...lonely for all
and slept in
...unatoned, bereft

seduced by others'
...realities long lost
vacant and unadorned

...simplicity answers
mocking
...in the know and smug

lest somehow
...somewhere
......everything falls into place

and I breathe again
...still yet to sample
the silence of forever

On the Ebb

2007-10-03T06:05:00.000-04:00

Of a course and so it matters
and now so sorely so
that lost in shreds and ghostly tatters
disjointed ideas
ebb and flow of colors prime

Limping forward, pulling free
towing me along
a question, hard, once heard howling
screaming out
its same unanswered song

A darkness piercing brightly
in fullest emptiness
here, take this
what is left 'me
I did not seek its kiss

Through eyes ripped wide
and wrinkled shut
through purpose lost
a tuneless rut
In timbre, hue and what I feel
though ringing true
yet far from real

As all those
timeless
faceless
moist and empty dreams
I recognize in everything
the goal of all my schemes

Escape away 'til sunrise sets
reality's great weight
upon my neck
And opens up the gallows' door
falling away
the scrawl of Love's face
fallen away

Not yet
arise
get up
meat needs turning
bread is on the rise
the wine is fit to drink

Another sun and moon
have their stories to tell
their song still left to sing

True . .

2007-09-26T18:25:00.001-04:00

. . and False.
Whilst true that many lifelong habits - both those with which I'm good and those I'm still to kickin' - do hold prominence in my daily being, it is even more accurate to say that those habits from the first half have been built up or whittled away to form the background on the canvass which is the evolving critter that be me.

So, I totally get where dude was coming from. I just ain't locked down with it, eh.

By the way, clickin' the pic takes you to the same place that it does when clicking on it from the iGoogle home page. If you don't use it yourself, it's just one of dozens of distractors you can add to your own.

/unpaid-shill

Son of Sam Cooke

2007-09-22T20:18:00.000-04:00

I think I need this
Saturday night head clearing
Time to get some sleep

Saturday sans Sun

2007-09-15T06:52:00.000-04:00

But it's only 6:30 in the AM, so that'll change soon enough.

Apocrypha

less absent than common sense
apocrypha on the lips
tips of tongues and spewing
regularly imbuing small lives
with larger self impressions

holding court in absentia
delayed gratification becomes anathema
when what one wants
is only never to be thought the other
apocrypha lends credence to one's claims

echoing elements of others' tallest tales
longing (though of course not showing it)
for the admiration of one's own
an acknowledgment that one is all alone
and still steadfast denial, rebuttal of the same

in subtle ironies missed too often
still plays, whole scenes, brief captions
formulating plans for local domination
of the world which is not everything
except for all that matters anyhow

apocrypha elucidates the simplest
clearest sign of life, la joie de vive
too powerful to bear aught but a wink
a nod
a shrug of the shoulders as the moment passes
eternal
ephemeral
esoteric and surreal but

all too common in our own and only world

Have a beauty day, eh.

Porn Bush

2007-09-04T19:47:00.000-04:00

Well, it sure don't grow on trees.

*
*
*

By the way, if you click on the pic, it'll take you to the explanation via der Spiegel.

"...some people . . don't have maps..."

2007-08-27T22:10:00.000-04:00

Well. There ya have it.

I guess the point is that, assuming that she's at least 18, of course, I'd do her.

NEXT!

I'd say "poor kid", but she'll probably be rich in no time.

{sigh}

Hmmm... I just thought of something else. Maybe I'm being optimistic (call little miss sunshine, eh) but, maybe this child will see herself being a complete and total freakin' stereotypical idiot, and decide to maybe take her self a little more seriously. I'd say her odds are 30-70 in favor.

{shakin'head}

cogito ergo. . uhm... What?

2007-08-19T19:09:00.000-04:00

Der Doctor is in Da House! Or he was on this topic back in his school daze 'tany rate, at which time he chose to take to task teh Science, as well as its more (IMO) obfuscatory opposite in the arena of Explanations, Religion. It seems that the good Dr. Zaius has a bit of a problem with how both of them utilize the Unknown as a source of their surety.

Hmmm... Perhaps a wee example is in order.

95% of what is around you is unobservable by any form of scientific instrumentation, according to science. Our model of the universe only accounts for 5% of what we can observe with any instrument known to man.

It is not a matter of some unseen force might be possible in your mind or imagination - it is a matter of some unseen force must exist, or science itself is talking through its hat.

This substance could be anything; we don't know what it is. This would mean that it is entirely possible that a vast portion of the universe may be made of large quantities of invisible Cheez Whiz - Or to use a phrase that might have a bit more irony, according to the Big Bang Theory, it is possible that at this moment that we are surrounded by "invisible pink unicorns."

Well, say I in my atheistical indignation. Poppeycock! Balderdash!! Gibbering Ginormities!!! You're misapprehending what it means to be seen! Science can undoubtedly be utilized to observe the unobservable. It just needs, for soothe, to utilize that most imaginative of unimaginary artifacts of existence; Mathematics. With numbers, which can never lie (though paradoxes might they multiply,) one, or any, and eventually many, an otherwise unobservant assayer of the modes and forms of empirical reality (errm, toi et moi, et al who would for that matter) may decipher and discern at both the most microscopic and creatively cosmic of levels that which is both true and sound and inevitably to be found to be the whole, wide, vast and sure expanse of All Reality.

We just ain't gonna do it before Tea*

And yet, I am just a softy. {sigh} There's little, . . hell, who am I trying to kid? . . There's no chance of me using said tool on my own. When it comes to math, I'm quite illiteratively, all thumbs. None the, others can, have, and will do so further in the future, and folks such as I are generally able to follow along. At least we are when given respect for our intellectual limitations, rather than the abusive utilization of those same which the Religionists must employ in order to survive despite their delusional, though often sublimely beautiful, drivel. That's simply part of the nature of teh Science. It takes Training, and dedication, but not even a scintilla of teh Faith is required. (Though, for folks in need, such a thing has inarguably proven helpful in getting us through some rather tight spots. Again, at least IMO.)

Whilst scientists, like Shamans and Witches and Priests (oh my!), are merely human and, thus, subject to each their own quirks of personality in the exposition of what they've experienced relativistically as individuals, the by laws of Science have evolved in gross opposition to the essential elements of Religion.

Religion says that no knowledge is new. Well, if it is, then it supports (somehow, don't know. we'll work that out later) the previous Gospels (Edicts, Prophecies, What have yous) which were laid down and set forth in the Past. If it contradicts what has been established, then it is wrong. (Even if we change our minds later, and forget to tell you, but instead just act like we'd always known and had said this all along.)

Science says that knowledge is available, if we, or any sentient beings, can develop the methods and tools necessary to ascertain it.

The most fundamentally hallowed proposition of Religion is that Truth® has been revealed in the past.

The most elementally important tenet of Science is there is always more to know.

Ahhh, well. As I commented on the good Dr. Zaius' site, "There is no God. Science doesn't say so. I do... " The ellipsistical is, as I hope I've established in this rather manic** rant, essentially unimportant. But if you got a kick out of reading my rejoinder to the Doc's post, then I highly recommend clicking on over to read this post's impetus.

And, regardless of disagreements, whether well-writ or poorly, I do gladly say "Thanks Doc!" for giving me blog fodder for a drizzly Sunday afternoon.

* Eh, I think I've a British reader or two left "in da house". (Alright. Enough of that phrase. Promise.)

** I used to be fairly certain of it when I'd say that I'm not manic-depressive. Just madly so. Que sera, sera, eh. I've always heard that the manic phase was, despites its desperate after-effects, a state of high creativity. Maybe assuming such proportions to my situation will help to me gettin' my lazy arse to writing more stuff and more frequently. Please, don't to be counting on it. Hmmm, or ag'in it, for that matter.

{-;

S & T o I

2007-08-19T08:28:00.000-04:00

It's Just The Normal Noises In Here

i'm spiraling down
and outta control
up's comin' the ground
oops
missed
hit a hole

so farther I sink
and longer I fall
reach out
grab a link
to try and forestall

these black dog days of august

I Keep Forgettin' . .

2007-08-11T07:04:00.000-04:00

. . that I too have wings.

Especially when I get to feelin' as such.

Thanks to all y'all, my wings.

Enjoy!

sin scan

2007-08-04T20:41:00.000-04:00

i wish i had a mirror
a projector
a still life juxtaposer

not unreal
faked in electrons
drawn on ether

reality
shining forth
from within my head

when in rome
why don't the romans notice
its not important
anyway

it's just what I wish
what i want

but we've already established
that
that means nothing

at least not
so far

Just sayin'

2007-07-29T11:34:00.001-04:00

angular sensations
of ruby red pulsations
where love's gone dry

in over-rotten divets
of earthen sunken riv'lets
that once held hope

for sun to come and bathe one
but not in such a lingerin'
as that which seared the dream

only time
only freedom
only
only
only
everything

nothing comes of waiting
in void of fresher baiting
old hope peeks in

lost counting holding open
the class devolved not moping
for what can't be found

when blinding is the weather
of azure sky together
the blackest of the starless nights

only hope
only freedom
only
only
only
time to fade

to nothing
to see here
move along
move along

Well, maybe, maybe not, eh.

L8

Theftage for the Sincerity of the Thought

2007-07-25T06:55:00.000-04:00

starting over . . again

down
trundling
lazy as she goes

two turns on the
big wheel
hang it all

as the river flows
so dies
the dream long passed chance

and, believe it or not, that's a Good Thing.

Not been in much of a bloggin' mood of late. No worries though. Is just cuz I'm sucked into a book's universe. I'll be back after - or more likely during - the sadness of its ending.

L8!

Opportunity Lost?

2007-07-21T12:55:00.001-04:00

Walking such a jagged edge is a danger on its own. The risk of collapse would seem a fatal one for a vehicle with a life-span of a mere 90 days; especially when the wee mechabugger has already survived 10x that long in its explorations of the red planet.

As it turns out though, a less controllable, natural occurrence - one which has previously helped prolong the Mars Landers' mission - could well be the final Decider on this N.A.S.A mission's timetable. When the Martian winds rise, lifting dust to soar at sunlight blinding heights, the outer limits of Opportunity's ability to maintain its electrical functions may finally be reached.

Mars Rover Struggles to Weather Severe Dust Storm

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 21, 2007; Page A02

The hardy Mars rover Opportunity is struggling to stay alive amid a severe and long-lasting Martian dust storm -- posing the greatest threat so far to the unexpectedly long-lived vehicle.

The series of dust storms has blocked 99 percent of the direct sunlight that the rover needs to generate power, and on Wednesday, the panels were generating only 148 watt hours -- barely enough to keep the vehicle functioning. Without power to warm its electronic instruments and computers, the rover would grind to a halt for good.

"We're rooting for our rovers to survive these storms, but they were never designed for conditions this intense," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

There's still a chance she'll make it through this storm, though the odds do finally seem against it. None the less, here's to a job well done, and hope for more to come.

Shrubbie's Choice

2007-07-11T21:38:00.001-04:00

I rarely even bother arguing how much better he'd be if he'd just choose reality for a change. Dude, and too many others on The Hill, are so deep in denial as to the real problems with our "Democracy" that, as is the case with a whole lot of folk, my frustration levels have entered the nausea zone.

Will Impeachment, even of Cheney, take place?

I doubt it.

Will the next president, still most likely to be a Democrat, really work towards restoring balance to the interests which get served by Washington?

I really doubt it.

Will the average citizens, middle class folk who've got A LOT but could always use more, get sick enough of losing meaningful protections of their interests, rights and opportunities that they'll demand our politicians start putting them before the interests of those at the top of the economic food chain.

Not yet, is my guess.

I don't quite see us entering into a Matrix-esque world, or even any kind of 1984ish nightmare. I do see more wars, an ever-widening gap between Rich and Average (not to mention, poor!) and an influx of refugees from the results of power politics and global climate change which are Bound to overwhelm the resources of this once incredibly adaptive country.

THEN I think we'll see those other changes. You know; once it's nearly too late.

Classic(al) Paranoia

2007-06-30T19:03:00.000-04:00

I clicked over to Tube central for something else, a little George Carlin medley, and accidentally ended up on this page.

Didn't think I was gonna like it. I mean, who could possibly have any reason to slam dear ol' Pacobel?

Enjoy. I definitely did.

So, How's that Online-Dating thing goin'?

2007-06-18T06:05:00.000-04:00

I wait too passively. It's a fairly simple concept to occupy one's self with other stuff while waiting for what you can't do any more to effect.

I'm finally getting better at that.

Sun rising hotly
Sweat beads on shoulders and brow
Time wasting away

is it easy?

2007-05-13T06:52:00.000-04:00

if not then fuck it.

I'm not doin it

i'll let it slide. let it go. let it be.

without me.

Anyway, it doesn't matter anyway.

any way.

All I do is want Want WAAAAANT!!!!!!!!

it's easy

even though

it doesn't help

anyway

. . wise hungry fool

2007-04-01T07:43:00.000-04:00

Zen matters an a
'ssociative disorder
learning how to play

{blowin'smoke}

2007-03-27T06:11:00.000-04:00

Dante Shakespeare

2007-02-24T09:07:00.000-05:00

I hope, therefore I am glad that I am.

We Can Stop Their Spying Eyes

2007-01-31T05:44:00.000-05:00

And the Electronic Frontier Foundation has just the form to counter BIG MONEY's* Lobbying efforts against such a Constitutional necessity.

Tell Congress to Investigate the NSA Spying Program

Over five years since it first began, the NSA's massive domestic spying program remains shrouded in secrecy. Recently, the Bush Administration announced that it has let the shadowy FISA court review the program, but that's not enough -- the President must abide by the law and answer to the traditional court system, Congress, and the American public. Use the form below and demand immediate Congressional investigations.

Three federal courts have already rejected the government's bogus arguments and allowed cases to go forward regarding the secret surveillance. With its back against the wall, the Administration has finally conceded that judicial review should be involved at some level.

That's welcome news, but the President is still trying to dodge meaningful oversight. While claiming that the secret FISA court orders legalize the program, the Administration has refused to let anyone else see the orders and confirm key details about what they permit. EFF is skeptical that they actually satisfy the strict requirements of current statutes or the Fourth Amendment, considering the broad program of dragnet surveillance alleged in our case against AT&T for its role in the program.

Congress must do its job and help uncover the truth about the program. Take action now to protect the checks and balances that define our democracy.

* I call out "BIG MONEY" here because the folks for whom Bu$hCo is working don't care about the details of how their bought-boy's (and girls, of course) go about their business. They just want their ability to run their business around the world and as they see fit. Screw any Liberties, Rights, Freedoms which don't curtail the consumers' ability to spend Spend SPEND to the end.

To be sure, Under capitalism man exploits man. And under Communism it is just the reverse. That's what you get with any system which isn't regulated via Reason and constant Refinement as the system evolves.

namaste

How To Help Congress End the War

2007-01-31T05:31:00.000-05:00

Just another quickie to follow up on yesterday Feingold post.

This is the Progressive Patriots Fund newsletter from last night. Excellent stuff and I def did sign on.

L8

Today I am chairing a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Congress's constitutional power to end a war. It's far past time for the war in Iraq - one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes in our nation's history - to end and for our troops to be safely redeployed. Because the President has abdicated his responsibility for far too long, it is now up to Congress to get our country back on track.
But I can't do it alone. I need your help to demonstrate the public support for using the "power of the purse" to force this administration to begin to redeploy our troops from Iraq. I hope you'll join me by co-sponsoring my resolution to redeploy our troops.

Click here to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor

While I will vote for the non binding resolution being offered against the so-called "troop surge" - as I already did in Committee - we all know that much more needs to be done. Congress holds the purse strings and if the President continues to move forward with his failed Iraq policy, we have the responsibility to use that power to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq.

Today's hearing will help inform my colleagues, and the public about Congress's power to end a war and how that power has been used in the past. I will soon be introducing legislation to use the "power of the purse" to end what is clearly one of the greatest mistakes in the history of our nation's foreign policy.

Click here to sign on as a citizen co-sponsor

Our open-ended presence in Iraq encourages the insurgency, and adding more troops with no end date in sight only adds more fuel to the fire. There is no higher foreign policy priority than making America safer and getting our nation back on track by redeploying our troops out of Iraq. Once again, I hope you'll consider co-sponsoring my resolution. As always, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Honorary Chair, Progressive Patriots Fund

P.S. I've recorded a new video podcast on Congress's power to end the war using the "power of the purse" – be sure to visit our website to check it out!

Living in the Pre-UK

2007-01-30T19:09:00.000-05:00

I read a little about this discovery towards the end of last year. Now we get more details and, as is always the case with anthropology and archaeology, now there's even more to wonder about.

Cool.

Ancient complex discovered near Stonehenge
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writer
3:02 PM PST, January 30, 2007

-----
The henge, about 1,400 feet in diameter, enclosed a series of concentric rings of huge timber posts. The team now knows that the posts mimicked Stonehenge in all particulars save one — its orientation.

Stonehenge is aligned with sunrise at the summer solstice and sunset at the winter solstice. The henge at Durrington Walls is the exact opposite, aligned with sunrise at the winter solstice and sunset at the summer solstice.

The evidence from the houses indicates that there was a massive mid-winter celebration marking the solstice to complement the summer celebration at Stonehenge.

The team excavated eight houses at the site and magnetic anomalies indicate that there are at least 25 more nearby, Pearson said. "My guess is that there are many more than that," he said. In fact, the entire valley appears to have been densely populated, he said.

The relatively flimsy wattle and daub walls of the houses are long gone. What remains are the densely packed clay floors. "These are the first ones we have found with intact clay floors from this period," Pearson said.

"The houses are virtually square, no bigger than the average sitting room — about 14 feet by 14 feet," he said.

They feature a central fireplace, an oval hearth sunk into the floor. Slight indentations around the walls mark the location of timber fittings for box beds and a dresser that stood opposite the door.

[Hop on into the Way Back Machine folks]

Feingold

2007-01-30T06:54:00.000-05:00

From a Senator who won't run for President but, in my opinion, has the most integrity for that august position of anyone on the Hill.

Breaking Another Iraq Taboo
----

Americans are not looking to Congress to pass symbolic measures, they are looking to us to stop the President's failed Iraq policy. That is why we must finally break this taboo that somehow Congress can't talk about using its power of the purse to end the war in Iraq. The Constitution makes Congress a co-equal branch of government. It's time we start acting like it. We have a moral responsibility, as well as a responsibility to the brave troops whose lives are on the line, to end the war. We can and must force the President to safely redeploy our troops so that we can get back to focusing on those who attacked us on 9/11.
Tomorrow, I will be chairing a full Judiciary Committee hearing entitled "Exercising Congress's Constitutional Power to End a War." This hearing will help remind my colleagues in the Senate and the American public that Congress is not powerless - even when it acts that way. We have the power to stop the policies of a President that continue to hurt our national security. Soon after tomorrow's hearing, I will introduce legislation to do just that.

Now go read what he's up against...

On So Many Levels

2007-01-29T04:53:00.000-05:00

Retro got me shakin' m' noggin' at some crazy 80's goofballery (err, thanks? lol!) but while on teh 'Tube, I quickly found another variety of Crazy to cleanse my musical palette.

Enjoy!

Shiny Baubles

2007-01-28T17:50:00.001-05:00

'Twas gold which brought twin towers
down
from wings of steel
aluminum
through kerosene fueled clouds
'Twas gold, though black and crude

'Twas naught but heavy
empty wealth
which to this day resounds
in halls of power
trading blood
for oil

And still is that
which brings us all
to ground beneath dark soil

Time
in steady cadences
6 billion now abound
within our own lone sacks of skin
our own accounts
accruing

less than nihilist
disregard
does all this sorrow
engender
resolve for what
can not
come next
defers concerns
for Peace on Earth

Gold distracts believers
shiny baubles
luring thought away
leaving devotions secure
for the delusional
to entertain themselves
while shadows
close upon
everyone

----

I'm sorry that I can't capture the painting very aesthetically. After 5 attempts (this time around) on my little 300kb phone-cam, I finally decided that this would have to do.

It was a gift from a wonderful no-longer-red-state blogger buddy o' mine. Well, her husband is the painter, so I s'pose I owe the Skimmer the apology for my poor presentation of his excellent work.

Regardless of all that, many are the times I've sat pondering this painting as I sit at my computer, wondering of what to post, or who to read next. Abundant are the thoughts which go through my mind on what the colors mean, why the fade below, the separation from the blue skies above? Often I sadly imagine those damned planes flying into the scene, obscuring again the amazing achievement of human artifice which both brought them into being and, then more tragically (and recently too,) brought both those towers and the illusions of invincibility of a great nation crumbling to the earth. Changed forever.

I'm more of a lyricist than a poet so I tend to make my poetry without any standard metrics guiding it. I write and re-write each line as they come to me, and then work the whole to flow as feels most relevant to whatever theme they're describing. All I'm getting at is that I know that's a bit "unskilled", but it came to me and feels right as a description of a majority of my thoughts whilst viewing the painting.

I hope, though the thoughts are indeed sad and not resolved, that the poem manages to effectively convey my feelings about the painting, as well as on the state of my nation and the world of folk at large.

namaste

Ehren Watada: American Hero

2007-01-28T07:19:00.000-05:00

Here's another one of those Op-Eds I'd like to share in full.

If anyone reading here made your way to D.C. on Saturday, please feel free to share your experience or a link to your own blog about such.

Good mornin' all!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Watada points out our responsibilities

By JOE COPELAND
P-I COLUMNIST

If Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada has some extra hope this morning about ending the Iraq war, Americans can take a little credit. Toward the end of last week, the 28-year-old officer who courageously refused orders to go to Iraq was hoping for good turnouts in anti-war events planned for Saturday in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

After four years of quiescence in the face of a wrongly launched war that has gone from "Mission Accomplished" to what a top commander finally confessed is a "dire" situation, Americans ought to demand a change of course. Change requires more public involvement than voting out a few congressional incumbents. National protest organizers hoped for up to 300,000 people to march Saturday.

Watada has had the courage to point out citizens' responsibilities. As he awaits a court-martial beginning Feb. 5 for acting responsibly and refusing to serve in what he regards as an illegal war (he volunteered to go to Afghanistan instead), Watada is allowed to travel up to 250 miles from Fort Lewis. He has been telling groups in Seattle, Tacoma and elsewhere that citizens have the power to end the war.

His honesty isn't surprising, and asking people to take responsibility doesn't at all go beyond what Watada expects of himself. When most of the country was still following President Bush's post-Sept. 11 admonitions to go shopping, Watada decided to enlist in a delayed-entry program while he wrapped up studies at Hawaii Pacific University.

As we went to war, Watada believed the false talk about imminent danger to the United States and weapons of mass destruction. His views changed as he read up on Iraq in preparation, as he put it, to be a better leader of troops under his command. Instead, the growing knowledge led him to become the only commissioned officer known to refuse Iraq duty, acknowledging from the start that he might have to carry the imprisonment that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other practitioners of civil disobedience felt was their responsibility to accept in calling attention to wrongful government policy. In Watada's case, the prison time could be as much as six years.

Watada talks about a small group that regularly protests in Seattle. But, he asks, "Where are the other 600,000 people in Seattle?"

More than anything, I wanted to know from Watada what he thought others of us should be doing. He starts with where his journey began: learning about our country's actions. Then there is the matter of doing something. Action certainly started with the November elections (although, as Watada points out, the turnout means only a limited number of people sent any message).

Without more pressure on national leaders, it's not safe to assume they will change the country's course. The Iraq Study Group's bipartisan recommendations to start withdrawal planning got tossed. Generals seem willing to complain publicly about missteps, but only after they have their pensions. Unless better in the way of preventing needless deaths of U.S. troops and Iraqis is demanded by the public, members of Congress likely will settle for -- at best -- resolutions of disapproval for the war's escalation. Non-binding resolutions will just draw snarling dismissals from Vice President Dick Cheney. But maybe members of Congress think they can satisfy voters by saying, see, we told the president what a mistake he was making.

Watada said, "No longer can we say, 'Oh, the Democrats will take care of it. Or, the peace activists will take care of it' " and simply go about our lives.

Staffers to politicians have told him that their bosses listen to the public. "But you know what, if it is the same person calling over and over," the call is very easy to dismiss, he said.

He thinks more individuals need to speak up, and organizations -- churches, labor unions, student groups and faculties -- need to lend their voices. And he thinks the public should tell big donors to speak on their behalf and demand the media go beyond their "lazy and inadequate attempt to cover the news."

As someone occasionally shocked by the behavior of fellow Vietnam war protesters, I wondered how a conscientious young soldier of this generation looked at street demonstrations: Will protest lead to the kind of divisions and lack of regard for U.S. troops seen during Vietnam? "That is why knowledge is first and foremost," Watada said. "We need to come together as Americans." We need to understand, he said, that simply being there is inflaming rather than improving Iraq.

Watada is idealistic enough to expect a lot of people to act. He has been disappointed in the amount of attention his case has received in most of the media. But, he said, "I think my stand and my case have raised the level of awareness and thinking about what we are doing in Iraq and what our soldiers are being forced to do."

Beyond knowledge, though, is action, whether it is writing a letter, making a call or getting out of our chairs to make our views known.

Joe Copeland is an editorial writer and member of the P-I Editorial Board. E-mail: joecopeland@seattlepi.com.

Philosphical -v- Empirical Knowledge

2007-01-27T13:08:00.000-05:00

If I don't promise myself to be brief, I'll end up saving this as draft and not be able to share something I think is very important vis-a-vie some comments regarding the "Smokers' Weak Point Identified" article on which I posted*.

The comments which prompted this post were both logical and sensible in their call for caution, or their expressed revulsion at the idea of hacking our brains to keeps us from doing other, perhaps less damaging or repugnant, things to our bodies.

While I've really no disagreement with either of those admonitions, I don't really think that anything in the article suggested anything like what they were cautioning against. I probably should have been more articulate in my presentation, but since I wasn't then, I hope that I can be so now, and perhaps clear up any misunderstandings. Of course, it's quite possible that there weren't any of those. Caution is after all an exemplary feature of any research involving the understanding of a biological structure as complex and extraordinary as the brain of Homo Sapiens.

I feel the need to start with a reminder that the man in the article had accidental damage occur via a stroke which destroyed a portion of his brain. Annihilating that part of the brain is emphatically not what the findings suggest as a cure for the addiction to smoking which ensnares millions of people, just like me, the world over. My excitement is that the episode, well documented and supportive of previous discoveries vis-a-vie the brain's architecture, provides knowledge of the results of our brains' components in a direct and extraordinarily definitive manner. Similar occurrences are what gave rise to the research discussed at the end of the Guardian article which I quoted in full.

This is knowledge without which we would continue to be utterly in the dark about the physiological processes which make so many folks be as we are when it comes to giving up Cancer Sticks and other deadly addictions. (I'll leave Dr Dawkins to argue - quite convincingly, IMO - that religion fits in that category quite well.)

I've stated before my understanding that Philosophy can only illuminate so much, and when it fails to provide readily apparent conclusions, a failure it must always face to some extent, it leaves our fantastically intellectual capacities open, in the form of our imaginations, to the perversions of Religious Beliefs; results of fear out of our ignorance which, whilst naturally evolved to console and defend (and entertain?) our psyches, have the ultimate result of keeping our minds from securing the empirical reasons for the "demons" which confront us.

As with removing tonsils, an organ which, once along the path of human evolution, was required for staving off infections, but has since become (possibly during our rising from quad to bipedalism) more a cause than a cure for such phenomena, occluding biological functions may or may not be the Best Thing for everyone.

The findings in the Science study give me hope because they give us knowledge beyond the philosophical realm of educated guesswork. They provide actual empirical evidence which can be considered in order to supply more efficacious means of treatment for folks who Will Die or, at the very least, lead horribly infected lives because "praying for strength" is a placebo which quite simply, and via ubiquitous demonstrations, is absolutely worthless to so many of us.

They say necessity is the mother of invention and it's readily apparent that we often have need for crutches to get us through a time of healing. I think its easily agreed that the invention of crutches follows from the necessity of their function. Just as aspirin (or analgesics in general) dull pain so that we can be more relaxed and allow our bodies to heal naturally with more effectiveness, it's my great hope, my belief even, that drugs which may result from this line of research will provide folk the time and release from philosophical pain we need to Do the things we know that we must, naturally and of our own - often extremely tenuous - Free Will.

namaste

* Silly Humans is my original, and still primary, blog. It's the place where the referenced post can be found.

. . . it was only a kiss . . .

2007-01-20T06:19:00.000-05:00

So I had this dream where I kissed my friend, lightly, on the lips. No biggy, right? She asked me, "why?" and kissed me again, the same way. Then again...

I got cold sweats and woke up.

There's nothing there. Not like that anyway.

I'm back to thinking 'bout goin' to the UU church my sister attends. I simply need more friends...

A State of Trance

2007-01-19T05:33:00.000-05:00

Whilst my clubbin' buddy would look at me aghast and wonder just what the hekk I've been smoking, this show from Wolfgang's Vault is taking me to just such a groovy internal place.

Shake, Oh! Shake It Sugaree!

If'n you need a little more assistance trippin' down memory lane, here's some pics of a nearby show on the same tour.

Thanks again to mi 'migo Jack for turnin' me on to this site. You'll need to provide an eddress to check it, but the only drawback seems to be that they'll then let you know, once a week so far, when more good stuff is available.

Enjoy

Google Goodies - Fantastic Photos

2007-01-17T05:27:00.001-05:00

I've made Google my Home Page because of all the neato little gizmos you can add. There're the typical Headlines and Scores and such, but my favorite part is the Tabbed Pages.

This picture is from a gizmo called Interesting Photos of the Day which I've included on my Fun Stuff tab. The gizmo cycles through presumably random Flickr photos and clicking on the currently showing pic takes you to that photographer's photostream.

Thats how I found this following scene from any of thousands of incredible fantasy novels. Click on the pic to see it really large. I would totally love to be in that space.

Happy Humpday all. . .

++++++++

Unless otherwise noted, all posts on this site are cross-posted from Silly Humans. All posts from SH won't necessarily be on here though. Just - I don't know - randomly and as I feel like or have the time at the time of posting.

For now.

{-;

Diversity Days

2007-01-15T15:28:00.000-05:00

Happy Marting Luther King, Jr Day!

So many people roll their eyes at this "bank holiday". We (yeah, sometimes I've a done it too) shake our heads and proclaim it just another silly reason for kids to get out of school, or teachers to do even less than so many folks (emphatically NOT including me) seem to think they do. MLK Day is one holiday which the children of Trickle-down Ronnie's legacy do shrug off as hardly worth their time to acknowledge, much less have personal cause to celebrate.

With this new research, as presented via the WaPo by Shankar Vedantam, the empirical evidence that Diversity within our great America Melting pot is both desirable and efficacious towards our long-term health and growth, continues to pile up.

Businesses, Politicians and Reactionary Fundamentalists take note:

In Boardrooms and in Courtrooms, Diversity Makes a Difference
By Shankar Vedantam
Monday, January 15, 2007; Page A02

*****
Cedrick Herring has just completed his study. He found that companies that are more diverse have more customers, a larger share of their markets and greater profitability. In fact, when Herring puts his numbers on a graph, he finds a linear relationship between diversity and business success, meaning that as diversity increases, those business indicators increase in step.

"Those companies that have very low levels of racial and ethnic minorities have the lowest profits and the lowest market share and the lowest number of customers," he said. "Those that have medium levels do better, and those that have the highest levels do the best."

Herring got his results by obtaining data about diversity levels and business performance from about 250 companies. He verified the information with independent statistics from Dun & Bradstreet Corp. and documents filed with the federal government. The 250 companies are representative of all U.S. businesses with more than 10 employees -- from the restaurant down the street that employs a dozen people to multinational corporations with thousands of workers. Herring found the same relationship between diversity and business success whether a company was large or small.

While Herring's study points to the benefits of diversity, it does not directly address the contentious question of how it should be achieved.

As a good scientist, he is cautious about the result and says it does not prove that companies do better because they are diverse. What the study shows is a correlation between diversity and business success. While diversity could be the cause of better business outcomes, it is also possible, for example, that companies that are successful to begin with do a better job of attracting and retaining minorities.

[For the whole of the article]

Rather Than Remove All Doubt . . .

2007-01-07T10:27:00.001-05:00

A Praise Post

2007-01-07T07:36:00.000-05:00

Everybody's doing it, so why can't I?

Ooops. That's of the Cranberries (another, slightly lower key, favorite.) This post is to pimp Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American*.

Again.

This group of (then) twenty somethings made a record back in '01 which still makes me feel my age of 41 (spelled t.h.i.r.t.y. o.n.e.) and which I just can't seem to hear or recommend enough.

A Praise Chorus
...

I'm on my feet
I'm on the floor
I'm good to go

I wanna always feel like
part of this was mine

I wanna fall in love tonight

---Chrimson and Clover
---Over and over (repeated behind chorus)

Our House in the middle of the street
Why did we ever meet
Starring in my rock-n-roll fantasy

Don't don't
Why did we ever part
Kickstart my rock-n-roll heart

---(end C & C)

I'm on my feet
I'm on the floor
I'm good to go

I wanna always feel like
part of this
was
mine

I wanna fall in love tonight
I wanna fall in love tonight

I wanna always feel like
part of this
was
mine

I wanna fall in love tonight
I wanna fall in love tonight
I wanna fall in love tonight

Even though I know I ain't nowhere near freakin' ready to fall down that rabbit hole again, this is one of those bands that keeps me wanting to get back to wanting it.

Favorite cuts have gotta be:

-- A Praise Chorus (See above)

-- If You Don't, Don't

If you don't know, why would you say so...
( no shit, eh.)

-- Sweetness -

I was spinning free with a little sweet and simple numbing me.
What a dizzy dance.
This sweetness will not be concerned with me.

-- Bleed American

(I bled the) greed from my arm.
Won’t they give it a rest now?
(Fuck You, George Bush! Fuck You Fuck You Fuck You Fuck You Fuck You FUCK YOUUUUUU!**)
Salt, sweat, sugar on the asphalt.
Our hearts littering the topsoil.
Tune in and we can get the last call.
Salt, sweat, sugar on the asphalt, our hearts littering the topsoil.
Sign up it's the picket line or the parade.

-- Your House

If you love me at all, don't call.

-- Middle - Also one of my favorite videos evah. I all too often feel like the kid a'wanderin' thru and not connected to the revelry.

Enjoy!

* All lyrics as I interpret them or as found on this site.

** errrummm.. Sorry. My little interjection always seems to fill the gap in the lyrics, there. :)

So Long, and Thanks for All the . . . Beatdowns?

2007-01-06T05:56:00.000-05:00

Cowher resigns to spend more time with family
Associated Press

PITTSBURGH -- His was the best known jaw in the NFL, a jutting block of granite that perfectly reflected his toughness and passion for winning.
----
Cowher resigned Friday after 15 seasons as the Steelers' coach, a job he probably could have held for life -- or, at least, for as long as the 23 years predecessor Chuck Noll held it. The Steelers immediately began searching for a new coach for only the second time since 1969, a span when other NFL teams have had as many as 15 coaches.

Cowher was one hell of a competitor and I remember being totally bummed when Pittsburg hired him back in the day.

The Brown's needed a head coach as well at the time (actually the year before) and, even though dude was from the Burg, he had both played and coached for Cleveland. Browns' fans knew him. We loved his sideline to sideline energy and in-your-face but on-your-side bulldog style and most people were completely stumped by the hiring of Bill Belichick to replace has-been but great guy - and former Pittsburg Defensive coordinator - Bud Carson. Not a few folks 'round these parts think a Cowher hire may have helped prevent He Who Shall Not Be Named* moving the team to Baltimore. I ain't one of them, but it's all part of the Lore of Woe and Lamentation** which has become part and parcel of being a Brown's fan nigh these past 40+ years.

Ahhh, well. That's all I've really got to say on the topic, other than to wish the Chin a pleasant retirement and to thank the Rooney family for their dedication to rational salary expenditures and loyalty to people who exemplefy what is good and honorable in the world of professional sports. Cowher's reign o'er the Black and Gold has been the longest of any head coach in the last several decades. That's something incredibly unusual during my lifetime, and his record surely indicates that such has been a Good Thing for both the city of Pittsburg and the NFL as a whole, IMO.

Salute! And don't let the door hit ya in the ass on yer way out, ya bum!

{-;

* Art Modell, in case you're wondering. I just like to play with the silly religious emotionalism inherent to Fandom. I really can't be holding grudges, especially when the old man had a least one sound and rational point in making the BAD BAD BAD BAD Move. {sighhh}

* Thanks for putting "lament" in m' noggin, AIF. {-;

Understatement of the Year . . . Already!

2007-01-01T07:44:00.000-05:00

Ho Ho ho ha hahahahaha . . . Ohhh . . . Excuse me while I finish laughing my ass off.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed at a New Year's Eve service at the Vatican City in Rome that 2007 would bring the world "peace, comfort, justice." But he cast a cold eye on some secular New Year celebrations, saying such social "rites" are "often carried out as an escape from reality."

As if it needs the emphasis! LOL! Thanks Bene. Way to get the new year bouncing with irony ya silly ol' Homo.

Okay. I may just be a bit slap happy, as I just got in from a 3 hour drive back from a fantastical "social rite" of our own in Detroit. I was just checking headlines to chill out before hitting the sack and simply had to comment on the Papal Delusionist's little contribution to 2007's birth.

What a wonderful world!

Happy New Year everybody!

Te[t]chy Judges, Arent They

2006-12-30T08:29:00.000-05:00

In a 2 to 1 decision yesterday, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it would not accept the judges' brief on a legal technicality, saying the title "judge" should not be used to describe former judges in legal proceedings. The court is examining whether "enemy combatants" should be allowed to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.

[The (poorly reported) rest of the story...]

I say "poorly reported" because the article fails to clarify to what specific "title" the Appeal's judges are referring. What was the title of the FotC brief they submitted?

How can one possibly come to a conclusion as to the value and legality of their decision without seeing the thing upon which it was based? Must the WaPo generally leave their best, most comprehensive coverage for their reporters to do on their personal time?

Arrrhhg . . . Anyhow, back to the reason for the dismissal.

The appeals panel's more conservative judges, David B. Sentelle and A. Raymond Randolph, issued the opinion, with Judge Judith W. Rogers, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, dissenting.

Oh. Wonderful . . .

I'll be checking SCOTUS blog - not something I do often enough - for the missing clarity on this one.

Only (Almost) Human

2006-12-30T07:27:00.000-05:00

The Artist's Model

Thanks to the Omnipotent Poobah for the link whence was found.

Mind Reader?

2006-12-30T05:44:00.000-05:00

How else could a woman born, raised and living in Iraq have possibly known what I've been thinking?

My only conclusion is that the Americans want to withdraw from Iraq, but would like to leave behind a full-fledged civil war because it wouldn't look good if they withdraw and things actually begin to improve, would it?

Riverbend of Baghdad Burning

I suppose she's not the only one.

H/T to Sumo.

Ed's Note: This is my Cynic talking. I think Bu$hCo wants things nice and tidy before we leave Iraq*. As long as that country's government is amenable to American hegemony in the field of Oil Production, of course.

* A politically improbable possibility I'm afraid, but convinced 'tis true.

Searching . . .

2006-12-28T06:53:00.000-05:00

Imagine a Geometrically Perfect Tool for Peace

2006-12-25T10:12:00.000-05:00

I've waited a couple of days to share this, as Comandante Agí has already used it as his musical post for peace.

None-the-less, since it's been #2 on my listening list this holiday weekend, and Maynard does indeed so seriously rock, I present to you a remarkable, and in my opinion, magnificent remake of a pop culture masterpiece.

Imagine the Light of our combined personal efforts towards overcoming the Darkness of hubris, duplicity, greed, and despair.

♫♫ ♫♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

No notes to follow those notes this time. I just like the festive flavor they provide.

Kill Switch --- Engage!*

2006-12-25T08:56:00.000-05:00

Hhmmm. . . I just realized that every post since this one has been tolerant, positive, optimistic, up-beat or down-right sickery sweet and happy for the holidays.

This. Just. Won't. Do.

Now, while I take back none of it (and really can't stop listening to BG an' Neddie's Opus o' Yule!) I do have to confront the reality that I'm a 41 year old double-divorcé, (semi)manic depressive and an under-educated, amateur politi-blogging, atheist non-breeder with few active fleshbot friends, the best (perhaps) of whom is away in NYC for the long holiday weekend, thus leaving me alone again, naturally**.

I awoke (alone again***, let's not forget) this morning to the (redundant) realization that that so-called "Saint" Nick ain't coming down my chimney, even if'n I had one in this black mold infested (but easily affordable) brownstown on the near west side of a (formerly) Red State (formerly) steel town in the (cardiomyopathically**** challenged) Heartland of America.

Lucky for me, I read so many blogs that I'm almost always a day or two (or 10) behind, so old posts frequently appear brand new pour moi, and I am able to rekindle the War Effort via teh Librul-Baby-Geesus-Hating Underground.

Thanks for the linkage, "Miss C"! Irony is Beautiful.

♫♫ ♫♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

* Some Conservatroll over on Bobby Lightfoot's used the name of that band to poo poo my man Bobby's awesome expression of angst over his life in the music industry. Being a sometime Metal maven, I seriously love (no. I ain't gonna be embarrassed 'bout that shit, either! {-;) the sound of the band name. Kill Switch Engage! What the . . ? Guess I'll go ahead and add that to my litany o' woes in this post's 3rd paragraph.

** Yikes! I never listened to all the lyrics to that one, eh. (I mean, why?) No worries, folks. My Dad ain't dead, and I'm not throwin' m'self off no towers. Terminal, or otherwise.

*** What's that mommy? No one will ever love me like you do? But.. but.. {shudderererererererer....}

**** {another-shudder} Yeppers, folks. I know that could very well be the mirror image of MY own heart, begging me to quit effing smoking already.

♫♫ ♫♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Thank you non-existent gods, God and goddesses, for teh fucking Internets!!!1!1!Q!1

Merry Chris'mas! ! !

{-;

Both Sides Now

2006-12-23T15:14:00.000-05:00

This is a cross post from Silly Humans. I'll be doing this with a lot of new posts, originating on either site, in order to decided whether or not to make this my main site.

This story is a prime example of why I Am Against the Death Penalty: "... nobody is above the rule of law."

[Link] (W)hat makes (Abdul-Rahman al Lahem) such a formidable foe in the courtroom is his own strong background in sharia.

Until the late 1990s, Lahem -- who holds a degree in sharia -- was an Arabic teacher and an activist with the conservative Islamic Sahwa movement. Like most Sahwa adherents, he wore a long traditional white robe and let his beard grow long and scruffy, considered signs of piety.

His mind-set was similar to that of the austere Wahhabi judges he now battles in court, he explained with a wry smile.

Teaching in the isolated city of Hafr al-Batin, about 250 miles northeast of the deeply conservative Qassim region where he was born and far from his closed Sahwa circle, he discovered different Muslim thinkers, such as the Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi. It was the first time that Lahem, then in his mid-20s, had read anything outside the official Wahhabi version of Islam taught in school.

His transformation took an even sharper turn when he enrolled in law school in Riyadh. Unlike his strict religious education, his legal studies required ordered, logical thinking, not learning by rote. Students could also argue and discuss concepts with their professors, something impossible in the rigid hierarchy of sharia school.

"From the first class, I fell in love with the law," Lahem said, extracting a Marlboro from a front pocket and lighting it. "I started learning to depend on my mind, not just on ideas I'd been spoon-fed. It was wonderful. I felt as if I had found something I'd been looking for for years."

[For the whole of the 3 web-page WaPo story...]

People can change when given opportunity, support and objective information. You can't bring back the dead, but redress for even the most heinous of grievances can be had in many forms.

Death both prevents such restitution and is an extreme and nearly indefensible penitance to force upon another human being. Unless, of course, you follow archaic proscriptions for emotional retaliation and enforcement of your own beliefs onto others.

The hurdles Mr al Lahem must leap are also why I am so proud of and adamantly supportive of my own nation's secular Constitution.

No one nor no thing is perfect, but some things really are obviously better than others.

Happy Holidays all!!!

Reason for the Season

2006-12-23T15:09:00.000-05:00

This is cross posted from my primary blog, Silly Humans.

Happy and Healthy Solstice wishes to all y'all around the world, from a singular silly human on the North Coast (one of 'em anyhow {-;) of America.

Love and Light Folks!

Love and Light for all!

And, yes, that does mean everyone.

Happy New Year* too . . .

♫♫ ♫♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

* Is how I'll be ringing it in. {-;

a Point on a Line

2006-12-11T07:12:00.000-05:00

You can't hide those flyin' eyes

2006-10-28T09:22:00.000-04:00

This one takes a while to load. Hang in there, eh.

Tip o' the silly-hat to Shakes' Sis. You GOof grrl! {-;

Make your own eyes at http://www.flash-gear.com/eye/

You Too Can Call for Impeachment

2006-08-21T19:09:00.000-04:00

Just in case anyone "next blogs" to this, my usual front of Silly Humans has instructions posted on how blogger folk (but not beta-blogger folk like this one is) can replace their front-end with a message for the United States Congress on September 1.

The idea is from a site called Impeachnet and it's a call timed to make those running for Congress in the November elections, as well as those already "serving" terms, aware of how angry and dissappointed people are that they have not yet called for either Censure or Impeachment of our current Chief Executive, despite his having been rebuked twice now by the Courts for operating outside of his Constitutional mandate as President.

The more the mightier, eh folks.

Wee Test

2006-08-17T09:33:00.000-04:00

I blog on Silly Humans. This is just a test for kicks and experimentatin'......