Saturday, March 28, 2009

EARTH HOUR 2010


I won’t wait for next year’s Earth Hour to start doing what I should already be doing.

In less than one hour I hope to turn off computers, TVs, (my clothes dryer just finished drying some towels), and ALL OF THE LIGHTS inside and outside of my house.

The clock is ticking and I’m trying to remember all of movies and books with DARK or DARKNESS in their titles.

(Time is running out)

It’s Not Dark Yet by Bob Dylan
(I’m Listening to it right now)

Darkness At Noon
(I need to read it).

Shot In the Dark
(Scary. It’s the only movie that ever left me so scared that I was unable to get up because I was shaking so much.)

Darkness by Lord Byron
(Scary)

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
(It’s a dark book too.)

Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd
(I listened to it for the first time while watching a documentary on the Vietnam War)

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS...

AND THEN TURN OFF THE LIGHTS?

Yes.

But not tonight.


Tuesday, March 24, 2009

GIZMOS GADGETS & GIMCRACKS




Clutter.

Stuff.


Junk?


We all have
it.

Some of us have more of
it than others.

Many of us have
it, but forget what it is that we have.

The meaning of
it here can mean many things.

I saw on TV a couple who could barely walk, sleep, or even cook in their home.

Now that’s a lot of
it!

Live light.

Live simply.

But how many of us do...can...or want to?

What does the simple life mean in today’s world?


No TV?

No Cable or Satellite TV?


No computers?


No cell phones?


No iPods or mP3’s?


To have little is sometimes to have more.


This is a paradox that must be experienced (or lived) to be understood.

A Chinese factory worker told a TV reporter,
“I can’t believe you Americans buy all of this sh**.”

(Yes, he did use the
s word.)

But he also expressed his gratitude that we do buy
all of this sh**…so that he can continue to have a job.

Cultivate your own garden, but also remove the weeds.

(It’s so much easier to give advice than to follow it.)

If you’ll excuse me now, I’m going to begin my
Spring cleaning.












Wednesday, March 18, 2009

POTIONS AND POISONS



There are life-saving medicines and miracle drugs.

There are also a lot of drugs which still fit the label of snake oil.

But these drugs are not so much “quack remedies” as they are dangerous.

The latest sweet-sounding pill that I saw on TV has the name of Abilify.

This word made me think of these words:

Mollify Pacify Modify Dulcify Amplify

It relaxes me just to say these words.

The pill must be good if its name sounds this good.

But maybe not.

Companies give their new drugs pleasant-sounding names to make them sound efficacious.

However---as is so often the case---a drug’s side-effects have a life of their own.

Why take any drug if it makes you worse off in other ways?

I guess it’s a trade-off between what a drug does that’s good, and what else it can do that’s not so good.

Before I describe Abilify’s good and bad anodynes, let me give the advertisement for a drug that I have concocted:

“You will feel renewed with Blissful!” Blissful takes away all of those aches and pains from a hard day’s work, and produces pleasant dreams of lush, green gardens with beautiful maidens (this drug is currently only available for men!)…with soothing waterfalls... sweet frankincense swirling in the air.”
“Side-effects of Blissful may include (but are not limited to): coma, heart attacks, migraine headaches, suicide, and spontaneous combustion. Call your doctor at once if you have any of these serious side effects.”

If this drug sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Here are some of the actual descriptions for Abilify.

First, the good things that this drug supposedly does.

Then the not-so-good side effects.


THE GOOD THINGS:

Abilify [aripiprazole] is an antipsychotic medication. It works by changing the actions of chemicals in the brain. Abilify is used to treat the symptoms of psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (manic depression). It is also used together with other medications to treat major depressive disorder in adults. Abilify may also be used for other purposes not listed in this medication guide.

THE BAD AND THE UGLY THINGS:

Some of the most common side effects associated with aripiprazole are anxiety, blurred vision, constipation, cough, headache, insomnia, lightheadedness, nausea, rash, restlessness, runny nose, sleepiness, tremors, vomiting, weakness, and weight gain. As with other anti-psychotics, long-term use of aripiprazole may lead to a potentially irreversible condition called tardive dyskinesia (involuntary movements of the jaw, lips, and tongue). A potentially fatal complex referred to as neuroleptic malignant syndrome has been reported with anti-psychotic drugs, including aripiprazole. Patients who develop this syndrome may have high fevers, muscle rigidity, altered mental status, irregular pulse or blood pressure, rapid heart rate, excessive sweating, and heart arrhythmias.

***
Go ahead.

Buy it.

It’s your life!







Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Q & A






Is former Vice President Dick Cheney right that Pres. Obama’s policies “raise the risk” of a terror attack in the U.S.?


Dick Cheney’s hands (with or without his shotgun) did more to raise risks of terror attacks than anything that President Obama will ever do.

The experts have also told us that, actually, torture produces more inaccurate information than accurate.

Bush and Cheney did much more than just deter terrorist attacks in the U.S. after 9/11 (in fact, there have been more terrorist attacks world-wide)---

But

Bush and Cheney produced a huge amount of distrust and disgust in many nations (who formerly respected and liked the U.S).

This disgust inspired more terrorists to attack in the future.

Cheney and Bush also didn’t do much to deter what happened on 9/11.

Dick Cheney is wrong, and I wish he would just stick to hunting ducks and shooting lawyers, instead of torturing me with any more of his fallacious and inane comments.


***



Informed Comment

Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Cheney's Mission Accomplished

Dick Cheney: "I guess my general sense of where we are with respect to Iraq and at the end of now, what, nearly six years, is that we've accomplished nearly everything we set out to do...."

What has Dick Cheney really accomplished in Iraq?

  • An estimated 4 million Iraqis, out of 27 million, have been displaced from their homes, that is, made homeless. Some 2.7 million are internally displaced inside Iraq. A couple hundred thousand are cooling their heels in Jordan. And perhaps a million are quickly running out of money and often living in squalid conditions in Syria. Cheney's war has left about 15% of Iraqis homeless inside the country or abroad. That would be like 45 million American thrown out of their homes.



  • It is controversial how many Iraqis died as a result of the 2003 invasion and its aftermath. But it seems to me that a million extra dead, beyond what you would have expected from a year 2000 baseline, is entirely plausible. The toll is certainly in the hundreds of thousands. Cheney did not kill them all. The Lancet study suggested that the US was directly responsible for a third of all violent deaths since 2003. That would be as much as 300,000 that we killed. The rest, we only set in train their deaths by our invasion.

  • Baghdad has been turned from a mixed city, about half of its population Shiite and the other half Sunni in 2003, into a Shiite city where the Sunni population may be as little as ten to fifteen percent. From a Sunni point of view, Cheney's war has resulted in a Shiite (and Iranian) take-over of the Iraqi capital, long a symbol of pan-Arabism and anti-imperialism.

  • In the Iraqi elections, Shiite fundamentalist parties closely allied with Iran came to power. The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, the leading party in parliament, was formed by Iraqi expatriates at the behest of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1982 in Tehran. The Islamic Mission (Da'wa) Party is the oldest ideological Shiite party working for an Islamic state. It helped form Hizbullah in Beirut in the early 1980s. It has supplied both prime ministers elected since 2005. Fundamentalist Shiites shaped the constitution, which forbids the civil legislature to pass legislation that contravenes Islamic law. Dissidents have accused the new Iraqi government of being an Iranian puppet.

  • Arab-Kurdish violence is spiking in the north, endangering the Obama withdrawal plan and, indeed, the whole of Iraq, not to mention Syria, Turkey and Iran.

  • Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women have been widowed by the war and its effects, leaving most without a means of support. Iraqi widows often lack access to clean water and electricity. Aljazeera English has video.



  • $32 billion were wasted on Iraq reconstruction, and most of it cannot even be traced. I repeat, Cheney gave away $32 bn. to anonymous cronies in such a way that we can't even be sure who stole it, exactly. And you are angry at AIG about $400 mn. in bonuses! We are talking about $32 billion given out in brown paper bags.

  • Political power is being fragmented in Iraq with big spikes in the murder rate in some provinces that may reflect faction-fighting and vendettas in which the Iraqi military is loathe to get involved.

  • The Iraqi economy is devastated, and the new government's bureaucracy and infighting have made it difficult to attract investors.

  • The Bush-Cheney invasion helped further destabilize the Eastern Mediterranean, setting in play Kurdish nationalism and terrifying Turkey.

    Cheney avoids mentioning all the human suffering he has caused, on a cosmic scale, and focuses on procedural matters like elections (which he confuses with democracy-- given 2000 in this country, you can understand why). Or he lies, as when he says that Iran's influence in Iraq has been blocked. Another lie is that there was that the US was fighting "al-Qaeda" in Iraq as opposed to just Iraqis. He and Bush even claim that they made Iraqi womens' lives better.

    The real question is whether anyone will have the gumption to put Cheney on trial for treason and crimes against humanity.



  • Monday, March 16, 2009

    UNTIL DEATH AND DICKEY WICKER DO US PART



    Manfred:
    They’re coming for you and me tomorrow.

    Evangeline:
    Who?

    Manfred:
    The National Institutes of Health.

    Evangeline:
    Why?

    Manfred:
    They need more embryos to make stem cells, and you and I are at the top of their list.

    Evangeline:
    We haven’t even set a date for our wedding yet.

    Manfred:
    I know---but science can’t wait. There won’t be any wedding.

    Evangeline:
    What time is the in vitro fertilization?

    Manfred:
    1 P.M.

    Evangeline:
    Good. That gives me enough time to clean up around here, and get ready for implantation.

    Manfred:
    No, that isn’t necessary.

    Evangeline:
    Why not?

    Manfred:
    Remember, we’ll develop in a petri dish---not a uterus.

    Evangeline:
    Oh no! What will our parents think?

    Manfred:
    We don’t have any parents, remember? You and I were also created in a laboratory.

    Evangeline:
    I forgot. I wish I had never been born…I mean created.

    Manfred:
    I know. I was hoping that you and I would become a human.

    Evangeline:
    Well, maybe next time.

    Manfred:
    What next time?

    Evangeline:
    You know…during reincarnation.

    Manfred:
    Right.

    Evangeline:
    Well, we should enjoy our last night together. What do you want me to fix for our last supper?

    Manfred:
    Don’t cook. Let’s eat out. You’ll need your strength for tomorrow.

    Evangeline:
    O.K. Let me just put on some make-up.

    Manfred:
    You're beautiful just the way you are.



    ***


    Stephen Leahy — International Environmental Journalist

    Discovering Global Environmental Interconnections

    Human Cloning Likely Legal and Popular

    with 6 comments

    “Chances are clones will soon be sharing the planet with us.” – Brendan Tobin, Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland

    jamie-clone.jpg

    Photo: “Jamie Clone” © 2007 citymorningblue. Used with kind permission.

    By Stephen Leahy

    Nov 13 (IPS) - As scientists master the technology to clone primates, some legal experts worry that human clones are no longer in the realm of science fiction, and wonder what legal rights they would have in the absence of an international ban on the practice.

    More than a dozen animal species have been cloned in the last decade, including sheep, cows, dogs and pigs. Just last summer, a U.S. research team reported the first-ever cloning of a primate. A rhesus monkey embryo was cloned from adult cells and then grown to generate stem cells.

    “Human clones are absolutely inevitable,” says Brendan Tobin, a barrister with the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, who researched a United Nations University (UNU) report on the issue.

    “Chances are clones will soon be sharing the planet with us,” Tobin told IPS.

    And they may well be welcomed as a new way of reproduction for the tens of millions of infertile couples, says, Tobin who co-authored the UNU report “Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable: Future Options for U.N. Governance,” issued in October.

    But what rights would a clone have? Many governments have banned human cloning. Would the clone itself be illegal? In France and other countries, it is illegal to participate in cloning activities and therefore the parents that contributed their cells for cloning could find themselves in jail.

    Without an international prohibition, human reproductive cloning in certain countries could be judged perfectly legal by the International Court of Justice, the report warns.

    “Do human rights protections apply to clones?” asks Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy, of the School of Law of the University of Sheffield in Britain.

    “It’s a unique situation that’s likely to get very complicated,” Kuppuswamy, one of the report’s co-authors, told IPS.

    Virtually every nation opposes human cloning, and more than 50 have legislated bans on such efforts. However, negotiation of an international accord foundered at the U.N. in 2005 due to bitter disagreement over research cloning, also called therapeutic cloning.

    There is almost universal international consensus on the desirability of banning reproductive cloning based in part on religious and moral grounds, but mostly on concerns about underdeveloped technologies producing clones with serious deformities or degenerative diseases. Only 2 to 5 percent of cloned animal embryos grow into healthy offspring, according to a study published in the science journal Nature in February of this year.

    “The science is imprecise at this point,” notes Tobin.

    However, as technologies advance and possibilities of success increase, the current consensus is likely to erode and with it the possibility of securing a ban on reproductive cloning, he said.

    For full story see Reproductive Cloning Could Be “Inevitable”

    Written by Stephen

    November 18, 2007



    P.S.
    There is NO legal ban in the United States on the derivation of embryonic stem cells or human cloning (both reproductive and therapeutic).
    Send in the clones?

    Sunday, March 15, 2009

    RAISE MY TAXES

    If I must pay a nickel on every gallon of my (global-warming) gas to pay for the trillions of deficits that both political parties and previous presidents have bequeathed to me and future generations---and if that nickel per gallon must be paid by me and my grandchildren in order to save this Republic---then I say, YES, I want to pay a nickel for each gallon of gas that I pour into my carbon monoxide-spewing vehicle.

    The Republicans rail about finding new revenue to pay for the culpability by both political parties.
    Republicans criticize only the Democrats for the perpetuation of the profoundly large national deficit.

    Both parties are responsible.

    It's o.k. to spend, spend, spend---but then when it comes to getting the additional revenue to pay for this spending, the accusative screeching starts---blaming the Democrats for wanting to increase taxation.

    Bring most soldiers home from other nations to defend and protect this nation.
    This would generate a lot of money so that taxation would be less necessary.

    As a previous heavy smoker and drinker, I would want my vices to generate revenue for my country if I still smoked and drank.
    That's right, tax the booze and nicotine!

    I know that I and my fellow citizens have to bite the bullets that have already been fired by the previous generations of presidents and politicians.

    I want Obama's choices to succeed, but some Republicans (even say) that they want Obama to fail...so that they can achieve majority status again?

    I know that I live in the greatest country on earth. I will gladly suffer the pain and sacrifice to pay more taxes if these necessary revenues can save my country.

    It may not be right, but it is necessary.

    America now has a president and a Congress who have put the weal and welfare of the nation at the forefront---not just oil moguls and corporations who were given more revenue for their false-flag wars.


    Saturday, March 14, 2009

    TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT


    The rich will get richer---

    The poor will get poorer---

    Or a little richer or poorer---

    And the rich will remain the dominant force---

    As it was in the beginning and as it will be until the End.

    No communists or socialists---

    Please!


    World War II bailed America out.

    Let's hope that WWW III is not going to be an excuse for the rich and powerful to save the world, and continue to make it safe for Democracy.

    Fight!

    Fight!

    Fight!

    The!

    War

    On

    Terror!


    Fight!

    Fight!

    Fight!

    The

    War

    On

    Drugs!


    Onward forward Christian, Muslim, and Heathen soldiers!

    Banks and corporations must hold on to and get more

    Platinum

    Plates

    Of

    Power!


    And


    Gold!

    Gold!

    Gold!

    More…

    Golden

    Gold!


    Friday, March 13, 2009

    HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH


    It is early Friday (the 13th) morning and I can’t sleep.

    (
    "It’s not dark yet…but it’s getting there.")

    I just finished
    Ape and Essence by Aldous Huxley.

    It was pretty good…or I should say…pretty ugly.

    It is a futuristic mirror of today’s world.

    In
    Ape and Essence World War III has occurred, and the novel tells what the world has become--and why.

    Huxley quotes Shelley a few times.

    The novel has a hopeful but enigmatic ending
    (Read below).


    Right after I finished reading Ape and Essence, I thought,
    “Maybe I can get rich if I write a screenplay based on this novel, and send it to Steven Spielberg”.

    Yeah…right.


    Here are a few quotes from Ape and Essence:

    “Give me, give me, give me, give me detumescence…”

    “Love casts out fear; but conversely fear casts out love. And not only love. Fear also casts our intelligence, casts out goodness, casts out all thought of beauty and truth.”


    “Remember that phrase of Karl Marx‘s: ‘Force is the midwife of Progress’.

    “…for the fact of technological progress provides people with the instruments of ever more indiscriminate destruction, while the myth of political and moral progress serves as the excuse for using those means to the very limit.”

    P.S.
    The following is a good synopsis of
    Ape and Essence. Plus, I’ve let the kitty out of its bag by giving the book’s ending (written by an author Unknown).

    Ape and Essence - Aldous Huxley

    In Books, Literature on January 15, 2007 at 12:37 am Just finished reading, what I would now categorize as one of Aldous Huxley’s forgotten masterpieces, Ape and Essence. Describing a dystopian future resembling 1984 of Orwell and We of Zamyatin more than the other Huxley classic Brave New World, Ape and Essence is an attempt to study the causes and effects of human desires. Describing a world in the aftermath of the nuclear havoc wrecked by a Third World War, Huxley’s main theme here is the rationing of happiness in all forms but primarily sexual; for the primary world view now is that, being happy is to submit to the wishes of the Devil who is all set to take over. Ape and Essence is a film script written by the enigmatic Mr. William Tallis, rejected by the studios of Hollywood and that by sheer luck falls into the hands of a day dreaming film executive. It tracks a group of New Zealander scientists (whose country escaped the fate of the rest of the world since it was inconsequential) who alight on the shores of California only to encounter a civilization, that now worships the Devil and considers women as unholy vessels since due to the after effects of radiation, the babies they give birth to are deformed. One of the scientific party, Dr. Poole, is captured by the local people and it is through his eyes that the reader experiences the horrific rituals that humanity has fallen back on to ensure its survival in this toughest of times. The book ends with Dr. Poole escaping from the settlement and trying to find a way to the north where supposedly humanity thrives in environs that are more rational. He however is not alone; with him, he takes Loola, and the knowledge that this rule of Devil can only be undone by the rule of love.

    This from
    Wikipedia:

    The society has also taken to worshipping Satan, whom they refer to as Belial, and limiting reproduction to an annual two-week orgy which begins on "Belial's Day Eve" after the deformed babies are "purified by blood."

    ***


    'pity this busy monster, manunkind'

    pity this busy monster, manunkind,

    not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
    your victim (death and life safely beyond)

    plays with the bigness of his littleness
    --- electrons deify one razorblade
    into a mountainrange; lenses extend
    unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
    returns on its unself.
    A world of made
    is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh

    and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
    fine specimen of hypermagical

    ultraomnipotence. We doctors know

    a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell
    of a good universe next door; let's go

    E. E. Cummings



    ***



    The American Rome Is Burning - So Let's Attack Iran


    By Eric Margolis

    March 11, 2009

    NEW YORK - Iran has haunted every U.S. administration since the days of President Jimmy Carter. While running for president, Barack Obama proposed opening talks with Tehran and trying to end the long Cold War between the United States and Iran.

    Obama's sensible idea was greeted with the deepest dismay by ardent supporters of Israel and Rambo Republicans who want to see the US go to war with Iran, a nation of 70 million, and destroy its nuclear infrastructure.

    Now, as the United States fights for its economic life, the Iran question and its alleged nuclear weapons program have again become an issue of major contention. Officials in the Obama administration and the media issued a blizzard of contradictory claims over Iran's alleged nuclear threat, leaving us wondering: who is really charge of U.S. foreign policy?

    This awkward question was underlined during a visit to Washington by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Britain is supposed to be America's most important ally and partner in their 'special relationship.'

    Brown's reception was dismal and Obama's obvious lack of interest in Britain's leader was quite embarrassing. The British media slammed America's cold reception as an 'insult,' and claimed that Brown had been treated like the leader of a 'minor African state.' White House aides excused the huge diplomatic faux pas by claiming President Obama was worn out from dealing with the financial and economic crisis. I'm sure he is worn out, but this still does not bode well for the conduct of US foreign policy.

    Much of the uproar over Iran's so-far non-existent nuclear weapons must be seen as part of efforts by neoconservatives to thwart President Obama's proposition to open Tehran and to keep up the pressure for an American attack on Iran.

    Israel's government and its American supporters insist Iran has secret nuclear weapons program that the West has not yet detected. We heard the same claims about Iraq before 2003. Israel certainly knows about covert nuclear programs, having run one of the world's largest and most productive ones.

    Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lived up to her growing reputation for Mideast hawkishness when she named prominent Israel supporter Dennis Ross as her Special Advisor on Iran and the Gulf. This questionable appointment suggests that she may be more interested in building future domestic political support than securing balanced advice on the Mideast.

    At least Ross is considered something of a moderate on the Israeli spectrum, having long been regarded as the Labor Party's 'man in Washington.' During the Bush years, Israel's centrist Laborites were replaced by partisans of the right-wing Likud Party, who quickly came to dominate administration Mideast policy.

    In recent weeks, official Washington has been locked in confusion over Iran.

    The new Central Intelligence Agency director, Leon Panetta, said in a recent interview, 'there is no question, they [Iran] are seeking [nuclear weapons] capability.'

    Pentagon chief Adm. Mike Mullen claimed that Iran has 'enough fissile material to build a bomb.' Fox News claimed Iran already has 50 nuclear weapons.

    While the American Rome burns, here we go again with renewed hysteria over MWMD's - Muslim Weapons of Mass Destruction. The war drums are again beating over Iran.

    The czar of all 16 US intelligence agencies, Adm. Dennis Blair, stated Iran could have enough enriched uranium for one atomic weapon by 2010-2015. He reaffirmed the 2007 US National Intelligence Estimate that Iran does not have nuclear weapons and is not pursuing them. Defense Secretary Robert Gates backed up Blair. So did the United Nations nuclear agency.

    Some of the confusion over Iran comes from misunderstanding nuclear enrichment, from domestic politics, and from recycled lurid scare stories from the days of Saddam Hussein.

    Iran is producing low-grade enriched uranium-235 (LEU), enriched to only 2.5%, to generate electricity. Tehran has this absolute right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT). Its centrifuge enrichment process at Nantaz is under 24-hour international inspection. The soon-to-open nuclear plant at Bushehr cannot produce nuclear weapons fuel. All of its spent fuel, which is under international safeguards, will be returned to supplier Russia.

    Today, some 15 nations produce low-grade enriched uranium 235 (LEU-235), including Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, and Japan. I visited the Japanese Defense Ministry in Tokyo, and I saw plans for an atomic weapon. Experts believe Japan could produce a nuclear warhead in within three months, if it so decided.

    I also believe - though cannot prove - that Switzerland may have produced a few nuclear warheads in the early 1960s and currently keeps them in one of its secret mountain forts as a sort of doomsday device.

    Israel, India, and Pakistan are all covert nuclear weapons powers and have refused to submit to international inspection. North Korea abrogated it.

    Interestingly, rather than the much pilloried Iran, it is the original nuclear powers who are all in violation of the nuclear arms treaty. These countries are: the United States, USSR/Russia, Britain, France and China. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty called for all nuclear powers to rapidly eliminate their nuclear forces. President Dwight Eisenhower championed this position. Far from eliminating their nuclear forces, all of the nuclear powers have expanded and modernized them.

    UN inspectors report that Iran has produced 1,010 kg of 2-3% enriched uranium. Iran insists it is for energy generation. Theoretically that is enough for one atomic bomb. But to make a nuclear weapon, uranium-235 must be enriched to over 90% in an elaborate, costly process. Iran is not doing so, say UN inspectors, though they have raised certain technical questions about Iran's nuclear process. Some believe Iran may go up to 'breakout position' - that is, having the components to assemble a weapon on fairly short notice.

    Highly enriched uranium-235 or plutonium must then be milled and shaped into a perfect ball or cylinder. Any surface imperfections will prevent achieving critical mass. Next, high explosive lenses must surround the core, and detonate at precisely the same millisecond. In the gun system, two cores must collide at very high speed. In some cases, a stream of neutrons is pumped into the device as it explodes.

    This process is highly complex. Nuclear weapons cannot be deemed reliable unless they are tested. North Korea recently detonated a device that fizzled. Iran has never built or tested a nuclear weapon. Israel and South Africa jointly tested a nuclear weapon in 1979.

    Even if Iran had the capability to fashion a complex nuclear weapon, it would be useless without delivery. Iran's sole medium-range delivery system is an unreliable, inaccurate 1,500 km ranged Shahab-3. Miniaturizing and hardening nuclear warheads capable of flying atop a Shahab missile is another complex technological challenge.

    It is inconceivable that Iran or anyone else would launch a single nuclear weapon. What if it didn't go off? Imagine the embarrassment and the retaliation. Iran would need at least ten warheads and a reliable delivery system to be a credible nuclear power.

    Israel, the primary target for any Iranian nuclear strike, has an indestructible triad of air, missile and sea-launched nuclear weapons pointed at Iran. An Israeli submarine with nuclear cruise missiles is on station off Iran's coast.

    Iran would be wiped off the map by even a few of Israel's estimated 200 plus nuclear weapons. Iran is no likelier to use a nuke against its Gulf neighbors. The explosion would blanket Iran with radioactive dust and sand.

    Finally, while Washington keeps invoking the specter of a nuclear armed Iran, India has quietly developed a large nuclear arsenal and will soon test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to North America.

    Compared to America's titanic economic and financial mess, whatever goes on in Tehran is of pipsqueak magnitude. The real danger to America comes from its Wall Street fraudsters, not from Tehran.








    Tuesday, March 10, 2009

    A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS (OR SOME OF THE THINGS THAT I CHERISH)



    1. A SANDSTONE SLAB THAT IS MILLIONS OF YEARS OLD AND HAS MOUNTAINS AND BIRDS “IN” IT

    2. A SMALL, HANDMADE ZIPPERED BAG FROM GUATEMALA THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME AS A GIFT in 1981.

    3. A LITTLE BAG OF POTOURRI FLOWERS THAT I BOUGHT IN PORTLAND, Oregon in 1985 (AND WHICH I HAVE ALWAYS KEPT INSIDE MY SMALL, COLORFUL BAG IN #2)

    4. THREE, DRIED LIMES THAT ARE AS HARD AS ROCKS [WHICH I PLAN TO JUGGLE ONE OF THESE DAYS]

    5. A SMALL GOURD THAT MAKES A GOOD MARAKA
    (I MUST HAVE A “thing” ABOUT DRYING OUT THINGS)

    6. AN IMITATION Swiss Army Knife (WITH ITS CAN OPENER THAT I USE A LOT)

    7. ZIPLOCK (slider) BAGS!

    8. A FEW TINY SHELLS FROM THE BEACH of TUMON BAY, Guam

    9. MY DAD’S WORLD WAR II NAVY “DOG TAGS” (WHICH IS A "BRACELET" THAT HAS HIS NAME AND #)

    10. MY COLLECTION OF OLD HAND-PAINTED POST CARDS

    Friday, March 06, 2009

    PROSECUTE AND CONVICT




    It was a crime.

    It was a blunder.

    It was based on information that Bush and the Neo Cons wanted and concocted (especially by Dick the Duck…Shooter) in order to exploit 9/11.

    The War on Terror is mainly used to drum up business for corporations and the Pentagon to fill coffers and soldiers' coffins.

    Bush---

    The cowboy dictator---

    Joked about WMD in a video where he's crawling around in the Oval Office asking where the WMDs are.

    He scoffed at finding bin Laden and said he really didn't think about it very much.

    Obviously true.

    Bin Laden's still on the loose, or MAYBE dead, and all of those videos with bin Laden in them were fake.

    The torturers and liars of the Bush administration need to be prosecuted and convicted.

    Congress now seems to be moving in this direction.

    Right on!



    ***


    "If you do business with terrorists, if you support or succor them, you will not do business with the United States," said President Bush.

    He didn't say anything about doing business with a terrorist's brother - or his wealthy financier.

    When President George W. Bush froze assets connected to Osama bin Laden, he didn't tell the American people that the terrorist mastermind's late brother was an investor in the president's former oil business in Texas. He also hasn't leveled with the American public about his financial connections to a host of shady Saudi characters involved in drug cartels, gun smuggling, and terrorist networks.

    Doing business with the enemy is nothing new to the Bush family. Much of the Bush family wealth came from supplying needed raw materials and credit to Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. Several business operations managed by Prescott Bush - the president's grandfather - were seized by the US government during World War II under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

    Bush's Former Oil Company
    Linked To bin Laden Family
    By Rick Wiles
    American Freedom News.com
    American Freedom News
    10-3-1




    Wednesday, March 04, 2009

    THE BOUNCING HEAD OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY


    I’m
    Rush
    Limbaugh
    The talk show host
    With a lot
    Of
    Blah-blah

    I’m Rush Limbaugh
    The bouncing
    Blob

    I’m Rush Limbaugh
    Your man on the
    Job

    I’m Rush Limbaugh
    I need a nose
    Job

    I’m Rush Limbaugh
    The new boss of the
    Party of jello.

    Rah-rah
    For
    ME
    Rush Limbaugh!

    Rah-rah
    For
    ME
    Rush Limbaugh!

    I’ve got quite a brainy
    Gob

    For my blah-blah radio
    Job

    I’m Rush Limbaugh
    The bouncing
    Blob

    Who imparts to all ears
    His loud ditto-snow
    Job

    I’m the
    Big-mouthed engineer

    On the Super-train of Fear!




    ***



    The difference between Los Angeles and yogurt is that yogurt comes with less fruit.
    Rush Limbaugh

    The only way to reduce the number of nuclear weapons is to use them.
    Rush Limbaugh

    Why should Blacks be heard? They're 12% of the population. Who the hell cares?
    Rush Limbaugh

    I know these people like I know every square inch of my glorious naked body.
    Rush Limbaugh on Democrats

    Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and just think to yourself, “Am I just full of hot gas?”
    Dave Letterman to Rush





    Tuesday, March 03, 2009

    YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS

    FRED:
    Why so many bananas?

    MAC:
    Because that’s all that‘s left.

    FRED:
    Left of what?

    MAC:
    Left of center…right in the middle…right of center...bananas…that’s all that’s left. The economy is almost gone.

    FRED:
    Gone where?

    MAC:
    The economy or the bananas?

    FRED:
    Both.

    MAC:
    They’ve gone to pot.

    FRED:
    Again…why so many bananas?

    MAC:
    It’s just a figure of speech that I’ve used.

    FRED:
    Well, I see a country where millions are losing their jobs, and there AREN’T THAT MANY BANANAS.

    MAC:
    We’re on the same page.

    FRED:
    Or peel.

    MAC:
    True. And the rich are still getting richer---and the poor are still getting poorer.

    FRED:
    It’s high-time that we legalized pot and taxed it.


    MAC:
    Now you’ve gone BANANAS!


    ***


    Banana Republic is a pejorative term for a country that is politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture (e.g. bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique.[1] It is most commonly used for countries in Central America such as El Salvador, Belize, Grenada, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala, as well as countries in Eastern Europe.

    In some cases, these nations have kept the government structures that were modeled after the colonial Spanish ruling clique, with a small, largely leisure class on the top, and a large, poorly educated and poorly paid working class of peons, though it might have the (fake) trappings of modernity (such as styling itself a republic with a president etc.)

    Frequently the subject of mockery and humour, and usually presided over by a dictatorial military junta that exaggerates its own power and importance—"the epaulettes of a banana republic generalissimo" are proverbially of considerable size, usually portrayed in satire with a pair of mops—a banana republic also typically has large wealth inequities, poor infrastructure, poor schools, a "backward" economy, low capital spending, a reliance on foreign capital and money printing, budget deficits, and a weakening currency. Banana republics are typically also highly prone to revolutions and coups.

    Sunday, March 01, 2009

    AXES AND KNIVES IN THE PLEISTOCENE


    CLOE:
    Honey, why are these knives and axes in a hole?

    CLOVIS:
    I want to remember where they are when we get back.

    CLOE:
    When are we leaving? And will we ride Henry?

    CLOVIS:
    When it’s warm enough. Probably in a few days. Yes, we'll ride Henry...you know that he's my favorite elephant.

    CLOE:
    Are we going to be gone long?

    CLOVIS:
    Long enough to get the supplies that we need.

    CLOE:
    What are we trading this time?

    CLOVIS:
    Two horses and one camel.

    CLOE:
    I guess I should start packing our other things.

    CLOVIS:
    Right. And remember to pack plenty of salt and pepper.

    CLOE:
    I will. And those freeze-dried bear strips are almost ready.

    CLOVIS:
    Good. We’ll also bring plenty of sheep skins in case we run into bad weather, then trade the ones we don’t need.

    CLOE:
    O.K. I’ll start packing.

    ***


    Someone left their tools in a Boulder yard---13,000 years ago. The Clovis-era stone tools, uncovered last year, appeared to have been used to butcher ice-age camels and horses that roamed this part of North America until they became extinct. The find was announced by the University of Colorado at Boulder on Wednesday.
    Scientists examining the tools found protein residue from extinct camels and horse protein residue, said CU-Boulder Anthropology Professor Douglas Bamforth. The tool cache is one of only a handful of Clovis-age artifact caches that have been unearthed in North America, said Bamforth, who studies Paleo-Indian culture and tools. Named the Mahaffy Cache, after Boulder resident and landowner Patrick Mahaffy, the collection is one of only two Clovis caches---the other is from Washington state---that have been analyzed for protein residue from ice-age mammals, said Bamforth. In addition to the camel and horse residue on the artifacts, a third item from the Mahaffy Cache is the first Clovis tool ever to test positive for sheep, and a fourth tested positive for bear. The Mahaffy Cache consists of 83 stone implements ranging from salad plate-sized, elegantly crafted bifacial knives and a unique tool resembling a double-bitted ax to small blades and flint scraps. Discovered in May 2008 by Brant Turney, head of a landscaping crew working on the Mahaffy property, the cache was unearthed with a shovel under about 18 inches of soil and was packed tightly into a hole about the size of a large shoebox. It appeared to have been untouched for thousands of years, Bamforth said. Although the surface of the house lot had been lowered by construction work over the years, an analysis of photos from the Mahaffy Cache excavation site by CU-Boulder geological sciences Emeritus Professor Peter Birkeland confirmed the approximate age of sediment layer containing the Clovis implements. The site appears to be on the edge of an ancient drainage that ran northeast from Boulder’s foothills, said Bamforth." The idea that these Clovis-age tools essentially fell out of someone’s yard in Boulder is astonishing," he said. " But the evidence I’ve seen gives me no reason to believe the cache has been disturbed since the items were placed there for storage about 13,000 years ago." The artifacts were buried in coarse, sandy sediment overlain by dark, clay-like soil and appear to have been cached on the edge of an ancient stream, said Bamforth." It looks like someone gathered together some of their most spectacular tools and other ordinary scraps of potentially useful material and stuck them all into a small hole in the ground, fully expecting to come back at a later date and retrieve them." Bamforth said he knew immediately that much of the stone used to craft the tools in the cache originated from Colorado’s Western Slope and perhaps as far north as southern Wyoming. The stone appears to have come from at least four distinct regions, including sites in Colorado’s Middle Park, south of Steamboat Springs, he said. One of the tools, a "stunning," oval-shaped bifacial knife that had been sharpened all the way around, is almost exactly the same shape, size and width of an obsidian knife found in a Clovis cache known as the Fenn Cache from south of Yellowstone National Park, said Bamforth." Except for the raw material, they are almost identical," he said. "I wouldn’t stake my reputation on it, but I could almost imagine the same person making both tools. "Climatic evidence indicates the Boulder area was cooler and wetter in the late Pleistocene era and receding glaciers would have been prominent along the Front Range of Colorado, he said. "The kind of animals that were wandering around present-day Boulder at the end of the last ice age---elephants, camels, huge bears and ground sloths---are creatures we would expect to see in a zoo today." "There is a magic to these artifacts," said Mahaffy. "One of the things you don’t get from just looking at them is how incredible they feel in your hand---they are almost ergonomically perfect and you can feel how they were used. It is a wonderful connection to the people who shared this same land a long, long time ago."
    [http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/18794396/detail.html]

    ***
    P.S.

    Monday, November 05, 2007


    FACE OF SORROW HAIKU


    oH mAn LoOk WhAt YoU'vE
    dOnE tO tHiS lOvELy PlAnEt
    BeHoLd My SoRrOw