SANDRA GWENDOLYN AND B.B. KING

I had already graduated and gotten my B.A. in English.
I taught for one semester in a small Colorado town, but racial tensions in the school (parents were bringing guns to school and other violent acts were occurring) made me quit before the first semester was over.
I took my last pay check and used it to rent a one-room cottage in the mountains.

I read a lot, burned incense, and listened to Cat Stevens.

When my money ran out I worked on the back of a garbage truck.
It was hard work, but it paid well for only six hours of labor, and I usually finished by 1:00 P.M.

After a few months I retired and became a landscaper.

I moved out of my mountain retreat and rented a "garden" apartment in a three-story building that had two other apartments.

Directly above my apartment was a single mom who lived with her son.
She was an actress, and sometimes the ruckus got a little loud above, but most of the time it was pretty quiet.

Sandra and Gwendolyn shared an apartment on the third story.

I forget how I met both of them, but it was probably just some casual encounter.

Sandy was a theater/dance student, and I think Gwen was a psychology major.

Sandy was petite and thin.

Gwen had more meat on her bones.

Neither was beautiful, but neither was ugly either.

I flirted with both, but I called Sandy "my lady".
(Actually, I said "me lady", and made myself sound more English than American.)

I didn't love Sandra in Love's deepest sense, but I was fond of her.

I was wooing her, but to what end I did not know.

There was no physical attraction, infatuation, or lust.

Sandy’s skin color was turning orange from eating so many carrots.
She seemed to always have a carrot in her hand.
I guess she didn’t want to add too many ounces to her tiny torso.
I could have called her Bugs Bunny, but that thought never crossed my mind.

Gwen was more omnivorous and less fastidious about what she ate.
Her body was also more curvaceous.

I had just ended a relationship with a young woman, and so
I was in no hurry to jump back into the saddle.
Gwen and Sandy were my lady friends and not girlfriends.

This was the time when I had my cat Frieda.
Frieda spent a lot of her time ascending the apartment building’s wooden stairs to visit my friends on the third floor.

And so did I.
I always felt that I was being treated like royalty.
Sandy was a superb host.
She made me feel rich in both body and soul.

Sandy, Gwen and I went to Aspen one weekend (when the Aspen trees were spinning their golden leaves).
Sandy drove her blue Volvo.
We rented a motel room.
Gwen and Sandy slept in the only bed, and I slept on the floor.
I joked that I would sleep between them, but didn’t.

We went to hear B.B. King perform that night.
I walked up and stood beside the stage, and was only a few feet away from B.B. King.
But what had me mesmerized (besides King’s masterful guitar playing) was his harmonica player just an elbow away from where I stood.

And there he stood, his body swaying back and forth, his harmonica in his hands, which were also moving back and forth to his face, and the harmonica never quite getting to his mouth.
I wondered to myself, “Can he even play? He looks drunk.”I think he was intoxicated.

His mouth finally made contact with his harmonica.
MAN COULD HE EVER PLAY THAT HARMONICA!

After the concert, I took Sandy for rides on my back in the park.
And we played hide and seek.

Not much happened after our weekend excursion.
I saw Sandy and Gwen less and less.
Sandy was spending most of her time with a theater director.
I think his name was Michael.

I do remember my last goodbye to Sandy (or rather hers to me).
She simply said, “Take care of your heart.”

I have tried, Sandy, I have tried.Postscript:Two other memories:
Sandy gave me a beautiful print for my birthday which I keep next to my computer here at the high school where I teach.
It is called THE HINDOO MAIDEN. On the back of it is an excerpt from an e.e. cummings poem.
I gave Sandy the original of my poem called BAGGY POCKETS.
It was written with purple ink from a fountain pen.
I hope she still has my poem.
I wish I knew where Sandy was today.

Baggy Pockets

The ocean roars like a mad god
Who has slammed a sandy door on man
The waves rush across my mind
And I look upon the
ocean floor:
Diamonds inside buried treasures from chests of
ancient lore.
A golden ring and a crown of a king
Inside a toy jukebox that makes me sing
A silk handkerchief once inside a pirate's pocket
Now beside a modern rocket
With Jesus' cross all rusted and cracked
Does Santa have a new one packed?
Skeletons of drunk Norsemen with their insane swords
Still shining and ready to use in today's cancerous wars
Sipping mead with a few Greek gods from the Peloponnesian war
And at Gawain's side sits young David, shaking on Goliath's shoulders
Looking at Columbus who has just landed for a second time
To come and take America back to the Indian's fort
But like Robin Hood in a TV commercial
Columbus sells his act for a profit
To keep making crazy rockets and keep filling baggy pockets
With silver, platinum, and gold.

NOTE:
 I wrote this poem in the early 70's when I was in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

HILLARY AND HARA-KIRI

schiz·o·phre·ni·a.

That's a mouthful.

And a brainful.

But no other word will do to describe the extreme and splitting change in tone and substance of Hillary Clinton's recent descriptions of Barack Obama.

The other night Mrs. Clinton was oozing unctuous paeans while holding Mr. Obama's hand.

Now?

The mellow madam has become a maddened woman.

Commendation has become condemnation.

It’s true that the streets of politics are paved with shame.

It's scary.

It's pathetic.

To get our attention and to win the nomination (so her campaign handlers might think), Hillary must now scratch her nails on the blackboard and scrape her shoes on the hard floor.

BARACK OBAMA YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF!

A mother who behaved like this might be due for an appointment with

some overpaid psychologist.

Talking tough and being rough is not going to work.

Hillary can grow hair on her face, but it won't win over the American people.

Macho screaming is appropriate for a woman wrestler, but not for a future American president...

Man…

Woman...

Black…

OR

White!

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

BILLION DOLLAR BABIES

"At this point, buying the United States isn't looking like such a good investment," the adviser said. "At the end of the day, Mike might be better off buying Canada."
An adviser to Mayor Bloomberg

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who might launch his own independent presidential bid, on Monday defended Ralph Nader's right to seek the White House.

"This business of Ralph Nader being a spoiler — you know, in any three-way race, two of the three are going to be spoilers," Bloomberg said. "Come on. Everybody's got a right to do it — you're not spoiling anything."

"If people want to vote for you, let them vote for you, and why shouldn't they?" he added.

The billionaire mayor denies he is exploring his own presidential bid, but aides and operatives have been working behind the scenes to lay the groundwork for an independent campaign.

Without the need to raise money, Bloomberg has been able to delay a decision much longer than most candidates.

Many Bloomberg watchers have been eyeing March 5 — next Wednesday — as a key date in his timetable because it is the first day that he would be able to start a petition drive to get on the ballot in Texas, which has one of the earliest deadlines and some of the toughest requirements for independents.
2/25/08

Maybe New York mayor Mike Bloomberg will raise the ceiling of campaign spending sky-high and out-of-this-world by spending billions and billions.

Ralph Nader is a green candidate but he won't take any green(backs) from corporate entities.

Will Mr. Bloomberg buy the 2008 presidency?

Start making your bets now.

IT’S THE OIL STUPID!

HOT DOGS THE MOON AND RALPH NADER

I admire Ralph Nader.

He has done a lot to make the environment cleaner and automobiles safer.

But I sure wish that he would stop running for president.

The Ralph Nader line that has stuck in my memory is "Going to the moon is safer than eating a hot dog", or maybe it's "Eating a hot dog is more dangerous than going to the moon."

I still eat hot dogs.

I haven’t gone to the moon.

Mr. Nader is critical of the corporate state and its wasteful machinations.

I applaud him for these criticisms.

But he should retire from the presidential stage.

Nader is a superb gadfly.

He should remain as one.

The likelihood that Mr. Nader can win the 2008 presidential election is as likely that I can ever go to the moon.

This time Ralph Nader should drop out of the race for the White House.

He is older than John McCain.

Drop out so that Mrs. Clinton or Barack Obama can win the race.

Mr. Nader will make the race unsafe at any speed.

He might help put McCain in the driver's seat.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

REMEMBRANCE OF McCain's PAST

John McCain remains stoic, serious and sober about the New York Times article ["The Long Run:
For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk"/By JIM RUTENBERG, MARILYN W. THOMPSON, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and STEPHEN LABATON
February 21, 2008]
Irony of ironies is that this article has increased contributions to McCain's campaign to be the next U.S. president.
First impressions, however, are lasting ones.
There is a simian on McCain's fundament regardless of his innocence or whether he wants to ignore the article.
Little by little a river grows.
To allege that the NYT went ahead and published this article in order to smear McCain's run for the presidency is not without truth.
But so what?
FOX News (or FAKE-FAUX News) has been ensconced in Bush's saddle before and after the Decider's selection by the Supreme Court to be our Divider & Liar-in-Chief.
FOX News was Bush's and the GOP'S cheerleader before and after his deceitful invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Bill O'Reilly is the lyncher-in-chief at FOX News.
The Free Press is called the Fourth Estate for a good reason, and the New York Times or any other portion of the Fourth Estate has the privilege and moral duty to report that which can help citizens to make the best-informed decisions about whom they vote into office.
Whether we like IT or not.
Especially for the Office of President of the United States.
Finally, there will no doubt be attempts to foul and smear Mr. Obama's or Mrs. Clinton's candidacy and legitimacy before the election.
Make sure your sh** detectors are on.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR?

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Q & A

Style is the dress of thoughts.
Lord Chesterfield


Which is more important in a presidential campaign: style or substance?

Naturally, the answer is that both style and substance are quite important.

Mrs. Clinton's hair style, however, is not as important as her ideas (although the style of her hair changes a lot.)

Does this affect her substance?

Not really.

Obama does have style in his ability to speak.

But this speaking ability is not just about style.

The style also affects substance.

The style and substance of a candidate's words are very important to indicate what each might be like as our president.

Keep your ears, eyes and minds open!

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

MORE (ON) BUSH

I feel at great pain when the spotlight is on the death of 4,000 American soldiers, while 600,000 Iraqi deaths are ignored. War is not a movie; it is a tragedy of dead bodies, victims, the disabled, orphans, widows and the displaced.

I feel sad when I realize how much truth is being changed or obscured in the American media.

Sharon Stone

February 18, 2008

You know, history, it's just, it, I, I've always felt that there needs to be a long leash to history. That you can't judge a administration, immediately. And, particularly one that has pushed hard for some big ideas, like, like, my administration has done.
George W. Bush

I had not heard or read these Bush lines before, or if I had, they had not imprinted on my memory.

Before I continue, here’s a small bonus---a short READING BETWEEN THE LINES for the above Bush lines:

You know, history, it's just, it, I, I've always felt that there needs to be a long leash to history [AND TO MAD DOGS LIKE ME].

That you can't judge a administration, immediately.

[THOUGH GOD CAN].

And, particularly one that has pushed hard [LIKE A CRAZY DRUG ADDICT] for some big [DUMB] ideas, like, like, my administration has done.

George W. Bush

But what I had not remembered---or read--- or heard---made me think of these

NEOLOGISMS

For

Bushisms:

Dumbisms.

Moronisms.

Idiotisms.

Asininisms.

Stupidisms.

What a bad president.

What a mad president.

What a pathetic presidency.

Why would anyone embrace George W. Bush?

How could anyone embrace George W. Bush after he unleashed this terrible and unnecessary war?

This genocide that was made in the name of democracy…

This genocide that was perpetrated (and now is perpetuated) in the name of spreading freedom…

And all of the other words that are used to Justify

This

Debacle

of

Death and Destruction.

American voters are not ready to embrace McCain.

America is not ready to embrace McCain’s continuation of Bush’s

UNHOLY

MESS!

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

Hortencia: Gloria, you don't look good.
Gloria: Neither do you Hortencia.
Hortencia: It's my legs. They feel wobbly. My gout's acting up.
Gloria: You need a veterinarian to take a look at them.
Hortencia: Right. But maybe if I'm having trouble with my legs I won't be slaughtered.
Gloria: I don't know about that. I'm scheduled to "get the ax" next week, and I've been having trouble breathing.
Hortencia: I guess we fatted calves are destined to be killed and eaten by humans in order to make them merry.
Gloria: That's the udder truth!



The U.S. government on Sunday ordered the largest beef recall in U.S. history — 143.4 million pounds — and said the meat has been used in school lunches and food assistance programs.
The government portrayed the action as precautionary and classified it as a Class II recall, meaning there is little likelihood of illness.
The beef dates to cattle slaughtered two years ago, starting Feb. 1, 2006, at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing, based in Chino, Calif. The USDA said it believes most already has been eaten. It will remove the rest from inventories.
"We don't know exactly where all the product went" but will "cast a wide net to make sure that we can find all the product that we can find," Ken Petersen at the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a conference call with reporters Sunday.

The meatpacker is accused of improperly slaughtering what are called "downer" cattle — those unable to walk to slaughter.
Such cattle raise the fear of mad cow disease and are more likely to carry E. coli and salmonella bacteria because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.
The government said it had inspectors present "continuously" at the plant, as is standard procedure.
Even so, the use of downer cattle was brought to light by the Humane Society of the United States, which published a video last month it said was made by an undercover worker at Hallmark/Westland. The video shows cattle lying on the ground being moved by forklifts and being chained and pulled.
In a statement Sunday, the Humane Society said, "A recall of this staggering scale proves that it's past time for Congress and the USDA to strengthen our laws for the sake of people and animals."

USA TODAY
2/18/08

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

THE PRESIDENT HAS NO MORE FUZZ ON HIS PEACH AND HE SHOULD BE IMPEACHED

Joseph P. Nacchio, former CEO of Qwest Communications International, reported that his firm was approached more than six months before the September 11, 2001, attacks and asked to participate in a spying operation that Qwest believed to be illegal.

The essential hardware elements of a (Total Information Awareness)-type spy program are being surreptitiously slipped into 'real world' telecommunications offices.

 

There may be dozens of surveillance rooms in AT&T offices around the country.

The internet surveillance program covers domestic traffic, not just international traffic.

The system is capable of looking at content, not just addresses. The Narus software exists primarily to conduct sophisticated rule-based analysis of content.

Transit traffic originating with one ISP and destined for another is also being sniffed if it crosses AT&T's network. Ironically, because the taps are installed at the point at which that network connects to the rest of the world, the safest web surfers are AT&T subscribers visiting websites hosted on AT&T's network. Their traffic doesn't pass through the splitters.

 

Room 641A of a large telecommunications building in downtown San Francisco was filled with powerful data-mining equipment for a "special job" by the National Security Agency...

Keith Olbermann on his Countdown program (2-14-8) said that all of the nasty pictures--all of the Internet sites---all of the emails---

EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE

THAT YOU HAVE EVER VISITED ON YOUR COMPUTER

HAS BEEN MONITORED

IN Room 641A.

YOU HAVE BEEN SLEEPING

WITH THE ENEMY!

George W. Bush

HAS BEEN MORE THAN JUST

THE DECIDER

THE DIVIDER

THE DECEIVER

AND

THE TORTURER

(and not just a torturer of the English language)...

The LONG WAR PRESIDENT

HAS ALSO BEEN

THE SNOOPER!

 

[NOTE: It appears that President Obama has continued the same SURVEILLANCE practices.]

 

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES!

GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS

GOOD NEWS: President George W. Bush has decided to have the Navy shoot down a disabled 5,000-pound (2,270 kg) minivan-sized spy satellite satellite with a modified tactical missile before it enters the earth's atmosphere.

BAD NEWS: Dick Cheney is on the tactical missile with his shotgun.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

TOE NAILS FISHING LINES AND SKEETER

Uncle Phil (one of my dad’s brothers or maybe one of my dad's dad's brothers)(was this last grammatically correct?) used to take me fishing with him.
We went to Berkeley Lake (the same lake where my high school cross-country team ran.)

Uncle Phil and I always sat on the same little pier.
I remember that this lake had mostly fish called crappies.
“Boy”, I’d say to myself, “Who would want to eat fish called crappies?”And so I never ate any.
I just remember that they had a lot of shiny and slimy scales.
Uncle Phil didn’t catch very many.

It seemed like most of the time I was untangling Uncle Phil’s fishing line.
Dozens and dozens of little knots.
I took pride in my detangling dexterity.
Uncle Phil always gave me a big smile when I had finished untying those nasty knots.

Uncle Phil had long and yellow toenails.

It looked as if he smoked with his feet.
When I looked at Uncle Phil's lengthy toe nails, I wondered whether they would continue to grow when he passed away.

Uncle Phil had a Chihuahua named Skeeter.
He was big and friendly, but his hair was everywhere.

Aunt Marge was Uncle Phil’s wife.
She cooked plump, fruit-filled pastries.
I have never eaten any as delicious as these.
Aunt Marge always had some for us kids to eat.

My parents didn’t visit Uncle Phil and Aunt Marge very often, so our visits became that much more meaningful.

I had a happy childhood.

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND OIL! 

CONSPIRACY?

"By way of deception, thou shalt do war"

Motto of the Mossad

"Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty."

George W. Bush
At the United Nations

November 11, 2001

Why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page?
"The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11."
Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI

"I was not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States nor did I have knowledge of the attacks. There exists a government within a government within the United States. The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself; to the people who want to make the present century a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity. That secret government must be asked as to who carried out the attacks. ... The American system is totally in control of the Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States."
Bin Laden

On the day of the 9-11 attacks, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked what the attacks would mean for US-Israeli relations. His quick reply was:

"It's very good…….Well, it's not good, but it will generate immediate sympathy (for Israel)"

A Mossad surveillance team made quite a public spectacle of themselves on 9-11:
The New York Times reported Thursday that a group of five men had set up video cameras aimed at the Twin Towers prior to the attack on Tuesday, and were seen congratulating one another afterwards.

White, 2000 Chevrolet van with 'Urban Moving Systems' sign on back seen at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ, at the time of first impact of jetliner into World Trade Center Three individuals with van were seen celebrating after initial impact and subsequent explosion. FBI Newark Field Office requests that, if the van is located, hold for prints and detain individuals.


"We are Israelis. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are your problem."
Sivan Kurzberg/THE DRIVER OF THE VAN


The police and FBI field agents became very suspicious when they found maps of the city with certain places highlighted, box cutters (the same items that the hijackers supposedly used), $4700 cash stuffed in a sock, and foreign passports. Police also told the Bergen Record that bomb sniffing dogs were brought to the van and that they reacted as if they had smelled explosives.

The Jewish weekly The Forward reported that the FBI finally concluded that at least two of the detained Israelis were agents working for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, and that Urban Moving Systems, the ostensible employer of the five Israelis, was a front operation. This was confirmed by two former CIA officers, and they noted that movers' vans are a common intelligence cover. The Israelis were held in custody for 71 days before being quietly released.
"There was no question but that [the order to close down the investigation] came from the White House. It was immediately assumed at CIA headquarters that this basically was going to be a cover-up so that the Israelis would not be implicated in any way in 9/11."


"I think there is very compelling evidence that at least some of the terrorists were assisted not just in financing -- although that was part of it -- by a sovereign foreign government ... It will become public at some point when it's turned over to the archives, but that's 20 or 30 years from now."
Senator Bob Graham.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

LIES LIARS AND ZOMBIES

If we must begin a military campaign, it will be directed against the lawless men who rule your country and not against you. As our coalition takes away their power, we will deliver the food and medicine you need. We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free. In a free Iraq, there will be no more wars of aggression against your neighbors, no more poison factories, no more executions of dissidents, no more torture chambers and rape rooms. The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near.
George W. Bush/March 17, 2003

The question in my mind is: How many additional American casualties is Saddam worth? And the answer is: Not very damned many.
Dick Cheney/1992

Saddam Hussein has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.
Colin Powell/February 2001

Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

Dick Cheney/ speech to VFW National Convention/Aug. 26, 2002

We are able to keep his [Saddam Hussein's] arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.
Condoleezza Rice/July 2001

I don't believe anyone that I know in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons.

Donald Rumsfeld/Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense hearing/May 14, 2003

We believe [Saddam Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.

Dick Cheney/NBC's Meet the Press/March 16, 2003

We never believed that we’d just tumble over weapons of mass destruction.
Donald Rumsfeld

The danger to our country is grave. The danger to our country is growing.
George W. Bush/October 5, 2002

With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help.
Colonel Nathan Sassaman/December 6, 2003

I wouldn’t be happy if I were occupied either.
George W. Bush/April 13, 2004

I know what I’m doing when it comes to winning this war.

George W. Bush/August 11, 2004


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

Q & A

How will President Bush's support affect John McCain's candidacy?


The Liar-in-Chief's support of John McCain will infect McCain's candidacy.
That's how it will affect it.
The Iraq War surge was an excuse to continue the American occupation.
The American people are fed up with this war, fed up with this War president, and the very last thing that they want is ANOTHER WAR PRESIDENT.
McCain is not going to win, and Bush's support will make sure of that.


IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

What a total crock of ignorance and deception the Bush regime represents. Bush, defeated in Iraq, defeated in Afghanistan, with Pakistan crumbling in front of his eyes, is now reduced to begging the French, whom it was such grand sport for his neocon officials to denigrate, to send soldiers to save his ass in Afghanistan.
What a laughing stock Bush has made of America. What ruination this utter idiot and his supporters have brought to America. What total traitors the neoconservatives are. Every last one of them should be immediately arrested for high treason. Neonconservatives are America's greatest enemies, and they control our government! All Americans have to show for six years of Bush's "war on terror" is an incipient police state.
Now standing in the wings is mad John "hundred year war" McCain. Will the American electorate wipe out the Republican Party before this insane party wipes out America?

[From http://counterpunch.com/

Bush Calls on France for Help
War Without End

2/11/08
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS]

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan's first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

CHEESEBURGERS DOOMSDAY AND GLOBAL WARMING

I just did my part to advance Global Warming.

I had a big dinner at a giant Chinese buffet.

I got there by spewing Carbon (and whatever else) out of my six-cylinder Ford truck.

I am back home now and watching (mostly listening to) Six Degrees Could Change the World on the National Geographic channel.

I don’t know how much pollution my flat-screen TV is producing, or for that matter how much stinking carbon my computer is producing.

Nor do I have too many pangs of guilt.

It’s been a mild winter here in the Southwest where I live.

Fine and dandy, but I don’t look forward to the high temperatures which may occur this summer.

Some people believe that humans are producing Global Warming;

Others (like that extraterrestrial Tom Delay) don’t think so.

But the proof, it seems to me, will be in the pudding---

Or in this case---

In the pyrotechnics.

Doomsday is a damn big word to use, whether in speech or writing.

People seem to be enhancing themselves when they say it.

So we munch our scrumptious cheeseburgers, which in the United States produces 200 million tons of carbon per year.

That much carbon could make a super-duper diamond.

We don’t worry too much (I started to write sweat) about Global Warming…

YET.

 

 

 

IT'S ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND OIL!

 

 

The Sun Also Sets
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY Posted Thursday, February 07, 2008 4:20 PM PT

Climate Change: Not every scientist is part of Al Gore's mythical "consensus." Scientists worried about a new ice age seek funding to better observe something bigger than your SUV — the sun.
Back in 1991, before Al Gore first shouted that the Earth was in the balance, the Danish Meteorological Institute released a study using data that went back centuries that showed that global temperatures closely tracked solar cycles.
To many, those data were convincing. Now, Canadian scientists are seeking additional funding for more and better "eyes" with which to observe our sun, which has a bigger impact on Earth's climate than all the tailpipes and smokestacks on our planet combined.
And they're worried about global cooling, not warming.
Kenneth Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, is among those looking at the sun for evidence of an increase in sunspot activity.
Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.
Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.
This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.
Tapping reports no change in the sun's magnetic field so far this cycle and warns that if the sun remains quiet for another year or two, it may indicate a repeat of that period of drastic cooling of the Earth, bringing massive snowfall and severe weather to the Northern Hemisphere.
Tapping oversees the operation of a 60-year-old radio telescope that he calls a "stethoscope for the sun." But he and his colleagues need better equipment.
In Canada, where radio-telescopic monitoring of the sun has been conducted since the end of World War II, a new instrument, the next-generation solar flux monitor, could measure the sun's emissions more rapidly and accurately.
As we have noted many times, perhaps the biggest impact on the Earth's climate over time has been the sun.
For instance, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar Research in Germany report the sun has been burning more brightly over the last 60 years, accounting for the 1 degree Celsius increase in Earth's temperature over the last 100 years.
R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center of Canada's Carleton University, says that "CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales."
Rather, he says, "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet."
Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."
"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."
In 2005, Russian astronomer Khabibullo Abdusamatov made some waves — and not a few enemies in the global warming "community" — by predicting that the sun would reach a peak of activity about three years from now, to be accompanied by "dramatic changes" in temperatures.
A Hoover Institution Study a few years back examined historical data and came to a similar conclusion.
"The effects of solar activity and volcanoes are impossible to miss. Temperatures fluctuated exactly as expected, and the pattern was so clear that, statistically, the odds of the correlation existing by chance were one in 100," according to Hoover fellow Bruce Berkowitz.
The study says that "try as we might, we simply could not find any relationship between industrial activity, energy consumption and changes in global temperatures."
The study concludes that if you shut down all the world's power plants and factories, "there would not be much effect on temperatures."
But if the sun shuts down, we've got a problem. It is the sun, not the Earth, that's hanging in the balance.

WAR OR PEACE?

HAS John McCain FLIPPED HIS WIG?

Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war.

Jonn McCain

Our armed forces will fight for peace in Iraq, a peace built on more secure foundations than are found today in the Middle East.

John McCain

Q: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years---

(cut off by McCain)

McCain: Make it a hundred.

"..so long as American forces are tied down in an unwinnable war in Iraq, there is little hope of winning in Afghanistan."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
February 12, 2008

It will be up to the American people (and electronic voting machines) whether a hawkish Bush clone will be elected as the next U.S. president---
Or a more diplomatic statesman who doesn't want to sing Bomb, bomb Iran or dance to the tunes of the powerful Pentagon, Corporate Masters, and Lobbyists.
McCain like the Long War Decider President believes that Iraq must continue to be occupied until there is...
VICTORY?

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

READING BETWEEN THE LINES

I know that President Bush has many extremely competent speech writers but I would like to volunteer for the job myself. I propose the following short address which he can make on television to the nation. I see him grave, hair carefully combed, serious, winning, sincere, often beguiling, sometimes employing a wry smile, curiously attractive, a man's man.
'God is good. God is great. God is good. My God is good. Bin Laden's God is bad. His is a bad God. Saddam's God was bad, except he didn't have one. He was a barbarian. We are not barbarians. We don't chop people's heads off. We believe in freedom. So does God. I am not a barbarian. I am the democratically elected leader of a freedom-loving democracy. We are a compassionate society. We give compassionate electrocution and compassionate lethal injection. We are a great nation. I am not a dictator. He is. I am not a barbarian. He is. And he is. They all are. I possess moral authority. You see this fist? This is my moral authority. And don't you forget it.'

Harold Pinter

Madame Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests and fellow citizens:Seven years have passed since I first stood before you at this rostrum.
[AND SEVEN YEARS HAVE BEEN PISSED]

In that time, our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined. We have faced hard decisions about peace and war [BUT MY WAR DECISION WAS EASY], rising competition in the world economy and the health and welfare of our citizens. These issues call for vigorous debate, and I think it's fair to say we've answered that call.
[THOUGH THE CALL WAS ANSWERED QUITE LATE
SINCE THERE WAS LITTLE DEBATE ABOUT MY DECISION TO START AN UNNECESSARY PRE-EMPTIVE WAR IN IRAQ THAT WAS BASED UPON A NEST OF LIES]

Yet history will record that amid our differences, we acted with purpose.
[AND I BOMBED IRAQ ON PURPOSE EVEN WHEN MANY, MANY VOICES DISAGREED WITH ME]

And together, we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government.
[A SELF-GOVERNMENT WHERE NEARLY TWO-THIRDS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT MY WAR IN IRAQ WAS WRONG AND THAT SOLDIERS SHOULD NOW COME HOME]

All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people's business. That is the purpose of this body. It is the meaning of our oath. And it remains our charge to keep.
[DON'T ASK IF IT WAS IN THE PEOPLE'S INTEREST OR THE PEOPLE’S BUSINESS TO INVADE IRAQ]

In the work ahead, we must be guided by the philosophy that made our nation great. As Americans, we believe in the power of individuals to determine their destiny and shape the course of history. We believe that the most reliable guide for our country is the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens.
[AND NOT THE HUBRIS AND IGNORANCE OF ONE MAN WHO CALLS HIMSELF THE DECIDER]

So in all we do, we must trust in the ability of free people to make wise decisions, and empower them to improve their lives and their futures.
[YOU ARE CALLED FREE PEOPLE BUT I MAKE THE DECISIONS FOR YOU]

Wages are up, but so are prices for food and gas. Exports are rising, but the housing market has declined. And at kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future.
[AND QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT’S FOR DINNER]

In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth.
[AND BE CONFIDENT ABOUT THE GROWTH OF THE NATIONAL DEBT THAT I’VE ALREADY DOUBLED DURING MY ADMINISTRATION]

We have other work to do on taxes. Unless the Congress acts, most of the tax relief we have delivered over the past 7 years will be taken away.
[THE VERY RICH WOULD LOSE THEIR FREE RIDE AND HAVE TO PAY THEIR SHARE ONCE AGAIN]

Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes.
[BUT THE FILTHY RICH ARE NOT SAYING THIS. FOR THEM IT ISN’T A TAX INCREASE, BUT WOULD BE A ROLLBACK TO WHAT THEY WERE PAYING BEFORE I GAVE THEM THEIR RELIEF]

I welcome their enthusiasm, and I am pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders.
[I SHOULD HAVE SKIPPED THIS LAST SARCASTIC REMARK]

Most Americans think their taxes are high enough. With all the other pressures on their finances, American families should not have to worry about the federal government taking a bigger bite out of their paychecks.
[AS MY RABID IRAQ WAR IS DOING]

There is only one way to eliminate this uncertainty: make the tax relief permanent. And members of Congress should know: If any bill raising taxes reaches my desk, I will veto it.
[I WON’T LET MY RICH FRIENDS DOWN]

Just as we trust Americans with their own money, we need to earn their trust by spending their tax dollars wisely.
[STOP: DON’T MAKE A PEEP ABOUT MY DESTRUCTIVE AND DECEPTIVE IRAQ OCCUPATION]

Next week, I will send you a budget that terminates or substantially reduces 151 wasteful or bloated programs totaling more than $18 billion. And this budget will keep America on track for a surplus in 2012. American families have to balance their budgets, and so should their government.
[SOMETIMES IT TAKES SEVEN YEARS TO GET AROUND TO DOING IT]

The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks---
[AND BY A UNITARY PRESIDENT WHO HAS SIGNED HUNDREDS OF SIGNING STATEMENTS]---special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate.
[JUST LIKE THE PATRIOT ACT]

On education, we must trust students to learn if given the chance [WHEN THEY ARE NOT BEING TAUGHT THE TEST] and empower parents to demand results from our schools. Six years ago, we came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act [NOT THE NO CHILD LEFT WITH A BEHIND ACT] and today no one can deny its results. Reading scores are on the rise. And African-American and Hispanic students posted all-time highs.
[NOT JUST DRUG HIGHS]

On trade, we must trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world and empower them by opening up new markets overseas.
[WHAT ABOUT OPENING MARKETS RIGHT HERE IN AMERICA?]

Today, our economic growth increasingly depends on our ability to sell American goods, crops and services all over the world. So we are working to break down barriers to trade and investment wherever we can.
[ALLOWING CORPORATIONS TO ELIMINATE MANY JOBS HERE AT HOME SO THAT THEY CAN MOVE OUT OF THE COUNTRY TO PAY LOWER WAGES AND AVOID PAYING FEDERAL TAXES ]

Trade brings better jobs, better choices and better prices. Yet for some Americans, trade can mean losing a job, and the federal government has a responsibility to help. I ask the Congress to reauthorize and reform trade adjustment assistance, so we can help these displaced workers learn new skills and find new jobs.
[WHY NOT JUST CALL TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE WHAT IT REALLY IS: UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS]

To build a future of energy security, we must trust in the creative genius of American researchers and entrepreneurs and empower them to pioneer a new generation of clean energy technology.
[I CAN SAY THIS NOW THAT I AM LEAVING OFFICE AND NO LONGER HAVE TO KOWTOW TO MY PETROLEUM CRONIES]

On matters of justice, we must trust in the wisdom of our founders and empower judges who understand that the Constitution means what it says.
[EVEN IF IT IS JUST A GODDAMNED PIECE OF PAPER]

I have submitted judicial nominees who will rule by the letter of the law, not the whim of the gavel.
[OR THE NAVEL]

Many of these nominees are being unfairly delayed. They are worthy of confirmation, and the Senate should give each of them a prompt up-or-down vote.Tonight the armies of compassion continue the march to a new day in the Gulf Coast.
[THIS HAS A MILITARY SOUND TO IT]

America honors the strength and resilience of the people of this region.
[THE SAME STRENGTH AND RESILIENCE THEY HAD WHEN I IGNORED THEIR PLIGHT BEFORE AND AFTER KATRINA HIT THEM]

Every member in this chamber knows that spending on entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is growing faster than we can afford. And we all know the painful choices ahead if America stays on this path: massive tax increases, sudden and drastic cuts in benefits, or crippling deficits. I have laid out proposals to reform these programs. Now I ask members of Congress to offer your proposals and come up with a bipartisan solution to save these vital programs for our children and grandchildren.
[IN THE MEANTIME I MUST CUT COSTS AND REDUCE SPENDING ON THESE DOMESTIC PROGRAMS SO THAT I CAN PAY FOR MY BLUNDERING OCCUPATION OF IRAQ]

The other pressing challenge is immigration. America needs to secure our borders -- and with your help, my administration is taking steps to do so.
[CALL THEM BABY STEPS BECAUSE NOT MUCH HAS BEEN DONE IN SEVEN YEARS OF MY REIGN]

Our foreign policy is based on a clear premise: We trust that people, when given the chance, will choose a future of freedom and peace.
[THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ STILL AWAIT THIS FUTURE]

In the last seven years, we have witnessed stirring moments in the history of liberty.
[AND BLOODY AND BRUTAL MOMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF WAR]

Since September 11, we have taken the fight to these terrorists and extremists.
[WHO ARE MAINLY IRAQI CITIZENS AND NOT FOREIGNERS]

We will stay on the offense, we will keep up the pressure, and we will deliver justice to the enemies of America.
[AND THEY WILL CONTINUE TO DELIVER THEIR BOMBS AS OUR JUSTICE IS DELIVERED. YOU CAN CALL ME THE DECIDER AND THE DELIVERER]

The terrorists oppose every principle of humanity and decency that we hold dear. Yet in this war on terror, there is one thing we and our enemies agree on: In the long run, men and women who are free to determine their own destinies will reject terror and refuse to live in tyranny.
[EVEN IF THAT TYRANNY IS THE TYRANNY OF FOREIGN OCCUPATION]

That is why the terrorists are fighting to deny this choice to people in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Palestinian Territories.
[WHO WANT TO KICK THE INVADER OUT]

And that is why, for the security of America and the peace of the world, we are spreading the hope of freedom
[FOREIGN OCCUPATION, MILITARY BASES AND REFUGEES].

In Iraq, the terrorists and extremists are fighting to deny a proud people their liberty and to establish safe havens for attacks across the world. One year ago, our enemies were succeeding in their efforts to plunge Iraq into chaos.
[IT WAS ALREADY CHAOS BUT NOW IT’S A MORE SUCCESSFUL CHAOS.]

The Iraqi people quickly realized that something dramatic had happened. Those who had worried that America was preparing to abandon them instead saw tens of thousands of American forces flowing into their country.
[AS FOUR MILLION OF THEM LEFT THEIR COUNTRY]

American troops are shifting from leading operations, to partnering with Iraqi forces, and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission.
[SOUNDS LIKE EXTRATERRESTRIALS]

The mission in Iraq has been difficult and trying for our nation.
[AND A PILLAGING OF OUR NATIONAL TREASURY]

But it is in the vital interest of the United States that we succeed.
[SUCCESS DOESN’T MEAN ORPHANING MILLIONS OF IRAQIS AND IRRADIATING THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION]

A free Iraq will deny al-Qaida a safe haven. A free Iraq will show millions across the Middle East that a future of liberty is possible. And a free Iraq will be a friend of America, a partner in fighting terror and a source of stability in a dangerous part of the world.
[A FREE IRAQ WITH NO IRAQIS OR ENEMIES LEFT]

We will not rest until this enemy has been defeated. We must do the difficult work today, so that years from now people will look back and say that this generation rose to the moment, prevailed in a tough fight, and left behind a more hopeful region and a safer America.
[OR MAYBE NOT]

We are also standing against the forces of extremism [I DON’T MEAN ISRAEL] in the Holy Land, where we have new cause for hope. Palestinians have elected a president who recognizes that confronting terror is essential to achieving a state where his people can live in dignity and at peace with Israel. Israelis have leaders who recognize that a peaceful, democratic Palestinian state will be a source of lasting security.
[IT WOULD ALSO HELP IF PALESTINIANS HAD ENOUGH FOOD AND WATER, ETC.]

This month in Ramallah and Jerusalem, I assured leaders from both sides that America will do, and I will do, everything we can to help them achieve a peace agreement that defines a Palestinian state by the end of this year.
[BUT DEFINITIONS ARE NOT STATES]

The time has come for a Holy Land where a democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine live side-by-side in peace.
[IT’S BEEN THAT TIME FOR A VERY LONG TIME]

Our message to the people of Iran is clear: We have no quarrel with you, we respect your traditions and your history, and we look forward to the day when you have your freedom.
[DIDN’T I SAY THIS TO THE IRAQIS BEFORE I BOMBED THEM?]

Our message to the leaders of Iran is also clear: Verifiably suspend your nuclear enrichment, so negotiations can begin. And to rejoin the community of nations, come clean about your nuclear intentions and past actions, stop your oppression at home and cease your support for terror abroad. But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf.
[AND WE’LL AGAIN DO SO AT THE TIME OF OUR OWN CHOOSING]

On the home front, we will continue to take every lawful and effective measure to protect our country.
[AND LAWYERS WILL MAKE SURE THAT I AM PROTECTED FROM PROSECUTION FOR EVERY LAW THAT I BREAK]

The secret of our strength, the miracle of America, is that our greatness lies not in our government, but in the spirit and determination of our people.
[THE MIRACLE IS THAT OUR GOVERNMENT CAN TELL GREAT LIES AND DETERMINED PEOPLE CAN’T STOP THOSE LIES OR PROSECUTE US FOR TELLING THEM]

By trusting the people, succeeding generations transformed our fragile young democracy into the most powerful nation on earth and a beacon of hope for millions. And so long as we continue to trust the people, our nation will prosper, our liberty will be secure and the state of our union will remain strong. So tonight, with confidence in freedom's power, and trust in the people, let us set forth to do their business.
[TOO BAD I DIDN’T FOLLOW THESE SOLEMN WORDS IN MY OWN REGIME WHEN I DID MY BUSINESS AND THAT OF THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY]

God Bless America.

IT'S THE OIL STUPID!

VOTE FOR OBAMA

The Iraq occupation will continue with McCain or Romney as president.
Hillary would also waltz to the tunes of CORPORATIONS and the PENTAGON.
Obama would not.
Listening to Hillary for four years as president would be painful.
Obama's sonorous and succinct speaking style is preferable.
As an Independent my vote is going to Obama.
The Final Four.
It's not basketball.
It's not a game.
It's nothing less than the future of America.
VOTE FOR OBAMA!