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Among the leaves so green-o...Open Thread Version
Here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green
It's Christmas Time in Washington, and neither Woody nor Cisco nor MalcomX nor Martin Luther King are in sight (see below for lyrics). What is in sight, is too much green stuff.
It's December 25th, for Christ's sake (as Huckabee might put it). As benefits an old 18-foot wide Washington rowhouse, I've got a tiny postage stamp of a front yard, maybe 12-feet deep, with one camellia, one 15-foot high Japanese maple, a red climbing rose intertwined reluctantly through a simple cast-iron fence, a new yellow climbing rose just starting out, and a few sprays of various groundcovers, also new.
But what's this? Damn, it's the daffodils, muscling their way through two inches of two-week old bark mulch. The little yard is full of them, but this is ridiculous. It's December! When we moved into this house 8 years ago, the daffodils came up in late March. They're admittedly in a sunny spot, nestled up to a brick housefront that radiates heat at night. Last year, I was alarmed when they came up in late January, only to be blasted by a subsequent freeze, so that only a few of them ever managed to blossom.
The camellia also went off much earlier last year, and the frost turned its beautiful blossoms into the most unattractive color brown, and now it's fixing to do the same thing, only earlier.
Watching an entire season disappear before your eyes is a strange and unnerving experience. It's not unlike the equally strange and unnerving experience of watching your country disappear before your eyes. There's even a simple connection between the two: George W. Bush, and the inexplicable failure of the Congress, the courts, and the electorate to act to save the country and to save the planet.
Students of stressed natural systems warn of the existence of tipping points, (or to be a little more mathematical, of non-linear responses), where a situation that has been getting worse a little bit at a time suddenly accelerates past a point of no recall, like over-fishing cod off New England and then boom, all of sudden there are essentially no more cod to be caught.
How can you tell when you are close to a tipping point? In ecological policy, there is a concept called the precautionary principle, which suggests that in the absence of data or experience showing that some new action is safe, say the release of a new pesticide, you should not allow that pesticide to be released commercially until its manufacturers have proven that there are no harmful, unintended side effects.
Our country has refused to embed the precautionary principle into environmental law, unlike the European Union, for example.
But we would be equally well served by a precautionary principle in the political arena as well. From this point of view, the efforts of the founders to embed a system of checks and balances into the Constitution was a conscious effort to set up such a precautionary system. That this system has utterly failed to protect us from the constitutional depredations and the illegal prosecution of aggressive wars is a great tragedy.
Depending on the failure of the follies of ones enemies to undo them makes for a most unsatisfactory and unsaleable politics. How much pain and torture, how many innocent civilian deaths, how much of our national treasure thrown away, before enough people see what's sitting there in front of them, the determined shoots of authoritarianism, forcing their way into the light?
Steve Earle's song is a reminder of times when other Americans saw clearly the dangers facing the country, Americans who were spit upon and reviled and even murdered in political show trials. They're not names that trip off the tongues of politicians touring Iowa, but they're the names that burn in memory, because they refused to close their eyes, or shut their mouths.
Lyrics to Steve Earle's, "It's Christmastime in Washington"
It's Christmastime in Washington
The Democrats rehearsed
Gettin' into gear for four more years
Things not gettin' worse
The Republicans drink whiskey neat
And thanked their lucky stars
They said, 'He cannot seek another term
There'll be no more FDRs'
I sat home in Tennessee
Staring at the screen
With an uneasy feeling in my chest
And I'm wonderin' what it means
Chorus: So come back Woody Guthrie
Come back to us now
Tear your eyes from paradise
And rise again somehow
If you run into Jesus
Maybe he can help you out
Come back Woody Guthrie to us now
I followed in your footsteps once
Back in my travelin' days
Somewhere I failed to find your trail
Now I'm stumblin' through the haze
But there's killers on the highway now
And a man can't get around
So I sold my soul for wheels that roll
Now I'm stuck here in this town
Chorus
There's foxes in the hen house
Cows out in the corn
The unions have been busted
Their proud red banners torn
To listen to the radio
You'd think that all was well
But you and me and Cisco know
It's going straight to hell
So come back, Emma Goldman
Rise up, old Joe Hill
The barricades are goin' up
They cannot break our will
Come back to us, Malcolm X
And Martin Luther King
We're marching into Selma
As the bells of freedom ring
Chorus
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Merry Global Warming Christmas
I posted Richard's article in the open thread because I know the home page isn't functioning properly for everyone.
We always enjoy hearing everyone's comments about the articles at the top.
Christy
I used to draw as a kid
Excellent NMP
"There's a little bit of red wine left. I'm gonna finish it off."
(houseguest)
The house is quiet. I was putting all the school photos of various nieces and nephews into a book, with their old ones - trying to figure out who in the heck they are. Most of them I've never seen but they do look like their parents did when they were kids.
We still have a little snow/slush on the ground. Am managing not to read to much news, just for one day.
It is very unnerving to see my kids begging to go outside on Christmas WITHOUT jackets, cause 'It gets too hot while we are playing.'
I try to explain what is happening to my kids, but I do not think they have an idea of just how devastating it will be.
I tell them 'Something is wrong with the weather' and I try to make them understand that all they see can abruptly change. My daughter asked, 'What will it look like'.
It really scared me when I had to say 'I don't know.'
The birds have not migrated. My garden is still trying to grow squash. The squirrels are having babies. At freaking Christmas.
Very unnerving.
Me and my man were talking about it the other day. There is some huge old oak trees flanking our house.
We have those real thick oil field ropes, one for a swing, and one just a climbing rope. Do you know both my 7 and 9 year old can climb the straight rope, straight up 30 feet? We have decided to add a rope ladder on the largest branch.
Eventually the northern ice caps will erode to the point the earth itself will tip. The southern Ice cap will find the gravatational up because the ice is bouyant. Planetologists say it can flip 90 degrees on its axis in less than two weeks. They say it WILL flip. Not if, when. Time itself will warp.
It doesn't make me feel any better knowing I am at the highest elevation in Louisiana. When it tilts, all of the deep south will become ocean. The mountains are not any safer, since entire mountain ranges will collapse and new mountains will emerge. All of the water will be poisioned.
The only thing I can think of is to take to the trees and then try to escape. Not sure to where, cause when it happens all of the land masses we know will no longer exist. There really is no way to actually plan for what is coming.
We will not be able to look to the animals to guide us. Most of them will die, unable to evolve.
My man and I were talking about how our communities would be torn apart, people killing each other over a handful of beans.
I am very glad I have taught every single one of my kids to fight. Right or wrong, those that will survive the new world that is coming, will be those that TAKE what they need to survive.
I do not know how else to prepare them for it.
Perhaps one of the best songs of my generation. Just download it, you get it.
Smash Mouth › Walkin’ On The Sun
It aint no joke Id like to buy the world a toke
And teach the world to sing in perfect harmony
And teach the world to snuff the fires and the liars
Hey I know its just a song but its spice for the recipe
This is a love attack I know it went out but its back
Its just like any fad it retracts before impact
And just like fashion its a passion for the with it and hip
If you got the goods theyll come and buy it just to stay in the clique
Chorus:
So dont delay, act now supplies are running out
Allow, if your still alive, six to eight years to arrive
And if you follow there may be a tomorrow but if
The offers shun, you might as well be walkin on the sun
Twenty five years ago they spoke out and they broke out
Of recession and opression and together they toked
And they folked out with guitars around a bonfire
Just singin and clapin man what the hell happened
Some were spell bound some were hell bound
Some they fell down and some got back up and
Fought against the melt down
And their kids are hippie chicks all hypocrites
Because fashion is smashin the true meaning of it
Chorus:
It aint no joke when mammas hankercheif is soaked
With the tears because her babys life has been revoked
The bond is broke up so choke up and focus on the closeup
Mr. wizard cant perform no God like hocus pocus
So dont sit back kick back and watch the world get bushwacked
News at 10:00 your neighborhood is under attack
Put away the crack before the crack puts you away
You need to be there when your babys old enough to relate
So dont delay, act now supplies are running out
Allow, if your still alive, six to eight years to arrive
And if you follow there may be a tomorrow but if
The offers shun, you might as well be walkin on the sun
Everyone recuperating??
If you didn't get enough Christmas music:
That is freaking hillarious!
Snip..
As reported a few days ago in the Tampa Tribune, the saga all started last month when a reporter for The Ledger, the county's local newspaper in Lakeland, FL, called school board member Kay Harris Fields to ask her opinion of the pending state science standards. The story quoted Fields as opposing the evolution portion of the new standards and looking for the superintendent to say whether there was anything to be done about them locally.
The Ledger followed up with another story a week later where it polled all school board members on the issue and reported that five of seven school board members declared a personal belief in the concept of intelligent design, and four of those five board members said they would like to see intelligent design taught in Polk schools as an alternative to evolution. One of those four board members, Margaret Lofton, made her views on the topic quite clear:
"If it ever comes to the board for a vote, I will vote against the teaching of evolution as part of the science curriculum," Lofton said. "If (evolution) is taught, I would want to balance it with the fact that we may live in a universe created by a supreme being as well."
Enter the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
If you aren't familiar with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it asserts that an omnipotent, airborne clump of spaghetti intelligently designed all life with the touch of its "noodly appendage," and that He appears in "full pirate regalia." The Pastafarians, as the Church's believers call themselves, first came to national attention in 2005, when the Church's leader, twentysomething Bobby Henderson, wrote an open letter to the Kansas Board of Education when the evolution flap was going on there, insisting that students also be taught about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (You can read more about the Church in this recent Wired Magazine article).
The Pastafarians appear to have grown in numbers quite a bit since 2005, and soon after the Ledger story appeared, Polk school board members were deluged with e-mails demanding that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism's version of intelligent design be taught in the classrooms alongside evolution and the "alternative" ID theory.
And the school board members didn't hear from just the Pastafarians. Local residents wrote scathing letters to the Ledger criticizing the school board members' positions:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/12/26/72046/268/826/426324
HAHAHA!
Invisible Sun
by The Police
I dont want to spend the rest of my life
Looking at the barrel of an armalite
I dont want to spend the rest of my days
Keeping out of trouble like the soldiers say
I dont want to spend my time in hell
Looking at the walls of a prison cell
I dont ever want to play the part
Of a statistic on a government chart
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole days done
Its dark all day, and it glows all night
Factory smoke and acetylene light
I face the day with me head caved in
Looking like something that the cat brought in
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole days done
And they're only going to change this place
By killing everybody in the human race
And they would kill me for a cigarette
But I dont even wanna die just yet
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives us hope when the whole days done
Christy
A good way to get back to the nutjobs.
I am back in SoCal, and as soon as I came down the Tejon pass from the northwest, I could feel the theocratic air - trucks marked "John 3:16" and cars with those stupid fishes. I'm all pissy again, after several great days in San Fran. Maybe those Pastafarians need to do their magic here.
Actually, San Fran was not all that immune either - there was a new Korean Baptist church on the way from my hotel to the nearest BART station.
So back to asking people which church they belong to, because Christianity is already assumed... Gotta love Bible Belt West, from its Pentecostals to its Korean megachurches.
Ally
It was funny - Henry was telling us the particulars of waiting banquet parties for various occupational and industry groups and also ethnic groups. He might be stereotyping some but also probably some truth to it.
Best tippers - hairdressers
Worst tippers - Doctors & lawyers
("basically, the more money people make, the cheaper")
Dullest, most sedate, finish by 10 PM
"the religious people"
Party the latest ("til you have to kick 'em out")
Any ethnic group: Iranians, Pakistani, Lao etc.)
Most stuck-up, unfriendly, "attitude"
Nike workers - "they drink alot"
Polite but don't interact with you much
Techies
Best dancers
Hispanics, then blacks
Worst dancers
Older white people "the ones that wear khaki pants"
(demonstrates)
Happy Birthday to a music legend, perhaps the best bass player of all time, an absolute original and one of my faves...
Get down and funky with George Porter Jr. on his 60th birthday
On Wednesday at the Howlin' Wolf (New Orleans), George Porter Jr. will celebrate his his 60th birthday and 21st year of sobriety with "Celebration of a Lifetime: The Man and His Music." Expected guests include his PBS bandmates and members of Bonerama and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk. Fans are flying in from as far away as Hawaii.
For four decades, George Porter Jr. has guarded the Big Easy's groove.
more...
http://blog.nola.com/keithspera/2007/12/get_down_and_funky_with_george.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Senate was called to order for 11 seconds on Wednesday as the last political scuffle of the year between the White House and the Democratic-led Congress played out.
Nearly all the senators left the Capitol for the Christmas holiday last week, but Democrats are keeping the Senate in session to block President Bush from making any recess appointments -- a constitutional mechanism that allows the president, during congressional recesses, to fill top government posts for up to one year without Senate confirmation.
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Virginia, opened and then immediately gaveled the Senate session to a close. He spent 57 seconds in the chamber.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/26/senate.pro.forma/index.html
..so Bush can't technically do recess appointments.. it's cool
Just heard though that the budget bill they passed was complex - the Democrats didn't get their withdrawal date and Bush had to put up with a bunch of earmarks for hidden spending for pet programs. Then I heard he is doing a signing statement even though he didn't veto the bill - entitling him to get rid of any earmarks he thinks are outside his Constitutional responsibility to hold down spending. Some nerve after starting a war for nothing.
Bush holding down spending is as funny as evangelicals voting for Hillary.
NMP
Please say hi to Henry for me... I enjoyed meeting with him 1 1/2 years ago (already!). And his list definitely has some truth to it... though I am pretty sure our own doctor, oncall, tips generously.
The most admired man in America: W
The most admired woman in America: Hillary
According to a Newsweek poll.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/82013>1=10645
Actually, the most admired man in America has usually been whoever occupied the White House. So not much of a surprise, though W's rating was 10%, just above Bill Clinton's still-strong 8%.
Ally said
So, who on earth were those polled? This doesn't sound like a mixed sample.
woz
A sample of Americans.
You only need 10% to win this poll - and that's the percentage who picked W. The hardcore 10%.
Hillary got 18%.
WEXLER PETITION UPDATE:
138,465
signed up
and counting...
looks like it will go through 140,000 soon...
But we may be subject, at this point, to the law of diminishing returns..
Thanks Ally - so I guess it's a small sample polled.
What is "the law of diminishing terms"?
I meant.... what is the "law of diminishing returns"?
woz,
I was curious as to Ralphs intent with it too.
On the one hand I though he might have meant that each day there would be less and less signers once the initial flood broke on it.
Or on the other hand, I thought he meant more people who would see a result less than they had hoped for.
Not sure which way ralph meant it.
Christy,
I have devoted myself to become a pastafarian..... That is too hilarious. Here is my favorite from Bobby Henderson:
"I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."[4]
Ally
I would imagine alot of Americans admire people simply for being famous. It's like in mainland China now the most admired man is Bill Gates, because he is rich. No other reason. People tend to be shallow, I think. It's amazing sometimes.
The fact that W and Hillary come out lower on most of the polls we are exposed to is probably because we are on the internet so much. Consider that I had to write by snail mail to quite a few people lately because they do not even use computers!
Holiday Lenin 2007
This is when FEMA came to North Seattle Community College to meet with people about their flood damage.
(photos: D Grieser)
This is from our blog. You can see it "in situ" at http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com or right here, since it's not long. I figured it is still timely as it's only "Boxing Day" and this will be left up for awhile. I liked that it had a "Peace" theme this year.
Candy Cane Lane's conscientious objector
I read in the newspaper about a 65-year-old woman named Ester who resolutely refuses to decorate her house there, despite 48 years tradition. She hates that it lasts three weeks and fills the neighborhood with slow-moving vehicles with exhaust fumes. She belongs to the Scandinavian Cultural Group of UW, which hosts professors and families from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Holland. Her husband is a retired astronomy professor with Parkinson's disease. Her house is like an elegant black dress at a party with sequined ballgowns with tiaras.
This year this neighborhood's houses had signs with "Peace" in different languages. I saw her house tonight. Someone had put a sign in front of it which said "Fred." That means "Peace" in Norwegian.
(Photos: D Grieser)
BREAKING NEWS
Benazir Bhutto assassinated
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday outside a large gathering of her supporters where a suicide bomber also killed at least 14, doctors and a spokesman for her party said.
While Bhutto appeared to have died from bullet wounds, it was not immediately clear if she was shot or if her wounds were caused by bomb shrapnel.
President Pervez Musharraf held an emergency meeting in the hours after the death, according to state media.
Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan ambassador to the United States, said Musharraf will be "announcing something" soon, likely to include a declaration of national mourning for Bhutto. He said that when he briefly spoke with Musharraf, the president "condemned these attacks."
Police warned citizens to stay home as they expected rioting to break out in city streets in reaction to the death.
Rioters burned tires and blocked roads in Karachi and other cities, police sources said. Police fired on an angry mob, killing two people, in the city of Khairpur in the Sindh province, Geo TV reported.
Police sources told CNN the bomber, who was riding a motorcycle, blew himself up near Bhutto's vehicle.
Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital -- less than two miles from the bombing scene -- where doctors pronounced her dead.
more...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/27/pakistan.bhutto/index.html
Oh my God. They finally got to her.
No no no.
This is horrible.
He 'condemned' it. Yeah RIGHT Pervez! We all bet you regret it sooo much.
Oh, man. That is soooo freaking wrong.
"Witnesses said Ms. Bhutto was fired upon at close range before the blast, and an official from her party said Ms. Bhutto was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker. "
It is terrible Christy, a helluva way to start the day.
Will there ever be any good news every again?
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration scrambled Thursday with the implications of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination after investing significant diplomatic capital in promoting reconciliation between her and President Pervez Musharraf.
While awaiting formal confirmation of Bhutto's death in an attack on an election rally, U.S. officials -- who had labored to promote stability in the nuclear-armed country that has been an anti-terrorism ally -- huddled to assess the impact of Bhutto's passing just two weeks before legislative elections in the turbulent nation in which her party was expected to do well.
"Certainly, we condemn the attack on this rally," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey. "It demonstrates that there are still those in Pakistan who want to subvert reconciliation and efforts to advance democracy."
-snip-
Bhutto's return to the country after years in exile and the ability of her party to contest free and fair elections had been a cornerstone of Bush's policy in Pakistan, where U.S. officials had watched Musharraf's growing authoritarianism with increasing unease.
Those concerns were compounded by the rising threat from al-Qaida and Taliban extremists, particularly in Pakistan's largely ungoverned tribal areas bordering Afghanistan despite the fact that Washington had pumped nearly $10 billion in aid into the country since Musharraf became an indispensible counter-terrorism ally after Sept. 11, 2001.
Irritated by the situation, Congress last week imposed new restrictions on U.S. assistance to Pakistan, including tying $50 million in military aid to State Department assurances that the country is making "concerted efforts" to prevent terrorists from operating inside its borders.
more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22408007/
Everything the Bush administration touches winds up DEAD.
Did OUR money pay for the bullets that killed her?
DID WE BUY THE BOMB THAT KILLED HER?
Oh. Man.
I feel like I am going to throw up.
It'll all be sold by the Bush Cabal as an attack on democracy, and will be used as a catalyst to further the fight against those evildoers who want to harm democracy (which is somehow now an American brand) and freedom (which is also somehow God's gift to America to spread to the world).
I predict Bush will use this in a speech to smack Congress around and force their already weak and badly played hand and force them to pony up to the hawk way of thinking.
For damn sure, democrats won't be able to show how BushCheney, Inc sticking their collective noses where they don't belong has contributed to further destabilization in the region.
Where Bush goes, peace evaporates.
The Wexler Petition, still going strong:
141,524
signed up
and counting...
I don't think georgie can use this to smack around congress. This is perhaps his greatest FAILURE.
World War 3 is what he wanted. WW3 is what he got.
And they can say Bin Laden Bin Laden Bin Laden all they want... or CAN THEY? They are the ones actively NOT looking for him.
Not even my mother believes it, she KNOWS. We all know. Their elections were only 2 weeks away.
georgie really thought he could just make his puppet CO SHARE power, to boost the image that georgie somehow was doing good.... And now they have killed her!
Who? Does it matter? THEY ARE ALL FRIENDS OF GEORGIE. WHERE IN THE HELL IS BIN LADEN?
We are 'allies' to some of the most blood thirsty and power hungry little thug ass dictators on earth, and somehow WE are paying for ALL of them to kill each other and hate us for it.
No. I doubt georgie wants it mentioned AT ALL. He probably gave pervez the damn money to have it DONE.
This, her death... Is a very real and in our face confirmation that GEORGIE is a failure and a coward who loves dictators more than he loves his own people, or Our ways.
And, this only signals something worse is coming. Something so bad none of us here can even anticipate the evil we are caught in anymore.
Something far worse is coming. This is a very bad situation. THIS IS WW3! The entire region is effectively DESTABILIZED.
Only God can know what is going to happen now. I doubt bush wants you to think about it at all.
BTW:
I picked up the book, "Return of the Imperial Presidency" by Charlie Savage (who has won a Pulitzer prize, I believe). The book is pretty at least so far - and scary of course.
But what is quite interesting is that Jesselyn Radack gets four pages in the book p.107 to p.110 in a discussion of the Walker-Lindh case and the emails by Radack to her superiors.
WTF happened?!
Kerry on the Death of Benazir Bhutto
BOSTON, MA- Sen. John Kerry, (D-Mass.), issued the following statement about the murder of Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto today. Kerry is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs, which includes Pakistan. He introduced a Sense of the Senate Resolution expressing concern for Ms. Bhutto’s safety in the fall of this year.
"This is both a horrific and heartbreaking tragedy, and a lightning bolt wakeup call for anyone who had taken their eye off of the turmoil in Pakistan. Teresa and I send our deepest condolences to Ms. Bhutto's family. Benazir Bhutto returned home after years in exile knowing fully that she was taking a great personal risk to fight for change and democracy. When I met with her this fall just days before her return to Pakistan, she raised the issue of her own personal security. Subsequent to the bombing and assassination attempt that greeted her return home, I spoke to Secretary Rice about ways the United States might work with President Musharraf to ensure her safety.
“Her loss underscores the fragility of the situation in Pakistan and the perils of a volatile mix of unrest, tension, radicalism, and nuclear weapons. Her killing embodies everyone’s worst possible fears and reinforces how tenuous the circumstances in Pakistan really are. The loss of Ms. Bhutto demands of the United States and our allies an urgent focus on developing a Pakistan strategy that will crush extremists and provide freedom, peace, and security for the country that mourns her loss today."
Christy
Eventually, when you have it in you, could you paint this?
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/
Headed to new thread
new thread