Happy Birthday DiAnne!

Happy day, Dianne!

Your pictures are great!!

Thanks for all you do to keep us informed!!!!

Karen et al

Thank you for remembering this Leo! I am honored that you collected some photos for a little Retrospective, and included some joyful along with the sober, because that's what life is all about!!

I am 56! & Grace Jones is 60 & has released the first video of her upcoming CD, the first in 20 years. I was introduced to this by Charles Mudede of The Stranger and it is rather amazing. "Slave to the Rhythm" was released in the '80s and was more than a superficial "disco" cut, with lyrics like:

"Axe to wood in ancient times. Man machine power line. Fires burn hearts beat strong. Sing out loud the chain gang song. Never stop the action - keep it up keep it up."

She comes from Jamaica, part of the third world, and inspires me today as she uses her power and prestige as a first world artist to speak out against globalization, fear and war.

I present you with "Corporate Cannibal."

http://www.http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2008/08/grace-jones-cor.html for more about this video, the lyrics, links to reviews and blog entries about its making.

You might want to chase it with a look at the "happy photos" but to me, Grace Jones makes me feel good about getting older. There are many women in the arts who continue to be so creative - Joni Mitchell, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono - many more. I saw Lou Reed read a bunch of Edgar Allen Poe when he was 60 - in a red leather jacket - & then there are the Rolling Stones. & there are a few inspirational people in politics who continue to do the right thing and not be the "wrinkled old white dude" - such as the Kerrys.

My other inspiration is turning out to be my mother. She was a Young Republican and followed the path of her conservative father and uncle, though she married a fifth generation Democrat for love (they were both musicians.) My mother is going to be 80 in the spring and had decided to give up travel and seemed more and more lonely. She lives in North Dakota and only my institutionalized schizophrenic sister remains in the area. Her other children are in WA, OR, CO (all Democrats!)

So on Mother's Day, when I tried to call her, she wasn't home. I tried late at night and early in the morning. The phone rang, and she has no email or answering machine. I finally called my sister-in-law, who gave me Mom's "other number." It turns out she had a close male friend, also turning 80, and he had broken his shoulder. He called her from the hospital because he was going to have to go into a nursing home if he didn't have someone to help him at home. She was there within twenty minutes.

Last Friday they got married, in his home, which is a former church. Even at short notice, 70 people showed up. They have over 3000 piano rolls, ten player pianos, and they sit in matching Barcaloungers and listen to Sirius satellite music on Bose speakers. They buy scooters in parts, assemble them, and sell them to people trying to sell gas. & they get around on them themselves.

So now they are going to take off in a van, with two scooters - these almost-80-year-old newlyweds who had been going to give up travel. They're headed to Deadwood in the Black Hills where they'll sleep in a tent under a friend's apple tree and my mom has a "gig" in a bar (playing ragtime piano.) Then it's off to Wyoming to see her sister, to Colorado to see my brother, to Washington to see me, to Oregon to see my other brother, then to Arizona to see one of his kids, and on to California to see his other one. It is amazing to me.

I am also going to upload two photos that I took yesterday which have not yet been on the internet in any form LOL. The first was taken at a food fair, the second on the beach and the third on the Indian reservation. People actually live in those little sheds and they are right near the Vegas-size casino, the designer-store mall that attracts bargain-hunting Canadians and all the other Native-owned ventures that obviously are not trickling down to everyone on the rez.

As usual, I'm the first one up, but that's fine. I'll enjoy more of my birthday and day off!!

Beautiful Day - to all who go back 4JKB4IA & shortly thereafter -

Happy Birthday Darlin!

Your photos are incredible, you have a true gift for photography.

Have a wondeful day!

I have a knack for photos too, here's a good one of me for DiAnne...

Listening to "Beautiful Day" and looking at that incredible photo of JK and feeling really good about all we have accomplished and really sad about the losses--of trust, mostly (JRE and others), of faith (in vote counts), regrets for not doing enough, and hope that we can achieve some progress, and soon.

Meanwhile, such appreciation for all here...

Happy Birthday DiAnne! And thank you for the photos you've taken, and all your hard work! If you were in Albuquerque, I'd cook you a special Birhday Dinner !

abq

Dianne, I wish you a very happy birthday and wish you many more years of happiness and good health.

I will second, third, fourth and fifth the motion that your artistry and writing are gifts for you and for us.

I hope you find a great way to celebrate your birthday.

Happy birthday and many more happy days of all kinds DiAnne. I love to read your cool-headed explanations and interesting perspectives.

"Teach them something they don't know". You do that without even knowing that you do it.

Love your world view that you present out here in the world. The light-hearted and the dark.

Enjoy!

Thanks guys! Having such fun checking back here! Monkey, I didn't know you were so cute!

Happy b-day slugbug!

Happy birthday DiAnne. As one Leo to another, I hope you've had a great day. And don't forget to check out the meteor shower in your honor!

Happy Birthday, DiAnne!!!!

Congrats on turning 56. Thank you for all you do to keep this blog informed, as well as others.

I have certainly learned alot from you the past 3 1/2 years!

I hope you are celebrating joyfully with some Asian food. Have a glass of wine.

Thanks again!

Wow! The Times of London says Joss Stone is recording a theme song for Barack Obama's campaign. She spends alot of time in the US and has recorded with the best of R&B artists. At 21, she is already a seasoned performer and writer. She says she is "honoured." She had the highest Billboard album chart debut (#2) for any British female artist in US history.

Meanwhile, French-residing actress Angelina Jolie talks politics on the movie set with Clint Eastwood and claims to be a registered Independent, who will not commit to either candidate. Bloggers are perplexed, but when I read this somewhere else in a tabloid a few days ago, it sounded more as though she is a) trying to remain nonpartisan due to her many acting and diplomatic contacts, and b) trying to remain mysterious and uncontrolled, as usual. My favorite commenter at Daily Kos was the guy who said Angie might vote for McCain, but adopt Obama!

Thanks for the birthday wishes!!

I had to do a little celebrity tabloid stuff to celebrate!!

DiAnne, you're such a treasure, and I've been saying for years that your photography is as good as it gets.

A gift, yes.

I hope you had a beautiful birthday!

(Love, love, the story about your mom...Go girl!)

Good morning!! Here to say thanks to Lou & every body.
Now back to work, up at 6 AM as usual, but as my mom always says, "At least you have a job." Or when my son was unemployed (he's back underemployed at the bakery), she would say, "At least he's not in Iraq" - which is correct. She is also a cancer survivor (advanced breast and refused rad/chemo and has been living a decade) and says "at least I'm alive." When I complained about our admin, my French friend used to say "At least you're not in Bagdad." Like the rest of us, I'd like just once to have something BETTER than "at least" - please?!

slugbug

Down with Team Jolie.
Long live Team Aniston.

Just had to get it out of my system :)

Barack Roll

http://hmatkin.blogspot.com/2008/08/barack-roll.html

Happy Birthday DiAnne from Down Under.

McCain: Get to Work

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2008/08/is-it-true-mcca.html

Did McCain base his foreign policy on Wikipedia?!!! He didn't know how to use the internet .. now he doesn't realize other people can read the same thing?!

Dianne said:

"My favorite commenter at Daily Kos was the guy who said Angie might vote for McCain, but adopt Obama!"

lol. good one.

Maybe it was Madonna.

Aren't you too funny, slugbug. hee hee

OK I have exciting news!!! Where am I gonna post it?

Where IS EVERYBODY???

post it HERE!

Hey tsp

I am back in Albuquerque: post it here !

Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman Killed By Gunman

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A man barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters and opened fire Wednesday, fatally shooting the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase.

Police said they don't know the motive for the 51-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released.

They said Chairman Bill Gwatney, 49, died four hours later at University Hospital in Little Rock after the midday shooting near the state Capitol

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/13/arkansas-democratic-party_n_118720.html

Update from me -

As you may have figured out already, I am the angry one here at DCP. And I do need to take some time off and meditate.

And that's exactly what I will be doing, starting about a month from now. I will leave the US and meditate far away from the Election '08 madness.

When I first found out that I will be meditating in Seoul, I freaked out - after all, the Moonies are there, and so is a pro-W right-wing government. But when I found out more about the people I will meditate with, and discovered that these people will agree with my frustration with the Moonies (and Confucianism and Christianity) - the three forces that have corrupted their country - I agreed to go.

The retreat will be in a scenic, secluded neighborhood just north of Seoul's downtown, right next to a national park (with lots of walking trails). Yet it's close enough to all the urban action.

I will have to cancel my visit to Canada for possible investment opportunities, which was scheduled for late next month. But I feel that the tradeoff is worth it. (I can always go to Canada later.)

I leave mid-September, and won't be back for a while, but will surely be back in time to vote for Obama and against California's gay marriage ban. In the meantime, I will be online as much as possible (when I am not meditating, that is).

Given the long stay, I will need a visa, which may be tricky because the new right-wing government is no friend of people like me. But if they take Christy's attitude (anything to keep me from bombing somebody!), I shouldn't have a problem.

Will keep you updated on my whereabouts - and once in Seoul, on how the new right-wing government uses the state media to spin its coverage of the US elections.

Good luck, Ally.

Namaste!

"It's a Beautiful Day" yet... and thanks, DiAnne, for sharing your art and and your words and your spirit and even... your cot. @;-)

namaste, old soul

DA/SB/WE:

It's always one day to the next, down to the tumbling dice. Happy birthday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL2Ee12HrCU

Chuck in Houston

WE=What Ever

Well, it's hard to tell, it's hard to tell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmVW94UWgBg&feature=related

God Bless and GOTV 2008!

Chuck in Houston

Robert Johnson on the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRIgWqXI79Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_1PAx5Ycwo

Matt Drudge posted a headline "White in Minority by 2047" - with a flag at half mast. How racist is that?! (click on my name)

It's weird how after all these years "Birthday" by the Beatles seems so punk.

Speaking of punk, and without any refrence to anything else on this thread, these old Zeppelin cuts are punk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xajqf-PhO8s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoEhWnTTKLM&feature=related

DiAnne: This goes out to you on your birthday, but also to Marc and Otter, should he ever lurking be -- check out the punch on the bass on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRT8nA665Gs&feature=related

Elvis and George Jones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSj6SayDnR0&feature=related

Purple baby!

George and Tammy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7mg1AB6ZjM&feature=related

By itself, it's just a cold metallic thing. Only love can make a golden wedding ring....

Actually, Tammy had a fine voice. This is sort of lip-synched, it seems to me, but I think that was just the way they did it back then. The recorded voice is strong, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwBirf4BWew&feature=related

I don't think she gets enough credit. Must be the hairdo....

The women in country music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxPA6nndmMY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5zUqNF7K30&feature=related

"But if they take Christy's attitude (anything to keep me from bombing somebody!), "

But what they don't know Ally, is if I had a stick of dynamite, I would probably give it to you, just to see what you would do with it.

Have fun in Seoul, and take lots of pictures!

BTW Ally.

My mom brought me a book about Chinese fairy tales, BIG BOOK. But it has the BEST examples of Chinese art in it I have ever seen! The good stuff, not the stuff for tourists. I am stunned at how beautiful it is.

As soon as I started looking in it I thought about you, I think I may have to buy you a copy if I can find one.

The stories are cool but the art really is better than almost any Chinese collection I have ever seen.

Consumer prices shot up in July
Inflation running at the fastest pace in 17 years

WASHINGTON - Consumer prices shot up in July at twice the expected rate, pushed higher by surging energy and food costs. The latest surge left inflation running at the fastest pace in 17 years.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose by 0.8 percent last month, twice the 0.4 percent gain that economists had been expecting.

It marked the third straight month of oversized inflation increases following jumps of 0.6 percent in May and 1.1 percent in June and left inflation rising by 5.6 percent over the past year, the biggest 12-month gain since January 1991.

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26195964/

Let's see, 1991... who was president and what kind of economic policies were responsible for such havoc on the lower & middle class?

How effin stupid is this country?

Johnny Rhetorical

Enjoy your journey, Ally! Don't know if you've read "Eat, Pray, Love", but I was fascinated by the "Pray" section, about her meditation experience.

I hope yours is a success!

Am I seeing this right?

We hand someone a knife and say 'Go over there and stab Russia in the back! The kidneys are good!'

And so they do, and then Russia turns around, smacks them, takes the knife away, and stabs our boy in the heart, and our officil policy is 'Hey you can't just stab people like that!'.

Cause that is what it looks like from where I am sitting.

Chuck... thanks for the Elvis Costello footage at age 12!

I actually have that video on an old VHS tape from the 80's... those first several albums with The Attractions are still some of my faves, just a straight 4 piece rock n'roll band that sounded so new wave at the time but listenin to em these days, they sound so R&B to me... Pete Thomas is still one of my favorite drummers.

As long as we're dolin' out the tunes today, I will of course, still defer to my favorite band ... how can ya beat a band like this that'll play huge festivals, but also play in yer backyard?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALLv9E3ymmM

Thanks for the warm wishes, everyone.

Christy - I won't be going to China this time. I wish I could just take a train from Seoul to China through North Korea, but there are a couple of little problems with that:

- North Korea is really PO'd at the new right-wing government of South Korea, and won't allow South Korean trains through (even though South Korean trains would give them tons of needed $$$'s).
- North Korean rails suffer from lack of proper maintenance, so they are probably not safe enough for South Korean trains anyway.

Would love to visit Beijing again, or Xi'an, but neither will happen this time. Even within South Korea, locations that require a car (i.e. mountain Buddhist temples) will most likely be off limits to me.

Okay, even though most of you know this already, I just HAVE to post it!!!

The Obama for Change, or Obama for America campaign has come to rural America!!!!

I had sent in my name and telephone number to our state headquarters in 2004, and never got a call back. The girl I talked to then, when asked if they needed any help, said "I don't know, I'll have someone get back to you." (NO ONE EVERRRRR DID.)

This year I contributed what I could $ wise., but thought I wouldn't get a chance to contribute or campaign in any other way, especially since gas had gotten so high.

But through emails and letters and several phone calls from Obama's campaign, I got a VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE this past weekend.

Saturday I was preparing to go spend the weekend with my girlfriend who lives out at the bay. I was planning to have her here for the weekend and do for her, to treat her, since her husband had gone north fishing on his annual father-son fishing trip, and wouldn't be back for three days. The air is so dense here right now with humidity and wheat pollen (they are cutting and chaffing the wheat and it's thick in the air, and I am allergic to wheat), that I started getting asthma the day before she was supposed to come over to spend the weekend with me. She called me and said since I wasn't feeling well, I should come to the bay and she could treat me. So I said "okay, thank you".

(I didn't know it was asthma, because since I stopped eating wheat and gluten products over two years ago I haven't had an asthma attack, so I thought O.M.G. it's my ticker!) I didn't have an inhaler of albuterol because I hadn't needed one for so long!)I went to the doc Monday and he said ticker is good, everything else is good (I lost a little weight - ta da!)
but that I indeed have the asthma.

I know, I don't have to make a novel out of this, but, it kind of all ties in. OK so Saturday morning I am packing and getting ready to go to the bay for the weekend, and I get a call from the gal who has been assigned our "area" from the Obama campaign. She apologized for the call on the spur of the moment, and said she was in town (MY TOWN!) and wanted to know if we could get together and meet.

P.S. I had put in my offer to help the campaign that I would hold house meetings, let someone stay with me from out of town, etc., basically do ANYTHING I COULD to help!)

I apologized and told her I already had a commitment for this past weekend, and that although I tried to figure out a way to fit it in, I just couldn't make time to meet with her Saturday. She said "Oh, that's okay. I'm spending the night here too, do you know when you'll be back?" I said "No, I'm not sure what is planned, but if I come home in time tomorrow maybe we can get together, what time are you going back to "the city?" She said: "I will be here all weekend, and don't plan on going back to "the city" until around 6:00 p.m. Sunday eve. I got home right around 6:00 p.m. on Sunday eve., and it was about twenty after 6:00, the phone rang, and it was her. She said "Is this an okay time to get together?" And I said, "Yes, I am home, I would love that." She said "Shall we meet in a restaurant over a soda?", and I said "AWE, COME ON OVER."

Well, she is beautiful, inside and out. She stayed over TWO HOURS and CHRISTY, I SHOWED HER MY PORTRAIT OF OBAMA YOU PAINTED FOR ME AND SENT TO ME. I was jumping up and down I was so excited to FINALLY get a chance to help, to contribute. CHRISTY, when she saw the Obama portrait from you, she said "You mean you got this from someone else in the country, and they painted it for you and mailed it to you?" I said "Yes!" Her mouth dropped open. So I told her I would check around for office space for her (since I work next door to City Hall) because she said she wants to put up an office on main street here. Well, by then, I was just about BESIDE myself, I was so excited.

So she drove back to the "city", and Monday night when I got home from work I had a phone call from her asking me if I would host a house
party on August 28th, the night Obama accepts the nomination. I said "I WOULD LOVE TO."

Yesterday, her regional director came to our little town, and just walked in where I work (fifteen minutes before closing time), and I had already had the name of the gal she needs to contact at City Hall regarding renting an office space. I gave her the name and number, and we checked, but that gal had already gone home for the day yesterday. So we closed our place down, and I went outside and she was waiting for me beside her car. We gave each other a BIG HUGE HUG. She said "thank you", I said
"no, thank YOU!"

Becky is the name of the first gal, and she said that I got her all excited when she came to my house. (I was giving it the "Rocky" arms up victory sign.)

Yesterday the regional director told me that it has been 48 years since ANYONE has been to this town to campaign.

I told a little old man friend of mine on the phone the other night that Obama for America was coming to town, and he said "Yeah, RIGHT."

Becky made 180 house calls Sunday, and 74 on Saturday, here in this little town.

Well, I'm stoked. I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD EVER, EVER, GET A CHANCE TO HELP AND TAKE PART of the campaign.

My major point here is: You just never know what your teaching is going to accomplish. It may be a very small corner of the world, but your tenacity and commitment to teach touched me and I learned. This is just like the "cell"
theory - it is coming to pass.

Becky said I was the leader in this town, and the only one who had contacted THEM rather than them contact her. I said "I don't know about leader, but I do a good second or third in command." I am NOT a leader. I really don't have clue one how to do it on my own (campaign), but I am signed up to do EVERYTHING I CAN this time around.

I hope and pray that as they do the fifty state campaign this fall that we can overtake Rove and his nasty emails to churched people.

Becky said this is a VERY churched area. Well, I thought it was. She has found by canvassing that people are still basically the same people they were in '04. One lady said "because of my 'beliefs' (and we know which one I am talking about) I won't vote for Obama, but I HOPE HE WINS!"

I told Becky I am pro-life, and for a moment her body language kind of closed off to me at that moment. Then I said "But I'm not a one issue voter, I have already hashed that issue out in my mind and on the internet over the past four years."

So, I think I will make a good ambassador. I look very conservative, act conservative, but I have a mind that was opened to the light by the DCP.

It seems like such a small thing, but to me, it's enormous.

I'm also not shy about being independent and telling people what I really think. It's almost like the powers that be knew four years ago that this year, this time, someone would be coming through this little red state and my little red town, and need at least one voice that says:

"I'm not a one issue voter, there are several things that we need to take in to consideration at this time."

Y'all don't know how almost depressing it was to have to sit here all these years knowing y'all were able to get out and about, and work hard and contribute. I have not just been a sponge, I have wanted to contribute so very much but there was just no opportunity for me to do so here. Our town is 70 miles away from the closest city, and my options were very limited, even more so after the hike in gas and food prices this past 6 months.

This is a MAGIC time in this universe when plans that were started four years ago are actually materializing as rural red meets Obama.

Now I just pray we can take 'em.

WOO HOO!!!!!!

And you, DCP, deserve major kudos for putting up with this "little church lady" who looks conservative but is a pistol.

THANK YOU.

Monkey:

A reprise -- Merle and Tammy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Ivl_JxSfk&feature=related

Aerosmith walking the dog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HoZzJE30B8

That latter was my grade school days (daze). SE Portland when it was blue-collar and red-necked.

Chuck in Houston

PS: That is also a continuation of Happy Birthday posts!

PPS: This is probalby where Aerosmith got it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6AZNywvF-s&feature=related

Oh, and for DiAnne, I had to post this (again, I know, but I haven't had an original thought in a while, so I just stay with what I learned a long time ago):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mlJjBYllQY

"Everywhere you go you hear the boom-chuck sound
"In the cow-boy halls
"And in the punck rock town
"Call it boom-chuck it's just the same thing twice
"The boom-chuck rock well it sounds so nice...."

To me, that is the essence of purple -- east and west of the Cascades, one sound, one country.

DiAnne:

Here's another one to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6pphVs8bF0&feature=related

"Teach your children well...."

Oh well. I try.

Chuck in Houston