"the science of gaydar"

EXAMPLE A: Hair Whorl (Men) Gay men are more likely than straight men to have a counterclockwise whorl.

crack-head republican

South Carolina Treasurer Thomas Ravenel has been suspended from office,
following his indictment by a federal grand jury for distribution of cocaine.

the new cooper river bridge in charleston is named for his father--the ravenel family has been rich big shots in carolina almost since its founding---now the state treasurer busted for selling crack! oh, and he's a republican, chairman of guilliani's campaign in s. carolina---

bugs

i went over to the botanical garden today to check out their "big bug" exhibit---although nice it was somewhat less than i was expecting, being only four or five bugs in the whole place---however, bugs that there were were impressive----all varnished wood---plus the echinacea and the rudbeckia were very attractive today---

peachtree street

they are kinda rowdy out there tonight, pretty much bumper to bumper---boom, boom, boom

latin american eqaulity

Colombia is set to become the first Latin American country to give established gay
couples full rights to health insurance, inheritance and social security under a bill passed by its Congress.

it's not full equality, but it's progress---buenos aires, mexico city, and the brazilian state Rio Grande do Sul have also passed similar legislation establishing not civil unions, but "patrimony rights."

equality

hooray for massachussetts and its legislature that today blocked an attempt to put an anti-gay, marriage amendment to a referendum----151-45---some people see it as a "watershed" event---we'll see---whatever, it won't make a bit of difference in this benighted state---the south will be dragged kicking and screaming into the future on this issue, the same way it was with race in the 1950s and '60s---and probably with about the same degree of success

poor animals

so poachers have shot the last two white rhinos in zambia, killing one of them and gouging out her horn----

meanwhile

The U.S. [amazingly enough] is leading a push to protect a type of red coral that grows deep in the world's oceans and seas, putting it at odds with Italian fishermen who have harvested the species for generations to make artwork and jewelry.

and more benign i guess but still a sign of how hard we can be on the critters, a second whale shark has up and died at the much-hyped ga aquarium---

update: nearly forgot about the 8' alligator they're trying to get out of the chattahoochee in sandy springs---

weather

it's raining again as another storm blows through---second time in three days---but it's a long way to replace that 50% of our usual rainfall that hasn't fallen this year---

and an update: the same storm from robert's unit

misc.

1. "this day in history" can be interesting, like today: anne frank got her diary in 1942, medgar evers was murdered in 1963, and o.j. took the knife to his ex and her boyfriend in 1994---

2. looks are not everything, even on american idol---a cellphone salesman from wales blows them away

3. world's tallest sandcastle at myrtle beach, sc

4. the ten tallest structures in 2010---one was built in 1963 and another in 1976---

a ray of hope

as aravosis has noted, it is unbelievable that this country has fallen for the idea that our centuries-old justice system is not up to the task of dealing with islamic terrorists---"everything changed on 9/11," they say---ha, i say, yeah, everything changed when bush and his enablers (which would include everyone who voted for him in '04, it being official policy here to cut slack to those who made a mistake in '00, but not to those so benighted as to do it twice) started trashing our legal system, judges, laws, constitution and all----one of those enablers was colin powell, but at least he is now sorry that was so:

I would close Guantanamo — not tomorrow, this afternoon. I’d close it. And
I’d not let any of those people go. I would simply move them to the United
States and put them into our federal legal system. The concern was, well, then
they’ll have access to lawyers, then they’ll have access to writs of habeas
corpus. So what? Let them. Isn’t that what our system’s all about? And by the
way, America, unfortunately, has too many people in jail, all of whom had
lawyers and access to writs of habeas corpus. And so we can handle bad people in
our system. And so I would get rid of Guantanamo and I’d get rid of the military
commissions system, and use established procedures in federal law or in the
manual for courts martial. I would do that because it’s more equatable and it’s
more understandable in constitutional terms. But I’d also do it because every
morning I pick up a paper and some authoritarian figure, some person somewhere,
is using Guantanamo to hide their own misdeeds. So essentially we have shaken
the belief that the world had in America’s justice system by keeping a place
like Guantanamo open and creating things like the military commission.

how do they sleep?

“vulture funds”----this may be getting close to the bottom of the barrel---money grubbers are not just screwing individuals and corporations, now they are screwing entire countries, mostly in africa----

Vulture funds are companies that attempt to make exorbitant profits at the
expense of impoverished nations – many in Africa. Vulture funds identify
countries that are on the brink of a major debt restructuring or debt relief
deal and buy the debt from the creditors at a huge discount before it is
restructured or relieved. Then the company sues the debtor for the original
amount of the debt, often with interest and penalty fees added on top, making a
tremendous profit.

a british court had no choice but to award a judgment for $15m against Zambia for a loan bought by one of these (American) funds for $4m---they had originally sued Zambia for $40m----legal maybe, although there may be some indictments for bribery, but whatever it is absolutely morally bankrupt-----

the rest of us

Latin America is a colorful place.

Garish bold paint covers teetering adobe, unplumbed cinderblock, and

structural poverty.

Festive colors celebrate life against a backdrop of so much unnecessary

death. Structural poverty. The politician's smile peels back to reveal

another face.

Yes, everything is for sale to the Gringos. Infant mortality, suicide, and

illiteracy have increased since NAFTA. The President of Mexico is a

former Coca Cola corporate executive.

"They're worse than the Nazis," Eduardo Galeano wrote of the politicians

in a neighboring Latin American country. "At least the Nazis were

nationalists."

-Daniel O'Donnell

priorities

dailykos is running a poll asking who is more deserving of inprisonment---scooter, paris, or the media producers who decide what is "news"---producers were way out in front last time i looked----

The media’s latest “serial obsession” focuses on Paris Hilton’s jail sentence. On Friday, MSNBC abruptly cut away from coverage of Gen. Peter Pace’s replacement (with producers screaming in the background) to return to Paris Hilton. A CNN anchor proudly called the station “the most trusted name in Paris news,” and during Friday’s broadcast of Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News, “the Paris Hilton ‘news’ got more coverage on CBS than a roadside bomb killing a U.S. soldier, the immigration legislation, and passage of the stem-cell bill combined — times two.”

liberating iraq

they hate us for our freedoms, right?

Fly into the American air base of Tallil outside Nasiriya in central Iraq and the flight path is over the great ziggurat of Ur, reputedly the earliest city on earth. Seen from the base in the desert haze or the sand-filled gloom of dusk, the structure is indistinguishable from the mounds of fuel dumps, stores and hangars. Ur is safe within the base compound. But its walls are pock-marked with wartime shrapnel and a blockhouse is being built over an adjacent archaeological site. When the head of Iraq's supposedly sovereign board of antiquities and heritage, Abbas al-Hussaini, tried to inspect the site recently, the Americans refused im access to his own most important monument.

thnx for the link, mg

holy war

There might be something unwholesome, even slightly insane, in their attempt to remove the category of the divine from human experience. But by storming into the catacombs of doctrinal absurdity, and into television studios where the air is so thick with sanctimony one is surprised that the camera lenses are not in need of a regular wiping-down, the atheists are doing us all a favor. They’re turning up the glare of reality. You’d better thank God for them.

wires

i guess we all just kinda ignore that tangle of wires everywhere, but wouldn't this be nice, the aesthetics of electric delivery being generally less than desirable?

MIT researchers said Thursday they will soon be able to charge a computer or cell-phone battery from across a room, perhaps making the annoyance of wires or dead batteries a thing of the past.

storms

nice storm blew through about 5 yesterday afternoon and then we hung out on the balcony watching the lightening from another storm that moved across the north side of town when it was getting dark---

are you racist?

take this little test from harvard.edu----

perils of finland

vampire moths! ye gads! first time a blood-sucking moth has been documented---and in finland of all places---

3503

as of today, that's how many of our military have now been killed in iraq----i would bet that more americans know how long paris hilton's skinny ass is supposed to be in jail than know that---nevermind d-day, 6 june 1944, when the allies came ashore in normandy as part of operation overlord to liberate france and the low countries from the nazis---casualties in that war brought us something worthwhile---but, hey, today is also the anniversary of bush's proposal in 2002 of his orwellian-sounding (and acting) dept. of homeland security; ironically enough today is also the anniversary of the publication of 1984, which occurred in 1949.

kitty, kitty, kitty

you probably already have seen kittenwar.com----if you haven't, do---it's like hot-or-not for kitty cats---total waste of time

the rude one

this is one of his best:

When the history of this depraved era is written in years and eras to come, one can look forward to scholarly and popular books, CSPAN-ready conferences and college courses all devoted to answering a single important question: Back at the beginning of the 21st century, was the United States government run by dicks or assholes? Truly, those will be the only choices. It may seem a fine distinction, but actually there's a wide gap, a taint, if you will, between the two.

and this choice line: "one who might have been considered an asshole at one time can now be fully seen as a dick. hence the reason we have historians."

bwaaaaaaaa!

"I've been called a bottom feeder," Flynt said. "I say, 'Yes, but look at what I found when I got down there!' " (from americablog)

so this full-page ad was in yesterday's washington post---hardy, har, har, give 'em hell, larry--

action/reaction

they won't go peacefully----

"three bloggers - digby at hullabaloo, david neiwart at orcinus and rick perlstein at the campaign for america's future - have recently been discussing a subject that needs a good deal more attention: the potential for outbreaks of rightwing violence if the republicans, who have embraced outrageously violent talk in many forums, are booted out of power come november 2008."

my new boyfriend

adam kokesh, the marine sgt. that attended the gonazles hearings and kept score of the times he said "i don't recall"----final tally: 76. now the marine corps is investigating his wearing of camoflauge fatigues (without ensignia) at demonstrations and whether or not his honorable discharge should be changed to dishonorable---even the vfw thinks the case is bogus---

robert's new home

he moved into the new place on thursday, but is still dragging stuff out of closets at his old place---baby cat is adjusting very well, unlike the move out of sinclair----

scary stuff

holy crap---he really is crazy---

friends of [bush] from texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed,
thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "i am the president!" he also made it clear he was setting iraq up so his successor could not get out of "our country's destiny."

justice for all

the governor of new hampshire ("live free or die") signed the state's civil unions statute into law today----sensible new england---california would have one, but arnie keeps vetoing civil union bills passed by the legislature---i don't know why maria keeps letting him do that---

"let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." ---amos 5:24

another benefit of tax cuts for the rich

so while everybody is freaking out over some super-tuberculosis, the cdc is scrambling to deal with any crisis---why? because bush has consistently cut funding to the cdc, like everything else in federal govt except for the army and enforcement of the police state here at home.

– 2002: Proposed a $174 million cut.
– 2003: Proposed a $1 billion cut, with no new funding for preventive health divisions working on TB.
– 2004: Proposed an increase of “less than 1 per cent.”
– 2005: Proposed a $263 million cut, while simultaneously proposing a $270 million increase in abstinence education.
– 2006: Proposed a $500 million cut which would have slashed grants to state and local health departments like the Fulton County Health and Wellness Department involved in this week’s TB-scare.
-2007: Proposed a $179 million cut, in addition to unspecified plans for more CDC “savings.” –
2008: Proposed a $37 million cut, including “massive funding cuts in proven health protection programs

but hundreds of millions for useless abstinence-only sex education programs---and few million for aids in africa while refusing to fund condom distribution----

g'evening

good eats

for the next couple of weeks, if you are not eating strawberries every day, you should be---actual real strawberries, not those pale woody things you get out of season----these are from florida, the peaches are from georgia and are great----the late freeze trashed 60% of the crop but what's left, everyone agrees, are mighty tasty----

Franciscan monks introduced peaches to St. Simons and Cumberland islands along Georgia's coast in 1571. By the mid-1700s peaches and plums were cultivated by the Cherokee Indians. Before the Civil War increasing numbers of home orchards also were planted. Raphael Moses, a planter and Confederate officer from Columbus, was among the first to market peaches within Georgia in 1851 and is credited with being the first to ship and sell peaches successfully outside of the South. His method of shipping peaches in champagne baskets, rather than in pulverized charcoal, helped to preserve the flavor of the fruit and contributed to his success. Considerable expansion of peach acreage occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, resulting in an all-time high production of almost 8 million bushels by 1928. Since then production has decreased to about 2.6 million bushels annually.

e-coli conservatives

bush is fighting a ruling that would allow testing for mad cow disease---it kinda leaves one speechless---

commercials

we oughta drink more guinness---via andrew sullivan

oh, really?

DeLay says that when, in the coming years, he is not fighting the
indictment in Texas (he insists that he is not guilty) he will be building a
conservative grass-roots equivalent of MoveOn.org. “God has spoken to me,” he said. “I listen to God, and what I’ve heard is that I’m supposed to devote myself to rebuilding the conservative base of the Republican Party, and I think we shouldn’t be underestimated.”

these people just boggle the mind some time---

god's servants here on earth

jan and paul are quite a pair and although i resisted at first, i think that she is definitely a worthy succesor to our old tammy faye---granted, they are charlatons of the highest order, but you just gotta like them better than westboro baptist's pastor fred, who is one truly frightening child of god and can be accessed via godhatesamerica.com or godhatesfags.com, seriously---

the natural world

you have to see this amateur video of a fight between a herd of cape buffalo, a pride of lions, and two crocodile----it's violent, but amazingly nothing dies----i'm pretty sure that you have never seen anything like it---

memorial day redux

What can one say? Well: we can say this at least. The president is right that al Qaeda remains a terible threat to Americans. He is right to insist on this. But one core reason he is ight is because he has been in the White House for the last six years. Al Qaeda surely never had a more helpful man in such a powerful place. After over six years of this presidency, bin Laden is still at large. Five and a half years after Bin Laden's religious tools murdered 3,000 innocents, this president still cannot find or capture or kill him.Five and a half years after that dreadful day, al Qaeda's reach in the Middle East is more extensive than ever, centered in Iraq, where it was barely existet before the war. Over four years after invading Iraq, the security situation there is as grave as it has ever been. Tens of thousands of innocents have ben added to the three thousand murdered on 9/11 - many of them unspeakably tortured and murdered by death squads or Islamist cells empowered by Bush's jaw-dropping negligence. Over three thousand young Americans have died in order to give al Qaed this victory and this new platform.

yep

and check out "arlington west"---

that million-dollar view

from robert's balcony, the morning sun creates a comet's tail off one of the new buildings in buckhead---he took this this morning---

memorial day

a while back, i scanned iris' scrapbook of stuff about gary, but i had never really gotten into looking at it all, since it was always too depressing --- well, all the killing in iraq (1,000 americans since last memorial day) has been on my mind, especially knowing what we went through, and when a friend of mine brought up the subject in some e-mail the other day, it got me to looking and rummaging through iris’ stuff and the internets to find out exactly where it happened and something of the context, which i had never done before --- even found some pictures of the area that were taken the month after he died --- he was in the 25th infantry division based at cu chi, which is about 40 miles northwest of saigon --- it was known as the southern terminus of the ho chi minh trail and sat atop miles and miles of tunnels that the viet cong guerillas began building in the 1940s as they were fighting the french --- the cu chi tunnels are now a tourist attraction in what remains communist vietnam --- during the tet offensive in late winter 1968, the viet cong used the tunnels as their headquarters --- gary's division was part of the defense of saigon which, along with the old imperial capital at hue and the big marine base at khe sahn, was a focus of the fighting---the tet offensive, as it is known, was named after the vietnamese lunar new year, tết nguyên Đán or feast of the first morning, 30-31 january 1968, which is when the vietcong and north vietnamese army launched surprise attacks against some 100 towns across south vietnam---there was a front page story in the atlanta journal/constitution on 10 february (he was killed on 9 February), and it had this to say:

elements of the US 25th Infantry Division clashed in three battles in saigon’s suburbs with bands of communist guerrillas and reported killing more than 300, the american command said. US casualties were put at seven dead and 45 wounded. The US brought 4,000 GIs into the saigon battle.

one of the biggest battles took place at the small village of hoc mon, on saigon’s [northwest] perimeter, where three companies of the 25th infantry reported killing 176 communists in a day-long battle that ended at dusk friday. the americans lost four killed and 15 wounded at hoc mon.

two companies of the 25th hit a communist force just east of hoc mon and killed 102 in a four hour fight. three americans were killed and 30 wounded in that battle.

i think gary was probably one of the three killed in that last one east of hoc mon, but I’m not sure --- the official citations and all say it happened at lan trung, in the vicinity of hoc mon, but I haven’t been able to locate such a place on any map ---

the communists took huge losses, ten to every one american, some said --- one source says 1,500 american, australian and korean dead, 2,800 south vietnamese, and 45,000 viet cong and north vietnamese --- plus 14,000 civilian dead, 630,000 homeless --- by the time the tet offensive was winding down in april 1968, the viet cong as an army had been destroyed --- it didn't matter: a harris poll was showing 60% of the country believing it to have been a major defeat, in spite of secretary of defense robert mcnamara and the rest of the administration touting the massive communist losses as evidence of a great strategic victory --- you still find a lot of stuff about how we would have prevailed in vietnam if we had just had had the will and if it weren't for the press sensationalizing the war with eye-witness reporting on the teevee and if there hadn't been all those traitorous war protesters (most of whom had never heard of dien bien phu) there is still some real bitterness out there, but when walter conkite went to vietnam and appeared on the teevee to report on 27 february 1968 that it "seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in stalemate," it was all over --- some still blame him for "losing" vietnam but president johnson knew he had lost public opinion and, on march 31, announced he wouldn't run for re-election --- peace negotiations began in paris later that year --- it was a major turning point, although the war would drag on until 1975, with another 20,000 american deaths along the way --- my parents still despise johnson ---

posthumously gary was awarded a purple heart; the distinguished service cross, the army's second highest decoration; as well as a second bronze star, the army's fourth highest decoration ---

milestones

as of yesterday, for the first time in human history, more people were living in urban areas than were living in rural areas---

In the United States, the tipping point from a majority rural to a majority urban population came early in the late 1910s, the researchers say. Today, 21 percent of our country is rural although some states – Maine, Mississippi, Vermont, and West Virginia – are still majority rural. In North Carolina, a rural majority held until the late 1980s.

wow

What’s even worse than the debate raging in American schools about the teaching of the soulless doctrine of evolution, is the non-debate over an issue that rational Americans have foolishly conceded to the secular among us: the issue of Heliocentrism, or the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

and if that's not enough, do check out http://www.fixedearth.com/

are there americans who are really that stupid?

speaking the truth, as always

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper's Saturday editions. "The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing
to me."

jimmy is a great american---

breezy dog

the dog sez it's a beautiful afternoon on the balcony

they're all crazy

they really are---religious fanatics everywhere---christianity, islam, hindu, it doesn't matter, they're gonna be the end of us if we let them--"can't we all just get along"? well, no, probably not until we fix whatever it is that's causing people to get all crazy religious like that---

What has been happening in India is a serious threat to the future of democracy in the world. The fact that it has yet to make it onto the radar screen of most Americans is evidence of the way in which terrorism and the war on Iraq have distracted us from events and issues of fundamental significance. If we really want to understand the impact of religious nationalism on democratic values, India currently provides a deeply troubling example, and one without which any understanding of the more general phenomenon is dangerously incomplete. It also provides an example of how democracy can survive the assault of religious extremism.

excellent points in the article include this one:

The real "clash of civilizations" is not between "Islam" and "the West," but instead within virtually all modern nations — between people who are prepared to live on terms of equal respect with others who are different, and those who seek the protection of homogeneity and the domination of a single "pure" religious and ethnic tradition. At a deeper level, as Gandhi claimed, it is a clash within the individual self, between the urge to dominate and defile the other and a willingness to live respectfully on terms of compassion and equality, with all the vulnerability that such a life entails.

go figure

fred phelps picketing falwell's funeral?----too wierd

"There are dead soldiers everywhere," Phelps-Roper said. "You don't have a very high-profile, cowardly, lying false prophet like Falwell dying every day."

Phelps-Roper said the group plans to demonstrate at Falwell's service because members believe he was never harsh enough in his declarations that homosexuality was the source of America's problems.

"That coward is afraid. He is ashamed of the Gospel of the Jesus Christ," Phelps-Roper said. "He claimed he had the Word of God and then he hid it."

good riddance

thank god the asshole is dead---i just wish that he had had a soul that could rot in hell----

Reached in Heaven, the Lord God said he was “looking forward to speaking to Jerry,” and that God’s loyal lieutenant Satan Von Lucifer would “go Abu Ghraib on his fat ass for the next 10 million years.”

from our next president

"the day that this president steps down, the entire world will breath a sigh of relief."
---obama, kansas city, 12 may 2007

well, amen to that

different places

transylvania would be different, i think, especially after reading this article

my new boyfriend

don't ask, don't tell

it's raining

the cathi-memorial herb pail

garlic chives, basil, and italian parsley all came up

noctilucent clouds

from the same site as before

sunrise from gliese581c

"the most Earth-like planet yet discovered and a mere 20 light years distance"

and a panoramic view from mt. everest

let me know how much time you waste on this site

oh, my

you just gotta ask, "what were they thinking?"

crazy architecture

part of a convention center in the u.a.e., left

and

St Henry's Ecumenical Art Chapel, Finland, by Sanaksenaho Architects, right

robert, the homeowner

see robert at work. see robert corking his crown molding. see the locomotives. see the lovely skyline.

hats

don't you just love the queen's hats? where does she get them? is there a queen's hat maker? the pic was taken today at jamestown, virginia, where she is visiting to help celebrate the 400 anniversary of the first english colony in america---she shoulda been included in crowns, but that was all about black women and the hats they buy or make (a lot of the latter)---every other specie it's the male that shows off, in ours, except for gay homosexuals, it's the female---poor phillip, standing off in the background somewhere with his hands behind his back