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

fire

the 134-year-old eastern market on capitol hill and the georgetown library both caught fire and burned today---the market was gutted and god knows what was lost at the library---

and read "baghdad burning" to see some of what america has wrought---

plus jody sez we should not be planning important meetings tomorrow or something since the moon is going into scorpio and all-----

woof

on friday, hersh passed the six month mark since his diagnosis and is doing just fine and dandy (except maybe for being a little porky from the prednisone)----that was the longest they gave him initially---i took him to the vet just for a checkup and she was extremely pleased and has even used him as an encouraging example for another dog that just got bad news---ain't we lucky?

movin' on up

sad

they are nearing completion of the main stadium for the 2008 olympics, which has a pretty cool design----meanwhile they have demolished what was left of ancient peking and stuck a starbucks in the forbidden city---

a new home for robert

we are all pleased, i am sure, to note that robert today took possession of his luxurious suite at somerset heights----plants and two rocking chairs already on the veranda, so he can start spacing out on the skyline----much painting and what not before full occupation of the premises is accomplished in two or three weeks----pictures anon

cape lookout

went to cape lookout this week---great weather, good breeze, absolutely no bugs---it's always cool to see the horses, not really wild but feral----long thought to be descended from spanish mustangs that escaped ashore in shipwrecks in the 17th c. ---nice story but not true, something they proved genetically i think---there are currently 118 horses on shackleford bank----

republicans

HOLLANDALE, Miss. — For decades, Mississippi and neighboring states with large black populations and expanses of enduring poverty made steady progress in reducing infant death. But, in what health experts call an ominous portent, progress has stalled and in recent years the death rate has risen in Mississippi and several other states.The setbacks have raised questions about the impact of cuts in welfare and Medicaid and of poor access to doctors, and, many doctors say, the growing epidemics of obesity, diabetes and hypertension among potential mothers, some of whom tip the scales here at 300 to 400 pounds

another of the many continuing benefits of tax cuts for the rich---

moo

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in March it was reducing its national Mad Cow testing and tracking programs by 90 percent. The USDA will reduce its cattle-testing level to 40,000 cattle per year down from an average of about 360,000 cattle. The reduced testing level will cost $8 million a year. USDA said it will focus on the "most at-risk animals" that show demonstrated signs of the disease.....The report also stated that when field scientists recommended re-testing of a cow suspected of having Mad Cow disease last year, they were overruled by USDA officials who feared a positive finding might undermine confidence in the testing program."

that's it---no more cow meat for me---another in a series of examples of the benefits of massive tax cuts for the rich---kinda like skimping on the levees

ain't it the truth

"Until the trains are also run by greedy sleaze buckets who can buy their own political influence, train travel doesn't have a prayer. Who's going to lobby for it, the
environmental groups?"

the good book

In my last post, I tried to find the best book in the Bible by summing up the number of good things (that I could find) in each book. When goodness is measured in that way, Proverbs is the winner, with 56 good passages.
But Proverbs is, as Bible books go, a fairly big book. So I repeated the analysis using as the measure of goodness the number of good things per 100 verses. With this metric, Ecclesiastes (17.12) is by far the best book in the Bible. (The next best, James, has less than half as many, 8.33.)

skin

the season has begun

bet on ted

How much would you bet that Reverend Ted Haggard falls off the wagon in the very near future?
I'm serious. I know he just got a big check to shut up and leave town, but you know what he likes to spend his money on!
Tick-tock, gentlemen.

is there something a little perverted about his posture in that pic? like maybe he had had a lot of opportunity to practice it before he came to the lord, or whatever

errata

a day late and a dollar short, as they say, but these pics are from yesterday, when the mens were working on the fda roof across the skreet changing out equipment---and two cranes there at one point,----and a view of 1010 going up, and, long distance, the mosque and waterworks---

i walked storza woods at the north end of piedmont park today for the first time in years----what a great thing to have right in the middle of the city---untouched for most of a century at least, which is near-virgin these days---there are old carriage ways, some with little stone retaining walls, that were probably laid out when the olmsted brothers overhauled the park in 1906, right after the city took title to the property, all overgrown for years, but cleared now for pedestrian traffic----and they are planning to add 53 more acres on the north and northeast side of the woods---- it's the part in green on the map---

godawmity i'm hungry

The Edwardian era, from the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 to the expiration of her obese but happy son Edward VII (who announced her passing to friends at Osborne House with the words “Gentlemen, you may smoke”) from a not entirely surprising double heart attack in 1910, was the Golden Age not just of cricket, motoring, amateurism and one-piece swimsuits for chaps, but of eating.

good weather

There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don't you know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well, I just don't understand it. ---marge gunderson in fargo, 1996

my ma used to listen to some radio show out of chicago and the host would always start out saying "it's a beautiful day in chicago, and i hope it is even a more beautiful day wherever you are today"---

update: actually it was everett mitchell who said that (the link doesn't get the quote right"---it was his intro to nbc's "farm and home hour," which is where i first heard about pork belly futures, come to think of it, although it was a long time before i figured out why they were talking about pork bellies----

new music

at least it's new to me, courtesy of cousin robert---mc solaar, doing rap and hip/hop in french---

MC Solaar is the stage name of francophone hip hop and rap artist Claude M'Barali (born March 5, 1969 in Dakar, Senegal to parents from Chad). Solaar is by far one of the most internationally popular and influential French rappers.[1],[2]
As a rapper MC Solaar is known for the complexity, which rely on wordplay, lyricism, and philosophical inquiry. The music is based on dance rhythms. In the English-speaking world, Solaar was signed by London acid jazz label Talkin' Loud and invited to record with British group Urban Species and Guru, a member of the famous and highly-acclaimed New York group Gang Starr. He has since released six records and one live album and currently resides with his wife, French actress Chloé Bensemoun, and their only son, Roman.

"les colonies" is one of those tunes that gets in your head and goes round and round and won't leave----thnx robert

poor little pig

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii — Rangers at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park are launching
a program to stop people from leaving religious offerings at the summit of Mount Kilauea _ including food they say attracts rats and cockroaches. Visitors leave 45 pounds of offerings from Halemaumau Crater each week, including flowers, bottles, money, incense, candles and crystals, park rangers say.

but yet they will let the christianists leave their creationist garbage lying around national-park book stores----they probably have some really amazing cockroaches in hawaii---

who gets to be on top?

The 150-story tower, which would feature 1,200 residences, would unseat Chicago's 1,451-foot Sears Tower as the tallest U.S. building. It would also top New York's 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, under construction at the former World Trade Center site.

kitty, kitty, kitty

NEW YORK - Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, including the classic Marx Brothers movie "A Night at the Opera," has died at age 96, her son said Wednesday.

what is it with the kittens?

looking at this sort of thing is a sign of softness in one's mental processes i think---or something

yesterday

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization----supreme court justice oliver wendell holmes

Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.----h.l. mencken

evangelical, catholic, or jew?

The evangelical Christian movement conjures up a very negative picture to many Europeans and to more than a few Americans. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll last year found that more than one-fifth of Americans would not vote for an evangelical Christian for president, far more than those who ruled out a Jew or a Catholic.

uh, oh

Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees---It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail. ....The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

kitty, kitty, kitty

i r the puter kitten

evolution

No Democrat stands a great chance since Georgia will probably be the last pathetic state to evolve out of the slime of the Bush-Cheney-Delay-Abramoff-Gonzales GOP, the party of corruption and disdain for the Constitution, the part of war profiteering, and the party that espouses "family values" for everyone but its own multitude of adulterous presidential candidates. Unfortunately, many Georgians embrace the delusion that the horrible Republican excesses under the Gold Dome and in Washington are somehow preferable to, say, making sure all children have health care.

John Suggs, Creative Loafing, 12-18 april 2007

from the worldnutdaily

To the
world's leaders and people,

We, the people of Canada who support marriage solely as the union of a man and a woman, apologize to the people of the world for harm done through Canada's legalization of homosexual marriage.

We are grieved and troubled as we consider the impact this is having in weakening the fundamental institution of marriage in countries and cultures around the world. We understand that because Canada
does not impose citizenship or residency requirements in order for same-sex individuals to be 'married' here, couples are coming to Canada to seek legal sanction for their homosexual relationships with the intent of returning to their own countries to challenge those countries' legal definition of marriage.

apology accepted

trumped

Trump Towers Atlanta will be comprised of two towers, the first boasting 365 condominium units (no hotel component) on 47 floors, overlooking the Downtown Connector. The project will inlcude high-end, luxury condo residences with architecture, features and amenities that reflect the Trump standard. Luxury boutiques and restaurants on the first few floors will compliment the residences.

All residences will be delivered with finished kitchens featuring
top-of-the-line appliances by Sub-Zero, Miele and Bosch, granite counter tops and italian wood cabinetry. Bathrooms will be finished with imported marble flooring and vanity tops. Semi-private high speed elevators will carry you to your solid wood doors and into your residence which boasts impressive 10-foot cielings. It is unmatched standards such as these which is rumored to be attracting such celebrities as, Elton John, R&B magnate, Usher, and Hollywood actor, Chris Tucker.

While a second tower of 38 stories and an additional 205 residences is planned at the sight, Tower I is the only tower currently offered. With construction for Tower I scheduled to break ground in May, the first phase is slated to open in 2009. The second tower is expected to open by 2012.

a blurb from condohotelcompany.com----and it's not even on peachtree

secret kitten

mr. jefferson

To talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. To say that the human soul, angels, god, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise...without plunging into the fathomless abyss of dreams and phantasms. I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence.--Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, August 15, 1820

earthrise

from apollo 8 in 1968----we sure won't be doing anything like that for awhile, although china or india might----

more vonnegut

Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before... He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.

more fog

forgot to post this the other day

midtown for the rich

developers have had a major hard-on for the "midtown mile" for a while---but now we are into priapism territory---and rude design besides---to be at 1138 peachree, which is right next door, if not on top of, the wimbish house (1906), the old woman's club.

One of the most breathtaking additions to Atlanta's skyline in recent years will be a 700-foot-tall illuminated wave shooting into the sky. The Mandarin Oriental will feature a dramatic three-story spa and residences topping $10 mililion.

give me a break.

thought for the day

I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)

ocoee

it was purty up in the hills, except for so many trees that had already leafed out were totally burned by the freeze----we went to see the whitewater center they built for the '96 olympics---a great bridge and nice visitors center, but not too much whitewater today, the river being down---still the only pics i took were these two of the ocoee---

anyway thanks cv and angela---it was a relaxing afternoon

pagans and easter

Every Easter Saturday for over a hundred years in Bacup, England, they perform pagan dances to welcome Spring and ward off evil Winter spirits.

degrading the nation

another instance of how bush and the republicans are degrading our nation, at the national park service, the fish and wildlife service, and just about every other non-war related agency in the government----relatively small potatoes these days, but as the debacle in iraq continues, they continue to destroy our country---

In America's most visited park unit, North Carolina and Virginia's own Blue Ridge Parkway, broken picnic tables, sagging rail fences, overgrown overlooks and neglected campsites multiply, while 58 of 237 staff positions lie vacant (no chief of interpretation, no chief of maintenance, no public relations officer). Campgrounds operate on a shorter season, toilets are cleaned less often and $200 million in backlogged maintenance is deferred year after year. Last year, private supporters had to pay to print Parkway maps for summer travelers.

the gays

and new hampshire makes six [states giving the gays their rights]:

"Spousal unions" for same-sex couples pass New Hampshire House: The vote was overwhelming and bipartisan, 243-129. The bill is limited to same-sex couples, who will have all the rights and restrictions of marriage. Attempts to include father-son and sister-aunt partnerships, etc., and opposite-sex couples, were defeated.

a history

well this is sobering, no? view it as a roller coaster here

holy week

if we would have been born shiites, we would be flagellating ourselves this week---instead, we get to eat ham for passover---now go see the hrc do its bit for holy week by lecturing dobson's wretched family research council on the ten commandments--

rainy sunday and the ignoranti

a tiny child's portion of rain just now, but enough to wash the pollen away

now, for your amuseument: the creation museum

The museum is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible:
The world was created in six, 24-hour days, some time between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Humans appeared on Day 6, and they didn't evolve from anything. Ken Ham, an Australian who is Answers in Genesis' founder and president, said the museum opening will be a significant event in Christendom. "No one else has ever built a place where you can experience biblical history and merge it with the
science," he said.