mediocre eats

so i made gazpacho, but i didn't much like the recipe, so i kinda wasted susan's tomatoes---not wasted, really, since it was edible, but just not quite right---the recipe was from joy of cooking, but like all such, i consider recipes more as guidelines, a place to start---joy of cooking guided me to an excellent tzatziki, and she will guide me to at least a better gazpacho (as soon as i get some more tomatoes)---i liked the recipe because, unlike many gazpacho recipes, it did not call for chicken broth to start with----completely vegan---just tomatoes, onion, cucumber, bell pepper, garlic, parsley, tomato juice, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper---clearly a half cup of parsley, packed, is way too much for two-and-a-half lbs. of tomatoes, but beyond that i'm not sure what to change---next time maybe i'll try one of these recipes---

really bad weather

the caption for this image reads:

A Spectacular and Ominous View of an Approaching Sandstorm, a Gigantic,
Rolling Wall of Sand 4,000 to 5,000 Feet High, April 26, 2005 Al Asad, Al Anbar
Province, Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah – Republic of Iraq

looks truly horrible, worse than the giant dust storms they had in the great plains in the 1930s, and apparently a nearly daily occurrence in the evening---

r.i.p.

tammy faye is dead
i remember rolling on the floor laughing with claudia at the bakkers, and tammy's constant tears and running mascara----but she somehow redeemed herself after jim's fall from grace---

the fate of the republic?

Old-line Republican warns 'something's in the works' to trigger a police state .
. . Americans think their danger is terrorists," said Roberts. "They don't
understand the terrorists cannot take away habeas corpus, the Bill of Rights,
the Constitution. ... The terrorists are not anything like the threat that we
face to the Bill of Rights and the Constitution from our own government in the
name of fighting terrorism. Americans just aren't able to perceive that.

depressing

update

it's been within minutes of a full week since dexter arrived---and i gotta say, he is one fine kitty cat----

now if i can just keep robert or somebody from spoiling him----

serendipity

i guess i will not call it good eats anymore, since somebody, probly brian, didn't much like the tzatziki----whatever, i wanted fresh tomatoes last night and, lo and behold, today, ms. hitchcock comes into work with a bag of beautiful home-made tomatoes---and promised to bring more---so i'm off to the store to get the fixin's for gazpacho---

good eats

if i had access to decent tomatoes, i would be making gallons of gazpacho, but an excellent substitute summertime food is tzatziki:

1. two cups of greek strained yogurt (they've even got it in fat-free at publix---delicious taste and texture and two active cultures)

2. one large cucumber, seeded and diced

[2a. one medium vidalia onion, diced, which is technically not part of any authentic greek tzatziki recipes that i've seen, but is recommended nonetheless]

3. two cloves of garlic, mashed together with a teaspoon or so of salt until it is a nice paste and then mixed with a teaspoon or so of olive oil and a couple of teaspoons of white wine vinegar

4. fresh dill, a teaspoon or two, cut fine

5. black pepper to taste

mix all of that together and serve cold----you can be a pig, like me, and eat it with a spoon along with toast or crackers, or eat it like you are supposed to with pita or as a sauce on something else---yum

race

i just finished reading white flight: atlanta and the making of modern conservatism (kevin kruse, 2005), an amazing analysis of post-war atlanta, the civil rights movement, and resulting white flight----put a context to a lot of my childhood memories but it is not just a rehashing of the past----he makes a very strong case for how much from atlanta's segregationist and racist past still resonates today and puts words to much that i have always felt about all of that----

At the start of the twenty-first century, the politics created by white
flight are not simply still present; they are predominant. . . . Much of the
modern suburban conservative agenda---the secessionist stance toward the cities,
the individualistic outlook, the fervent faith in free enterprise, and the
hostility to the federal government---was, in fact, first articulated and
advanced in the resistance of southern whites to desegregation. No matter how
sincere conservatives may be in insisting that their politics are
"color-blind"---and, to be sure, a great number of them are sincere---a closer
reading of the historical record shows that the politics of race and racism did
inspire policies that no seem to have little to do with race. Recognizing the
legacies of white flight would be a first step in reducing the steady tensions
between the cities and suburbs and help bring together a nation that with every
year seems ever more polarized by race, regioin, and class. Before that can
happen, however, white Americans must stop running away from their past.

sunset

neocons

Q. How many neocons does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A. Neocons don't bother with light bulbs. They declare a War on Darkness and set the house on fire.

not just music

there are substantially more people employed as musicians in Defense bands than
in the entire foreign service.

i'm not sure what to think about this other than to find it disturbing.

$600 per lb. coffee

Indonesia's kopi luwak is a rare delicacy of peculiar provenance -- beans
plucked from the droppings of wild civets.

i'll stick to blue mtn or kona, i think, for the exotic brew----

dog bed

dexter looks real comfortable there in the middle of the dog's bed, doesn't he?

working it out

the dog and the cat have been quick to adjust to each other---but sometimes the kitten pushes it too far---shortly after i took this pic, there was a big outburst of snarling and dexter was literally reeling away---i think he will leave the dog food alone from now on, at least until hershey has finished----

meet dexter redux

the little booger just meowed and jumped right up in bed with me and the dog last night, and spent most of the night there, him on one side, the dog on the other----excellent kitten, all the way around----

Kittens (Old English diminutive of cat) are young domesticated cats (Felis silvestris catus) that are not fully-grown. The young of species in the genus Panthera and of some other big cats are called cubs rather than kittens. Either term may be used for the young of smaller wild felids such as ocelots, caracals, and lynx, but "kitten" is usually more common for these species. Groups of domestic kittens are referred to as kindles.

what an embarassment

and i don't mean the hindu bhagwan or whatever who yesterday opened the senate with a hindu prayer, which was a first in that august body---i think the whole concept of prayers is ridiculous, but the christianists who interuppted him are an embarrassment to the entire country---

lord Jesus, forgive us father for allowing a prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight . . .

they should have been asking forgiveness for being such bigots----

meet dexter

courtesy of atlanta animal rescue friends, dexter was rescued from dekalb humane society and arrived on the premises here around 7:15, with me all prepared for a period of adjustment and getting used to the dog and all----by 8:00 it had found the food and water, explored most all three rooms, taken a crap in his new, enclosed, litter box, and put the dog in his place with a whack and a hiss--now, two hours later, the damn thing is asleep in my lap---like kitty bob, he's self-confident and sweet---i'm not sure if i should keep him----

awful waffle

waffle house is restoring their original place (1955) on college avenue near avondale estates---1500 locations in 23 states today--all "scattered, smothered, and covered"

the river

the succession of ridges always show where the river is, but sometimes the fog rising off the river, with just the tops of kennesaw and the buildings at vinings, showing above the mist---

the view

not much rain or anything, but clouds were good---

brian speaks

and dredges up another excellent piece of evidence that there is nothing new under the sun:

You have sacrificed nearly ten thousand American lives—the flower of our
youth. You have devastated provinces. You have slain uncounted thousands of the
people you desire to benefit. You have established reconcentration camps. Your
generals are coming home from their harvest bringing sheaves with them, in the
shape of other thousands of sick and wounded and insane to drag out miserable
lives, wrecked in body and mind. You make the American flag in the eyes of a
numerous people the emblem of sacrilege in Christian churches, and of the
burning of human dwellings, and of the horror of the water torture. Your
practical statesmanship which disdains to take George Washington and Abraham
Lincoln or the soldiers of the Revolution or of the Civil War as models, has
looked in some cases to Spain for your example. I believe—nay, I know—that in general our officers and soldiers are humane. But in some cases they have
carried on your warfare with a mixture of American ingenuity and Castilian
cruelty

that was mass. senator george frisbie hoar, berating the country in 1902--

part of why we are so stupid----

this is hard for me to believe, but then again, maybe not:

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
57 percent of new books are not read to completion.
70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance.
70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.
(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)

the day after

i went over to robert's to watch the fireworks last night, all set to take dramatic images of the spectacle---unfortunately i forgot to charge my batteries, so all i got was this mediocre sunset--

so much for bush's surge...

Al-Qaeda's influence in Mosul - the country's second largest city after Baghdad
- has grown tremendously since the U.S. military campaign to subdue Baghdad
began more than four months ago. The capital of Nineveh Province, Mosul used to
be a mosaic of faiths, sects and nationalities, a feature that has eroded
significantly since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

al-qaeda even brazenly held a parade through mosul the other day, so little do they fear bush's "coalition"----

hear, hear!

from keith olberman:

It is nearly July 4th, Mr. Bush, the commemoration of the moment we Americans decided that rather than live under a King who made up the laws, or erased them, or ignored them—or commuted the sentences of those rightly convicted under them—we would force our independence, and regain our sacred freedoms.

We of this time—and our leaders in Congress, of both parties—must now live
up to those standards which echo through our history: Pressure, negotiate,
impeach—get you, Mr. Bush, and Mr. Cheney, two men who are now perilous to our
Democracy, away from its helm.

For you, Mr. Bush, and for Mr. Cheney, there is a lesser task. You need merely achieve a very low threshold indeed. Display just that iota of patriotism which Richard Nixon showed, on August 9th, 1974.Resign.And give us someone—anyone—about whom all of us might yet be able to quote John Wayne, and say, “I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.

hibiscus rosa-sinensis

not everything (or everyone) likes the balcony, but the hibiscus certainly does, as long as i keep it watered---

from the poorman

Bush, today, on overturning the sentence of a traitor to the United States:

Mr. Libby was sentenced to thirty months of prison, two years of probation, and a $250,000 fine. In making the sentencing decision, the district court rejected the advice of the probation office, which recommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors that could have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation.

I respect the jury’s verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby’s sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.

Bush[’s ghostwriter], on the deeply-held philosophy with which he presided over 152 executions in Texas:

I don’t believe my role [as governor] is to replace the verdict of a jury with my own, unless there are new facts or evidence of which a jury was unaware, or evidence that the trial was somehow unfair.

the view

scandalous

hugh makes a list, because there are just too many scandals to remember----

hippy types

portending the universe

We demonstrate that as we extrapolate the current ΛCDM universe forward in time, all evidence of the Hubble expansion will disappear, so that observers in our “island universe” will be fundamentally incapable of determining the true nature of the universe, including the existence of the highly dominant vacuum energy, the existence of the CMB, and the primordial origin of light elements. With these pillars of the modern Big Bang gone, this epoch will mark the end of cosmology and the return of a static universe. In this sense, the coordinate system appropriate for future observers will perhaps fittingly resemble the static coordinate system in which the de Sitter universe was first presented.

somebody needs to write it all down for those poor people 100 billion years from now---

how bad does it have to get?

bush's job approval rating slipped to 27 percent, his lowest number ever in a CBS News poll — 3 points less than last month and 1 point below his previous low of 28
percent in January. His disapproval rating is also at an all-time high of 65 percent.

the same poll found that only 22% thought the war was going well; 77% thought it going badly---you wonder where those people in that 22% are getting their information, if you are charitable, or whether or not they've got shit for brains, if you are not so charitable---

le mur vegetal

vertical gardens by patrick blanc----those crazy french prove you can garden anywhere--

kitty kitty kitty

Some 10,000 years ago, somewhere in the Near East, an audacious wild cat crept into one of the crude villages of early human settlers, the first to domesticate wheat and barley. There she felt safe from her many predators in the region, such as hyenas and larger cats, and the rodents that infested the settlers’ homes and granaries were sufficient prey for her.

they've found a human and an 8-month old kitty buried together 8,000 years ago---and how they came to be with us is totally different from the dogs----it's always been on their terms---i didn't know there were so many subspecies of wild cat (not feral cats, but truly wild)---and all of our house cats today descended from five females in one of those subspecies----that's a scottish wildcat behind the tree---there's only 500 of them left---

another rude opinion

In other words, all the kinds of functions that one might expect a Vice President to take care of - making token appearances on behalf of the President - are now done by a man who ought not have that much free time in his schedule. It's not that a President shouldn't occasionally make the appearance at the Little League game. But roughly once every other day? Sometimes twice in a day? That seems, well, perhaps disproportionate to the position of the Presidency. George Bush seems less like our fearless leader and more like a bored, rich housewife trying to fill her time between doses of Xanax. Another Laura, pretty much.

the luck of the irish

purty funny

utah's most wanted

a reminder that there are some very scary people out there---at least this one is clearly labeled----

parade

new democrats

obama:

Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a 30-minute speech before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ. "Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us," the Illinois senator said.

elizabeth edwards:

Elizabeth Edwards, starring at the kickoff event of San Francisco's signature Gay Pride Parade, came out in support of legalized gay marriage today -- taking a position which she acknowledged is at odds with her husband, presidential candidate John Edwards."I don't know why somebody else's marriage has anything to do with me,'' she said. "I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage.''

a fourth branch of government

the dark lord cheney has declared that as vice-president of these united states, he is not a part of the executive branch of govt and therefore not subject to oversight----the rude one has identified six other things the office of the vice president actually is:

Dick Cheney has decided that his office is a free-floating radical in DC, not quite an executive entity, not truly a legislative one, but some unholy Reese's cup of evil. Here's some other ways the Veep has untethered himself from mortal binds.

1. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a Native American religion, Cheney and his staff are free to smoke peyote at the start of every morning meeting.

2. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a breach in the space/time continuum, Cheney is free to enter at will his own dimension, the
realm of Cthulhu and the slime beasts.

3. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a motorcycle gang, Cheney is free to beat Senators with chains and blackjacks.

4. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but technically an executive bathroom, Cheney is free to wipe his ass with whatever documents are handy, memos, executive orders, Constitutions.

5. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually a freak show, Cheney is free to bite the heads off chickens. And nosy members of Congress.

6. Because his office is not an entity in the executive branch, but actually an insane asylum, Cheney is free to rain bedlam down on the whole of government.

let's put a dollar value on it. . .

Richard Florida, a professor from George Mason University and author of the book The Rise of the Creative Class argued that the more "gay-friendly" a city is, the more economically prosperous it will be

pride redux

The Stonewall riots were a series of violent conflicts between New York City police officers and groups of gay and transgender people that began during the early morning of June 28, 1969, and lasted several days. Also called the Stonewall Rebellion or simply Stonewall, the clash was a watershed for the worldwide gay rights movement, as gay and transgender people had never before acted together in such large numbers to forcibly resist police.

that's why we have pride this weekend and not some weekend in january----

3.5 million showed up for the parade in sao paulo a couple of weeks ago---i doubt that atlanta's will be quiet so rowdy---

another benefit of tax cuts for the rich

last year, deaths in new orleans were up 47% over rates for the two years before katrina---the city's largest and oldest public hospital, charity hospital, remains closed----

pride

It's not about you.It has nothing to do with an affront on you or your way of life - nor is it an attack on your moral sensibilities.It's just that you've told me all my life that we're sinners. You've told us, as we've grown up, that God hates us; that we're not worthy of walking your streets.And so we grew up believing that yes, we're disgusting. And yes, God hates us; wants nothing but sadness from us; has given us challenges that are too great for any person to take one. And it's not enough for you to leave us alone. For you, it's offense that we're even alive.And for many of us, it became too much to handle. We escaped - either into our minds or out of this world entirely.And some of us were blessed to find a community. A group of people just like us who knew what we felt. A group of people who had also spent their entire lives living in fear that one day it would all come crashing down.And we've grown up. We've come into our own. We've realized that we, too, are created in the Image of God, no matter how our brains are wired.And so we'll walk with you on your streets. We don't want to walk against you. We'd like for you to join us. We'd like for you to acknowledge that we, too, are created with a spark of the Divine. We'd like for you to realize what we've gone through; how hard we've worked just to feel normal.And we'd like for you to understand that when we get there; when we finally come to the point in our lives where we stop the fight and begin to look at ourselves as we truly are - as human beings with the same desires and needs as everyone else - that we can finally feel alive. That's why we march.To celebrate that we've survived in this world.To celebrate the sanctity of humanity.To show others that they, too, are not solitary abominations.God has created us all, in God's own image, and we, too, are good.

better late than never

it's a shame people couldn't have figured out his worthlessness earlier in the process. . .

June 21, 2007 - In 19 months, George W. Bush will leave the White House for the last time. The latest NEWSWEEK Poll suggests that he faces a steep climb if he hopes to coax the country back to his side before he goes. In the new poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday nights, President Bush’s approval rating has reached a record low. Only 26 percent of Americans, just over one in four, approve of the job the 43rd president is doing; while, a record 65 percent disapprove, including nearly a third of Republicans.

The new numbers—a 2 point drop from the last NEWSWEEK Poll at the beginning of May—are statistically unchanged, given the poll’s 4 point margin of error. But the 26 percent rating puts Bush lower than Jimmy Carter, who sunk to his nadir of 28 percent in a Gallup poll in June 1979. In fact, the only president in the last 35 years to score lower than Bush is Richard Nixon. Nixon’s approval rating tumbled to 23 percent in January 1974, seven months before his resignation over the botched Watergate break-in.

and now new york

A notable vote occurred yesterday: the New York State Assembly passed a bill allowing gay couples to have the same marriage rights as straight couples. The vote was 85 - 61, after governor Eliot Spitzer's ballsy and principled support. Now it's up to the State Senate. New York follows California's legislature in passing a legislative bill for marriage equality. This occurs after the state supreme court said the issue
was up to legislators - not the judiciary. One small but pertinent fact for cowardly Democrats like Obama, Clinton and Edwards: since Spitzer actually said what he believes about gay rights, his approval ratings have only improved.

"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----