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----