Too much violence, not enough sex

It was a hot afternoon for this late in September. The rush hour traffic baked under the Sonoran Sun. I had just bought a couple DVDs before going to the art supplies store to put in an application. I rode the scooter instead of the bicycle because I didn’t want to drip sweat on the job application. So I’m sitting at the intersection waiting for the light to change. My iPod had just shuffled up Antonio Carlos Jobim singing his own composition, The Girl From Ipanema. It’s a live, solo version; just him and his piano, a clear case of less is more - “…que cosa mas linda!” (pronounced that cool Portuguese way ‘cosha mash linda.’) There’s a slight difference in the lyrics. The English verse sounds like it agrees a little more closely to the Portuguese than the hit by Joao & Astrud Gilberto.
So I’m sitting there digging the purr of the engine between my legs and the beauty of the music in my ears when I thought I heard a female voice. I barely heard it over the music and the traffic. Looking to my right I saw a pretty young woman smiling at me from behind the steering wheel of a little red beater in the right hand turning lane. I don’t know what she said, and I doubt she was trying to pick me up so I just smiled at her just before she took a drag on her cigarette, and I continued to enjoy the sultry sweetness of that transcendent moment.
Scooting up Craycroft Rd. I pondered the incident briefly. I was acutely aware that I’ve got 3 sons who are probably older than that sweet young thing. So I concluded that the Blue Beauty (as I’ve just decided I’ll call my Kyocera Grand Vista) was probably the object of her admiration. Thirty years ago, I mused, I would have gone after that smile like a dog after a bone. But I wanted to stop at the grocery store for some coffee and a few other things, besides, I have to keep it real.
As real as the Santa Catalina Mountains looming ahead of me as I approached Grant Rd. My mind meandered back to the Dylan piece that I had just watched on PBS, No Direction Home. Specifically, I was remembering the segment in which Joan Baez was talking about Dylan’s refusal to stick to a pre-arranged format for the shows they did together. I don’t remember the exact wording but she did say that he did it “to fuck with you.” PBS bleeped out the “fuck” but it was tasty to see an elegant woman like Joan Baez use that word in a natural way. She wasn’t being lewd or angry, she just used it because it was the word that best described what she was trying to say. The harm that has been done to our culture by the holier-than-thou crowd is incremental. A little censorship here, some subtle coercion there, before you know it, Lady Liberty is in handcuffs.
Then, as if on automatic pilot, I realize that I’m walking into Safeway and my Ipod has started playing Donovan singing Catch the Wind…
“In the chilly hours an minutes
of uncertainty
I long to be…”
Then a puff of strawberry blonde hair caught my eye as I scanned the customer service area on the right. A bright smile is beaming at me and she’s looking right into my eyes. I almost looked to my left to see who was there once I realized that I didn’t recognize the pretty face behind the shopping cart. She can’t be smiling at me? But she was, so I smiled back and enjoyed it.
I flashed back to the morning bicycle ride to work, a little kid yelled out a greeting and smiled as I rode by the school. I knew that he was digging my satellite radio antenna on my cycling helmet. I must admit that I must make quite a sight. The helmet is faux chrome with orange and yellow flames licking toward the back. The antenna is a smallish gray cylinder, somewhat reminiscent of a tampon case and it attaches to the helmet’s smooth surface with a suction cup gizmo. I usually put it just below the top of the helmet, pointing forward; that seems to be the optimal position for good reception. I can see how that would cause one to chuckle. But I was wearing my black beret, not the helmet; and there were no gray tampons sticking out of my head, so she probably wasn’t laughing at me; but I checked my fly anyway.
It was at that point that I became very puzzled. Why were these strange (strange as in strangers, not strange as in a John Waters movie) women smiling at me?
Far be from me to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it’s just that gratuitous smiles are not the kind of thing that one sees during a big city evening rush hour. Maybe they thought they were seeing Jerry Garcia’s ghost. But why would Jerry Garcia’s ghost be shopping at Safeway?
“Where else would a ghost shop, Seven Eleven?”
“Huh? Who said that?” I doubt that I said it out loud but I know that the smartass woman’s voice was not in my head. It was God again, dressed in a smart business suit, she was shaking a cantaloupe and smelling its butt.
“Start any major disasters lately?” I joked. Then I held my breath. I’m never sure how God will respond to my irreverent humor.
“Not since I made you.” She cracked like lazy lightning then she roared like rolling thunder. “But I didn’t come just to laugh at you. I’m too busy laughing at the whole Human Race.”
“But you made us.” I interjected somewhat lamely.
“Did you ever wonder why?”
“Well, now that you mention it…”
“That was a rhetorical question that you interrupted,” she cut me off as she administered a dope slap upside my head. “It certainly wasn’t so you all would worship me. I just wanted to be amused.”
“So we’re doing alright?”
“Too much violence, not enough sex. Didn't my angels remind you of the taste of the divine that you people get to sample in your mundane little lives?” Then she winked and disappeared.

High Coups

Fire Opal Sunset
In the Land of Enchantment
Screaming Enticement

Laughing Buddha digs the way
The Golden Road
Unlimited Devotion
To Laughter

Rise and Shine!
Evergreen morning
In White Mountain Majesty

Angel in a cloud
A tree-top decoration
Cherubs on the wing

UN Resolution41/31

Here is one of the UN resolutions that our government has chosen to ignore by claiming that the International Court of Justice doesn't have jurisdiction over the US. Why didn't the Reagan Administration want to be judged by the international community? The answer is simple, they knew that the actions they undertook amounted to international terrorism.
I became very unpopular with my high school's alumni association in the aftermath of 9/11/'01 when I published a post that quoted Malcom X in saying that the attack was clearly a case of some chickens coming home to roost. A corollary to the Law of Karma says that he who terrorizes shall be terrorized.

'A/RES/41/31
3 November 1986
53rd plenary meeting

Judgment of the International Court of Justice of 27 June 1986
concerning military and paramilitary activities in and against
Nicaragua: need for immediate compliance

The General Assembly,
Having heard the statement made by the Minister for External Relations of the Republic of Nicaragua,
Recalling Security Council resolutions 530 (1983) of 19 May 1983 and 562 (1985) of 10 May 1985,
Aware that, under the Charter of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and that each Member undertakes to comply with the decision of the Court in any case to which it is a party,
Considering that Article 36, paragraph 6, of the Statute of the Court provides that "in the event of a dispute as to whether the Court has jurisdiction, the matter shall be settled by the decision of the Court",
Taking note of the Judgment of the International Court of Justice of 27 June 1986 in the case of "Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua",
Having considered the events that have taken place in and against Nicaragua since the Judgment was rendered, in particular the continued financing by the United States of America of military and other activities in and against Nicaragua,
Emphasizing the obligation of States, under customary international law, not to intervene in the internal affairs of other States,
1. Urgently calls for full and immediate compliance with the Judgment of the International Court of Justice of 27 June 1986 in the case of "Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua" in conformity with the relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to keep the General Assembly informed on the implementation of this resolution'.
The world is still waiting for its implementation. In light of the Bush League's new-found fondness for enforcing UN Resolutions that have been ignored for way too long, maybe Condi Rice should make it her business to see that we erase just a tiny bit of the hypocrisy in which we wallow by obeying this resolution that has been ignored for 19 years.

" I guess people are busy surviving or watching Captain Kangaroo"

You said a mouthful, Caroline. Your great line reminds me a little of that old pop song that goes...
"...counting flowers on the wall,
that don't bother me at all
playing solitaire til dawn
with a deck of fifty one
smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo
Don't tell me I've nothing to do"
I did want to comment on something you said in your comment post:
"I must say that it is a bit annoying that all the comments you’re getting are from people that are trying to sell stuff. I wonder if people without an agenda take the time to ‘blog’."
The problem is that the mercenary mind thinks that the marketplace of ideas is another market from which to derive profits; nothing is sacred. The churches are selling bobble head Jesus and John the Baptist figurines
I forget who first uttered the line "The business of America is business." It was somebody from the age of "Robber Barons," who was frank enough to admit that ours is a culture of whores. Everything is seen in terms of profit. Even catastrophes like Katrina and Rita are business opportunities. G.W. Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon act to facilitate the further transfer of wealth from the have-nots to the have-mores. When the poor have nothing left, no direction home, The Man will cheat them out of the sweat from their brows. By making it legal for Halliburton to pay wages that are sub-standard, Bush makes sure that the poor will get poorer and the rich will reap the benefits. The prez refuses to tax the windfall profits that his cronies are raking in.
I did a little research (I love these modern times with all this info at my fingertips) and found that it was one of the 2 that I thought had said it; it was Calvin Coolidge. I'll paste in an excerpt of what I found:
' Professor Arthur Schlesinger in Crisis of the Old Order wrote, "(Coolidge's) speeches offered his social philosophy in dry pellets of aphorism. "The chief business of the American people," he said, "is business." But, for Coolidge, business was more than business; it was a religion; and to it he committed all the passion of his arid nature. "The man who builds a factory," he wrote, "builds a temple. The man who works there worships there." He (Coolidge) felt these things with a fierce intensity.'
I know that I used a lot more words than necessary to say that they're whores, but that's because I want to point out that it's a cultural original sin that drives these people to want to sell their love, their allegiance even their sacred honor. But even my mother pulled the old bait and switch on me so it's ridiculous for me to be bothered by these butterfly-brained merchants of pettiness. They're like flies, annoying but they're one of those annoying realities that we have to deal with. I have gotten one or two non-commercial 'attaboys' as well as a challenge from an anonymous Christian whose knowledge and clarity left a lot to be desired.

Republicans Calling Impeachment a Coup?

I'm feeling that I haven't heaped enough scorn on the administration's warning to the people of Nicaragua. This is an administration that takes great pride in contrasting itself to the previous one. This President claims to be a plain talker who says what he means and means what he says. No hair splitting about what the meaning of "is" is.
A Republican, G.W. is a member of the party that impeached Bill Clinton because Big Bill perjured himself about how he pleasured himself with an intern and a cigar. Quick to posture as if they inhabit the moral high ground, Republicans wallow in the mire of hypocrisy as tens of thousands have died because of the lies that the Bush League told the world in order to justify their imperial designs.
Then they construct a verbal formulation that redefines a democratic process through which malfeasance by the President of Nicaragua can be redressed. When a capitalist is about to be replaced by a socialist the spinmeisters call it a coup. When the Republicans tried to engineer a coup by impeaching Clinton because his shamelessness only went so far (I'm convinced that Clinton should have replied to questions about Monica, not by denying the truth, but by saying, in effect, "ain't nobody's busines but my own"), Tom DeLay & Company bristled at the suggestion that there was interest in anything other than upholding the rule of law. Their mantra was "This is a nation of laws." I got your laws right here pal: Unintended Consequences; Cause and Effect; and last but not least Murphy's Law.
There's another law that I heard cited not too long ago, Severeid's law; (after Eric Severeid a contemporary of Walter Cronkite), which states that all problems had their beginnings as solutions. I think the current condition of New Orleans is a good example of that law, which seems to be a corollary of the Law of Unintended Consequences.
The levees that, at one point solved a problem, turned out to cause a major problem in terms of the loss of marshland which, in turn, exacerbated the effects of Katrina and that further stressed the levees which then broke, and that ain't no joke.

Equinox Vibrations

Desert Flower Sunset

Mother Nature smiled sweetly on Tucson tonight!
A Little Eye Candy to Soothe the Soul...

Shadow chasing Light
The same eternal two step
Day melts into Night

This mesquite framed shot was
Yesterday's sunrise

"Gold and rose the colors of the dreams...."

Why the Neocons Want Hugo Chavez Dead

The following excerpt of the Chavez interview on Democracy Now shows the worldview that Bush's people fear most:
"So we’re now providing, first we’re ensuring the supply of oil, direct supply of oil from state to state, in order to avoid the speculation of multinationals and traders."
This really burns the capitalists, how dare he put people before profits? He must be destroyed before he ruins our system that's based on the glories of greed!
" They buy gasoline in Venezuela and then they go to a Caribbean country, and they charge double so we are selling the products to the states directly. We are not charging for freight, we assume the cost of freight. But apart from that, this discount is not of 25 percent it goes to 40 percent of the total, and this money will be paid back in 25 years time, with 2 years of grace and 1 percent interest rates. So if you make all of the mathematical calculations, the donation percentage is almost 70 percent because it’s a long term adjusted 1 percent. So what Venezuela’s doing is supplying 200,000 barrels of oil to the Caribbean and other Central American and South American countries such as Paraguay, Uruguay and smaller nations in South America. 200, 000 millions (in America we call that 200 billion) of barrels, if you apply calculations, mathematical calculations by 1.5 percent of our GDP, 1.5 percent of the GDP is devoted to this cooperation. It means we are financing these sister nations that next year will reach 1.7 billion dollars a year, in 10 years is 17 billion dollars. It’s a way for us to share, to share our resources with these countries."
So if you put the deeds and words of Pat Robertson next to the words and deeds of Hugo Chavez who is behaving in a manner that is more consistent with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth?
"We want to use these infrastructures to help the poor populations. We have made some progress. We have given instructions to the president of CITGO, Felix Rodriguez. We want that up to 10 percent we refine here. We supply every day to the us 1.5 million barrels of oil, crude and product and we refine, here, close to 800,000 barrels a day refined here in the us. So we would like to take 10 percent of what we refine those products and to offer these products in several modalities to the poor populations. And the pilot project will be starting in Chicago we are already operating in Chicago. Well let’s hope that there’s not going to be any obstacle by the government opposed to this project being implemented, but we will be working in those poor populations. We have some allies, local partners and we have a number of communities, and we are going to donate some heating oil, because the winter is close, and for the school transportation to school, for the Mexican neighborhood which is the largest in Chicago, La Villita, is the name of this neighborhood with close to 900,000 inhabitants, and so there are other neighborhoods with Hispanics and Latinos. October, the 14th we’re going to start with these pilot projects with small communities and schools, but there are other pilot projects that will start in November in Boston, and here in New York."
The irony is astounding! Venezuela is offering foreign aid to the "world's only Super Power." Apparently at least one of Bush's advisers noticed the irony and so far they have refused the offer, as well as Cuba's offer to send doctors to help treat the walking wounded. Pride comes before the "general welfare" of our citizens.
"We’ve been accompanying these states from the very beginning, and we’ve been watching TV and receiving reports by our ambassadors and the CITGO people from the very beginning, cooperating very humbly trying to save lives and assist the homeless. We have offered assistance, up to five million dollars, a very modest sum, but I guess it would be useful. We have offered medicine, water, and electric power plants, the same way Cuba offered doctors. So far we have not being authorize to reach the area. However, we hope the best for the poor, the poorest of these countries."

US warns Nicaraguans against "coup"

What the thug named Roger Noriega (any relation to Manuel Noriega who used to be a CIA drug connection when Papa Bush was CIA director and eventually Vice President?) referred to as a "coup" is a legal process called impeachment.
"President Bolanos - who took office in 2002 after a landslide victory over Sandinista leader and former President Daniel Ortega - has said he will view any attempt to impeach him as a coup. "
How does it feel to know that a US official (assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere) gets his talking points from a corrupt third world scoundrel? The current Nicaraguan president, so corrupt and disloyal to his party that they joined forces with the hated Sandinistas to impeach the crook, has the full support of the American President and his minions in the Organization of American States (OAS.) The really disgraceful aspect of this affair is the anti-democratic interference in the internal politics of a sovereign state. Does anybody remember the bloody murder that Tom DeLay and his ilk were screaming when Al Gore was caught accepting money from foreigners for the Clinton/Gore reelection campaign? What makes it OK for the CIA to have contributed millions of dollars of our tax money to help Violeta Chamorro defeat Daniel Ortega?
"Mr Noriega said some people were putting 'the personal interests of a couple of leaders ahead of the national interest'. "
How is it in the national interest of Nicaragua for the public patrimony to be handed over to private interests?
"President Enrique Bolanos - who is locked in a power struggle with the Sandinistas - said on Monday that he would ask congress to approve rate increases.

He also wants congress to allow him to hand over $30m to private energy firms."
The Sandinistas, on the other hand have worked out a deal with kindred spirit Hugo Chavez of Venezuela to buy fuel at a 40% discount.
Incidentally, Democracy Now aired an excellent interview with Mr. Chavez the past couple days; it's available at their website.

Butch and Sundance

It was 105 years ago today that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid pulled off their first job together. It seems odd that a "nation of laws" is so enamored of a pair of outlaws. Apparently, part of the attraction is the spirit of innovation that they employed in their own peculiar pursuit of happiness.
"Cassidy had actually come up with a more efficient way of rustling by simply extorting money from ranchers so that their steers weren't stolen."
Years later, the protection racket provided gainful employment for street thugs in our major cities. Shop owners in Chicago, New York, Detroit and other major cities had to pay racketeers protection so their stores wouldn't burn down, or worse.
Then there's the insurance industry. As we're learning, again, the insurance companies spend fortunes on lawyers who write policies in language so complicated and obtuse that they can later deny payment because water damage was caused by "wind-driven rain." Is there any other kind? I heard some shyster explain that water damage caused by a leaky roof is covered by most home owners' insurance. If, on the other hand, the wind blows all or part of the roof off the house, then the ensuing damage is not covered. The good hands people are good at using those hands to take your money gladly; then they fight like hell to avoid paying the policy holders.
That, boys and girls, is why Woody Guthrie sang:
"As through this life you ramble,
You'll meet some funny men,
Some rob you with a six gun
Some with a fountain pen."
I quoted those lines to my daughter when she was about 8 years old. Her resonse was "What's a fountain pen?"
Speaking of childish behavior, there was a Cold War incident on this date in 1959. The way The History Channel tells it:
"From photo ops with Shirley MacLaine to a heated debate with the head of a movie studio and a childish outburst about not being allowed into Disneyland, Khrushchev's day in Los Angeles was full of activity."

Color Coordinated Cathedral

I usually scoff at "journalists" who waste air time or print space commenting on how politicians and their wives are attired. Tell me about the substance but lose the superficial shit! I would shout at the boob on the tube. So it was with some irony that I found myself noticing how well the color of the President's shirt coordinated with the lighting on the church in the background. Ignorant of the facts, I found myself assuming that some flunky ran out, or flew to a nearby city to buy a shirt that matched the powder blue illumination on the church. The shirt puffed out the way new dress shirts do the first time you wear them. The shirt also seemed to be a size or two too big for the prez, reinforcing my impression of a hasty acquisition.
But a comment on Washington Week shed a new light on the whole thing for me. I forget which female reporter it was (maybe the Raddatz woman from ABC) informed us that the lights were brought in specially for the speech, as was the power to light them up. Not only were the colors coordinated by the White House propaganda machine, they went to a lot of trouble to make that church visible in the background. The pretty picture that the Prez presented was aimed at the gullible American masses who take comfort in the soothing colors, the link to religion, and Bush's newfound awareness of the charitable part of Christianity. But the people who were affected by the hurricane were left without power, electrical or political, after Mr. Bush and his crew left.

Talk With God

God came to me during my siesta this afternoon. She whispered softly in my ear, and, once I awoke she congratulated me for not letting myself get fooled by the "religio-industrial complex" (the term is hers but she gave me the copyright in perpetuity throughout the universe).
I was still sleepy and in agnostic shock so 'Dig' was all I could say. To be honest the word "say" is too strong a term to describe the grunt that dripped out of my mouth. But I digress.
The message that her Divine Grace wanted to put out was that, contrary to my conviction that it was only weather patterns that determined Katrina's path, the hurricane's path was indeed divinely ordained. At the risk of offending Her Divine Majesty I asked if she was pulling my leg. Fortunately for me she wasn't offended. She's got a good sense of humor and she just pulled my leg off at the hip, then reattached it. It was at that point that all doubt vanished and I took what she was trying to tell me more seriously.
The gist of what She told me is that the Holier-Than-Thou crowd has her seeing red; so she aimed Katrina at the Gulf Coast's red under-belly. She must have read my mind, or maybe she put the thought there. All I know is that as I was wondering whether she would take it as an affront if I questioned the fainess of hitting them below the Bible Belt she said that all's fair in love and the war against religious intolerance.

Saguaros

Woodpeckers like to carve out nests
in these mighty desert dwellers.
Saguaro skeletons have an other-worldly charm about them,
Like clouds, they provide the zenspirational vagueness
That puts the message in the mind of the beholder.

Are those gargoyles looking down
From the top of a stone age column?

Dig the graceful way in which the arm points to the sky...
"To infinity; and beyond!"
Maybe it's an elephant trumpeting
That he's horny.

Bert Saguaro hugs his friend.

My Favorite Tee Shirts

From the Berkeley Collection:
It was this shirt that Frank wanted me to see.
When he took me to his favorite tee shirt store in
The People's Republic of Berkeley.
I saw, I liked, I purchased.

While there, my eyes wandered over to a rack
that also contained the following shirt...

Wouldn't it be nice if Uncle Sam were so benign?
What we have is the arrogant countenance of
John Bolton as the projection of
America's image to the world.

But the Bush League has made fighting hemp
A higher (pun not intended) priority than fighting meth.
They had to be drunk when they reached that decision!

Well Said!

Checking the letters to the editor of the N.Y. Times I found the following gem:

"To the Editor:

How sad a commentary that the willingness of President Bush to accept responsibility for the failures of his administration has to be treated as front-page news.

Neil Kurlander

Stamford, Conn., Sept. 14, 2005"

Well said Neil Kurlander!
What I wonder is, when will the President take responsibility for Rovegate? It was on his watch that people from his administration conspired with at least one member of the press to expose the identity of a CIA "operative."
It's been more than 2 years and the stonewalling goes on with no effort made by the Prevaricator In Chief to get them to fess up. Au contraire, Mr. Bush modified his pledge to fire anyone responsible for the leak, now he says he'll fire "anyone who committed a crime." Is it possible that the Bush League knows that Rove would still get fired, even under the more leniant modification?
Another item related to Rovegate that's been insinuating itself into my consciousness since before Judge Roberts and Katrina conspired to distract us from the crime that should end The Bush Era: What was Karen Hughes up to while the plot was being hatched to out Mrs. Wilson? She's been under the radar during this whole thing until it was announced, without much fanfare, that she is now an Assistant Secretary of Brainwashing Muslims So They Love Us. Ms. Hughes had obstensibly resigned her post at the White House to "spend more time with the family." But she continued to show up periodically for "consultations." Verrry interesting...

And Then There's Bush, the Impeachable...

"The Iraq war is linked to both Sept. 11 and Katrina, a bridge of sorts between the two crises. It began as part of the Sept. 11-inspired war on terrorism - and is now a competitor with the Gulf Coast for money, manpower and public support."
In an analysis of what I like to call the Bush League Ron Fournier of the Associated Press made the obvious link between the war that Bush lied to get us into and the dismal response to Katrina by the Federal Government.
"The Bush Era did not begin when he took office, or even with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. It began on Sept. 14, 2001, when Bush declared at the World Trade Center site: "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." Bush was, indeed, skilled in identifying enemies and rallying a nation already disposed to action. He failed to realize after Sept. 11 that it was not we who were lucky to have him as a leader, but he who was lucky to be president of a great country that understood the importance of standing together in the face of a grave foreign threat. Very nearly all of us rallied behind him."
It should be noted that some of us opposed the attempt to distract us from the fight against Bin Laden. I remember commenting as I watched Colin Powell shame himself in front of the UN, that all his points were preceded by vague qualifiers (could, should, may) making it very likely that very little of what he was saying was true.
What the so-called Bush Era proves is that if there is one truism in American Politics it is that you can fool most of the people most of the time as long as you have a good shuck and jive. The fact that he was so popular for so long says a lot about the gullibility of the American voters.
"But the first intimations of the end of the Bush Era came months ago. The president's post-election fixation on privatizing part of Social Security showed how out of touch he was. The more Bush discussed this boutique idea cooked up in conservative think tanks and Wall Street imaginations, the less the public liked it. The situation in Iraq deteriorated. The glorious economy Bush kept touting turned out not to be glorious for many Americans. The Census Bureau's annual economic report, released in the midst of the Gulf disaster, found that an additional 4.1 million Americans had slipped into poverty between 2001 and 2004."
The ugly truth is that the sooner we get rid of the Bush League the better off this once great nation will be. Impeach Bush Cheney! Vote against incumbent Republicans in next year's congressional elections! Republicans are treasonously more faithful to the party line than to the American ideals of democracy and equal opportunity; that's why Tom DeLay will never permit articles of impeachment to be drawn up. The Republicans derive their power from corporate funds.

Kudos to my Town

Tucson is doing something to help us be less dependent on fossil fuels! Granted, it's a small first step, 20% of the city's buses will be burning fuel that's 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel, but it is a step in the right direction. I, for my part, have gone back to communting to and from work on my bicycle. I parked my motor scooter which gets 60 -65 MPG in order to burn less over-priced fuel in favor of burning superfluous fat.
"Officials say the new buses, which will replace about 20 percent of Sun Tran's older buses, also will help reduce air pollution in Tucson. They're the first in the Sun Tran fleet designed to burn biodiesel, a type of diesel that can be manufactured from vegetable oil, animal fats or recycled restaurant greases."
The media types (probably at the behest of "Big Oil") often denigrate the value of the different alternative fuels by arguing that a major overhaul of our infrastructure, that's made for the internal combustion engine, would be too costly, especially since solar and the other alternatives aren't capable of replacing fossil fuels. They're right, of course, in saying that no one alternative can cost-effectively replace petroleum products, yet. But conservation and a combination of different little changes can add up to a big change in our dependence on foreign oil.

A Look at Different Piss Poor Performances

Tom DeLay’s cronies are up to their slimy necks in the ooze of their corruption:
“Once DeLay helped Republicans win control of the state Legislature in 2002, the majority leader engineered a Republican redistricting plan that gave the state's U.S. House delegation a 21-11 majority in the current Congress.
“DeLay was admonished by the House ethics committee on three matters last year, including what the panel said was improperly getting the Federal Aviation Administration to intervene in a state political dispute. The dispute involving tracking down Democratic legislators who fled the state to avoid voting on the redistricting plan.”
It’s obvious to anyone who has eyes to see and a brain connected to those eyes that Mr. DeLay calls the shots. That he is still walking the streets free to continue to indulge in his form of lawlessness is an affront to the notion that we are a nation of laws. But Republicans are so beholden to him for their hold on power that there won’t be any action taken while the Bush League is in power.

Clam up!

It seems that to be a Supreme Court Justice one must go through a Darwinian process that includes many different stages of evolution. Judge Roberts is currently going through the clam phase.

While the Democrats are urging him to open up and expose his pearls of wisdom, the Republicans are urging him to clam up. Maybe it’s just me. Most Democrats seemed to love that lying scumbag named Bill Clinton. The more he lied the higher his poll numbers rose. But I’ll resist the urge of going off on a Clinton rant because that’s not the point. The point is that those who are encouraging Roberts to avoid answering the questions are encouraging him to lie by omission. Hiding the truth is a lie, whether you do it by saying things that are false or by claming up.

Another Cold War Lesson

"The MIG-25 incident suggested that U.S. officials may have overestimated the Soviet threat in order to push for even higher American defense spending."

"When the Soviets first put the MIG-25 (known as the Foxbat) into production in the 1960s, U.S. officials became nearly hysterical. The new plane, they claimed, was the fastest, most advanced, and most destructive interceptor jet ever built. Its debut, they argued, meant that the United States was falling dangerously behind in the race to control the skies. "

The wool was being pulled over the voters' eyes by the propaganda machine of the military/industrial complex (M/IC). Nixon had been driven from office but he was just a bit player on a stage where history's soap opera is played out. I would have used the term "character actor" but it seems perverse to use "character" in the same sentence with Nixon. The real power was wielded from the corporate offices; from the shadows by shady men who were never elected by we the people - who have had to fund the corruption.
Reagan's Star Wars program is still alive, billions of dollars are being misspent on outlandish programs that will never make us safe from the real dangers that people are facing. Bush wants to keep funding Star Wars because it benefits his constituency in the M/IC. The environmental element that made New Orleans a partly man-made catastrophe is another area in which Bush League policies have exacerbated the problem. By continuing to deny our effect on the environment, the administration ignored the need to replenish the coastal marshes of Louisiana. Bush is an oil man. He has in the past and probably continues to profit from high oil prices Though not openly stated, the neo-cons motto seems to be: "Billions for offense but not one dime for the middle class."

How Christian is it to force the loss of services to the poor by giving tax breaks to the mega-wealthy?

I hate to quote myself but my post of 7/27 seems apropos to the current debate re the role of government when responding to natural disasters.
“How Christian is it to force the loss of services to the poor by giving tax breaks to the mega-wealthy? Yes, government services are socialist programs, but they are also Christ-like services. Unlike today’s pseudo Christians who get all worked up about the need for chastity, Jesus preferred to focus on charity. When asked what to do about the woman who was caught committing adultery, Jesus told those who were anxious to follow the letter of the law and stone the woman that he who is without sin should throw the first stone.”
First off it’s clear that we need to correct the conservatives’ lies about the role of government. The conservative mantra has been that government is the problem. They want us to forget that "We the People" joined together in a social contract to authorize government to do for us what the individual can't do. They would have you believe that government’s role is to codify the moralistic preaching of the holier-than-thou crowd, in other words, government’s role is to legislate morality. Once the particular "vice" has been made a crime we can start filling up the prisons and throwing away the keys. Our abysmally stupid system of criminalizing any use the hemp plant because some derive pleasure from smoking its flowers is a prime example of that kind of misuse of governmental authority. We currently have more people imprisoned than the Soviet Union and South Africa ever did; more than 2 million, about 60% of whom are non-violent drug users. Billions of dollars are wasted every year in the misguided use of resources to prevent allegedly free people from engaging in vices that the majority frowns upon. Big government flexes its mighty muscles in an effort to eradicate part of nature. Toxic chemicals are sprayed on Mother Earth, indiscriminately poisoning other plants in the area because William Randolph Hearst browbeat an incompetent congress into criminalizing the plant in 1937.
Liberal busybodies at their worst can compound the heard-hearted stupidity of conservatives. Drug laws are nanny government at its worst. Those laws are based on the proposition that government’s role is to protect us from ourselves, a liberal notion.
So-called conservatives accept that proposition and enforce them with a vengeance, compounding the stupidity by passing laws that require minimum sentences and others that require life sentences for third convinctions. There’s no end to the power of government when it comes to limiting the freedom of the individual. But it’s a totally different story when it comes to providing for the “public welfare.” That’s when they start talking about freedom and the rights and responsibilities of the individual. It's when it comes to helping the needy that conservatives start talking about getting rid of big government.

On the Road

It was on this date in 1957 that the seed was planted that would later blossom into what came to be called flower children. Once Jack Kerouac's On the Road was published it was just a matter of time before the youth of America discovered the wanderlust that has driven this nation of drifters to wander ever westward until we wound up in San Francisco with flowers in our hair.
Old Jack drank himself to death on the East coast. His demons wouldn't let him let go of his past and his Roman Catholic guilt tripping. A complicated anti-hero, he despised the generation that venerated his chronicles of the counter culture's conception. He wouldn't give Ken Kesey the time of day, even though Neal Cassady was part of the group, known as the Merry Pranksters, that went to see him on the bus called Furthur.

More from the Bosque.

Iron Lizzard soaking up Sun's rays.
Sitting on stone digging Earth's vibration. Channeled river water funneled
Through adjustable locks
Foams and forms eddies.

Multiple hot points
messed with the auto focus;
But I still like this shot.
It's got an impressionistic
"Je ne sais quoi."

Quoi quoi quoi!

The blackbird and the goose
Listening to the audio tour;
Quality Control?

18 miles south of Socorro
You can take I 25,
The exit is well marked.

I guess they weren't kidding when they said to watch for water;
There's lots of it around here.

Look at all this water Daffy!
Don't it make you want to let loose and go crazy?

It was at this point that I wished I had a bigger zoom lense.
That was a roadrunner who wouldn't let me come any closer.
I know that I don't look like a coyote,
But I'd been on the road for a week
So I may have smelled like one.

That's my "pony" waiting by the roadside.
Up on the observation deck one can see for miles and miles...

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

Being a desert rat, I'm intrigued
By the mere mention of water.
Those clouds up there look like
They might carry water.

These clouds look like they're full of shit.

My home on the range
Between the Rio Grande
And the Bosque's giftshop.

Don't know much ornithology,
And I didn't get too good a view -
This shot was taken with the zoom
Jammed in as tight as possible -
But there's a chance
That big ole white bird
Is a whooping crane.

Country road,
The way it looked to Monet.

I've got hundreds more pictures from the Bosque,
A truly enchanted part of the Land of Enchantment.
I'll post some more in the coming days.

Roswell, N.M.

Looking out the window
Of a place called the Crashsite Cafe
In Roswell, New Mexico.
The little alien on the left,though illegal
Is openly exploited.
Unlike terrestrial illegal aliens
Who are secretly exploited in thousands of kitchens
From California, to the New York Islands.

The decor is in your face space alien kitsch,Aliens at every table!

Alien tee shirts and trinkets designed to
Alienate you from your cash.

Spaceman wearing a business suit;
Old Glory in the background.
I expect our extraterrestrial
friend to break into song.
Maybe a duet with Rita Moreno:
"I love to live in America..."

The booths tell a tale of alien assimilation into Richie Cunningham's America.

More memorabilia at the other end of the cafe.

The deepening dusk behind a succulent plant and Alien sport bottle
Reminds me that I have many miles to go before I sleep.

If Elvis had been an uncoordinated extraterrestrial...

Hip Hop space bopper
Wants to grow up to be a rapper.

Another look at the twilight zone.

I don't know if it was because of the odd hour at which I arrived,
Or maybe the place is a labor of love which does little business,
But all the empty seats made it easy for me to get pictures of the artwork.

Sightseeing extraterrestrial
Digging me digging him...

The sun has set,
Purple clouds beckon

The sunset's last glow.

"Darkness, darkness
Be my fellow..."

O say can you see?

And off I go into what Tom Waits called

"the warm, narcotic American night..."