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Dialogue for
Saturday, Mar. 8, 2008
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In Messianic terms
by The Canadian
| Mar. 8, 2008 |
A brief follow-up of an article which I think is a valid interpretation of a growing undercurrent...
Attack will be seen in Messianic terms| |
Excerpt: Being messianic religious people, the religious Zionists are going to see this attack through the prism of messianic prophecy. Already I am hearing on religious Zionist radio stations people talking about the attack in prophetic terms, such as Isaiah 59 verse 20: And a redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.
Settler radio talk-show hosts are interpreting this prophecy by saying that if the Jews don't stop Hamas, the Palestinians, Hizbullah and any other Islamic fundamentalists God will force the Jews to do it. The talk-show hosts blame Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and President Shimon Peres, and several callers into the broadcasts are unanimous in their condemnation of the Israeli government and calling on its removal. |
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Sheer f**king lunacy. Note the ever-present use of religion to whip up more and more hatred and violence, and of course, it's the same with the other guys' religion as well. Sometimes I just want to turn in my membership card in the human race. Billions of cattle mooing off-key at each other. Sigh.
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Helen & Harry
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Bush business as usual
by Marshall S.
| Mar. 8, 2008 |
Court order sought in e-mail controversy| |
Excerpt: A private group told a federal court that the Bush administration made apparently false and misleading statements in court about the White House e-mail controversy.
"This evidence demonstrates defendants' blatant disregard for the truth and the processes of this court ..." |
Hey, this is business as usual for Bush. Who's gonna do what to whom?
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Valerie Plame Wilson describes Sibel Edmonds disclosures as 'stunning'| |
Excerpt: Former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson says the recent disclosures in the UK's Sunday Times concerning the sale of U.S. nuclear secrets to the foreign black market, as aided by high-ranking government officials, are "stunning." |
And when Plame unseats Pelosi in Congress, maybe something will be done about it. Until then, nothing.
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It would take an honest judge to finally call the Bush-Cheney administration on their sh*t. So the first thing I do when reading about court cases like this, is I look to see who appointed the judge. Henry Kennedy was appointed by Clinton, so there's a pretty good chance he's fair and competent. Keep your fingers crossed.
And of course, any time the judge is a Bush appointee, you might as well move on to the next news item, because the verdict is already in.
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Helen & Harry
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Mozart's works
Re Remarkable HillaryIn Hillary Clinton I see an old-fashioned moderate Republican who's pro-choice. She's better than Bush, but you know, so's my cat.
Okay, I say we vote for the cat then! Worked for my friend Caligula but the bit with the horse was so over the top. But hey was the Senate so who cared?
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Re Tempest in a teapot?
Oh I should have read this one first! Have no idea how I missed it before. Oh yeah, I'm an idiot! Well that explains that!
Anyway I thought it was about some experimental theatre group staging the play by Shakespeare as though inside a teapot rather like that staging of one of Mozart's works in a roadside dinner in New Jersey instead of Vienna.
Oh and this guy "jos" who posts now. What an idiot! Why do you even let stuff from such fools on here dragging the whole tenor down? After all when you look at... what? .. Oh... never mind..
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Jo... er, I mean "the other anonymous" er, yeah that' s me! * blushes* (hides)
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Paranoia
by Siskiyousis
| Mar. 8, 2008 |
Re True radical potential
In this time of disturbed lives, paranoia is simply another useful safeguard.
In fact, I may have experienced every form of paranoia possible while getting to my present age, and that is an excellent reason not to stop...
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Like most folks, I used to hear "paranoid" as an insult, but the longer I live and the more I learn and observe, the more I hear it as a compliment. Within reasonable limits, paranoia is a synonym for alert, and all through evolution it's been a key to survival.
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Helen & Harry
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Please stand by
Re Remarkable Hillary
I am forming a response, may take a little while. I will agree with anything that keeps
McCain out of the White House.
P.S. I love your webpage, I check in at least once a day.
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Take your time, there's no hurry or pressure here. Thanks for the kind words and thanks for not taking it personally. You got more than your fair share of response from me -- a long build-up of frustration that had to blow.
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Helen & Harry
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Thousands of years
Re The trigger has been pulled
All of the mid east have been slaughtering each other for thousands of years. So, why would any country step in between them & get involved????
I know, I know, it's a different world today and oil is king and oil is the measure by which all wars start at least in today's world!!!!!
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Bette M.
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Hillary hearts McCain
Clinton continues praising McCain to diss Obama| |
Excerpt: “I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington. “I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said.
Calling McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee a good friend and a “distinguished man with a great history of service to our country,” Clinton said, “Both of us will be on that stage having crossed that threshold. That is a critical criterion for the next Democratic nominee to deal with.” |
Of course, McCain will use all these clips in ads if Obama's the nominee, and of course, Hillary Clinton doesn't care about that. She cares only about Hillary Clinton, not about having a Democrat in the White House.
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Rebecca
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Petraeus says so
Petraeus says Iran reneged on pledge to quit supporting Iraqi militias| |
Excerpt: "There is no question that Iran has continued to train the so-called special groups," Petraeus said, referring to what the U.S. military calls "rogue" elements of the militia that's loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr. "We have individuals in detention, and have detained them fairly recently, who had explained how they received the training, the whole process for going to and from Iran," he said. |
Gen Petraeus has a track record of lying to support Bush-Cheney policies. Near as I can tell, that's a key component of his job.
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Helen & Harry
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Torture and Newsweek's lie
by Fifth of November
| Mar. 8, 2008 |
Civilized observers will be pleased that Canada has distanced itself from US torture techniques.
Canadians reject torture-tainted evidence from CIA| |
Excerpt: According to documents obtained by Newsweek, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the country's national-security agency, last month quietly withdrew statements by alleged Al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah from public papers outlining the case against two alleged terror "sleeper" operatives in Ottawa and Montreal.
The move, which so far has received no public attention, is the latest sign of potential international fallout from the CIA's recent confirmation that it waterboarded a handful of high-profile Al Qaeda suspects in 2002 and 2003. The use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques were approved by the Bush White House and Justice Department. Waterboarding, which critics charge is a form of torture, involves strapping a suspect to an inclined board and forcing water into his lungs, typically by pouring water through a cloth placed over his nose and mouth. |
Also, please note the routine Newsweek obfuscation of the facts, with the misleading "Waterboarding, which critics charge is a form of torture." Waterboarding is universally known as torture and always has been, and the only people denying this are Bush-Cheney operatives and baa-baa Republicans who echo whatever lies they're told. How sad that Newsweek is on board with the liars.
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Fifth of November
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Dialogue for
Friday, Mar. 7, 2008
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The trigger has been pulled
by The Canadian
| Mar. 7, 2008 |
Militants hit in West Jerusalem University. Multiple gunmen and a suicide bomber. 8 dead, 35 wounded so far. Likely more attacks to follow.
Terror in Jerusalem / No intelligence ahead of attack
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You know a lot more than me about Middle Eastern dynamics, but I'm just tired of being outraged. Israelis and Arabs have been killing each other for as long as I've been reading newspapers, and I'm sure this will lead to ghastly repercussions, and the repercussions will lead to repercussions, just like all the past killings have led to repercussions and repercussions to repercussions. My condolences to the dead, but it's pretty obvious that both sides enjoy killing the other and the bodies will never stop piling up, sky high.
I can see both perspectives, and I have sympathies for both sides. But it's obvious when the bloodshed goes on, decade after decade, that the powers that be gain more advantage from the bloodshed than they'd gain from any hypothetical peace. So we get endless bloodshed.
Step into a time machine and set it for five years in the future, or fifty. If the earth is still here and so-called civilization hasn't snuffed itself out, one thing is certain: Israelis will be killing Arabs, and Arabs will be killing Israelis.
I do wish that the American government would quit underwriting the carnage, but hell, you and I and everybody on Earth knows that the funding won't be ended in our lifetimes. Long sigh.
So what do you think will be triggered by this particular obscenity?
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Helen & Harry
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Full scale invasion of Gaza. The IDF have already pushed 1 km into South Lebanon to hold a strategic position to fend off an attack from the north.
Other than this.... A much bigger body count.
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I don't doubt that prediction, TC. The violence is about to spike, and it's going to be a gruesome affront to the gods both sides pretend to believe in.
But I also don't doubt my own prediction, that other triggers will be pulled, other colleges will be bathed in the blood of suicide bombers, other Arabs will be squished and splattered, on and on and on, five years or fifty years in the future.
In a pessimistic mood I'd say it'll be the same in 500 years, but more optimistically I don't think humanity will last that long.
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A piece of work
by Angry Annie
| Mar. 7, 2008 |
Re Morbeus v. EndoraClinton comes off as a totally self-centered egomaniac.
You pretty much have to be an egomaniac to run for President. Nobody with the slightest self-doubt need apply, and it's really a wonder that the mental imbalance and delusions of GW Bush seem unusual in a president. But, yeah, Hillary Clinton is a piece of work. I don't think she could possibly win a nation-wide election, and I rather doubt she's ever really won her Senate seat, but if she became President she could match or exceed GW's record for sheer insanity.
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Angry Annie
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As seen on television
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Mar. 7, 2008 |
The US isn't a real democracy. It just plays one on TV.
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Only the unbelievably clever can attain the greatest heights of unbelievably stupid.
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Predestination has a sort of zany charm. We are, after all, what we are. However, few of us know much about what we really are as we have yet to encounter much experience where being what we are matters. Destiny is as the environment allows.
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Re Sociopaths and back pain
Good luck with the book. One handicap I experienced in trying to use it was a deficient knowledge of muscular anatomy. The drawings in the book are sufficient, but, through the retrospectoscope, I would have done well to refresh my knowledge of the anatomy of the musculoskeletal system. Gosh, that sounds too intimidating. Just some general orientation would do.
The net has a lot of good resources that I would have been advised to use during my beginning study of trigger points. If I had not had a straight forward problem to begin with (exquisitely painful heel), I would have had more difficulty getting the hang of the approach. Fixing the heel gave me a lot of confidence going in. After that I had a frozen shoulder (a candidate for surgery) from a moving accident that I fixed, though it took many months and a lot of study and work. After that I ended up with that three year excursion in hell, that I just got through (knock on my head) that I would certainly have failed at if it had been my first experience and become discouraged and missed out on a world of pain relief.
BTW, from this side of the caduceus I can assure you that most medical doctors (major tool the prescription pad type like me) have very limited gross anatomy skills. We just don't, unlike surgeons, use the knowledge very much and hence it goes away.
My ignorance has a somewhat more unique cause. When I joined by dissection group to macerate a pickled corpse it was discovered that I had a violent allergic reaction to formalin. It was a safety issue. Imagine a member of a small group gathered over a cadaver who undergoing violent sneezing attacks while holding a scalpel in my fist. I took the anatomy tests, but I did my laboratory work in the course of doing autopsies in the hospital. Seldom any attention to muscles in autopsies.
I once had to cut on one of my former professors. Still gives me the willies thinking about it, but he did have a wonderful case of metastatic cancer of the bowel.
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Yeah, I was a little surprised when you said you didn't know that stuff like the back of your hand, but it makes perfect sense. If you're not using that knowledge day by day it would fade away like my knowledge of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff and prepositional phrases ...
And cutting into a former professor ... that was the first real belly laugh I've had all day.
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House rules
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as entertainment, and the author takes no responsibility for what you do with the information in this document!!! What you do is your own damn fault.
Sharing a house may be dangerous, physically, financially or legally.
Be advised, this is not for everyone! |
Draft, preliminary notes on a model arrangement for shared/communal living
Summary: There are numerous benefits to shared living arrangements, for both landlords and tenants. Landlords benefit from reduced vacancy rates, steady income and the power of appreciation over time (the real estate cycle is around 15 years). Tenants benefit from increased value for their money, lower costs than normally available when renting apartments, and intangible benefits such as security, support and community. Best results however, require best practices. What follows are a few "rules" gained by observation and experience over a multi-year period.
1. There must be a single person ("The Boss") with overall authority and financial responsibility. This person, normally the landlord, executes formal rental agreements, pays bills, terminates rental agreements, takes care of business (repairs and the like), and in general has ultimate God-like powers to settle disputes.
2. As part of the rental agreement, each individual agrees that, in addition to the normal legalese, he/she will abide by the written list of house rules and to attend any House Meetings.
3. The written list of house rules will vary from house to house, and may change over time (generally growing) based on previous (bad) experiences at that location. The House Rules codify the expected behavior of people who live there and are intended to reduce or eliminate problems and disagreements and to fulfill the main function of the House, which is the business of living peaceably, in health and safety. Here are some example house rules which are based on real world experience.| |
A. Do not do things that bother others.
B. Do not make unnecessary noise.
C. No alcohol or drugs.
D. Do your assigned chores each week.
E. If you have a problem with another person, write a polite note to them explaining the problem. If that fails, talk to The Boss person. Do not complain verbally to the person as this tends to cause problems.
F. If you are involved in a physical fight and throw even one punch, you will be asked to leave -- even if "He started it."
G. A House Meeting can be called by anyone and attendance is required.
H. Help keep kitchen clean.
I. Turn off lights and appliances when not in use.
J. ... |
4. A House Meeting may take time to set up. Eventually the need for them is reduced or eliminated completely. When a meeting is held, The Boss "facilitates" the airing of grievances and asks each person to explain his/her side of the situation. No matter how upset the individuals may be, The Boss must remain calm and seek to obtain an agreement that makes the problem go away. For example, if one person complains about the other person's loud stereo, then The Boss can ask for the stereo player to purchase and use headphones. Most often there is no right or wrong, just normal friction over minor grievances which can be worked out (as requested by The Boss.)
5. The Boss (landlord, person in charge) must take care of business promptly. This includes making repairs, calling the plumber, replacing broken appliances, and every other thing necessary for the health, safety and well-being of the people who live in the house. This is just good business, but it also helps keep everyone happy.
6. The owner should be committed to a long-term rental situation (even though the rental agreements with the individual tenants call for 30 days notice.) This provides stability and maximum benefits to everyone involved. The costs and disruptions of moving are very expensive. Over time the tenants will "self select" into a compatible, stable group of long-term tenants. Ideally the Boss never asks anyone to leave without good and just cause -- this creates a notion of stability and security in the minds of the tenants (because if you are worried about having to pack up and move on 30 days notice just because some person gets a hair up his ass then you're not going to feel safe, secure and happy...)
7. The owner should not raise rents more than once a year, at most, and only by the amount of CPI (or less.) Ideally the owner gets the best market rate when a person moves in, and doesn't jack up rates later (visit craigslist.org to see going rates in your area.)
8. Prior to renting a room, the landlord should renovate fully, including painting, rug cleaning, bug eradication, etc. This maximizes the rent which can be charged (and it is inconvenient to do things later.)
9. Supplies such as toilet paper, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, etc. should be purchased by the individual tenants as needed. Reimbursement is made by The Boss only if a receipt is provided. Receipts are put in a jar or container, then summed and divided equally among the tenants to be paid along with rent and share of the utilities with a single check, on the 1st of the month. The Boss posts the total prior month's supplies total and utility bill totals on a bulletin board prior to the 1st, and then reimburses the individuals in cash for their supply purchases during the month.
10. Each person has a permanently assigned chore, such as moving the lawn, cleaning the pool, taking out the trash, floors, or dusting. In addition, bathroom cleanup duty rotates monthly, and everyone is responsible for keeping the kitchen clean all the time.
11. Each person has assigned space in the refrigerator and cupboards.
12. It is probably best, if you are establishing a new house, to have all men or all women tenants. However, discrimination based on sex, race or religious preference is illegal. So make sure you read a book or get advice on how to be a law-abiding landlord. Legal problems should rarely arise, but the possibility exists. Also, require each prospective tenant to fill out a standard rental application form, and then call up their personal references even if you don't run a full credit check. Make sure that the rental agreement is understood and is a standard legal document for your state. Get one month's rent in advance plus a security/damage deposit equal to one month's rent.
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Some of these rules may sound extreme, such as no drugs or alcohol at the house. However, these strict rules weed out people who are likely to cause trouble or become unstable (no pun intended :-) The goal is for people to have cheap, safe, healthy housing while they get their shit together enough to buy their own houses or whatever.
Based on experience, the top cause of problems are:
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1) Noise
2) People saying angry or impolite things to each other
3) Persons with problems such as PTSD or substance issues. |
Whatever "model" is used depends upon the circumstances. The model described above may not be the best possible arrangement, but it works!
Given the current real estate situation, it may be that renting out some of these newly vacant homes makes good business sense. Renting rooms may make the best sense because rarely will more than one room at a time be vacant, and even then a vacancy will be rare if it is a good house. Plus, renting out say, four bedrooms, may produce more stable income than trying to find one family for the entire house.
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I really like this set of rules ... I lived almost all my adult life in shared housing, until marrying ten years ago, and I won't do the math but that's a lot of years in shared housing. :) You've pretty much addressed all the big recurring problems and done it very well.
"Boss" has evil connotations, so we generally called our person in that position a house mother or house father.
Our houses worked best when housemates were either friends or at least friendly, whether the friendship came before or after the moving in. So we had a short questionnaire for all prospective housemates, with all manner of intrusive questions like "What's the meaning of life?" "What's your favorite movie?" "Who had a profound impact on your outlook, and why?" And newcomers had to pass scrutiny at a house meeting with everyone present, before anybody was allowed to join the household. I suppose the quiz and screening might be illegal now, and maybe it was illegal then, but it definitely helped block a few meat-heads from moving in...
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Helen & Harry
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Yes, Virginia
Re Ethanol blues
I will check King Corn out on high speed connection at library tomorrow and am sending it off to a few friends. Maybe even to an enemy or three just because.
Anyhow, the main problem with saying what the government has done for me always is that the government isn't able to get anything done unless we cooperate on some level with it. Besides it isn't like they are on Mars or on Olympus.
They're just a bunch of jerks not unlike the rest of us. Nothing special, nothing at all. Subsidies aren't used as intended and have become not just socialism for the wealthy and powerful but a great way of fudging all those economic figures. The economy is doing fine sort of like the cancer is doing well, but grandfather doesn't have a chance. Been there on that last... We don't have "capitalists" in the pure sense but it looks like, yes, Virginia, there is a Vlad Dracula and as a captain of industry.
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Jos
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Elevated caffeine levels
by JS Magruder
| Mar. 7, 2008 |
Re Tempest in a teapot?
Here's where I've been worshiping: Sapp Brother's Coffee Pot
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You're in Omaha, right? That must be a heck of a fine coffee shop. We're suckers for quirky, and I've only set foot in a Starbucks once in my life, and unless it's a court-ordered punishment for some crime I'll never set foot in a Starbucks again.
When I was a kid in Seattle my dad would sometimes fill the family station wagon at the Hat 'n' Boots, and last summer we used that fabulous Roadside America website to plan our weekend bus vacation up the Mississippi River, including the Rock in the House. We're hoping we can have a similar coupla days in a bus rolling across Wisconsin this summer.
Have a second cup on us.
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Helen & Harry
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Remarkable Hillary
Remarkable. Hillary Clinton is the most qualified candidate in the race, but is treated like a monster. Why? She started her career with the Watergate investigations, she has spent her life in public service, but you think some hot shot with a year of experience will somehow, magically be able to maneuver in DC? I will concede that voting sometimes feels like I am voting for the least of the evils, but the point of this election is to stop the corporations from mining the national treasury, to stop Bush's friend from amassing an obscene amount of wealth. Hillary is a Policy hound. She KNOWS the laws, procedures and policies forward and backward. She is the one to undo what Bush has done. I would be just as happy with Obama, though he is not as qualified, but if McCain is elected, I will move to Canada and let y'all get what you voted for... AGAIN!
May those who love us, love us.
And those who don't love us,
May God turn their hearts;
And if He doesn't turn their hearts,
May He turn their ankles,
So we will know them by their limping.
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Well, I understand your worries about McCain, but I'll never understand anyone's admiration of Hillary Clinton. I don't know what qualifications she has (or for that matter, what qualifications anybody needs) to be considered Presidential material.
I see a woman who worked for years as a corporate lawyer, whose "life in public service" involved being married to a popular but not particularly principled politician, whose only real "leadership" experience -- where she was actually in charge of something -- was the mangling of health care in the early years of her husband's administration.
Since running for the Senate, she has sometimes been on the wrong side of issues that strike me as important -- the attack on, occupation of, and continued slaughter in Iraq, the creation and boondoggle funding of Homeland Security, and her approval of criminal nominations like John Negroponte, Michael Chertoff, Robert Gates. Pre-Senate she was pro-NAFTA, though she denies it now, and she now proposes requiring poor people buy health insurance from the corrupt corporations that own the insurance and medical industries. She's gotten some Senate votes right, but not often enough to impress me. In Hillary Clinton I see an old-fashioned moderate Republican who's pro-choice. She's better than Bush, but you know, so's my cat.
And of course, Hillary Clinton is out-and-out despised by many millions of Americans, a residue of the Republican smear campaign against her and her husband that raged all through the Clinton administration. I don't think she deserved that trashing -- she's just an ordinary politician, in my opinion -- but if she's on the ticket, it guarantees an enthusiastic Republican turnout that will give McCain the White House and, down the ticket across the nation, boot dozens of Democrats from Congress.
And that's as nice to Clinton as I can be. A year ago I didn't particularly like her, but every time I see any of the sleazy Rovesque ads she's running, I think less and less of her.
So tell me true: In what sense is she "the most qualified candidate"?
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The duality of man and Wal-Mart
I would like to open my story with a quote from Stanley Kubrick's Full
Metal Jacket| |
COLONEL: Marine, what is that button on your body armor?
JOKER: A peace symbol, sir.
COLONEL: Where'd you get it?
JOKER:I don't remember, sir.
COLONEL:What is that you've got written on your helmet?
JOKER: "Born to Kill," sir.
COLONEL:You write "Born to Kill" on your helmet and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke?!
JOKER: No, sir.
COLONEL:You'd better get your head and your ass wired together, or I will take a giant shit on you!
JOKER:Yes, sir.
COLONEL: Now answer my question or you'll be standing tall before the man.
JOKER:I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.
COLONEL:The what?
JOKER:The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir. |
The 'duality of man' -- that is why I wanted to talk about every one's favorite company to love and hate -- Wal-Mart Corporation.
Well, I know that they are portrayed as a big evil corporate giant. Hell, a guy named Robert Greenwald even made a film about how nasty they are -- 'High Cost Of The Low Price' -- I saw it, it made them look like Satan and his Glitterati of demons. I am not going to make all kinds of quotes about Wal-Mart and how nasty and evil they are, as I myself shop there. (ducking the eggs!)
However, they do have human beings, even caring ones that are part of the management team -- I have proof:
My son's school Principal and I had an idea about starting an after school program -- of course, you had to know it: money was involved. Not a huge amount, we wanted to buy a couple of Lego Mindstorms kits.
(for those of you that do not know, this is a robotics development kit that Lego sells -- really slick).
So, as the story goes, these things retail for $249.00 apiece -- he and I convinced the PTG to buy one if the school budget would jag in for the other.
I had another bright idea -- I would go out to the community and see if I could drum up some funds to offset these.
The first company I approached was Wal-Mart -- I see their ads all the time for "..we give back to the community.." and "..we care about..." . Being the huge cynic that I am, I figured that it would get me nowhere, but I thought, it is only going to cost me a few minutes on the phone, pretending to like the person that I am talking to.
So, I called the local Wal-Mart here in Manchester NH -- I got a nice gal by the name of Veronica on the phone. I started giving her my pitch about how I was looking for money from the community, yada, yada, yada...
Well, much to my surprise, Wal-Mart, at the store level can give out up to $75.00 for things like this, at the discretion of the manager. Hey, all I had to do was draft a letter on my son's school's letter head and get it over to this nice woman. Easy enough.
In about 7 or 8 days, my phone rang and it was Veronica from Wal-Mart calling me back -- "...hello, Glen, I have a $50.00 Wal-Mart gift card here for you -- you can pick it up, just bring some ID.."
Shyeah!!
Needless to say, I bought the Mindstorms kits from Wal-Mart using their site-to-store service. Cost my son's school $50.00 less :)
I guess people and/or corporations aren't pure evil. This is the sort of stuff that you never see on the evening news.
Peace everyone.
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Well, that's a sweet story, and I'm sincerely glad you got those Lego Mindstorms, happy you shared the story, and I hope it's an effort that'll help some kids. In the proper spirit I'll reign myself in from writing an anti-Wal-Mart rant in response, 'cuz I really don't want to be all grinchlike, but I gotta say two things, briefly:
First, I'm sure that $50 kindness bought Wal-Mart a lot more than fifty bucks in goodwill and good word of mouth, but it can't come close to making up for all the old-fashioned retailers crushed by Wal-Mart and its similarly gargantuan competitors, and all the real jobs Wal-Mart and its competitors have exported overseas or replaced with low-paid non-benefit jobs.
And second, the good guys in your story are that gal at the local store and you -- not the evil spawn of Sam Walton. |
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Helen & Harry
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True radical potential
by Shibasaburo
| Mar. 7, 2008 |
This is interesting:
Why the war on Obama
by Robert Parry, Consortium News| |
Excerpt: Powerful lobbies -- from AIPAC to representatives of military and other industries -- also are recognizing the value of keeping their dominance over campaign cash from getting diluted by Obama’s deep reservoir of small donors. It’s in their direct interest to dent Obama’s momentum and demoralize his rank-and-file supporters as soon as possible.
So, neoconservatives and other ideological movements -- heavily dependent on grants from the same special interests -- are now joining with the Clinton campaign to tear down Obama by depicting him as unpatriotic, un-vetted, possibly a “closet Muslim.” |
I generally agree with what the Highwaters have said, that Obama is just a very eloquent middle-of-the-road politician. But if his small-donor following leaves him unshackled from big-money interests, then he develops true radical potential: He could conceivably decide for himself what's right and wrong, without being a puppet on billionaires' strings.
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If Obama has any chance of developing into his own man as a President, I'll just say I sure hope he has a top-notch security detail. Hope he hires his own bodyguards and lets the Secret Service go chase counterfeiters, because history suggests that Democratic politicians who think for themselves tend to get Wellstoned or Kennedied.
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Dialogue for
Thursday, Mar. 6, 2008
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Clinton's politics of personal destruction
Between the Who You Gonna Call At 3 AM ad, and her disparagement of Barack in favor off McCain's and her own grandiose foreign policy experience, etc., etc., Clinton has severely damaged her own party for the general elections.
If she manages to get the nomination under these circumstances a lot of people will end up voting for McCain. ... MORE ...
Ethanol blues
Oh and here is another problem so obvious even I should have glommed on to it. So how come the really bright boys and girls out there didn't?
Corn is king -- and therefore a growing problem| |
Excerpt: "March 05, 2008 | Economists caution that the nation's growing dependence on corn would make for a double jolt in the event of a drought across the Midwest: soaring prices not just for food, but also for gasoline." |
Oops!
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I remember hearing such worries several years ago. It's just plain common sense, so I'm sure nobody in the White House has considered the consequences. Incidentally, here's a kick-ass (and funny) documentary we saw last year, on what government subsidies have done to the cornfield.
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Morbeus v. Endora
Cemetery full, mayor tells locals not to die| |
Excerpt: In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."
It added: "Offenders will be severely punished." |
I'll bear that in mind the next time I visit France and be sure to make every effort to make it to Paris or even Normandy if I feel I'm about to expire.
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Obama takes the gloves off| |
Excerpt: Later, Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod was unequivocal that the Obama team had had enough. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander," he said. "There's no doubt we have held ourselves to a standard of engagement. I don't think the public is looking for the candidates to savage each other... but you can't play by two sets of rules, and we understand that." |
The biggest problem I have with HRC's campaign (besides the obvious) is that her current strategy is going to make it more (rather than less) difficult to the next women to run for president. I understand that women still have a fine line to tread needing to appear strong yet not domineering. However Clinton comes off as a totally self-centered egomaniac. People will remember this the next time a women runs a will be a major turn off.
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Words of wisdom from George Washington: "The party spirit serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."
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Re For me it's Aunt Clara from Bewitched or Walter Pidgeon from Forbidden Planet, but -- same difference.
I would not put Morbeus (Walter Pidgeon) in the same stance as even Endora. Morbeus really did not have a clue that he WAS to blame. Remember "Morbeus was to close to the problem. The Krell finished their project." He, like the Krell he worshiped, did not want to look at his primitive other self. Where as some one who is truly "evil" (I hate that word) embraces it. More like Endora or other sociopaths. Morbeus was quite aware of how dangerous the Krell technology was.
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You don't think Morbeus even suspected he was to blame? It's been years, too many years, since I've seen Forbidden Planet, but my recollection is that had his suspicions and was just deluding himself. Either way, I've got to see that movie again.
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No, I would say denial. He did not want to believe that he was at fault. Where as someone like Bush and/or Cheney just doesn't give a damn or takes some hedonistic pleasure out of their actions.
Unfortunately the outcome is all too often the same. But at least in the end Morbeus accepted he was the one to bring forth the "subconscious" creature and having accepted this truth, had the planet with all the Krell technology destroyed (along with himself).
Now can you imagine Bush or Cheney making that decision ?? I thought not.
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I can certainly envision Bush or Cheney destroying the planet, but only if they were first safely ensconced in an outer-spaceworthy getaway vehicle with a lifetime supply of cocaine, hookers, and slaves.
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Point taken. :)
As a good citizen
Re Clinton Texas win called early
You are right, of course. My bad. It would be an error to add to the Repugnant vote totals.
As a good citizen I approve of voting but voting for either the lesser evil or the greater evil is a mistake.
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Back in the old days, pre-Bush-Cheney, I used to vote for the lesser of two evils... I'm specifically thinking of Willie Brown, former Mayor of San Francisco. He was always mildly corrupt and it was always obvious ... but he usually did the right thing on public policy, said the right things in public controversies, he appointed people who were competent at their duties, and so forth.
He was a good old-fashioned corrupt politician who did the right thing in his public life and stuffed some bucks into his pocket when nobody was looking, but really, you can't ask for much better in the real world. I voted for him as a lesser evil when he ran against a flamboyantly incompetent former police chief.
And what I wouldn't give to have a few more old-fashioned corrupt politicians like Willie Brown right now. But if we're forced to choose between two colossal evils like lifelong trough-feeder John McCain and the ever-entitled always-Republican Mrs Sen Clinton, well, that's not a choice I'm going to bother with. If that's the election we're looking at, I will just give up on America and turn off the news and stock up on Pauley Shore DVDs instead.
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Helen & Harry
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Sociopaths and back pain
by Herb Ruhs, MD
| Mar. 6, 2008 |
In the absence of functional civil rights all "concessions" by power toward the needs of the people are more properly called bribes.
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Re Sociopath's review
Dear Dicey, I am glad you apparently enjoyed my piece. However, I am skeptical about your self-description as a sociopath. In my experience sociopaths never achieve that degree of insight. Undoubtedly many of us are prone to the error of thinking that we are sociopaths because our society, ruled as it is by various cabals of actual sociopaths, creates a tremendous pressure to emulate sociopathic behaviors. Sociopaths cheat, but not everyone who cheats is a sociopath.
So be of good cheer. If you can exercise insight you can expect to be able to behave well in environments that are conducive of good behavior. Real sociopaths are the saddest of people. But their brains do not allow them to directly experience this sadness, and rather induces them to blame others for their every unpleasant experience. It is a joyless life that is filled only with manipulation, conquest and deceit.
Our psychiatric/psychological institutions have done us great harm in their attempts to categorize and classify our behaviors. I am particularly disgusted with the use of the diagnosis Anti-social Personality Disorder. It is a very, very poor net that traps few actual sociopaths and many, many merely traumatized individuals.
At the end of the French War in Viet Nam, the government was confronted with large numbers of people that would qualify as Anti-social. Sex workers, petty criminals and thugs that had existed in the French zones of control needed to be dealt with. Rather than opt for incarceration, which the devastated country could ill afford, they resorted to sending these people, individually, out to the country side to live with peasant families. The families were instructed to treat them as children, provide for their basic needs and demand nothing of them. Within a short period of time virtually all of these people were rehabilitated and went on to live productive and happier lives than they were originally living. What seemed to be a great reservoir of sociopathic individuals turned out to contain few actual sociopaths. Sociopaths can not be rehabilitated, only supervised closely.
So the likelihood of your being an actual sociopath is small once you self identify as one. Not impossible, just highly improbable.
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Re Sorcerer's hat
Dear Helen, or is it Harry?
The pain is most likely from muscle spasm, which is why ibuprofen, heat and rest work. There could be something else underlying the spasm, which is why we actually need access to trained practitioners to rule out more serious conditions and I am forced by law and ethics to suggest that you consult a physician. Unfortunately, well-trained practitioners (much less well-trained physicians) are seemingly as rare as hens teeth so the vast majority of us are on our own with pain problems. Witness my three-year odyssey of trying to get an accurate diagnosis of what was behind my daily, debilitating pain.
For a more immediate symptomatic relief from pain it is necessary to locate the muscles that are harboring activated trigger points. There a lot of ways to deal with these exquisitely painful little bumps in muscles. I am a self taught trigger point massage practitioner. Clair Davies' book The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief was my guide. Bonny Pruden's book, Pain Erasure: The Bonnie Pruden Way is another approach.
The goal with these self-administered therapies is to find the hard little knots and induce some blood flow back into them which causes them to "deactivate" with fairly quick pain relief for a period of time. Trigger points often are not located in the area where the pain is experienced (this is called "referred pain") and it helps to have a guide like the Davies book to lead you to where they are with a given pain presentation.
If you do succeed in finding these little knots, often easily felt beneath the skin as small pea shaped and very tender lumps, firm, but gentle, small slow stroking pressure, sometimes needing ten or twelve repetitions during the day, will generally deactivate them. Since it is a reaction to an associated injury, repeated efforts are needed at first to keep them deactivated, but once you get the hang of it, it works great and you naturally slack off. Depending on how acute the problem is, treatment may be completely successful in just a few days. Often these pains are actually a reactivation of a long standing injury or other problem, in which case months may be needed for full resolution. Of course, as in my problem, full resolution may require dealing with some underlying problem.
There is a lot of stuff free on the internet about this, but it is hard to find really useful sources there.
Let me know how it goes. Wishing for your rapid recovery,
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It's Harry this time :) and I've just computer-reserved that book from my local library. Sounds like something between chiropractic and acupuncture, and I have no experience with either, but I love the way you've described it. Sounds like good things to know for next time my back explodes. It doesn't do this often, but dang me when it does it hoits!
OK to share your good advice with others, yes?
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As always I place my trust in the steady discretion and editorial wisdom of my friends at Unk. Really, if I write something and you want to publish it in some form, even though it is very back stage, please go ahead and do so. If, as in today's message there is doubt however, please feel free to write as you have for clarification. One of the best sources of reliability in communication is redundancy after all, and clarity is to transparency as cleanliness is to Goddesslyness.
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Herb Ruhs, MD
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Sadness without end
Re Please don't be sad
Well you can't fault a fool for trying. I don't want you to be sad. No I don't.
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And I appreciate that. Yes, I do.
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Helen & Harry
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Tempest in a teapot?
Woman jailed for 'worshipping tea pot'
LOL. Can't help but love the religious nutcases. Guess one could pour a little love and kindness.
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Of course, this religion looks utterly bonkers to you and me. But really, is it more bonkers than worshipping a hippie who hung out with a whore, got nailed to a cross, and was then allegedly resurrected and is still watching over us?
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Chapter and verse
by The Canadian
| Mar. 6, 2008 |
I've been opening my mouth and sniffing the wind. I sense negotiations for a deal between the US and Iran as like the deal between North Korea and the US. It goes like this: give us something we want and we will give you something you want. Until we agree on this trade, it is business as usual, once we agree, we will be nice(r) to each other.
The US wants out of Iraq. Iran wants unfettered development of nuclear technology.
Hmmm….what could be the trade?
And... what of Israel?
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Re Almost as if
Yup, Machiavelli's "The Prince", chapter and verse.
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I don't think the Bush-Cheney administration likes such negotiations -- they thrive on controversy, not peace. As I recall, the US under Bush was basically dragged into negotiations with North Korea after the Chinese government demanded US participation. If that hadn't happened, my impression is that the US and NK would still be in a staredown.
But that said, heck and of course, I hope you're right and something can be worked out peacefully. And the first step of any real negotiation, seems to me, would be leaving Condi Rice out of the loop.
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Helen & Harry
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Dialogue for
Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2008
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Clinton Texas win called early
UPDATE: Clinton takes Ohio; Texas still undecided| |
Excerpt: Hillary Clinton kept her candidacy alive Tuesday with wins in Ohio and Texas, and she vowed to continue her campaign.
With her victories in Tuesday night's two biggest prizes, Hillary Clinton vowed to fight on, meaning the Democrats likely won't have a nominee to face John McCain, who locked up the GOP nod Tuesday, until after Pennsylvania votes in late April.
Cable networks MSNBC and Fox called Ohio for Hillary Clinton just before 11 p.m., while Texas remained undecided until nearly 1 a.m., when MSNBC called it. ... |
According to CNN [late Tuesday evening], the Texas race between O and C is whisker-thin. So it appears that the above article was written in advance of events.
Anyway...whatever. I now know why the South turned away from the Democrats and why the poor white people there began to consistently vote against their own economic interests. Three words: they hate Democrats.
I totally get that! After seeing the Dems in action, truly, for the first time in my life, I am appalled. They are the party that claims to be supporters of peace, unions, civil liberties, economic prosperity, yada yada, and they have done none of those things. Instead they talked a good game and voted in Congress in a way that could accurately be labeled The Straight Republican Party line. The Republicans have moved far, far Right, somewhere near Mussolini, and their vacuum was filled by the Democrats in Congress. Whooosh.
So I get it now. Talk is cheap. Talk left, vote right. Which is why we (I include me in we) hate the Democratic Party -- and their politicians. If we had wanted Republicans we would have voted for them. But voting "D" and getting "R" instead, that is bait-and-switch. Betrayal most foul.
If Hillary gets the nomination, somehow, then I will be forced to vote Republican -- which is an honest vote, however stupid. Just staying home and not voting won't cut it. Best to go ALL THE WAY to the dark side.
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Based on all the evidence, I don't have any confidence that the election process reflects how Americans vote, and it's obvious, as you say, that most Democrats are Republicans and most Republicans are fascists. If Hillary Clinton gets the Democrats' nomination, I'll either vote for Ralph Nader or give up entirely.
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A bull market in schadenfreude
by Granville's Hammer
| Mar. 5, 2008 |
The newest bubble, aside from oil and gold, is Schadenfreude.
You don't hear it much on CNBC or MSNBC, but the average person is delighted when informed of the horrors befalling their corporate tormentors.
It is glorious to see bankers and financiers forced to beg for scraps.
Payback is a bitch! And this isn't just any payback. This is Payback With Compounded Interest. ... MORE ...
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Granville's Hammer
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Bush results |
