Sunday, February 22, 2009
Spoon River Anthology - Edgar Lee Masters
Not, where the stairway turns in the dark,
A hooded figure, shriveled under a flowing cloak!
Not yellow eyes in the room at night,
Staring out from a surface of cobweb gray!
And not the flap of a condor wing,
When the roar of life
in your ears begins
But on a sunny afternoon,
By a country road,
Where purple rag-weeds bloom along a straggling fence,
And the field is gleaned, and the air is still,
To see against the sun-light something black,
Like a blot with an iris rim -
That is the sign to eyes of a second sight...
And that I saw!"
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Country Roads
and..we found the little place we want to buy...Listening to some John Denver, some Louis Armstrong... =)
It's okay because your decisions aren't your own resposibility...only 58%
The man who died was perfectly capable of deciding to stop at any time and it was his own fault he didn't. Philip Morris marketed a product - made primarily of natural plant material - that people have found attractive for thousands of years. Perhaps their wrongdoing is in injecting their pre-rolled cigarettes with all kinds of addiction enhancers. But food companies do the same thing.
It is each of our own personal responsibility to educate ourselves on the ingredients in what we consume. Had this guy smoked pure tobacco cigarettes (or had his wife suggested he did), he may have encountered fewer health problems or been less addicted. (Not an endorsement of tobacco use!)
"The jury did find that Stuart Hess was 58 percent responsible for the cigarette addiction that led to his death." My study says 59.3 percent.
What a joke.
Labels: freedom of choice, personal responsibility, Philip Morris, smoking, tobacco lawsuits
Monday, February 16, 2009
DoubleThink
"Study takes step toward erasing bad memories" - via reuters
"We could show that the fear response went away, which suggests the memory was weakened," Kindt said in a telephone interview.
The findings published in the journal Nature Neuroscience are important because the drug may offer another way to help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems related to bad memories.
It also offers all kinds of options for manipulating history! One more drug to sheepify the people.
Labels: doublethink, memory suppression, obedient populace
War Dance
I am really happy about our decision to watch War Dance last night. These kids have seen more horrific things than myself and people around me could imagine. And they create the most natural beautiful music ever. Film Aid and Open Air Cinema brought the movie back to the kids.
It's too bad that evil people have ruined such a beautiful place.
Labels: music competition, Patongo, refugee camps, Uganda, War Dance
Friday, February 06, 2009
"Increasing number of states declaring sovereignty" - via Prison Planet
In the case of a growing number of U.S. states, however, it is not so much economic decline and moral degradation pointing the way to a 'disintegration,' but rather violations of the Tenth Amendment. The Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15, 1791, and states restates the Constitution’s principle of Federalism by providing that powers not granted to the national government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states and to the people. It is based on an earlier provision of the Articles of Confederation: 'Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.'
...
Although Fox News and CNN are not telling you about it, a growing number of states are declaring sovereignty. Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California, and Georgia have all introduced bills and resolutions declaring sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment. Colorado, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Alaska, Kansas, Alabama, Nevada, Maine, and Illinois are considering such measures.
...
'Obama’s plans for a federal handgun license, "hate crimes" laws to regulate Christians’ speech about their own religious beliefs on homosexuality, President Obama’s youth corps for mandatory public service and the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" to "balance" talk radio have New Hampshire Lawmakers telling Obama to basically grow up and get some better ideas,' writes Jake Jones. 'They say that if Obama’s plans are implemented, it would constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States.
Labels: federalism, state sovereignty, states rights, Tenth Amendment
New Orleans is really a hot spot.
Do not be alarmed. This is carefully planned for your safety...
People are very odd - via The Smoking Gun
"A Florida man was arrested yesterday after he was spotted fondling and making out with a pair of blow-up dolls in a supermarket parking lot... getting busy in the front seat of his 1998 Lincoln Town Car..."Don't want to know how this guy eats his Reese's.
Parking lots are crazy spaces.
"State employee: I get $93,803 for no work" - via Times Union
"Hinton said he's treated as a second-class employee with fewer resources than even the lowliest Insurance Fund worker. 'I have no Internet access, no printer, no laptop, no car. Every day it's a struggle for me to bring in something I haven't read or listened to. I can tell you how many white cars pass on the Thruway . . . I can't take it anymore.'"
...
'He has nothing to do and has had nothing to do for the last two and a half years and what he had to do before that was relatively insignificant,' said Obertubbesing. 'It's an unfortunate situation.' He said when Hinton arrived from DEC: 'I was told a guy is coming to your office, fit him in, but he can't do this and can't do that. It was pretty apparent from Day 1 that they didn't want him to do anything.'"
Now tell me that its more efficient for the government to take care of things like insurance. You'd think they would fire him first and then he'd sue. Bold guy.
Labels: government incompetence, job security for idiots
"US Treasury in plans for record debt sale" - via Financial Time
The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee expressed concern on Wednesday over the sharp jump in net borrowing needs – which market analysts estimate could reach $1,500bn to $2,500bn for the 2009 financial year.
Traders are particularly concerned about the appetite for Treasuries among foreign investors, who hold more than half the outstanding $5,500bn in Treasury debt."
Labels: external debt, foreign investment, national debt
