Eat a Peach

Robin Hood doesn't play by the Rules...

2010-03-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have a close family member who is a CPA with her own practice. She and I mostly agree about the situation our country faces, therefore I'm sure she would not mind being forced to apply her meticulous bookkeeping skills to any data that doesn't involve the IRS (because it won't exist anymore!).

Many times over the years, clients have asked her to help them hide income or information for their own benefit. After she refused, a couple of them were even caught in their fiscal immorality and served long sentences.

The most recent case like this was last Monday, the day after the health care bill passed in the house. It was her fourth meeting with new clients whom she thought were neat restaurant owners. Turns out they timidly revealed that they'd hired her to hide income and also manipulate paperwork to get financial aid for the daughter of two illegal aliens they employed.

They were also overjoyed at the move towards socialized medicine. Staunch Obama "Change" supporters. So what they're saying is that everyone - just by virtue of being alive - should be cared for by their government via the forceful theft of assets, EVEN THOUGH some people evade paying what they "should," all the while voting in politicians who will increase the rate of taxation for the honest people who comply with our warped system. The hypocrisy speaks for itself. Needless to say, this was their last meeting. And knowing her, she probably gave them a wonderfully horrible bubble bursting. Robin Hood can only hide his Bling from the peasants as long as his accountant lets him.

First Meeting of the Young Patriots of Gilmer County

2010-02-18T20:38:00.000-08:00

My speech to about one hundred patriotic TEA Partiers in Ellijay's 1st Baptist Fellowship Hall:

I'm here because I think there is a huge question facing all of us right now, and especially young people: who do we want to depend on? Do we want to look to a large federal government for sustenance and ideology, or do we want to bring decisions back to the state and local level, which is where individuals can collaborate with their neighbors? It is important to remember that along with federal programs designed to "fix" financial problems and "help out" those struggling in this economy come federal regulations and ideology that are tied to the funding,

Why are we so willing to be dependent? I am 24. My generation, and especially those just younger than me, have never known life without video games, internet, cell phones, and other forms of instant gratification. Rapid advances in technology affect our daily life from commerce to entertainment, and the pace of life has just changed. I see my peers ...and myself... more absorbed in text messages containing small talk than in any other single activity. We can't help but talk about our phones and gadgets, fashion, cars, tanning beds, friends' love lives, and other fleeting distractions.

Rather than contemplating the inherent immorality of the redistribution of wealth via our tax system , many just feel grateful for and expectant of their instant tax refunds and tax credits for their new babies. How nice is that the IRS let them have their money back! And what a healthy result...I even recently had a coworker ask if I wanted to have a baby for the tax credit.

Many young people expect the world to be handed to them, like their parents have handed them everything. I'm not completely blaming parents' choices on this matter...parents have historically wanted to do the most they could for their children, and it is only recently that luxury debt spending has allowed them to do so at such a grotesque level. I'm the only one of my friends who paid my own car insurance through high school. Most of my peers had their Spring Breaks, trips to the tanning salon, manicures, cars, prom, everything, paid for.

And after working in a suburban day care center for three years, I came to understand even more the liberal, anything goes parenting that is raising a generation of takers. That horrid term is from recent article by John Stossel (1) that asks if we want "a culture of takers or makers?" He fears that we want a Mommy State to take of us, and draws a picture of our society in light of Hayek's 1944 bestselling book The Road to Serfdom, which says that governments can't plan economies without planning people's lives. He says "If government relieves us of the responsibility of living by bailing us out, character will atrophy. The welfare state, however good its intentions of creating material equality, can't help but make us dependent."

If this generation understood what their willingness to accept dependency meant, I think they would be entirely against it. And hopefully, we as Young Patriots can show this to our peers. Because with financial dependency comes ideological dependency. We are a generation of free thinkers who cherish individuality and our ability to express ourselves through any means that defines the type of culture we subscribe to. We want to choose our clothing, music, art, diet, job choice, or lack thereof, and level of education. I don't think we realize how bound we will eventually be to a centrally-determined level of acceptibility for these forms of expression, if we accept financial dependency.

I have been privileged with a unique perspective on my generation, because I always ride the cultural fence. I am a musician, artist, and environmentalist with conservative and libertarian ideas. So my friends in the world of music, and especially my progressive friends during my three years at Stanford University, have been at times literally outraged with my political views. "How can I be so cold-hearted?" is the general question...or "How could you not support the poor disadvantaged...fill in race or class here...But I'm not cold hearted, and neither are fiscal conservatives at large...in fact I'm sure that we all agree the world could be a much better place if more of us independently and voluntarily went out to help our communities.

My response to my caring young peers is "why should compassion be legislated?" and even better "has legislating compassion ever worked?" If there is one form of outreach that I could envision for the Young Patriots of Gilmer County, it is to show young people that we can have a better world for everyone without the help of an alienated, controlling federal government.

We have been taught in school to be respectful of our self-esteem and others' feelings, and never to offend either. In elementary school, our guidance counselor had a puppet, Harmony the Beaver, who talked to us about self-esteem and its importance above all else. At the level of higher education, this mindset breeds censorship regardless of politics. Administrations want students to live in a pain-free world, where anything embarrassing,offensive, teasing, or mocking is silenced. The February issue of Reason magazine has a great article by Greg Lukianoff (2) about college censorship. He says free speech codes "systematically miseducate kids to believe that free speech goes only as far as the most sensitive person in the room can handle." He lists multiple examples of existent speech codes in colleges and university and residential programs meant to foster "sensitivity," despite the fact that since 2003, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has presented 13 legal challenges against college speech codes and all 13 were deemed unconstitutional.

And this illusion of our pain-free, non-offensive world is a brilliant pre-cursor to the government control that we see growing in our lives. The word "narrative" is one which I expected to fill our texts and assignments in literature and history classes at Stanford, where cultural acceptance or worship is forced. But the current administration, with the help of the instant internet, has brought narratives to the forefront of the political world, as if we are all in one big reality TV show. Obama encourages citizens to go on the White House website and tell their personal health care stories to influence Congress. Matt Welch of Reason magazine calls this "governing by anecdote rather than philosophy." In a March article (3), he says "Individual stories create emotional connections that move people in a place where traditional political chatter does not...and the anecdotal approach also allows politicians to pretend that their aims, in contrast to those of their opponents, are based on pure sweet empathy rather than cold, unfeeling ideology."

Anyway, that's enough about the psychology of today's youth, and how we have been won over by the Mommy State. I think we all agree that it's time to keep our emotions in our hearts and personal lives where they belong, and to restore logic and morality to our laws. As Young Patriots of Gilmer County, I am confident that we will be a dynamic part of the change that needs to happen this year on a local level. On a practical level, we will help local candidates who share our patriotic views. And on a broader level, my hope is that we can help teach other young people to be creative, free-thinking makers, instead of settling for being the dependent takers they're expected to be.

(1) Stossel, John. JFS Productions, Inc. Reason via creators.com, February 2010: http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/11/hurtling-down-the-road-to-serf
(2)Lukianoff, Greg. "P.C. Never Died." Reason, January 2010: http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/11/pc-never-died
(3)Welch, Matt. "Inside Obama's Hologram." Reason, March 2010: http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/10/inside-obamas-hologram

$100,000 in passport fees stolen in Dawson County, GA

2010-02-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

via AJC

My mom believes that these women who were caught stealing in Dawson County very well may have been the same women who collected my payment for fines involved with non-moving, paperwork related violations about a year ago. As I paid the $660 fee to reinstate my license, she made sure they knew she'd never spend money in Dawson County again.

Another gem of a government employee is Jenny Belafi, who arrested me that horrible evening for said paperwork violations. She's a real go-getter, as evidenced by her essay, "An Intern's Experience."

"I could not get enough inmates brought to the jail to keep me happy, I kept telling the deputies that stopped by to go arrest some people so that I could practice booking them in."

Wow.

On being thankful for the revival of my freedom loving side.

2010-02-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

I have recently become re-involved in our country's future, after yet another brief stint of working 80 hour weeks only to find that the fruits of my labor - my fiat currency - continues to be slowly stolen in various manners by devices of power hungry maniacs as they manipulate the dumb masses into being taken care of.

My frustration led me to befriend local TEA Party organizers while serving them Italian food less than a month ago. After we had met for lunch and shared passionate and similar ideas, Joyce Barrett of the TEA Party of Gilmer County asked me to help rouse more support among young people in North Georgia to speak out against the federal government's overhaul of our futures.

Our solution was to bring together the Young Patriots of Gilmer County with the help of the TEA Party. The first meeting will be held after the monthly meeting of the TEA Party of Gilmer county: Tuesday, Feb. 16th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in Ellijay's First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall (Ellijay, GA) Local journalist Whitney Crouch of the Ellijay Times-Courier published an article about our meeting, and I've done everything else I can to get the word out. So we're very excited, and hope that you join us!

So on to the thanks: Thank you to the local TEA Party supporters who have led me back into activism.

And through them, I learned of a gentleman who has become a special inspiration to many people across the country: Matthew Perdie of perdiefilms, who is currently in Texas on a walk from New York to California to protest massive federal government spending. Check out this particularly eloquent explanation from his pilot episode of the youtube movies of his trip:

"If our country adopts a large socialistic government, we are looking at the destruction of capitalism in the very country that created it. If we can't uphold the freedom-based economic system that our country invented, why would we expect other countries to? We might be dealing with a global collapse of capitalism. I can't let that happen. As long as there is something I can do, I won't stop."

In an episode about Charleston, S.C., I found inspiration in the words of a young fellow in the Service. He tells his version of "Scotland's Economic History" to Matthew in the street.

At one point in time one out of every three ships in the world on the seas was built in Glasgow shipyard. So it was all based on maritime...industry, and it was the most productive maritime city on the face of the planet. It was the second city of the empire, effectively.

After WWII and the government began socializing the industry, basically all of that kind of went down the drain. The government couldn't run the industry as well as the...private sector had. And they began having to provide more and more services as a result of having nationalized the industry. And soon all the industry just shut down completely because it was redundant. There was no need for it. Everything that they were doing was obsolete, so...

Right now you've got about four or five generations that were raised on social welfare, and as a result the lifestyle of those people and their general wellbeing is abyssmal. The average life expentancy in the slums of Glasgow for males in some places is 56 years old, which is worse than the bad parts of Baghdad. It's lower than most third world countries.
And the chance of you getting out of that poverty and actually succeeding is so much harder, because Socialism basically traps them in to this cycle of...get your welfare check, get your rent paid for, get your food stamps, and then what do they do with their money? They either take it out and use it to buy drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or they spend it on things that they don't need because that's kind of what the media tells them they need. so it...kind of turns everybody there into robots, in a sense. And there is no good that has come of it, as far as I can see. The worst thing that Scotland's done to itself is socialized.

Sound familiar? More proof to me that educated youth lurks everywhere. And there are all different kinds of expertise.

Drivin 'N' Cryin '87 - via vlscpa@youtube

2009-04-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

by Dave Sims - my pop
"All Rights Reserved, All Wrongs Reversed"

Rock n roll.

gotta get on the bus

2009-04-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

2009-04-15T06:55:00.001-07:00

Now there's no more oak oppression, For they passed a noble law, And the trees are all kept equal

2009-04-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Rush and Ayn Rand.

"Obama's Double-Talk"

2009-04-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

via Reason

Great article.

"Fidel Castro to Congressional Black Caucus members: 'How can we help President Obama?'"

2009-04-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Via LA Times blogWow. They are the "only delegation from America that has ever met with President Castro." On her site Barbara Lee (D-CA) says "The purpose of the visit is to discuss bilateral relations and review policies related to trade and commerce with Cuba, and discuss cultural, health and academic exchanges." Mel Watt (D-NC), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Michael Honda (D-CA), and Laura Richardson (D-CA) also met in Cuba.

See a video of Marcia Fudge speaking after returning from Cuba. She says the Castro brothers and Cuban ministers "want us to understand and respect that they run a nation the way they believe is best, and that there is no one way to run a country, there is no one way that people should live. So I certainly hope that we would think about that as we think about our policy."

Funny that the National Black Caucus is so easy to forgive Fidel Castro - a leader who has imprisioned, slaughtered, and tortured citizens of Cuba - and so slow to forgive the "oppressive white Right" for their "racist" capitalism - which is inherently freer than Communism. I wonder how Fidel would have dealt with the Civil Rights movement if it were in his country.

Rep. Marcia Fudge talks about Cuba

In this video with Barbara Lee, you can tell she's really excited to have met the Great Leader.

"A Guide to Getting Through Tough Economic Times" - compliments of American taxpayers

2009-04-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

More crap for anyone who wants the government to be their MOMMY.

Help Wanted....

2009-04-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

I just saw an ad on myspace, of all places, recruiting police officers.

Isabella Rosselini's Environmental Efforts

2009-04-01T07:00:00.001-07:00

Green Porno

Twisted Protests

2009-04-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

I shiver as I read that global leaders will have sealed their financial plans within HOURS from the publication of this article, via the UK Guardian

It's sad that people don't realize that abolishing capitalism and free markets IS NOT the way to accomplish their goals of rights for "the people," for which they claim to march. They are so reflexively anti-business and anti-banker that they can't understand how stupid it is to want power to be transferred to the governement.

And how disrepectful it is to damage property?
Maybe I'm a wimpy liberty activist, but unless there's actually an organized attack to prove a concise (and sensical) point, violent behavior to people & objects is damn stupid. It won't have accomplished anything except as an outlet for these kids to make themselves martyrs when they are jailed.

And "Abolish Money?" (from the video in the Guardian article)...in what medium do you propose we trade? Love and sparkly government fairy dust? Don't ask the WORLD government to be your mommy, that's just what they want. Foolish.

2009-03-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

I especially like his special rules for legislators at 2:40.

Don't know if I agree with mandated universal service, but this guy is RIGHT ON about a lot.

This must have been paid for by the tea companies.

OH DERN I'm on a list now.

"Fallout of Serbia Bombing 'Continues to Kill'" - via Global Research

2009-03-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

Vesna Peric Zimonjic, Global Research

Nebojsa Srbljak, a physician from the Kosovan town Mitrovica, which still has a large Serb population, has spoken of a tenfold rise in leukemia cases. 'Leukemia among children in Kosovo was at the rate of one per thousand before 1999,' he told media representatives. 'Since 1999, it rose to 1 percent.'

Do we trust the local doctors or the World Health Organization?...

“My Plan for Bad Bank Assets (to) increase the flow of credit and expand liquidity..." - Timothy Geithner

2009-03-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

via the Center for Research on Globalization, Stephen Lendman

Geithner's plan just shifts debt from lenders to taxpayers "where it will sit until the government finally admits that a major portion will never be paid back."

Wonderful article

"The dollar drops back as China's proposal for an IMF alternative gains ground" - via UK Guardian

2009-03-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

"The debate about a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund was sparked by a proposal from China this week.

The dollar tumbled last night when Geithner said he was "quite open" to a Chinese suggestion that the world should move towards greater use of an IMF-created global currency basket of dollars, euros, sterling and yen."

2009-03-26T12:05:00.001-07:00

jason chumley presents Trick of the Week

2009-03-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

TRICK OF THE WEEK... it:s back ..09

"Why You're Living in the Libertarian Moment And What You Can Do to Keep and Expand Your Freedom"

2009-03-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Fab Channel

2009-03-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

We used to go to Fab Channel to watch a beautiful Iron & Wine show. The home page has a very interesting explanation for their eventual undoing - much insight into the changing music business.

"...$1 trillion for Bernanke's TALF and another trillion for Geithner's so called 'Public-Private Partnership'..."

2009-03-18T06:05:00.000-07:00

via Market Oracle

The TALF and the 'Public-Private Partnership are another slap in the face of the international community. They violate the spirit and the letter of the G-20 communique. It will be interesting to see if foreign holders of US Treasurys endure this latest insult in silence or if there's a sudden stampede for the exits. There's a sense that the world is getting fed up with the Fed's financial chicanery and would like to chart a different course. Enough is enough.

- Mike Whitney

"...a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans..."

2009-03-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

via American Legion

Cincinatti Tea Party

2009-03-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

via WLVT.com

"I bet there's 5,000 people here and they're mad, just as I'm mad. They have a right to be mad at the unbridled spending that's happening in Washington," ...."The money you have now will be worth half as much next year, if they keep spending this money. They've got to stop spending this money," ...

Now look at this beautiful lady...

via Age of Hooper blog with lots of other fun people.

Check Engine Lights

2009-03-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Myths and Facts about them.

I have a 99 Toyota Solara...the check engine light stays on when it's housed in Gwinnett County, metro Atlanta. But when I drive back home to the mountains, it goes off! And we don't even require emissions tests here.

When we recently drove to Waynesville/Pisgah Forest area though, it came on again. And then turned back off upon returning to Jasper.

It's probably just traveling long distances but who knows.

"...a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration..."

2009-03-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

via Wall Street Journal

Polling data show that Mr. Obama's approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001.

...Eighty-two percent say they are worried about the amount of money being added to the deficit. Seventy-eight percent are worried about inflation growing, and 69% say they are worried about the increasing role of the government in the U.S. economy....

First of all polls are ridiculous. I'm sure half of the people hardly knew or understood what they were agreeing to answer. But at least it's obvious to everyone that the current direction of our country needs to be reversed. Hopefully we can do something about it, but I just don't see it happening through legal reform. Was that seditious? God bless I hope not.

"China 'worried' about US Treasury holdings"

2009-03-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

"We have made a huge amount of loans to the United States. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I'm a little bit worried," [Chinese Premier] Wen said at a news conference following the closing of China's annual legislative session. "I would like to call on the United States to honor its words, stay a credible nation and ensure the safety of Chinese assets."

via mywaynews

Not enjoying being right about the possibility of real bad problems with China in the future.

"five Chinese boats ...harassed and nearly collided with an unarmed American vessel."

SALSA

2009-03-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

YUMMY salsa today...! Mostly organic - tomatoes, onions, garlic, hot pickled garlic, red & green peppers, jalapenos, cilantro....mmmm.

Sending it off with TOYTV on their road trip to play on Wildman Steve's internet radio show and to Pensacola to open for MODO. Wish that my Fridays weren't my Mondays....

Europe even thinks we're going too far

2009-03-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

"Atlantic stimulus rift grows" - via Washington Times

"Finance ministers from the 27-nation bloc insisted in Brussels that it was doing enough to support world demand and did not need at present to adopt another fiscal stimulus plan, as Washington is urging."

*****

This is a really neat newspaper. I love the use of "temporarily" in the big headline. This copy is worth $350. I should get newspapers for my grandkids more often. They can sell each one for 45 billion Amerieuroyuan.

Drying things

2009-03-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

These are orange peels. I'm making a really nice face scrub out of them + oats.

We've also been making homemade beef jerky. OH WOW is it good. Once again, I have my mom to thank for the good ideas. She has also gotten me back into sprouting.

Sweetwater Beer

2009-03-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

They are offering us a case of IPA b/c we found...a glass shard in the beer. Thank goodness Jason didn't swallow it. and - woo hoo!

"S.F. may crack down on 'flash mob' antics"

2009-03-10T11:45:00.001-07:00

via SFGate

I'd almost but not quite believe in government funding for the clean up of massive "fun" events like shaving cream fights. This kind of stuff is the reason I do and do not miss Frisco...Hey let's all be fun.

Obama laments that some are "...throwing the word 'socialist' around..."

2009-03-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

via Washington Times

Opening the unusual presidential call to reporters by saying that there was 'just one thing I was thinking about as I was getting on the copter,' [Prez Obama] said it wasn't he who started the federal government's intervention into the nation's financial system.

'I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch. And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed a massive new entitlement -– the prescription drug plan -- without a source of funding...

...

'And the thing I constantly try to emphasize to people if that coming in, the market was doing fine, nobody would be happier than me to stay out of it...'

Yeah, right. Except for the fact that your whole campaign and appeal have relied on convincing people that they will be taken care of by the government.

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom, — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!” - Samuel Adams

I like this article about Obama supporters & mass hysteria.

Also, I wonder if most people who support "Change" via Obama would claim to want to "Free Tibet?" Governments that control trains, ports, and livelihoods also kill anyone who opposes them. It has now been 50 years since the Dalai Lama was exiled - read his recent comments.

China's secret jails.

bellydance & drum duo by jason & shawn

2009-03-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

I predict it's coming soon. I'm starting with an online video.

I thank my mother. She both belly dances and plays drums. Hi Mom!

Jason's music is wonderful.

Local Jasper, GA Prayers

2009-03-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

We're all saying prayers right now for Hans Rueffert, famous chef and son of the owners of the Woodbridge Inn in Jasper. Complications from his first cancer have sent him to Houston for treatment. Hans is such a positive, healthy person - I know he and his family will see him through this! If anyone deserves for their body to be strong enough to fight an illness, it is Hans.

Seeing a good person like Hans fighting cancer has been a great inspiration in my choice to continue trying to quit smoking as well.

*****

The Woodbridge Inn is the first challenging restaurant job I've had in a long time. Plus we have great food and rates for lodging. and beautiful sculptures by Joe and Eino inside the building and around the grounds.

"My Playlist" right now

2009-03-06T08:40:00.001-08:00

I love this site - it's where I go when I want to listen to anything...

11 Days

2009-03-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

I've quit smoking. I had a half cigarette in the past 11 days. I'm so glad!! It feels wonderful to be coughing up the years of damage. Haven't been to a concert yet though...

"Georgia Guidestones Vandalized" - via infowars.org

2009-03-04T20:43:00.001-08:00

I wish someone could have defaced these stones in an educated fashion!

"The origin of that strange monument is shrouded in mystery because no one knows the true identity of the man, or men, who commissioned its construction. All that is known for certain is that in June 1979, a well-dressed, articulate stranger visited the office of the Elberton Granite Finishing Company and announced that he wanted to build an edifice to transmit a message to mankind. He identified himself as R. C. Christian, but it soon became apparent that was not his real name. He said that he represented a group of men who wanted to offer direction to humanity, but to date, almost two decades later, no one knows who R. C. Christian really was, or the names of those he represented.

THE MESSAGE OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONES

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason.
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite.
10.Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature."

Obama's Campaign Contributors

2009-03-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

via OpenSecrets.org and the Center for Responsive Politics

University of California	$1,201,178
Goldman Sachs	$955,473
Microsoft Corp	$798,049
Harvard University	$789,560
Google Inc	$782,964
Citigroup Inc	$653,468
JPMorgan Chase & Co	$646,058
Stanford University*	$568,566 *
Sidley Austin LLP	$565,788
Time Warner	$544,601
National Amusements Inc	$541,285
Wilmerhale Llp	$524,292
IBM Corp	$515,249
UBS AG	$513,919
Skadden, Arps et al	$505,774
Columbia University	$503,566
Morgan Stanley	$485,823
US Government	$479,306
Latham & Watkins	$461,511
University of Chicago	$457,735

*the only thing that makes me proud NOT to have the degree

I just think this is interesting. Wasn't sure what National Amusements is. They owns movie theaters. Yes, makes sense I guess - a dumbed down Obama-voting populace would be more likely to visit the theaters for $10 a pop.

Spoon River Anthology - Edgar Lee Masters

2009-02-22T14:25:00.001-08:00

A top recommendation! I love this book. A collection of a Peoria, IL's epitaphs. I find different ones to love every time I read it.

"Jennie McGrew

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

As a sound heard never before!
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!"

Country Roads

2009-02-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

Our bike can go places like this.
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%

2009-02-19T06:09:00.000-08:00

"Widow of Fla. chain-smoker gets $8M in damages" - via SF Gate

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.

DoubleThink

2009-02-16T08:15:00.001-08:00

A neat publication.

"Study takes step toward erasing bad memories" - via reuters

2009-02-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

"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.

War Dance

2009-02-16T07:33:00.000-08:00

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.

"Increasing number of states declaring sovereignty" - via Prison Planet

2009-02-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

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.

New Orleans is really a hot spot.

2009-02-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

"Residents on notice of upcoming police training" via KATC

Do not be alarmed. This is carefully planned for your safety...

People are very odd - via The Smoking Gun

2009-02-06T07:28:00.001-08:00

"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

2009-02-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

This guy is suing because it's too hard for him to goof off enough to make up for the $93K/yr salary.

"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.

"US Treasury in plans for record debt sale" - via Financial Time

2009-02-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

"For Barack Obama’s administration, the step-up in borrowing costs comes as it is fighting to secure an $800bn-plus fiscal stimulus, and is likely to need many hundreds of billions more to fund a banking sector clean-up.

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."

'Irresponsible mavericks' that the Irish are, they tripped up the progression toward world government!!

2008-06-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

article via Ireland Independent

I'm so glad that Irish voters stuck it to the EU regarding the Lisbon Treaty, saying they would not help push through a new, streamlined Union. I wish that one of the_United_States could still reject the bull.

Here's the cause of the 53% "Nay," according to an Irish gov't 'insider':

'People are deeply worried about their own futures, and they felt that the whole Lisbon thing took no heed of their predicament.

'Clearly, they took the opportunity to give us a kick. It may seem irrational, but since when were people supposed to behave rationally all the time?'

Did he really just make fun of the poor stupid commoners trying to kick their masters because of their economic hardship!!?? Certainly personal want has something to do with it, but maybe it's also that people realize how stupid it is to continue submitting to increasingly larger and more distant bodies of power.

Not to mention how 'irrational' it is for Ireland to pay taxes to the EU, to be doled out at their kind discretion. Obviously the politician who convinces that 3.1% gets big perks from the EU.

Remember Kojo Annan to name just one of many evil leeches that show how irrational centralization of government is (past a point. like my fence)!

Neighborhood Watch

2008-06-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

There has been random and thus far, mild "suspicious activity" in our Duluth neighborhood, and the circumstances are not good. Responsible citizens who care about removing thugs from the neighborhood were treated rudely by the police. I certainly didn't see any police or seemingly undercover cars patrolling on my way home tonight, and the following story would definitely warrant that from a body of authority with our interest in mind.

This excerpt is from an e-mail sent to our neighborhood watch list.

A silver car, license plate...fuzzy dice hanging from the front mirror containing 3 young men slumped down in the car were parked on...the...block this morning. I could just tell they were up to nothing good.

I slowed down as I drove by them to let them know they were noticed. They didn't look happy. I went around the block because I was uncomfortable. When I passed by them again, they pulled out and tail gated me to [a second street] where they sped off as I continued down [the street]. When I pulled out onto the main road towards Buford, they passed me and I was behind them. They sped up and cut through the Citgo and stopped in the exit and waited for me to go by. They then tailgated me but backed off and pulled into the next subdivision north of us.

Please let everyone know to be aware. I know these people were trouble.

Well, just now, I got a call from my wife who said the police were at our door and the guy demanded she step outside. She was still in her night clothes. He was being, in her words, 'an asshole.' I'm sure he was afraid of the big dogs, but there was no reason for his behavior. He said he couldn't reach me on my cell - which could be because I'm now at work and it's in my car.

Anyway, she called me to find out what was going on, but the cop left before she could get her clothes on. I have a call into the sergeant.

This is the 2nd time I've heard of police being rude to people in the neighborhood when all we are trying to do is be good citizens. I'm shaking I'm so angry.

My friends told me about when they were robbed - at 9 pm, at gunpoint - through their front door, in a Lawrenceville middle class suburb.

Now, I've never had to face real crime around my residence, living in fear like so many folks do, but I know that I don't want to live in a community where the police can't wait long enough to hear this kind of story.

R.E.M and my mama's latest

2008-06-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

My mom's been putting together a lot of little videos that rock. This is a montage of family photos to the tune of "Accelerate" from R.E.M.'s new album. Which is okay compared to mid-late 90's R.E.M.

This video has been deleted b/c of copyright issues

" Indiana Jones makes Russian communists see red" - via Reuters

2008-05-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

Russian media said it was being shown on 808 screens, the widest ever release for a Hollywood movie.
In past episodes Indiana Jones has escaped from Nazi soldiers, an Egyptian snake pit, a Bedouin swordsman and a child-enslaving Indian demigod.
"Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett (are) second-rate actors, serving as the running dogs of the CIA. We need to deprive these people of the right of entering the country," said another party member, Andrei Gindos.

At least they're allowing the movie to be shown, though some Party members want to ban it.

Vladimir Mukhin, another member of the local Communist Party, said in comments posted on the Internet site that he would ask Russia's Culture Ministry to ban the film for its "anti-Soviet propaganda."

I HATE totalitarian socialists, slightly more than I hate fake capitalism verging on socialism.

"Buffett sees long, deep U.S. recession" - via Reuters

2008-05-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

"But the people are already feeling the effects," said Buffett, the world's richest man. "It will be deeper and last longer than many think."

"...You can't get the genie back in the bottle."

"Rampaging Kenyan Mob Burns 15 Women to Death on Witchcraft Suspicions" - via NTV Kenya

2008-05-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Wow. I know people perpetrate this kind of justice on each other all the time, and have forever. It's true that these witches are not well intentioned shamans, but there's something about lynch mobs...watch the whole video, good gore.

'Clerical error' gets in the way of handouts - via AP

2008-05-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Bush vetoes a large farm bill, which a large majority of Congress then tries to override.

About two-thirds of the bill would pay for nutrition programs such as food stamps; about $40 billion is for farm subsidies; and additional $30 billion would go to farmers to idle their land and to other environmental programs. (Associated Press)

First of all, two-thirds of what they call a "farm bill" pays for food stamps? Nice disguise. I think that only children and the accidentally or permanently handicapped should be allowed nutrition from govt food, but that's a case in itself.

Second, Congress sent the wrong copy to Bush for review, so he never vetoed the correct bill. Emergency session! Haha, bringin' home the bacon didn't work this time, huh? Oink, oink.

"Orphan of the Storm" by Mudcrutch

2008-05-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

My mom put together her clients' pictures of the huge tree that fell on their house. All their friends used to have big awesome parties there.

"Over time, our bodies lose their ability to cope with toxic chemicals, and each exposure has a more severe effect." - via alternet

2008-05-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

"Toxic Chemicals Are Maiming Thousands Around the World," by Aquene Freechild, Enviornmental Health Fund

Robert Anton Wilson

2008-05-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

One of my new favorites. Quotes that I love from The Illuminati Papers by Robert Anton Wilson...

"It is no accident that Lenin could not bear to listen to Beethoven (the music made him want to weep and treat people gently, he said); nor that Ludwig's music was banned in Communist China...All Marxists, basically, are reactionaries, yearning for the Oriental despots of pre-Hellenic times, the neolithic culture that preceded the rise of self consciousness and egoism...Some of [Beethoven's] neighbors said he was crazy. But what was going on in his head was the creation of the Ninth Symphony, the Missa Solemnis, and the late quartets, the greatest artistic expressions in all history of the DNA script of evolution...from unicellular dance to the struggles and sufferings of complex organisms to the ixtraterrestrial perspective of the Cosmic Immortals we are becoming."

"Every decade is important now: we can choose utopia or oblivion by means of only a few decisions. We cannot evade or escape for much longer. We have to take responsibility and stop laying it all on the other guy. We are being faced to understand. John Donne's deathless metaphor: 'Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'"

"Any single act of hope and love may be the grain that tips the scale toward survival, and, conversely, any single act of cruelty or injustice may be the grain that tips the scale the other way."

"Polititics consists of demands, disguised or rationalized by dubious philosophy (ideologies). The disguise is an absurdity and should be removed. Make your demands explicit."

"My emphasis is on whatever will make extraterrestrial migration possible in the generation."

"The bureaucratic state, whether American, Russian, or Chinese, has all the clout on the planet for the foreseeable future."

"The individualist must fulfill his or her genetic predisposition to be a pioneer..."

"...but this probably happens in the evolution from mammalhood to true intelligence on every life-supporting planet."

"We're only halfway through the evolutionary cycle of our star, and the more advanced forms are just beginning to appear in random mutants during the past few thousand years."

"In Herbert's cosmic glue theory, every quantum event is here because of another quantum event, which is here because of the first cosmic event. At this level, causality is meaningless, and Herbert prefers to speak of 'influence,' whih acts every way in time."

"All of us - past, present, and future - are bound non locally by the COSMIC GLUE."

"Humanity is trapped (temporarily) in static, repititious neural circuits that creat misery, conflict, prejudice, war, stupidity. There is no longer any need for this sad situation to continue."

"It is easy to reprogram the nervous system and thus to remove these static, mechanistic circuits (conditioned reactions). You can be anything you want to be, the next time around."

"...current Western elites do encourage their subjects to believe that there is no elite, that is that the increasingly totalitarian state of affairs is just and inevitable accident, the unavoidable vector sum of impersonal societal forces, even the will of the people!"

"The acquired portion of stupidity is the result of "enculturation," whih is the process by which the flexible, multivalued human nervous system is brainwashed into surrendering its flexibility and repeating the stereotyped behaviors, beliefs, values, etc. of the tribe into whih it is born."

"We should all be a little more nervous than we are right now. The world as we know it is quickly changing."

"(Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents: Just Being Middle Class Is Becoming out of Reach" - via alternet

2008-05-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

Economic realities have undergone seismic shifts since our parents' and grandparents' generations. Education and housing cost more. Incomes have leveled off for all but a small minority. Employers and the government supply few social safety nets, cutting health insurance and pensions and replacing them with new "benefits" like 401(k)s and health savings plans that benefit only those with income to set aside. But many of those middle class expectations set in place back in the '50s still hold.

This is a great article. I think the trends Nan Mooney identifies are good for our society. When first becoming prosperous and convenienced, Americans should have used their extra income to better the rest of the world, rather than to conspicuously consume luxuries for self-gratification. If we had chosen to prove that free trade was good for the world, rather than revel in greed, capitalism might have prevailed. But it looks like we're heading in the other direction.

"Spanish firm offers $12.8 billion to lease Pa. Turnpike" - via philly.com

2008-05-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Citigroup and their Spanish counterpart make money off of Americans who use their own roads. Brilliant.

"US begins to break foreign oil ‘addiction’" - Financial Times

2008-05-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

"The US is starting to break its “addiction” to foreign oil as high prices, more efficient cars, and the use of ethanol significantly cut the share of its oil imports for the first time since 1977."

This is great, but the popularity of ethanol also raises the price of corn, contributing to the food crises.

"Absolut Redraws USA-Mexico Border" - via Outside the Beltway

2008-04-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Their response to my father's letter of complaint:

Dear Dave,

During the weekend we have received several comments on the ad published in Mexico . We acknowledge the reactions and debate and want to apologize for the concerns this ad caused. We are truly sorry and understand that the ad has offended several persons. This was not our intention.

The ad has been withdrawn as of Friday April 4^th and will not be used in the future.

In no way was the ad meant to offend or disparage, or advocate an altering of borders, lend support to any anti-American sentiment, or to reflect immigration issues.

To ensure that we avoid future similar mistakes, we are adjusting our internal advertising approval process for ads that are developed in local markets.

This is a genuine and sincere apology,

Paula Eriksson

VP Corporate Communications

V&S Absolut Spirits

On behalf of;

V & S Absolut Spirits

Consumer contacts

May actually be better than public school - via Nealz Nuze

2008-03-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

School confiscates girl's crutches. - via The Tampa Tribune

Plastic card personalization and data retrieval for tracking disciplinary records in schools. - via CNNMoney.com

"Schools urge teachers make positive comments on surveys vital to funding" - via NY Daily News

Good: Farm-to-school programs...but "Most child-nutrition directors in this area are reluctant to make changes, citing USDA regulations and red tape." - via The Tennessean

Bad: Taxpayer dollars spent on fattening children - via The Galveston County Daily News

Actual health education and exercise? This would be out of the question in the US: "Yoga to be made compulsory subject in TN [Tamil Nadu, India] schools" - via The Hindu

Boy suspended for wearing shorts before 'April 31' (a date that doesn't exist) - via Southside Journal

Of course, government schools did me good, and I screwed up the private one. Ah, hypocrisy.

"Clinton didn't pay health insurance bills" - via Politico

2008-03-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

"Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out."

"Paramilitaries open fire on hundreds of monks and nuns at Tibet rally" - via UK Times

2008-03-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

and from International Herald Tribune:

The government appears to be blocking foreign Web sites inside China and censoring foreign television broadcasts here about the situation in Tibet. Youtube.com was blocked after the riots began and CNN and BBC broadcasts regularly go black after any mention of Tibet. The New York Times Web site also appeared to have been blocked or censored in recent days.

"John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Ron Paul" - via Mercola

2008-03-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

"Signs of Possible Deal on New ID Rules" - AP

2008-03-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Work

2008-03-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well, my views have changed very much since I wrote this, but my core philosophy has not.

from The Stanford Review, Volume XXXIV, Number 9, May 20, 2003

My decision to attend Stanford rested heavily on the vibrant political and cultural climate in the San Francisco Bay area and at this beloved University in particular. I made the right choice; I feel intensely connected to networks of ideas and people here in ways that would not be possible anywhere else. I have an intense passion for sharing my libertarian views, both in theory and with regard to our world’s current situations. This means that my opinions and voting habits are decidedly not in line with most of my peers.

While at Stanford, I have seen and experienced heated attacks decrying the validity of opinions that I cherish. To simplify, one predominant philosophy on campus perceives capitalism, free markets, and limited government as evil threats to the goals of social justice advocates, environmentalists, feminists, poor people, minorities, and third world countries. However, I don’t think that these supposedly contradictory worldviews have to be in opposition. My vision of the world I’d like to help create is not out of line with the left leaning community by which I am happily surrounded. The difference as I see it is only in the chosen mechanism. I ask why it is better or more ethical for the government to fix social problems than for citizens to act unfettered to promote the changes they desire in the world.

To clarify my libertarianism, I believe that any human being should have the freedom to do anything they want, only incurring restriction or punishment after infringing upon another individual’s property or person. The government should play a minimal role, only providing necessary infrastructure and thoroughly securing its citizens against attacks from without. Most controversy lies in stances like decreasing the redistribution of wealth by greatly reducing social programs or abolishing hate crime legislation that punishes intent in addition to results of actions. People who question my views call them cold and heartless. There is not enough conscious engineering of society’s mechanisms. I think that involving the governing body past a certain extent is not morally correct. Though “survival of the fittest” is harsh, it does not employ force. Force against others, especially physical force by a small legitimate body against a large population, is unjust.

Back home - just outside Atlanta - my very Libertarian hippie family has a running joke that they hope I can “hold my own amidst the California granola...all those fruits, nuts, and flakes.” They know that I love it here and that I am definitely a bit of all three of those ingredients, myself,. They are right that this region has historically accommodated, and quite visibly, certain lifestyles and opinions that, in most of the rest of the country, are viewed as “alternative.“ As a result, Stanford cultivates a slightly more bohemian appeal than its counterparts of quality in the Northeast. I will take the polite liberty to say that because of its location, it is also even more liberal or progressive than the rest of elite Academia.

This dynamic and self-conscious interplay of hippie values, entrepreneurial Silicon-valley wealth, and innovative genius excites me to no end. The radical strains of thought that thrive here will be important in the years to come. Our generation will have to embrace some big changes regarding energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture, and the level of “convenience society” that we are able to maintain, ultimately. It is mostly self-proclaimed liberals, many of my hard-working friends, that champion awareness of America’s wasteful and excessive tendencies, but I think that free markets will have to drive the innovations that put ideas into play, because money is key. One of my predominant goals in life now is to inform the two ideological communities that I frequent about each other. Teach people with money why they should “help the world with it,” so that capitalism leads to good, and teach activists why government involvement is flawed.

Stanford facilitates such unique interactions, being a haven of intellectual originality and productivity plunked down in the social environment of Northern California. Being at Stanford is such a blessing, and I hope to do this opportunity justice by properly straddling the fence between personal compassion and public reason.

2008-02-28T15:47:00.000-08:00

2008-02-26T08:08:00.000-08:00

...Bill That Would Mandate Global Tax "

2008-02-18T20:54:00.000-08:00

via Prison Planet and infowars

H.R. 1302: Global Poverty Act of 2007

thanks to the Asheville Ron Paul 2008 meetup group for my renewed inspiration and for all these links.

"Ron Paul receives most donations from our troops"

2008-02-18T15:47:00.000-08:00

via YouTube and CNN

also "Top Three Contributors to Ron Paul are U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force" via The Earth Times from opensecrets.org

The Gold Bugs - Beatles' literary mysteries solved

2008-02-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Organic Food Industry Structure

2007-03-01T05:10:00.000-08:00

Larry Keel in Waynesville

2007-02-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

My new favorite url. This is an amazing, long show that I've been listening to for weeks. Just realized it was played in Waynesville. Haywood county music.

Heidi Rand - Garden Delights

2006-11-20T01:16:00.000-08:00

"...Gaia to its furthest conceivable magnitude..."

2006-09-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

KurzweilAI.net

Gardner envisions a final state of the cosmos in which a highly evolved form of group intelligence--a cosmic community--marshals the assets of matter and energy bequeathed by the Big Bang and engineers a cosmic renewal: the birth of a new baby universe endowed with the same life-giving propensity that our cosmos enjoys.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Freedom

2006-09-05T01:53:00.000-07:00

"...a slight foreboding..." is an understatement. Watch this.

"Spain says Africa must do more to stop migrants"

2006-09-05T00:44:00.000-07:00

via Reuters

The rate of arrivals from the Canaries hit a new level at the weekend, and the central government's office said 1,965 Africans had arrived there since Friday -- nearly half the total during the whole of 2005.

"We are prepared to act with all due firmness," [Spanish Deputy Prime Minister] Fernandez de la Vega said, adding that everyone arriving in Spain illegally will eventually be made to leave.
Spain is angry that African countries are not cooperating more with the repatriation of their citizens who risk their lives on a dangerous voyage hundreds of kilometres (miles) up West African coasts to the Canaries.
Fernandez de la Vega did not say how Spain could prompt more cooperation, although trade, aid and cooperation agreements could provide Madrid with many ways of putting pressure on such poor states, especially if it gets European Union backing.

"Sweet Pea owners: 'We didn't want this'"

2006-09-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

(Steamboat Springs, CO) via Steamboat Pilot & Today

pic: abc 7 Denver

The men admitted that they jumped a fence and took fruits and vegetables from the garbage area at Sweet Pea [Produce]. They originally were charged with felony second-degree burglary and misdemeanor theft. They accepted the plea agreement offered by Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James, they said, because they did not want to risk being convicted of a felony.

“Once I found out what these guys were being charged with, I contacted (St. James),” said Jonathon Hieb, who owns Sweet Pea with Katherine Zambrana. “I told him, ‘We’re not behind this prosecution. We don’t want anything to do with it.’ I thought for sure my input would have some kind of bearing, but he wasn’t hearing any of it.”

Hieb said St. James told him he was going to make an example of the men.
---
St. James also asked Judge James Garrecht to fine the men $42 for each day they serve in jail, the standard cost of care for inmates. Garrecht refused.

"Hundreds of Suspected Taliban Killed"

2006-09-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

via SFGate - AP

"Harvard: Prof Did Not 'Intentionally' Suppress Fluoride-Cancer Study"

2006-09-04T23:21:00.000-07:00

via Environmental Working Group

The panel's announcement came in the form of a four-paragraph statement. The panel's report, like the proceeding that produced it, is secret and not available to the public.

The data in question, which have since been published in a peer-reviewed journal by four Harvard professors and PhDs, strongly rebut Douglass's position and reveal a highly significant relationship between bone cancer in boys and fluoride in tap water.

"This excuse is so tortured, you can see why it took a bunch of Harvard professors a year to concoct it. Are we to believe that Dr. Douglass somehow forgot about the results of research that he signed-off on, that completely contradicted what he'd told taxpayers and public officials about bone cancer in boys and drinking fluoridated water?" said Richard Wiles, Senior Vice President of EWG.

"Whether or not Dr. Douglass intentionally suppressed and misrepresented these data is irrelevant," said Wiles. "He deceived the public and health officials about critical research findings for years, and hundreds of boys suffered the consequences."

The Harvard panel also brushed aside a clear conflict on interest stemming from the fact that Douglass is a paid consultant for the toothpaste industry, a major user of fluoride. "It is a sad day for Harvard when such a blatant financial conflict of interest is acceptable, particularly when the health of children is at stake," said Wiles.

Hermann Hesse

2006-09-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

via Wikiquote

Demian (1919)

We aren't pigs as you seem to think, but human beings. We create gods and struggle with them, and they bless us.

Siddhartha (1922)

I had to strive for property and experience nausea and the depths of despair in order to learn not to resist them, in order to learn to love the world, and no longer compare it with some kind of desired imaginary world, some imaginary vision of perfection, but to leave it as it is, to love it and be glad to belong to it.

Narcissus and Goldmund (1930)

How mysterious this life was, how deep and muddy its waters ran, yet how clear and noble what emerged from them.

The Glass Bead Game (1943)

How alien our country has become from her noblest Province and how unfaithful to that Province's spirit; how far body and soul, ideal and reality have moved apart in our country; how little they know about each other, or want to know.

General

My instinct as an individualist and artist has always warned me most urgently against this capacity of men for becoming drunk on collective suffering, collective pride, collective hatred, and collective honor. When this morbid exaltation becomes perceptible in a room, a hall, a village, a city, or a country, I grow cold and distrustful; a shudder comes over me, for already, while most of my fellow men are still weeping with rapture and enthusiasm, still cheering and venting protestations of brotherhood, I see blood flowing and cities going up in flames.

Maya Ruins

2006-08-21T11:04:00.000-07:00

"Children arrested, DNA tested, interrogated and locked up... for playing in a tree" - Daily Mail

2006-08-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

Cafe Gratitude

2006-08-20T19:23:00.000-07:00

This the best restaurant. For no more than you would pay at any other moderately priced sit-down place, you can get all organic raw food. They put as much care into their food as I would at home, which is all I could ask for in a restaurant.

"Bush exempts pesticide companies from lawsuits" - USA Today via Organic Consumers Association Oct '03

2006-08-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Picking okra at the Truly Living Well Urban Organic farm in Atlanta

2006-08-14T00:56:00.000-07:00

AJC

"We think it's important for people to know their producers and where their food comes from," said Nuri [at right, founder], who has worked in more than 38 countries on various agricultural projects. "We're encouraging people to buy local and fresh."

His colleague Ernest Dunkley said produce from local growers has more flavor than foods shipped in from other areas.

"When I came back here from Africa, I couldn't eat fruit from the stores for almost a year because they tasted like cardboard," he said. "When the food has a chance to mature naturally on the vine, it gives the full flavor. That's what growing organic locally provides."

*picture: J Crawford, AJC

Environmental Working Group

2006-08-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Great site.

"Biker Gang Violence Reappears at Rally" - SF Examiner

2006-08-13T21:44:00.000-07:00

"Homeland Security Deputy Press Secretary arrested"

2006-08-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Hm I didn't know this.

Why Mommy is a Democrat

2006-08-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Single Neuron Observation

2006-08-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

SIGGRAPH 2006

2006-08-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

NewScientistTech

"Foreign Companies Buy U.S. Roads, Bridges" - Newsmax

2006-07-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

"Dissident Journalist Sentenced to Two Years in Prison" - Epoch Times

2006-07-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

"For CBS’s Fall Lineup, Check Inside Your Refrigerator" - NYT

2006-07-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Mm brainwashing and non-organic antibiotic filled sacs all in one!