Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Acey will be 15 yrs. old come April. He's a bit slower, for sure, but doing just fine!!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
This is what revolution looks like...
"Welcome to the revolution. Our elites have exposed their hand. They have nothing to offer. They can destroy but they cannot build. They can repress but they cannot lead. They can steal but they cannot share. They can talk but they cannot speak. They are as dead and useless to us as the water-soaked books, tents, sleeping bags, suitcases, food boxes and clothes that were tossed by sanitation workers Tuesday morning into garbage trucks in New York City. They have no ideas, no plans and no vision for the future." ~ Chris Hedges
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/this_is_what_revolution_looks_like_20111115/
"This event is powerfully symbolic. It is about contempt from those in power and the wanton use of force against the powerless.
We have seen similar things over and over again in the past few years. We have seen it in banks lobbying for public handouts and then denying relief to millions of exploited homeowners. We have seen it in tax breaks and bonuses for the rich while millions of Americans are out of work. We have seen it in church and university officers abusing children and then covering it up. We have seen it in the censorship of climate science performed in the public interest. We have seen it in the absurd declaration that corporations are "people" and entitled to spend billions of dollars to elect representatives that they will then own. We have seen it everywhere we turn.
The police officer is Congress. Our banks. Our clerics.
The students are us.
If I had to sum up the attitude of America's governing classes in one word, I would say: contempt." ~Michael Chorost, Ph.D.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/world-wide-mind/201111/the-turning-point-the-moral-example-uc-davis-students-and-occupy-wall-st
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
House Votes To Trim Some Health Benefits
Cut Medicaid to pay for the repeal of a law that pressures government contractors to fully pay their taxes.
House Votes To Trim Some Health Benefits
House Votes To Trim Some Health Benefits
"Foreclosure mill" law firm's Halloween party celebrating/mocking people foreclosed upon
"..... a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against." ~ Joe Nocera, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/what-the-costumes-reveal.html?_r=3
Friday, October 28, 2011
What is needed is a new paradigm of disrespect for the banker, the financier, the One Percenter, a new civic space in which he is openly reviled, in which spoiled eggs and rotten vegetables are tossed at his every turning. What is needed is a revival of the language of vigorous old progressivism, wherein the parasite class was denounced as such. What is needed is a new Resistance. We face, as Hessel describes, a system of social control “that offers nothing but mass consumption as a prospect for our youth,” that trumpets “contempt for the least powerful in society,” that offers only “outrageous competition of all against all.”
“The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.” ~Mark Twain
Written by Christopher Ketcham before the Occupy movement:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6470/
Written by Christopher Ketcham before the Occupy movement:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6470/
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
What follows is the first official, collective statement of the protesters in Zuccotti Park:
(Courtesy Nation of Change)
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
Monday, October 3, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Bridge Builder by Will Allen Dromgoole : The Poetry Foundation
The Bridge Builder
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”
Source: Father: An Anthology of Verse (EP Dutton & Company, 1931)
~~About the Author ~~
1860–1934
Will Allen Dromgoole was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A
prolific author who wrote novels, plays, and more than 8,000 poems, she
was the author of the best-selling novel The Island of the Beautiful (1911). For almost 30 years she wrote a column for the Nashville Banner called “Song and Story,” which recounted the life and times of Tennessee locals.
Dromgoole was educated at the New England School of Expression in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied law with her father and was elected clerk of the state Senate in 1885 and 1887. In 1894 she traveled to Texas and founded the Waco Women’s Press Club. Dromgoole started writing for the Nashville Banner in the early 1900s. A few of her unflattering articles on the Melungeons— a mixed-race population in eastern Tennessee—created controversy and brought her disfavor with some readers.
During World War I, Dromgoole was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, while she served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, one of the first women to do so. Her duties included library work and lecturing to sailors on patriotic themes. Dromgoole was appointed poet laureate of the Poetry Society of the South in 1930.
~~About the Author ~~
Will Allen Dromgoole
Dromgoole was educated at the New England School of Expression in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied law with her father and was elected clerk of the state Senate in 1885 and 1887. In 1894 she traveled to Texas and founded the Waco Women’s Press Club. Dromgoole started writing for the Nashville Banner in the early 1900s. A few of her unflattering articles on the Melungeons— a mixed-race population in eastern Tennessee—created controversy and brought her disfavor with some readers.
During World War I, Dromgoole was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, while she served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, one of the first women to do so. Her duties included library work and lecturing to sailors on patriotic themes. Dromgoole was appointed poet laureate of the Poetry Society of the South in 1930.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Puppy Love: Hello, Little Vino!
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| May your life be filled with happy days...lots of toys and play... |
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| So much love.. |
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| Delicious bones to chew.. |
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| so many snuggles... |
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| And may you grow to be a very old dog someday... |
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| Such a big world...welcome! |
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
"As I watch the Republican debates, I realize that we are on the brink of a crazy person running our nation. I sit in front of the television and shudder at the thought of one of these creationism-loving, global-warming-denying, immigration-bashing, Social-Security-cutting, clean-air-hating, mortality-fascinated, Wall-Street-protecting Republicans running my country." ~ James Carville
1. Fire somebody.
2. Indict people.
3. Make a case like a Democrat.
4. Hold fast to an explanation.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/14/opinion/carville-white-house-advice/index.html?hpt=po_t2
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
102 Things NOT To Do If You Hate Taxes May 18, 2011 By Stephen D. Foster Jr.
1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.
13. Do not drink clean water.
14. Do not visit National Parks.
15. Do not visit public museums, zoos, and monuments.
16. Do not eat or use FDA inspected food and medicines.
17. Do not bring your kids to public playgrounds.
18. Do not walk or run on sidewalks.
19. Do not use public recreational facilities such as basketball and tennis courts.
20. Do not seek shelter facilities or food in soup kitchens when you are homeless and hungry.
21. Do not apply for educational or job training assistance when you lose your job.
22. Do not apply for food stamps when you can’t feed your children.
23. Do not use the judiciary system for any reason.
24. Do not ask for an attorney when you are arrested and do not ask for one to be assigned to you by the court.
25. Do not apply for any Pell Grants.
26. Do not use cures that were discovered by labs using federal dollars.
27. Do not fly on federally regulated airplanes.
28. Do not use any product that can trace its development back to NASA.
29. Do not watch the weather provided by the National Weather Service.
30. Do not listen to severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
31. Do not listen to tsunami, hurricane, or earthquake alert systems.
32. Do not apply for federal housing.
33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military.
34. Do not swim in clean rivers.
35. Do not allow your child to eat school lunches or breakfasts.
36. Do not ask for FEMA assistance when everything you own gets wiped out by disaster.
37. Do not ask the military to defend your life and home in the event of a foreign invasion.
38. Do not use your cell phone or home telephone.
39. Do not buy firearms that wouldn’t have been developed without the support of the US Government and military. That includes most of them.
40. Do not eat USDA inspected produce and meat.
41. Do not apply for government grants to start your own business.
42. Do not apply to win a government contract.
43. Do not buy any vehicle that has been inspected by government safety agencies.
44. Do not buy any product that is protected from poisons, toxins, etc…by the Consumer Protection Agency.
45. Do not save your money in a bank that is FDIC insured.
46. Do not use Veterans benefits or military health care.
47. Do not use the G.I. Bill to go to college.
48. Do not apply for unemployment benefits.
49. Do not use any electricity from companies regulated by the Department of Energy.
50. Do not live in homes that are built to code.
51. Do not run for public office. Politicians are paid with taxpayer dollars.
52. Do not ask for help from the FBI, S.W.A.T, the bomb squad, Homeland Security, State troopers, etc…
53. Do not apply for any government job whatsoever as all state and federal employees are paid with tax dollars.
54. Do not use public libraries.
55. Do not use the US Postal Service.
56. Do not visit the National Archives.
57. Do not visit Presidential Libraries.
58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government.
59. Do not apply for loans from any bank that is FDIC insured.
60. Do not ask the government to help you clean up after a tornado.
61. Do not ask the Department of Agriculture to provide a subsidy to help you run your farm.
62. Do not take walks in National Forests.
63. Do not ask for taxpayer dollars for your oil company.
64. Do not ask the federal government to bail your company out during recessions.
65. Do not seek medical care from places that use federal dollars.
66. Do not use Medicaid.
67. Do not use WIC.
68. Do not use electricity generated by Hoover Dam.
69. Do not use electricity or any service provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
70. Do not ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees when they break.
71. Do not let the Coast Guard save you from drowning when your boat capsizes at sea.
72. Do not ask the government to help evacuate you when all hell breaks loose in the country you are in.
73. Do not visit historic landmarks.
74. Do not visit fisheries.
75. Do not expect to see animals that are federally protected because of the Endangered Species List.
76. Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work.
77. Do not hunt or camp on federal land.
78. Do not work anywhere that has a safe workplace because of government regulations.
79. Do not use public transportation.
80. Do not drink water from public water fountains.
81. Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws.
82. Do not expect to own your home, car, or boat. Government organizes and keeps all titles.
83. Do not expect convicted felons to remain off the streets.
84. Do not eat in restaurants that are regulated by food quality and safety standards.
85. Do not seek help from the US Embassy if you need assistance in a foreign nation.
86. Do not apply for a passport to travel outside of the United States.
87. Do not apply for a patent when you invent something.
88. Do not adopt a child through your local, state, or federal governments.
89.Do not use elevators that have been inspected by federal or state safety regulators.
90. Do not use any resource that was discovered by the USGS.
91. Do not ask for energy assistance from the government.
92. Do not move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are much higher.
93. Do not go to a beach that is kept clean by the state.
94. Do not use money printed by the US Treasury.
95. Do not complain when millions more illegal immigrants cross the border because there are no more border patrol agents.
96. Do not attend a state university.
97. Do not see any doctor that is licensed through the state.
98. Do not use any water from municipal water systems.
99. Do not complain when diseases and viruses, that were once fought around the globe by the US government and CDC, reach your house.
100. Do not work for any company that is required to pay its workers a livable wage, provide them sick days, vacation days, and benefits.
101. Do not expect to be able to vote on election days. Government provides voting booths, election day officials, and voting machines which are paid for with taxes.
102. Do not ride trains. The railroad was built with government financial assistance.
The fact is, we pay for the lifestyle we expect. Without taxes, our lifestyles would be totally different and much harder. America would be a third world country. The less we pay, the less we get in return. Americans pay less taxes today since 1958 and is ranked 32nd out of 34 of the top tax paying countries. Chile and Mexico are 33rd and 34th. The Republicans are lying when they say that we pay the highest taxes in the world and are only attacking taxes to reward corporations and the wealthy and to weaken our infrastructure and way of life. So next time you object to paying taxes or fight to abolish taxes for corporations and the wealthy, keep this quote in mind…
“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” ~Oliver Wendell Holmes
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
I'm thinking this is that Little eTrades Dude, incognito, cruising for chicks in his Graco....
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| Hey, Mom..can you hand me my iPad? |
We Are What We Loathe
"The images of the jumpers proved too gruesome for TV networks. Even
before the towers collapsed, the falling men and women were censored
from live broadcasts. Isolated pictures appeared, the next day, in
papers, including The New York Times, and then were banished. The mass
suicide, one of the most pivotal and important elements in the narrative
of 9/11, was expunged. It remains expunged from public consciousness.
The "jumpers" did not fit the myth the nation demanded. ................ The shock of 9/11 ...demanded images of resilience, redemption, heroism, courage, self-sacrifice and generosity, not collective suicide in the face of overwhelming hopelessness and despair.
.....The plague of nationalism began almost immediately......"
The "jumpers" did not fit the myth the nation demanded. ................ The shock of 9/11 ...demanded images of resilience, redemption, heroism, courage, self-sacrifice and generosity, not collective suicide in the face of overwhelming hopelessness and despair.
.....The plague of nationalism began almost immediately......"
Scores of people,
perhaps more than 200, pushed through the smoke and heat to jump to
their deaths from windows that had broken or they had smashed. Sometimes
they did this alone, sometimes in pairs. But it seems they took turns,
one body cascading downward followed by another. The last acts of
individuality. They fell for about 10 seconds, many flailing or
replicating the motion of swimmers, reaching 150 miles an hour. Their
clothes and, in a few cases, their improvised parachutes made from
drapes or tablecloths shredded. They smashed into the pavement with
unnerving, sickening thuds. Thump. Thump. Thump. Those who witnessed it
were particularly shaken by the sounds the bodies made on impact.
The images of the “jumpers” proved too gruesome for the TV networks. Even before the towers collapsed, the falling men and women were censored from live broadcasts. Isolated pictures appeared the next day in papers, including The New York Times, and then were banished. The mass suicide, one of the most pivotal and important elements in the narrative of 9/11, was expunged. It remains expunged from public consciousness.
The “jumpers” did not fit into the myth the nation demanded. The fate of the “jumpers” said something so profound, so disturbing, about our own fate, smallness in the universe and fragility that it had to be banned. The “jumpers” illustrated that there are thresholds of suffering that elicit a willing embrace of death. The “jumpers” reminded us that there will come, to all of us, final moments when the only choice will be, at best, how we will choose to die, not how we are going to live. And we can die before we physically expire.
http://www.nationofchange.org/decade-after-911-we-are-what-we-loathe-131575245The images of the “jumpers” proved too gruesome for the TV networks. Even before the towers collapsed, the falling men and women were censored from live broadcasts. Isolated pictures appeared the next day in papers, including The New York Times, and then were banished. The mass suicide, one of the most pivotal and important elements in the narrative of 9/11, was expunged. It remains expunged from public consciousness.
The “jumpers” did not fit into the myth the nation demanded. The fate of the “jumpers” said something so profound, so disturbing, about our own fate, smallness in the universe and fragility that it had to be banned. The “jumpers” illustrated that there are thresholds of suffering that elicit a willing embrace of death. The “jumpers” reminded us that there will come, to all of us, final moments when the only choice will be, at best, how we will choose to die, not how we are going to live. And we can die before we physically expire.
By the time I
arrived at Ground Zero it was a moonscape; whole floors of the towers
had collapsed like an accordion. I pulled out pieces of paper from one
floor, and a few feet below were papers from 30 floors away. Small bits
of human bodies—a foot in a woman’s shoe, a bit of a leg, part of a
torso—lay scattered amid the wreckage.
Scores of people, perhaps more than 200, pushed through the smoke and heat to jump to their deaths from windows that had broken or they had smashed. Sometimes they did this alone, sometimes in pairs. But it seems they took turns, one body cascading downward followed by another. The last acts of individuality. They fell for about 10 seconds, many flailing or replicating the motion of swimmers, reaching 150 miles an hour. Their clothes and, in a few cases, their improvised parachutes made from drapes or tablecloths shredded. They smashed into the pavement with unnerving, sickening thuds. Thump. Thump. Thump. Those who witnessed it were particularly shaken by the sounds the bodies made on impact.
The images of the “jumpers” proved too gruesome for the TV networks. Even before the towers collapsed, the falling men and women were censored from live broadcasts. Isolated pictures appeared the next day in papers, including The New York Times, and then were banished. The mass suicide, one of the most pivotal and important elements in the narrative of 9/11, was expunged. It remains expunged from public consciousness.
The “jumpers” did not fit into the myth the nation demanded. The fate of the “jumpers” said something so profound, so disturbing, about our own fate, smallness in the universe and fragility that it had to be banned. The “jumpers” illustrated that there are thresholds of suffering that elicit a willing embrace of death. The “jumpers” reminded us that there will come, to all of us, final moments when the only choice will be, at best, how we will choose to die, not how we are going to live. And we can die before we physically expire
Scores of people, perhaps more than 200, pushed through the smoke and heat to jump to their deaths from windows that had broken or they had smashed. Sometimes they did this alone, sometimes in pairs. But it seems they took turns, one body cascading downward followed by another. The last acts of individuality. They fell for about 10 seconds, many flailing or replicating the motion of swimmers, reaching 150 miles an hour. Their clothes and, in a few cases, their improvised parachutes made from drapes or tablecloths shredded. They smashed into the pavement with unnerving, sickening thuds. Thump. Thump. Thump. Those who witnessed it were particularly shaken by the sounds the bodies made on impact.
The images of the “jumpers” proved too gruesome for the TV networks. Even before the towers collapsed, the falling men and women were censored from live broadcasts. Isolated pictures appeared the next day in papers, including The New York Times, and then were banished. The mass suicide, one of the most pivotal and important elements in the narrative of 9/11, was expunged. It remains expunged from public consciousness.
The “jumpers” did not fit into the myth the nation demanded. The fate of the “jumpers” said something so profound, so disturbing, about our own fate, smallness in the universe and fragility that it had to be banned. The “jumpers” illustrated that there are thresholds of suffering that elicit a willing embrace of death. The “jumpers” reminded us that there will come, to all of us, final moments when the only choice will be, at best, how we will choose to die, not how we are going to live. And we can die before we physically expire
The Years of Shame
The Conscience of a Liberal - Paul Krugman
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto
9-11
Who is not moved today by the unfurling of Old Glory, the ringing of the bells, grieving, surviving families (esp. the children)? But, I can't dismiss my feelings that this is such a deep river and this is surface stuff...what about the murky, deep, deep underwater? Total number killed in 9-11 attacks: 2,977. What about the following figures? Where are their "towers" and reflective pools?? What has our government done to assist returning vets in making necessary adjustments for reintegration upon their return? How many are amongst our homeless population? How many can't find jobs? If just one person of these figures below represents your loved one...it's one too many. It's personal. Are/were these any less "casualities" than those lost in the horror of 9-11?
18 Vet Suicides Per Day?
320,000 Vets Have Brain Injuries
http://antiwar.com/casualties/
American
Military Casualties in Iraq
|
||
Date
|
Total
|
In
Combat
|
| American Deaths | ||
| Since war began (3/19/03): | 4474 | 3529 |
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list)
| ||
| Since Handover (6/29/04): | 3615 | 2896 |
| Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): | 246 | 125 |
| Since Operation New Dawn: | 46 | 35 |
| American Wounded | Official | Estimated |
| Total Wounded: | 33143 | Over 100000 |
18 Vet Suicides Per Day?
320,000 Vets Have Brain Injuries
 |
|
http://antiwar.com/casualties/
Cut education, medicare, social security?? Those leaches of our resources! Video corporation shows $1.2 billion profit yet reports a net loss using tax loopholes... !
There is no lack of money. It is about distribution. The Republican choir kvetches about liberals wanting to redistribute funds from the wealthy (all of whom have 'worked hard' for their dollars) and give to the poor (all of whom are lazy scumbags). Well, without going into a whole diatribe on the issue, let me simply say, there is, right now...always has been...always will be...some form of redistribution of funds. It just seems when the redistribution takes a form that favors those already well-cushioned financially, it is labeled "earned"..."deserved"..."necessary."
Because video game makers straddle the lines between software development, the entertainment industry and online retailing, they can combine tax breaks in ways that companies like Netflix and Adobe cannot. Video game developers receive such a rich assortment of incentives that even oil companies have questioned why the government should subsidize such a mature and profitable industry whose main contribution is to create amusing and sometimes antisocial entertainment.
For example, Electronic Arts of Redwood City, Calif., shipped more than two million copies of Dead Space 2 in the game’s first week on the market this year. It shows a total of $1.2 billion in global profits the last five years using an accounting method that management says captures its operating profits.
But largely because of deferred revenue, deductions for executive stock options and a variety of accounting requirements, the company officially reports a net loss for the period. And the company reports that it paid out $98 million in cash for taxes worldwide in those years.
Neither corporations nor the government make tax returns public, and the information most companies disclose in their regulatory filings is insufficient to determine how much they pay in federal taxes and how that compares to the official United States corporate rate of 35 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/technology/rich-tax-breaks-bolster-video-game-makers.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
Because video game makers straddle the lines between software development, the entertainment industry and online retailing, they can combine tax breaks in ways that companies like Netflix and Adobe cannot. Video game developers receive such a rich assortment of incentives that even oil companies have questioned why the government should subsidize such a mature and profitable industry whose main contribution is to create amusing and sometimes antisocial entertainment.
For example, Electronic Arts of Redwood City, Calif., shipped more than two million copies of Dead Space 2 in the game’s first week on the market this year. It shows a total of $1.2 billion in global profits the last five years using an accounting method that management says captures its operating profits.
But largely because of deferred revenue, deductions for executive stock options and a variety of accounting requirements, the company officially reports a net loss for the period. And the company reports that it paid out $98 million in cash for taxes worldwide in those years.
Neither corporations nor the government make tax returns public, and the information most companies disclose in their regulatory filings is insufficient to determine how much they pay in federal taxes and how that compares to the official United States corporate rate of 35 percent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/technology/rich-tax-breaks-bolster-video-game-makers.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
Friday, September 9, 2011
Ace's new watering bowl...
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| It took him a few experimental laps to decide, but, ultimately, he likes to lap from the bubbler. It also filters the water (which is already filtered when I pour it in...) Makes him happy...that makes me happy! |
'No power' doesn't mean 'no light'...
I live in a great neighborhood...'tho really nearly in the heart of the city..it's just a great walking neighborhood with little markets, shops, restaurants and diverse people. We were among the 1.5 to 5 million w/out power for a good spell yesterday. Chatting with neighbors this, the morning after the experience, we have all expressed the "fun" of having no power at all: everybody out walking, bicycling, pushing strollers, mingling in the streets chatting, standing on porches, walking w/flashlights, some w/headlamps, soft glow of candles and/or dim lanterns from homes, people in little "wine & candlelight" get-togethers. Neighbors w/access to radio turned it loudly enough that everybody could hear the latest information as it filtered through the airwaves. Acey's favorite watering-hole-deli passed out a couple containers each of free water to people who live in the neighborhood, and gave away fresh sandwiches and other perishables.
"I was almost disappointed when the power came back on," more than one commented this morning.
The weather is cool this morning with a dense marine layer in contrast to preceding extremely hot, humid days so the concern that people temper excessive use of air conditioning, fans, etc. is almost moot. Nice. And, yes, it was kinda fun...being without power...but I am enormously grateful for power this morning. And enormously grateful for the cooler temps. And enormously grateful for my neighborhood. The interruption of our daily lives afforded us a moment of new vision..offered almost a 'third party view' of our daily lives with the opportunity to make adjustments, if we are so moved.
Most of all, 'tho there was no power, there certainly was no lack of 'light.'
"I was almost disappointed when the power came back on," more than one commented this morning.
The weather is cool this morning with a dense marine layer in contrast to preceding extremely hot, humid days so the concern that people temper excessive use of air conditioning, fans, etc. is almost moot. Nice. And, yes, it was kinda fun...being without power...but I am enormously grateful for power this morning. And enormously grateful for the cooler temps. And enormously grateful for my neighborhood. The interruption of our daily lives afforded us a moment of new vision..offered almost a 'third party view' of our daily lives with the opportunity to make adjustments, if we are so moved.
Most of all, 'tho there was no power, there certainly was no lack of 'light.'
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
"We write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection." ~Anais Nin
This evening as I walked Ace we met a woman and her grown daughter pushing a baby stroller up the street. There was an intimacy in the way the grandmother coddled the infant and in the way the two adult women spoke with each other, 'tho their words were not English. I was struck with a certain solemnity realizing I will never have that kind of moment..with a grandchild.. with my daughter.
Shortly thereafter, from a dark parking lot I heard a man's voice speaking with another, the husky voice saying, "Yeah, my mom was born in 1922.. She's 88.." Surprising myself, I felt a little sting that he still has his mother.
"Mom," I think, "You've sure been a long time gone."
A young clerk in one of the shops along our walk whose boyfriend has been gone for months returned night before this, surprising her, she gleefully told me. She had such a glow, saying she doesn't remember when she's been so happy on a Tuesday! I feel joyful for her, remembering well what it was to be young and in love....
At the corner of the block, crossing the street kitty-wampus, an attractive, expensively dressed, gray-haired, older couple sporting very sparkling diamonds, stepped from a restaurant and paused to coo over Ace before moving on to their hundred thousand dollar automobile. I consider how the gentleman has not opted for some young chick, and observe a patient gentleness and tenderness between the two of them. I wonder how life may have been if my husband and I had grown old together...
"Love," I think, "You sure have been.... a long time gone."
And, I am filled with gratitude while I very patiently wait for this slow-ambling critter alongside me. He glances up at me as if to know my thoughts this evening and I am mindful how much of my relationship with him are in those glances...when he's sleeping and raises his head to see if I'm there...how he'll sit on his cushion and watch me for signals whether or not everything is ok...how the length of time of he holds eye contact can tell me he needs to go out, or it's time for his dinner. I can even tell if he's embarrassed...it shows up in his eyes..or when he's laughing and the shape of his eyes change a bit, the white showing a little more. I call those his "puppy eyes."
We're bound to have some real hot weather yet come September. Still in all, we are moving into autumn, and autumn holds title to the reflections of life. Even if there aren't dried leaves rustling about as a reminder of the cycle of life, the air itself is dredged with reminiscence, wafting above the sidewalks, perched on a streetlamp, slipping in and out between buildings, lacing among the trees, parking itself alongside curbs. See it waiting there...watching for you? Sometimes, it can trip you. I politely acknowledge it.
I do love autumn. It is my favorite season.
"We write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection." ~Anais Nin
I think, maybe, autumn is nature's author.
Shortly thereafter, from a dark parking lot I heard a man's voice speaking with another, the husky voice saying, "Yeah, my mom was born in 1922.. She's 88.." Surprising myself, I felt a little sting that he still has his mother.
"Mom," I think, "You've sure been a long time gone."
A young clerk in one of the shops along our walk whose boyfriend has been gone for months returned night before this, surprising her, she gleefully told me. She had such a glow, saying she doesn't remember when she's been so happy on a Tuesday! I feel joyful for her, remembering well what it was to be young and in love....
At the corner of the block, crossing the street kitty-wampus, an attractive, expensively dressed, gray-haired, older couple sporting very sparkling diamonds, stepped from a restaurant and paused to coo over Ace before moving on to their hundred thousand dollar automobile. I consider how the gentleman has not opted for some young chick, and observe a patient gentleness and tenderness between the two of them. I wonder how life may have been if my husband and I had grown old together...
"Love," I think, "You sure have been.... a long time gone."
And, I am filled with gratitude while I very patiently wait for this slow-ambling critter alongside me. He glances up at me as if to know my thoughts this evening and I am mindful how much of my relationship with him are in those glances...when he's sleeping and raises his head to see if I'm there...how he'll sit on his cushion and watch me for signals whether or not everything is ok...how the length of time of he holds eye contact can tell me he needs to go out, or it's time for his dinner. I can even tell if he's embarrassed...it shows up in his eyes..or when he's laughing and the shape of his eyes change a bit, the white showing a little more. I call those his "puppy eyes."
We're bound to have some real hot weather yet come September. Still in all, we are moving into autumn, and autumn holds title to the reflections of life. Even if there aren't dried leaves rustling about as a reminder of the cycle of life, the air itself is dredged with reminiscence, wafting above the sidewalks, perched on a streetlamp, slipping in and out between buildings, lacing among the trees, parking itself alongside curbs. See it waiting there...watching for you? Sometimes, it can trip you. I politely acknowledge it.
I do love autumn. It is my favorite season.
"We write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection." ~Anais Nin
I think, maybe, autumn is nature's author.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Surely, it was clear, way back then, this was a budding gourmet cook...
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| Her first original recipe..maybe 4 yrs. old at the time.. |
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
The Beatitudes...the FIRST Beatitude..."..richness of spirit????"
Whatever happened to, "Blessed are the poor in spirit..."? What is their reward now, hmmm? Ohhh: right! Errr..right-wing... Or..??? Why AM I so confused?? Isn't the preface of the conservatives that we don't need any social programs because everybody will simply care for the next guy out of the goodness of his heart? Why, I wonder, would I not want to left at the compassionate mercy of someone (re: preceding posted video} like this?? I do, after all, have indoor plumbing.
And, here I thought "you guys" are the ones who profess to be Biblical experts. Oh! What AM I missing? Why DO I have such a difficult time thinking they are empathetic...well, yeah: but, empathetic toward those who might be (in their perception) different from them as defined by color of skin, gender, faith, lifestyle, class (money, money, money)...???
Oh, talk about dollars in the bank: Another reason there might be more dollars in "their" pockets and less in "yours"...(because they are rich in spirit, of course!!):
http://www.nationofchange.org/what-expose-feds-secret-bailout-told-us-and-what-it-didnt-1314371868
Oh! And for what it's worth:
The beatitudes are found at Matthew 5: 3-12
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall possess the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I don't even consider myself religious, but they are worthy of reflection, no??
And, here I thought "you guys" are the ones who profess to be Biblical experts. Oh! What AM I missing? Why DO I have such a difficult time thinking they are empathetic...well, yeah: but, empathetic toward those who might be (in their perception) different from them as defined by color of skin, gender, faith, lifestyle, class (money, money, money)...???
Oh, talk about dollars in the bank: Another reason there might be more dollars in "their" pockets and less in "yours"...(because they are rich in spirit, of course!!):
http://www.nationofchange.org/what-expose-feds-secret-bailout-told-us-and-what-it-didnt-1314371868
Oh! And for what it's worth:
The beatitudes are found at Matthew 5: 3-12
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall possess the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I don't even consider myself religious, but they are worthy of reflection, no??
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
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