Saturday, May 30, 2009

Dumb Ass American Fark News Networks and Korea

Big Time Bummer!
Our news networks are really shitty these days.
Not one of them has bothered to explain why, that's WHY! North Korea is behaving weird these days.

Try this from a Korean source:

N.Korea's Grandstanding 'Suggests Internal Power Struggle'

North Korea's recent grandstanding may be motivated by internal power struggles over who is to succeed ailing leader Kim Jong-il, Korean and U.S. diplomats speculate. In an interview with VOA on Wednesday, Scott Snyder, the director of the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy at the Asia Foundation, said the internal situation in North Korea is ominous and recent actions including the launch of a long-range rocket seem to have something to do with the succession question. There are opinions that for want of a properly prepared heir apparent, one of Kim's sons will end up as a figurehead for one or the other power group in the North.A senior South Korean government official on Thursday said, "We understand that recent acts by North Korea are not actually messages for the U.S., as we believed during the early days of the Obama administration."

If you listen to the TV news you would think we are being spit in the face by North Korea and we should spit back.
Damn fools.
They could get our children killed by their inflamatory shit.
When did the Fifth Estate die on us?

source:http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/05/22/2009052200291.html

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"Racist" is a Dialog Killer

Having recently been referred to as a racist, I am acutely aware what a bomb that is to reasonable conversation not to mention sane human interaction. It is especially galling when one has spent the better part of one's life working to disassemble the products of racism.

So how sad must it make Judge Sotomajor that the Republican money machine has chosen to label her racist as a means to raise fear and cash from the base that they have left.

This is the quote they are basing their claim of her racism:
"...I would hope that as a wise Latina Woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male that hasn't lived that life.

What they are ignoring and even suppressing is the whole of the quote and the context in which it was made. Thus it has become a lie of ommision.

It was from a speech given at a conference discussing minorities and women in the law profession in 2001. The title was: "A Latina Judge's Voice"

The whole speech was about what ethnicity, race, or gender brought to the practice of law.

Here is the quote within the context of the speech:

"Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging. Justice O'Connor has often been cited as saying that a wise old man and wise old woman will reach the same conclusion in deciding cases. I am not so sure Justice O'Connor is the author of that line since Professor Resnik attributes that line to Supreme Court Justice Coyle. I am also not so sure that I agree with the statement. First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.
Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society."

Racist? Hum, well how about her conclusion of the speech in which she explored all these ramifications?

"Each day on the bench I learn something new about the judicial process and about being a professional Latina woman in a world that sometimes looks at me with suspicion. I am reminded each day that I render decisions that affect people concretely and that I owe them constant and complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives and ensuring that to the extent that my limited abilities and capabilities permit me, that I reevaluate them and change as circumstances and cases before me requires. I can and do aspire to be greater than the sum total of my experiences but I accept my limitations. I willingly accept that we who judge must not deny the differences resulting from experience and heritage but attempt, as the Supreme Court suggests, continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies and prejudices are appropriate."

Racist?

Those who call her a racist would do well to look into their own hearts, or maybe they have.

Read the whole speech at:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/us/politics/15judge.text.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

The War Against Evil Empathy




Has the remaining remnants of the Republican Party actually gone mad?

"Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, speaking on This Week, warned that if a jurist were to show empathy, "politics, preferences, personal preferences and feelings might take the place of being impartial and deciding cases based upon the law, not upon politics." In an opinion piece in the Washington Times warning that Obama is poised to be the "first president to make lawlessness an explicit standard for Supreme Court Justices," Wendy Long of the Judicial Confirmation Network saw empathy as a kind of temporary insanity that so distorts a jurist's vision as to make it difficult "to uphold the federal judicial oath to dispense justice impartially." Over on Fox News, Sean Hannity warned that empathy is the first step toward "social engineering." And in a delicious Freudian slip, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama snorted: "I don't know what empathy means."

sources: http://www.slate.com/id/2218103/

Now after the nomination of Sotomajor they are still attacking "Empathy" as well as using all the anti-woman code words in the Republican Feminazi Thesaurus & Attack Guide.

What is the deal here? Have they been infiltrated by Democrat operatives who are feeding them this destructive garbage. Has Regan's releasing of the asylum inmates finally overwhelmed the party? And they really do expect America to rally to their rhetoric. They really do?

Saturday, May 23, 2009

TWIMC CUWTA dude

So we acquired a disposable cell phone to use while on the road to communicate with our kids and to make motel reservations during the day while traveling.

Then they wanted to know if we wanted "texting" on the phone we declined.

I've run into the texting lingo on blogs and other areas of the internet.

It really isn't nothing new.

The very first time a non verbal electric communications system was used (1844) acronyms popped up within days.

Telegraph operators signed their messages so that if questions arise about accuracy of content they could ask the source. Some guy named Thurty condensed his name down to -30- and acronyms were off and running.

Then came cable and telegraph abbreviations to save on cost of message transmission. Military acronyms to speed up information flow in combat operations. Oh yes, and then CB jargon from the 70's.

Actually acronyms are completing a full circle. Symbols were the first ways to communicate.
Then came pictogramS that evolved into alphabets over time. Now the alphabetic words are evolving into texting acronyms and symbols.

So next time someone says EMRTW then you know they must be a Democrat cause they are saying that "evil monkeys rule the world". If you see ESDA then they don't really like you much.
As a counterpoint IASAP4U means they are on your side.

TWIWI

Check out the whole list of current text lingo acronym stuff at:
http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php

Now do remember: I DON'T TEXT!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Oklahoma Foreclosure Blues

I was wandering the back-roads of Major County in NW Oklahoma. The roads were muddy. I was lost, but wouldn't admit it as per my geographic training. But I was looking for one of them Oklahoma "rock roads" the "farm to market" roads raise up higher that the fields around it and covered with gravel or chat. Sometimes however they are mythical and I was having troubles.
I was in my Red Chevy truck but my city kids were following behind me in a low bottom sedan.
They were not happy with me and disconcerted cause the daughter-in-law (ridding in the car) was suppose to be a hundred miles away helping her best friend fix up a church for the friends wedding.




So imagine their unpleasantness when I stopped to take this picture of a lonely house bent over from the SW winds and abandoned. There used to be more of these around. One almost every quarter section when I was growing up in SW Oklahoma. For you citified readers a quarter section was 160 acres and was about all a farmer could handle out on the plains plowing with mules back when this land was opened for settlement. Probably 2/3rd of all those farms and homes were sold off or foreclosed on in the great depression. For many of them, the "Jodes" just walked away.
I was surprised when my son said , "Dad a big bird has landed on top of that house."
I'll be dang I said. (sure I did)


His wife was the daughter-in-law and none to glad hubby had pointed out another picture to me.
Turns out the big bird was a vulture and seems to have had a nest in the chimney of the old home. I took pictures of the parent feeding the chicks down inside the bricks, but mud and time wouldn't let me get in closer.
Somehow a vulture taking over an old abandoned (possibly even foreclosed) property seem just too apropos and poetical to let it go by.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Along The Mississippi's Mud

Meat pies for lunch and crawfish bisque for supper and bread pudding with rum for desert.
I'm in Baton Rogue to see my baby girl graduate from LSU with an MLS. Not even having been stopped in Texas by a "drug interdiction patrol" has dampen my pleasure at being here.(Why do you think they would think two old farts in a family sedan actually going the speed limit were drug mules?) Jeez.

A Louisiana pictorial quiz for you know it alls out there.



1. What did they carry around in this thing?



2. What was the big ole pot originally used for?




3. What kind of fruit will grow from this bloom?



4. Why is this plantation house not painted white?




5. What is the common name for this very deadly poisonous plant?
Remember you can enlarge this photos by clicking on them.

Monday, May 11, 2009

For Just Four Dollars and Forty Cents (Plus Tax) Per Principle...




Passing by The Fark News Channel I got a part of Newt's selling his new "family" book. I was astounded at level of his insight into the success of life. I also like Jackie's, his daughter, cute accent.
Check out his publishers description of the five principles below.


5 Principles for a Successful Life

"Is life really so complicated? Ask happy and successful people this question and you’re likely to hear that, in its essence, life is really quite simple. In these pages, Newt Gingrich and his daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman....show how, by following just five principles, you can live life to its fullest:

1. Dream Big: Like Walt Disney, who shared the magic kingdom of his imagination with millions, or like Jackie’s sister, Kathy, who didn’t let a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis stop her from completing a walking marathon, see where your dreams can take you.

2. Work Hard: As Jackie points out in her recollections of her dad’s early political career, working hard can be a surprising source of energy, and adopting an attitude of cheerful persistence will help you reach your goal.

3. Learn Every Day: The key is to re- member that learning is a reciprocal process. You can’t be passive; you must be engaged. Come along on a visit to the acclaimed Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta to see how this principle works in action.

4. Enjoy Life: And what’s the best way to do that? From the wisdom of the ancient philosophers to information from the latest scientific studies, the answer is the same: Be grateful for all your blessings and do something every day to show compassion and generosity to others.

5. Be True to Yourself: It sounds easy, but it’s the hardest principle to live by. Discover what people from William Shakespeare to Henrik Ibsen to John P. Abizaid have had to say about this touchstone for an honest life."
Source: http://www.randomhouse.com/


This can be yours for $22 or you can get a discount of 32% at Amazon.com ( A third off before it was published?) Hurry and buy several. They would make great Christmas presents.

This is "the" solution for a successful life, Hannity says so (emphasis his). It proves without a doubt that Hannity and indeed Gingrich both do have a well developed sense of humor something here-to-fore thought lacking.

In the end this is a little to self helpy and positive for me. I will have to revert to that other Republican Statesman and Governor of California, Conan The Barbarian, and his philosophy of a successful life:

"Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is an illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and I am content. "
— "Queen of the Black Coast",

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Egg to Eagle


"Back online! A faulty hardware component was replaced today. Recent nest camera failures are due to a period of inadequate sunshine to keep the batteries charged. We are currently working on two solutions for this problem."

The Eagle Cams are operating again. I could not resist comment on these picture of the young eagle that is just over six weeks old. See the unhatched egg next to him. Now that is a visual of how fast this baby has grown. I am always amazed.
Check the family out at:

Friday, May 8, 2009

Holey, Holey, Holey, Good God Almighty!



The work on the house continues.



Shit.




Contract add-on # 3.
So much for the vacation money this year.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Lest We Think, We Know It All


Basking Sharks' Hiding Places Found
Emily Sohn, Discovery News
May 7, 2009 -- For centuries, scientists have wondered where basking sharks go in the wintertime. Now, they have an answer -- and it's full of surprises.
VIDEO: Watch a Discovery News reporter swim with sharks on video, and survive!
In the western Atlantic, the world's second largest fish swims all the way from New England to the Bahamas and across the equator to South America, a new study finds. Scientists have long thought that basking sharks spent all of their time in cooler waters.
"This is equivalent to finding polar bears in Kansas," said lead researcher Greg Skomal, a marine biologist with Massachusetts Marine Fisheries in Martha's Vineyard. "This was a mind-blowing discovery for us."

Read all about it:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/05/07/basking-shark-track.html

I could pretty much post something like this every day. With advent of the web and all of the information that flows here, one does not have to wait for the magazines or journals to arrive to discover what has been found or understood. Indeed a mind can forage anywhere it pleases in the www.

The world is full of wonder. Pity is, life is so short that we can only grab a part of it. Like printing skin graphs from the harvested cells of the person who needs it. Better yet the washing of the muscle from a heart and taking the bare ghost structure of the heart and filling it with compatible cells that won't be rejected by a recipient.

So many secrets.
So much to find.
So much to learn.
Almost makes me wish for reincarnation to be true.
Well, only if I come back...belay that thought.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The GOP Takes Off Its Mask


pic source: www.daylife.com

Re: Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III



The Republican Party is absolutely bent on political suicide.
Jefferson Sessions is a PR guys nightmare.
They have placed the worst possible image and voice they could on the Judicial committee.
Are they so out of touch?
Keep it up guys.
America learns fast.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sessions

Monday, May 4, 2009

How Long, How Long, Dear God, How Long

April 14 post continued:

Scraped?

My home was built in 1916. It was a five room farm home, quickly evolved into a trolley suburb home, and then was overrun by the city in the 1940s. We moved in 32 years ago and started renovations. Then we had children. Then we had dogs. Them the mama quit work and raise all of those. Then came college, and boomeranging children, and then retirement and finally after 25 years of deferred maintenance we are trying to resurrect it one more time.



Primed?


So in early March will some prodding from the OKC Community Code Enforcement Agency (a.k.a. Paint Police, Grass Marshals, and Dry Rot Inspectors) we began the long delayed work on our
home. So we got our bids and selected a contractor with a track record and made the start.


Painted?


Seven week, rain, wind, labor shortage (our Mexican Nationals have all returned to home), and we are half done. Looks good, from the street anyway. After I totally blew a gasket the carpenter shifted from let's get this over with to let's do this right. Now the painter's did not get the word. But, my wife says one insane episode is enough so I can't "Explain" to them what "scraping paint actually means" and that diluting the most expensive of paints so you can spray it is actually is not a good idea. Indeed the Woman has required that I leave the premises when when any of the "craftsmen" are working here (plus she made me up my meds). I thought that would be an inconvenience, but so far the speed of the effort is slow enough that I haven't had to leave so much yet.

So here I am. Waiting for the rain to abate and the guys to come back. More to come when it is done and I recover.

Friday, May 1, 2009

State Highway 8 Bridge....Whoops



The Enid News and Eagle

Storms roll across OklahomaBy Cass Rains, Staff Writer
...........
"One highway in Alfalfa County, Oklahoma 8, will remain closed for about a month as repairs are made. Flooding caused a bridge between Cleo Springs and Aline to collapse."

And that's all that was reported.


Don't look so bad does it. Except that drop you see is 18 inches. So in the wee hours of Wednesday A.M. when a car coming from down the highway at a goodly rate of speed ran off the edge it blew out all of its tires and caused it to crash.


Here's what it looks like from the side.




Now there is a bunch of water rolling through this stream. Really there is, it is all going UNDER the bidge's structure. Also note that the water scoured out the soil on the outside of the bridge structure at the North end.



So it was just hollowed out from underneath, and also from the North end.
So there just wasn't anything keeping the bridge up.

Now did this take a while? Well in the third picture above note that the farmer had already built a new fence up from the scour, before the collapse.

So you guys in the cities, don't begrudge these rural roads some of the stimulus money. That is if you want your bread, milk, and beef to get to you.







BBC: Oklahoma is the most racist and ignorant state in US




"The BBC's Kevin Connolly has been to the Republican heartland of Oklahoma, which had the strongest anti-Obama turnout last November. According to Oklahomans, Obama has brought homosexuality, "abortions out the ears," and "blacks everywhere...blacks, blacks, blacks, everywhere I turn." "
Listen here:

Holy Shit!
KTOK talk radio and a Medicine Park women's church group? Oklahoma?

I used to think that the BBC was a legitimate and professional outlet of news. What happened?

Oh yes and in a latter broadcast the BBC took Oklahomans to task for using the racist term "blacks". I must remember to get in my lorry and motor over there and take the lift up to their flat and explain to them that their language is not our language.




Does this mean that we can't get Oklahoman Anita Hill on the SCOTUS? She does come from a racist State after all.




Anita Hill to the Supreme Court!

I nominate my fellow Okie Anita Hill to replace Justice Souter on SCOTUS.
Now that would be change, and boy would those court rulings be discussed in chambers. Wow!




Anita F. Hill was born in Lone Tree, Oklahoma, Hill received her undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University in 1977 and her Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School in 1980.
A professor of social policy, law, and women's studies, Hill was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1980. Hill began her law career as an associate with the Washington, D.C., firm of Wald, Harkrader & Ross. In 1981 she served as counsel to the assistant secretary of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. From 1982 to 1983, she moved on to serve as assistant to the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Clarence Thomas (see below). Hill became a professor at Oral Roberts University, where she actively taught from 1983 to 1986. In 1986, she joined the faculty at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.


Source: Wikipedia


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Hill


So what do you think about that?