celestial teapot

WikiLeaks Versus the Empire

2010-12-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 2:03PM
from Tom Hayden

Informed sources say that the current deluge of WikiLeaks documents will continue for another week and grow in significance.

Leading US human rights lawyers, Leonard Weinglass and Michael Rattner, have joined the defense team for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

US officials are employing cyber-warfare and prosecutorial steps to deny any safe haven for the WikiLeaks operation with a fervor comparable to their drone attacks on Al Qaeda havens in Pakistan and Yemen.

Two cyber-attacks have been reported against WikiLeaks servers this week. The Justice Department is seeking indictments on espionage charges from a grand jury quietly impaneled this week in arch-conservative Alexandria, Virginia. Assange is in London, facing rape and sexual harassment charges in Sweden, on which he claims to be innocent. Extradition could be sought by the United States at any time from either venue.

Why is this drama important? Not because of “life-threatening” leaks as claimed by the establishment, but because the closed doors of power need to be open to public review. We live increasingly in an Age of Secrecy, as described by Garry Wills in Bomb Power, among recent books. It has become the American Way of War, and increasingly draws the curtains over American democracy itself. The wars in Pakistan and Yemen are secret wars. The war in Afghanistan is dominated by secret US Special Operations raids and killings. The CIA has its own secret army in Afghanistan. Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s entire record in Iraq was classified. The CIA has its own secret army in Afghanistan. And so on, ad nauseam.

And what is the purpose of all the secrecy? As Howard Zinn always emphasized, the official fear was that the American people might revolt if we knew the secrets being kept from us. In Rolling Stone’s expose of McChrystal’s war this year, one top military adviser said, “if Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular.” McChrystal himself joked about sending out Special Forces units to kill at night then having to “scold” them in the morning.

And revolt we should, against those who would keep the affairs of empire shrouded. We should not be distracted by the juicy tidbits that may or may not be better left unreported. The focus of Congressional hearings and journalistic investigation should be on matters of public policy in which the American people are being lied to, most notably these:

“We’ll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours” – Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh to Gen. David Petraeus.
“Note: while we must deal with AWK [Ahmed Wali Karzai] as the head of the Provincial Council [of Kandahar], he is widely understood to be corrupt and a narcotics trafficker." – Cable 09KABUL3068.

The military coup in Honduras was completely illegal, but we supported the coup-makers anyway:
The Embassy perspective is that there is no doubt that the military, Supreme Court and National Congress conspired on June 28 in what constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the Executive Branch… There is equally no doubt from our perspective that Roberto Micheletti's assumption of power was illegitimate.

Without public outcry, don’t expect anyone to be following up on these shocking revelations. Instead, there will be a continuing escalation of the cyber-warfare and legal persecution of WikiLeaks and Assange.

The Washington Times is calling for “waging war” on the WikiLeaks Web presence. The new chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Peter King, wants to designate WikiLeaks as a foreign terrorist organization, which would block credit card donations to the organization and criminalize any civic support or even free legal advice under the Patriot Act, according to King. The military already holds Pfc. Bradley Manning in isolation on charges of having downloaded the files.

The Pentagon’s Cyber Command is allowed to conduct “full-spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains” – which author Declan McCullagh of CNET says “includes destroying electronic infrastructure as thoroughly as a B-52 bombing would level a power plant.”

This may sound alarmist, but does anyone seriously expect the US government, and its global allies, to permit more revelations to leak out week after week, month after month, in what Der Spiegel already calls “nothing short of a political meltdown for US foreign policy.”

What can be done?

Civic society must be persuaded through widespread discussion that this controversy is about the security of the elites, not national security;
Civil liberties lawyers need to join Weinglass and Ratner in the legal defense of Assange, Manning and the organization as a whole. An Ecuadoran official has offered his country as safe haven; others should follow;
Activists should demand immediate investigations of such issues as the cover-up of American bombing in Yemen, and oppose the current official mood of killing the messenger.

And remember: there are 250,000 more cables to go. This may be a long and strange campaign.

Philly Mignon

2010-11-17T11:00:00.001-08:00

Dear Philadelphia fans,

Bon appetit!

Massive Katrina Oil Spill - News to Me

2010-07-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

I, for one, was entirely unaware that Katrina had caused a massive oil spill ( over 7 million gallons) in New Orleans. This was a fairly significant part of the disaster story that was entirely overlooked by the national media.

From Wikipedia:

The storm caused oil spills from 44 facilities throughout southeastern Louisiana, which resulted in over 7 million U.S. gallons (26 million L) of oil being leaked. Some spills were as small as a few hundred gallons; the largest are tabulated to the right. While most of the spills were contained on-site, some oil entered the ecosystem, and the town of Meraux was flooded with a blend of water and oil.[82] Unlike Hurricane Ivan no offshore oil spills were officially reported after Hurricane Katrina. However, Skytruth reported some signs of surface oil in the Gulf of Mexico.[82]

Finally, as part of the cleanup effort, the flood waters that covered New Orleans were pumped into Lake Pontchartrain, a process that took 43 days to complete.[34] These residual waters contained a mix of raw sewage, bacteria, heavy metals, pesticides, toxic chemicals, and oil, which sparked fears in the scientific community of massive numbers of fish dying.[71]

Seeing is believing. There are several photos here.

A Celebration of the Life of Dorothy Landeros

2010-03-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

Some Thoughts about my Mother, by Rob Landeros

I would like to start with a story originally told by Toni on her blog. I retell it in my own voice, with apologies to the original author. It's called "The Rose Parade Story".

Dorothy often said, with a slight complaint in her voice, “I’ve always wanted to go to the Rose Parade, but never have.”

In 2006, the year she turned 82, her granddaughter Toni learned there was a trip planned through her church, wherein people would spend the night in a church on the parade route, get a pancake breakfast and go out into the morning for float watching. They knew all the families going. It sounded like the perfect setup.

So Toni signed up for herself, her two kids, Hunter and Carlisle, and of course, her grandmother, who she called Nana.

Everybody was excited. The evening before the parade everybody had a good time and then went to sleep in great anticipation.

The next morning, everything went to pot. It was cold, windy and raining. But Dorothy was undaunted. She piled blankets in her arms and said "Let’s go".

But they soon found they were not on or even near the route. In fact, it was more than a mile away. So they started walking and after a while it seemed it would never end. The rain was making their blankets heavy, and Dorothy couldn't walk far, so it was slow traveling. Their hats, scarves and sweatshirts were useless in the wet. Toni wanted to throw the blankets down on the ground and just leave them.

Finally they found their group on cold metal folding chairs in front of a bar, which was closed. Dorothy and Toni had to pee.

Someone pointed down the route. “Go about five blocks. There are port-a-potties.” Forget it, Toni thought. Her pants were already wet, she reasoned. What harm a little more? At least it would be warm. I doubt Dorothy shared that same attitude.

They sat to wait. There was no way to get warm. The rain was coming down on them hard. Time dragged.

After a while, Hunter said, “Is it going to be like this the whole time?”

Toni turned to Dorothy. “Nana, I’m not going to make it. Shall I go get the car and pick you up?”

Hell no. She wanted to see the parade. Toni felt shamed to be out-hardied by an 82 year old.

Nevertheless, she and Hunter left to go back to the church where the car was. Dorothy stayed there with 11-year-old Carlisle. On the walk back Hunter looked over his arms and feet and said, “I could not be wetter.”

“I could not be colder,” Toni said back.

At the church, Toni called Dorothy's cell phone to see if she’d reconsidered. The parade hadn’t started yet, but others had left. Dorothy was finally ready to cry "uncle". She had started walking.

Toni jumped in her car and headed route ward. When she got to the underpass, there were pylons blocking her way, and a police officer was pacing nearby in the dryness.

Toni got out and started moving the pylons. She was frenzied knowing her Nana was walking — sopping, cold and carrying that leaden blanket. She knew her Nana was simply not as strong as she was stubborn.

The officer moved to stop her. Toni shook her head. “My grama needs to be picked up. You wanna stop me, you’re gonna have to shoot me.”

The officer squinted against the pouring rain and made out the small figure of a white-haired lady struggling in their direction. He let the car through and they went to her.

It is three years later. Mom is there in her chair in the family room, watching the Rose Parade on TV.

She doesn’t complain now, just like she never complained once on that cold and rainy day.

That's just one of any number of stories I could have shared. I chose this one because, well, it’s a good story, and besides, Toni had already written it, and that saved me a lot of work... but also because I'd never heard it before, and it struck me, and made clear to me something about my mom - and something significant - that I'd never consciously considered before. Which was that she was never a whiner, or a complainer – except for complaining about not going to the Rose Parade - and she never, ever played the victim, in a world where so many of us find it so easy to find reasons to feel sorry for ourselves. That extraordinarily positive outlook on life made her strong in character and always a joy to be around.

She was also smart, curious, engaged, competitive, spirited - unwaveringly giving, loving, compassionate, unselfish and generous. Always more interested in others than she was in herself. At least, that's the way she made you feel.

I could go on with a litany of her good qualities, many of which have been generously offered in recent days by friends and family. My purpose today is not to extol the many virtues that each and every one of us already knows quite well that she embodied. What I can do is to confirm that the Dorothy you knew was exactly the same person I knew all of my life, year in and year out, day in and day out, even through her final hours.

But… knowing that nobody is perfect, when I try to look at the other side of the ledger to my mother's faults, all that I have ever been able to come up with is something like those interviews where the celebrity is asked "What's your worst fault?" and the answer is always something ridiculous like "My worst fault is that I care too much". I've told my mother, “Mom, you’re just too tolerant, too forgiving, too understanding and sympathetic. I mean, how can you be judgmental and discriminating if you're always giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, no matter what?” By the results of her life, as measured by the many to whom she is beloved, I must today admit to the possibility that maybe those attributes can't be such faults after all.

I miss her terribly already. At first there was a sense of relief that the ordeal was finally over. Now, I find myself wishing she were here for at least a little bit longer, walking about and talking, playing Scrabble, scrapbooking, gardening, and doing the million other things she loved to do, so that I could simply focus like a laser on her presence and just be there to absorb her spirit as deeply as I can, while I can, and tell her how much she means to me. But I suspect that in the fullness of time, these feelings of sadness and regret will turn into something more like feelings of joy, because I know that hers was a life well lived. And the fact is not lost on me that I am extremely lucky and privileged to be her son. I am also forever gratified, beyond words can say, to know that she will be with me -- with all of us -- always. I know that for certain because, at the end, with her last bit of strength, she promised she would.

Eulogy for Mama, by her daughter Dianne
For memorial service, March 6, 2010

A part of me died when Mama breathed her last breath and each day is a little harder as I feel her absence and miss her more and more. I have to remind myself that she really had a wonderful, full life. She grew up in a big, happy family, full of love and fun. She had a lifelong romance with my dad. She had two wonderful children (!), two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She had a job that she loved , working with and for people who became lifelong friends. And she traveled throughout the world and had great adventures. We should all be so lucky.

Dorothy was the sixth of nine children, born in Upland of immigrant parents. Her father, Kyung Whan Park, came here from Korea; her mother, Concepcion, from Mexico. Kyung Whan Park was murdered when Dorothy was six months old. His best friend and cousin, In Whan Park, married Concepcion and gave her three more children. They moved to Redlands where she grew up and remained the rest of her life. With five sisters and three brothers, it was a big, noisy, and happy household. I remember hearing of the fun they had. One family anecdote tells of my grandmother looking at the photo of a two-year-old Dorothy standing on a very large pumpkin. Whenever Nana would look at that picture, she would say to Dorothy, “You always were a daredevil.”

My mom was a tom-boy and as a young girl, challenged anyone in the neighborhood to box with her. All the neighborhood children would come to watch the boxing matches and mama fearlessly took on any challenger.

And the Park children were young entertainers. One of the older sisters taught the younger ones the old Mexican songs and folkloric dances. Their mom made costumes for them all and they, along with some of their friends, were often called upon to entertain at the various service clubs here in town. They called themselves the Spanish Troubadours.

As a schoolgirl, Dorothy was bright but lazy about schoolwork. Comments in her Makio were along the lines of “I’ll miss your corny jokes”, so I’m guessing that she was more interested in having fun than in studying. She worked after school to help with the family finances. One of her jobs was teaching Spanish at adult night school.

She met my dad, Albert, at the skating rink when she was fifteen. They married when she was eighteen and he was twenty – just a couple of kids, yet their marriage lasted for fifty-seven years, and their love bound them together forever. Theirs was a lifelong romance that the rest of us only dream of having. They sang together, laughed together, traveled together, grew spiritually together and truly enjoyed each other’s company. Mama handled the business end of Daddy’s artwork and entertained his clients, many of whom became their friends.

Most of Mama’s working life was spent at the San Bernardino County Agricultural Extension Service (later called Cooperative Extension). She started as a receptionist, became the Supervising Administrative Clerk, and finally served as staff analyst to the director. She edited technical research, scientific and academic publications, translated them into Spanish, worked with the director on formulating the departmental budget, handled personnel matters, and performed other administrative work for the director. It is a tribute to her that she remained close friends with the director and with those whom she supervised. Many of them visited her in her last days. Many have sent cards saying how much they loved her, what an inspiration and role model she was to them, and how much they learned from her. She had always spoken of her staff with great pride, saying that they were expected to meet high standards and how she knew she could count on them to meet those standards.

Dorothy never earned a college degree but she, along with my dad, were lifelong learners. She took college courses needed to hone her skills for work. Both of my parents had a love of words, and were self appointed grammar police. Every night that I can remember while living at home, one or the other would find occasion to look up a word or two in the dictionary, read the correct pronunciation, the root of the word, and all the possible definitions. Rob and I would sit there patiently, wishing we had left the table just a little earlier. The games she loved to play reflected that love of words also – Scrabble, crossword puzzles, Tabu, and Scattergories – all word games.

Because they loved to learn, they often took us to all kinds of museums, concerts, musicals, historical sites and national parks. We were lucky kids.

Mama was a devoted and loving mother, if something of a character- as exemplified in the Churkendoose anecdote. My friends loved her as a fun-loving brownie and Girl Scout leader, because she was quite creative in dreaming up activities for us, including treasure hunts, cookouts at the wash, games, and of course, lots of singing.

The Albert Landeros family loved to sing and some of my fondest memories were of us sitting at the piano or going somewhere in the car and singing in four part harmony. Seems like we sang whenever we were in the car, even when Rob and I were very young.

In recent years, one of my great joys and pleasures was to be able to sing with her, my daughter and granddaughter. We had great fun practicing, choreographing routines, and writing parodies that had us rolling on the floor with laughter– you had to be there. I think she really enjoyed doing these silly routines as much as we did.

Mama and Daddy loved to travel, and traveled to Korea, Japan, all over Europe and frequently to Mexico. They made many lifelong friends on those trips. One trip to Mexico was to see the Lacandon Indians deep in the heart of the rainforest and involved flying in by two’s in a small airplane and staying with the well-known anthropologist, Trudy Blom. They slept outdoors in the forest in hammocks – roughing it in a way I can’t even imagine. On other trips, she climbed mountains, hung over the edge of cliffs to see the view, climbed pyramids – my Nana was right! She always was a daredevil!

This church meant a great deal to her and she was actively involved in many ways. In addition to being one of the founders, she was involved in several committees and in choir.

When she moved in with me following my dad’s passing, she became a political activist – you may have seen her picture in the paper carrying a sign and standing on peace corner. She worked with Steve and me on many political campaigns and fundraisers.

I knew her to be generous, but each day since her passing, I have heard from many of you telling me of acts of generosity that I knew nothing about because she didn’t talk about them.

I learned a great deal from her – mostly about giving and loving and forgiving. She always saw the best in people. She never held grudges or spoke ill of people. She made friends wherever she went. At the end, she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that she received from those of you who visited or sent cards or food or who came to sit with her. It gave her great joy and I thank you for your gifts of love.

And so her passing will leave a big hole in my heart and in my life, but I am comforted in knowing that she had a wonderful, rich life that was enriched even more by the love that she gave to so many and that came back to her a thousand fold. Her faith gave her strength and she left this world in peace and with no regrets. And we are all richer for having had her in our lives.

My Nana, by Toni Momberger

When I was a little girl, I had an awareness that one day my grama would leave me. I was so in dread of it, I dwelled on it.

I never grew out of it.

When I picture a moment from my childhood, teen years, womanhood, I see us.

We played games, sang, traveled, gossiped and watched TV. There was a lot of laughing. We did everything people who love to be together do. She shared me with her friends, and I shared her with mine. The first thing we did with a big piece of news was call the other and say, ‘Did you hear?’

She showed me how to enjoy everything -- to be places and hear people and do things, and love it. While she indulged in the world, I indulged in her.

I looked forward nervously always. I knew it was selfish. I didn’t want to appreciate what we had, I wanted to keep it.

For years she tried to prepare me. She told me that whenever the time came, she was ready. She had no unfinished business. She had a lead a full life.

When the lymphoma was discovered in January, she held me, and when I started to shake with grief, she told me she wasn’t scared.

The day before she died she told me she felt surrounded by love. She said it was beautiful.

So it’s not the loss of her I’m grieving. It’s the loss of us.

It was always us.

More than anything, I’m grateful for this.

She was a perfect grama, modeling the role beautifully to my mother, who is a perfect grama to my babies.

I loved my grama. I just really loved her.

Ode to Dots, by Doug Momberger

I don’t know anyone who wasn’t awed by the bond of affection between Albert and Dorothy Landeros. They set a tone of acceptance...and generosity...and genuine interest in other people that we wanted to make central to our family. We knew that our failures and triumphs would be accepted, or celebrated, without judgment from our matriarch; Remember what Toni got away with in the eighties? If we moved to Redlands, Dots would let us be who we were, and she would model for us, daily, how to appreciate humor more than criticism, how to appreciate creativity over consistency...and to have sincere interest in each other over everything else.

We Mombergers wallowed in the affection of four complete generations for a couple of years before Albert left us in the summer of 1999. Dorothy was among the strongest of us, and although we all reminisce about him constantly, her attention toward all of us never waned. She remained the superglue of our clan, much as she has been the sister who maintained strong bonds with each of her siblings. The Landeros home was everyone’s home – and quite literally for myself and many others.

Practically everyone has lived in the back bedroom at 1333 Jasper Avenue. If you haven’t then you missed out. The list is probably not complete, and I wasn’t there for much of it, but here goes: Kenneth, Susan, Toni, Robbie, Dianne and Toni, Elsie, Dianne and Steve, Toni for a third time, with me and the kids, and Sterling. From experience I can tell you: that house expanded with the number of its occupants, yielding to the sheer force of love emanating from Albert and Dorothy.

Dorothy also loved her freedom. I could tell because she exercised it frequently. We nearly had to wrestle the car keys away from her. At eighty plus years old, she was still more interested in taking the car out than my teenage son is. She loved life, and she didn’t want to miss anything – Asia, Mexico, New Orleans, scrabble tournaments at the Joslin Center, shows in LA, church choir, art shows here and in Laguna, dinner at Judy’s, excursions with Marie and Alex, Wednesday club scrap booking, widows’ night playing 31, hair appointments, and back to school shopping with the kids – there was just no stopping Nana.

* * *

Seven. It has been seven for a nice long time. We need seven tickets, the new car must seat seven, table for seven for a Sunday dinner, with seven forks and seven glasses. There is always one cloth napkin that looks newer than the others. That one is Dapu’s.

We are so lucky. Right now my kids are rolling their eyes because Toni and I have unintentionally made this the Momberger mantra. It hurts to lose such a good friend and mother and grandmother and great grandmother. No worries - there is mist of joy that Dorothy leaves around us. So we’ll be just fine, and so will she.

Memories of Aunt Dorothy, by Doreen Garcia

Aunt Dorothy has always been a big part of my life. I remember my brothers and I loved having her as a babysitter, because she always made everything fun. She could always find an article to use as a microphone, for all the game shows we played.

Pink camellias bring back the memory of my High School Prom which, she played a part of, I had chosen a white formal to wear and she made it even more special by patiently sewing on pink camellias( from her beautiful camellia bush that was under her kitchen window ) on my prom dress, of course it ruined the dress for any other wearings, but was well worth it.

Many years later, when she had a medical problem, she asked me to give blood for the transfusion, I gladly said yes. I worked at the time, my kids were grown up and out on their own. It was just my husband and I, so why cook, --- right !! We ate out more then I cooked. So I got teased by Uncle Albert, he said ever since she got your blood she wants to eat out all the time ! Right on Aunt Dorothy !!

We all loved her white hair, it was so soft & beautiful, but sometimes I think she felt it made her look old, like the time at her office when her visitor saw the photos on her desk and said, Oh, is that your son ? It was Uncle Albert’s photo. need I say more.

She has always been young at heart to me, and I’ll always be glad that I had her in my life, and so glad that I was able to let her know how much she meant to me and my family.

Green Apricots, by Chauncey Romero

I have so many great memories of my aunt Dorothy. This is one of my favorites.

As I grew up in our childhood home in Redlands on Texas St, we had an apricot tree in our front yard. Every early summer I would climb the tree onto the roof of the house and eat green apricots with salt.

Just before I entered high school, we moved to a new home on the other side of town. I did not have an apricot tree any longer.

So each early summer, at some point I would make a visit to Mentone to my aunt Dorothy’s home. They had some prime green apricot trees. We would always have a really great one-on-one visit, talking about a variety of topics.

These green apricot visits pretty much went on every year until I moved to Oregon in 1976. And guess what? Every early summer I would receive a box of prime green apricots from my aunt Dorothy. Enclosed would be a personal loving note. I received these care packages up until last year as her health declined.

Very typical of my Aunt Dorothy, loving and caring all of her life.

Dear Aunt Dorothy, by Daryl Dichek

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been feeling poorly for the past few months, going in and out of the hospital. Ken tells me that hospice is helping you out now – I hope that they are able to keep you comfortable. You are lucky to have had the loving care of your family around you, and for the past few years since Albert died. It is a testament to you that you have created a family who cares so much about you.

Diane, Steve, Rob, Toni, Sterling, Doug, Hunter and Carlisle, your brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews –what a wonderful group of people.

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know what you have meant to me.

I appreciate how, from the very first time we met, you welcomed me into the family. Your warmth and hospitality made me feel comfortable right away. And the love you feel for Ken is so evident that I immediately felt you were my aunt, too. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years – at parties, playing games, enjoying new and old family members, discussing politics. And I’ve really enjoyed reading your letters over the years.

There are many things I admire about you, including your devotion to family, intelligence, creativity, concern about world events, willingness to engage in discussions of ideas, and your appreciation and enjoyment of heritage and culture. You are definitely a role model.

Along with your gentleness, you’ve also shown commitment and passion – especially when you get competitive about Scrabble!

I love you a lot, and hold you dearly in my heart forever…

Opening Doors, by Monty Montano

Over the years, the Landeros home was an intellectual and artistic salon for a very close group of cousins and friends. At the center of it was Aunt Dorothy. Throughout her life she was curious, open-minded and eager to hear new ideas, encouraging our creativity. I know that for Dianne, Rob, and myself she opened the doors to culture that would enrich us throughout our lives. She was a model, even an inspiration for what we would become.

So Much to Say, by Lori Vandermeer

There is so much to say about Aunt Dorothy but I'm not good at expressing it all.

She never forgot ANYONE's birthday. And always sent cards for everyone.

She always saw the good in everyone no matter who they were. Always was interested in what the latest was with you. When she would ask you questions she really listened. A super good listener.

Also she was super fun and always ready to be adventurous.

I always loved listening to her travel stories.

The positiveness she showed towards those close to her was amazing. If only those people she thought so highly of would feel as good about themselves as she did about them.

Thinking about Dorothy, by Judy Lipton

I have been thinking constantly of Dorothy since I saw her last, and struggling with words to convey both the depth of my joy, and my sorrow. Joy, because I feel so fortunate to have been part of her life.

From the moment I met her, she was an inspiration and role model for me. Her elegance and grace were something to strive to emulate, but it was her wit and wisdom that endeared her to our hearts. She was a woman of such rare intelligence and talent that I thought she knew about everything, and how to do everything - sing, dance, sew, cook, art, puns, puzzles, etc. Her gifts were infinite, and she touched so many lives in so many ways.

But it is the sorrow that preoccupies me now - the sorrow of the void Dorothy is leaving in all of our lives. I am flooded with the memories of all of the wonderful times we shared - joking and laughing and just enjoying each other. Dorothy was up for everything. I treasure the vision of her stuffing her cheeks with marshmallows in a contest we had in Baja. I think that she and Terry were vying for champion.

Both she and Albert had such a special place in our hearts and lives, and were great examples and inspiration on how to live with verve, style, dignity, love and joy. They so enjoyed each other, and Terry and I, and Megan and Noah, so enjoyed being with them.

Hers is truly a life well-lived and to be celebrated.

My Aunt, by Susi Maas

Aunt Dorothy was such a wonderful person and I will miss her a lot. What I loved about her the most was that she was always interetsed in what I was doing. She made me feel special and she always wanted to know how my kiddos were doing and sent me notes when she read a new book about a kid with autism or other disabilities. That always meant a lot to me.

With fond Regards, by Marcia Taack

I will always remember the first time I came to a service at UCC Redlands. For some reason my eyes came to rest on your mother’s face and I knew from the moment I saw her sitting there in the choir loft that she was a person I wanted to emulate. I thought to myself; when I am older that is the kind of woman I want to be. As I came to know her this last three years, I know why. She was a woman of great class, great kindness and compassion and great fun.

I will always remember the evening at Diane’s house when we sat with Dorothy and looked at the photo albums of her youth and she told stories of her family. She was so proud of her family and she loved you all so much. That was another reason I wanted to be like her. She knew what was important in this lifetime.

I also remember her at TaiChi class. We laughed a lot. Especially when we were trying to keep our balance. She kept hers better than I did.

I am so thankful that she touched my life and that I had the gift of knowing her. I know that heaven’s newest angel is continuing her souls journey and that she is in perfect peace.

When I Think of Dorothy, by Wendell Young

When I think of Dorothy, I remember the many coffee and lunch breaks she shared with me and other fortunate County employees.

Her cheeriness and "word-liness" combined with her unforgettable laugh erased any dreariness from the workday.

Her love and pride of family and generous sharing of stories enabled me to feel part of the Landeros family for which I will always be grateful.
Travelling with Albert, Dorothy and Toni brings fond memories.

Dorothy will always be part of my life and though I have not been in touch these past few years, I will miss knowing she is a phone call away.

Memorial Service for Dorothy Landeros

2010-03-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

By Rev Dr. Sharon Graff

Welcome to this place of worship, where we gather to honor & give thanks for the life of Dorothy Landeros! It is fitting that we gather in this place, a place Dorothy loved and helped create, this sanctuary nestled within a beautiful garden. Look around… friends and family of this daughter of God you loved… and you will see her touch everywhere. In the physical beauty of this stunning facility she often decorated, outside in the gardens she helped tend, and also in the faces of those she greeted and impressed with her love. For all of Dorothy’s long and rich life, she tended beauty. Today, by offering the best of ourselves here in this place, we each get to return thanks for the beauty and love Dorothy brought to our lives.

We gather also to surround Dorothy’s family with our support and our encouragement: daughter and son-in-law, Dianne and Steve; son and daughter-in-law, Rob and Geri; granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Toni and Doug; grandson and granddaughter-in-law, Sterling and Alison; great-grandchildren, Hunter and Carlisle; sisters, Mary Ann and Roxie; brother Bill, and several nieces and nephews. Whether you are present here in Redlands or listening to this recording later, know that our prayers and thoughts are with you as your grieving gives way to healing.

In a sense, ironically, it is Dorothy’s own passing that sets the tenor of this service today as one of celebration, of faith, of hope, and of love. During the long weeks of her passing, she was at peace, filled with and surrounded by love, and made her passing in such a way as to give so many of you opportunity to go and visit and share some laughter and say your goodbyes, to send a note or flowers or a meal filled with love, to pray and offer your loving thoughts which, I can assure you, made their way to her bedside.

It is our memory and our love for one another and for Dorothy and her family, that bring us each here today. And it is our faith that assures us that we do not come here simply to mourn death, but also to celebrate the wondrous gift of life as it was fully lived in this dear daughter of God.

To this place of memory and love and worship, we can bring our whole selves. Here may we feel the protective shelter of God's healing love. Here we are free to acknowledge our grief, to face our loneliness with gratitude, and to know that God cares. We gather as God's beloved children, conscious of others who have passed on and, at the same time, acutely aware of the sacredness of all of life on earth. So may we gather in love as a community of family and friends to give thanks to God, from whom all life comes and to whom all life returns.

As we begin this service, we honor the elements of life—earth, air, water, fire, spirit—elements that were the staples of Dorothy’s life.

Earth – solid – her unwavering faith in God as One who cares, and is ever-present and all-loving. Her faith taught her to discard judgment in favor of love and acceptance, to welcome people as brothers and sisters. This faith shone brightly in her humor, guided her through difficult patches in life, and ultimately, led her on her journey with peace.

Air – refreshment – family and friends. Dorothy was always “on the go.” To concerts and recitals and plays and Disneyland parades featuring her grandchildren on stage…to shows in LA with her family…to Scrabble games and tournaments…to worship and other church activities and classes…on longer trips with her beloved Albert…

Water – nourishment – music, art, beauty. She presented herself as elegant and even regal. She decorated this church with flowers, plants, color and texture more times than can be counted. She gardened with delight—here and at home. She sang with family at parties and more formally with the choir here. She worked side by side with Albert to help his watercolor business flourish.

Fire – warmth, passion – welcoming and knowing people. The number of visitors she received during these last few months is testament to how much Dorothy’s life centered around other people. She wanted to know our stories…and remembered them! She wanted to keep current on our activities…and asked us about them! Hers was the face many of the newest members of this congregation recall as the first smile they received, followed quickly by her welcoming spirit and inquisitive mind.

Spirit – essence, personality – impish glee! Today we will hear story after story of how Dorothy brought joy—surprising, sometimes even shocking joy—to those around her. One of Dianne’s most memorable is of the children’s story recorded by Ray Bolger: “The Churkendoose”—a remarkable animal: part chicken, turkey, duck and goose who finally came to see that, in spite of his differences, it depends on how you look at things…and all can be accepted as treasured good friends. Throughout the story, this unusual creature sang a silly song, to which Dorothy created a quite memorable dance. Dianne still smiles as she recalls her Mama getting up and dancing around the room like a combo chicken, turkey, duck, and goose!

We give thanks for Dorothy Landeros & her legacy!

Good lives lived well are either like a rock skipped across a pond, creating many small ripples and a delight to watch—OR like a rock tossed into a pond, which goes quick and deep to the land beneath, creating many large ripples and adding to the foundation of the earth. Dorothy’s life was of the second, with the delightful elements of the first…just ask her family!

Another funny story, one that Dorothy herself referenced in the last few days of her life, was the infamous “No Tomatoes” story. Seems that in her younger years, she was regularly poking her nose into other people’s business…never recently, of course! One day, as she was describing yet one more way that her wisdom could make another’s life easier if only they would be smart enough to take her good advice…Albert looked lovingly at her and said quietly, “No te metes…” The loose translation is “don’t butt in…” At some point this morphed into “No tomatoes,” which he didn’t have to whisper. The whole family, including Dorothy, took it up as her mantra to keep her own counsel. No te metes…No tomatoes… Granddaughter Toni, in her online stories, concludes this one with, “This is English to us now, for ‘butt out of those people’s business.’ Every New Year’s Nana announces her resolution is to remind herself no tomatoes. She can’t do it. There’s no stopping her from tomatoes…!”

One final legendary story is the one of queenly Dorothy streaking. Some of you recall that decade…when at football games or poker parlors or ladies’ teas, someone would run through the gathering, wearing not one stitch of clothing. Dorothy chose her knitting class. While they were having dessert, Dorothy quietly excused herself. She reappeared, running through the unsuspecting knitters, apparently naked. In reality, Dorothy had stitched herself a tight-fitting body suit, with embellishments of cotton and yarn in a couple of dramatic places. Needless to say, she managed to shock all the old ladies, AND, so the legend goes, Albert never knew a thing about it!

Dorothy’s legacy here at Redlands United Church of Christ is similar in the pure joy it reveals. She never held an office, never served on the board, yet her passing is larger to us than simply one person’s death. I think that’s because she embodied the spirit of this welcoming congregation so very well. Without fanfare, Dorothy just overcame whatever reticence she might have felt, and walked right up to strangers, and took on projects larger than she, and set about serving God by loving others, by bringing beauty to life. Another of our founding members, when I was asking her about Dorothy’s various church involvements over the years, said simply, “she just was a worker!” And that she was! Dorothy served for over 25 years on the committee that plans our annual “Art, For Heaven’s Sake!” and is credited in the legends with coming up with the name for the art show. She decorated the altar and our dining tables with fresh flowers and interesting plants. She could often be seen moving Albert’s paintings around on the walls here to create a more balanced and welcoming scene. She participated in the Women’s Fellowship, helped in the kitchen, sang in the choir, learned with the Bible study group, pruned and planted with the church gardeners, and, of course, beat many of us at Scrabble during games days after worship. Just a few hours before her death, as I sat with her family at her bedside, stroking her hair and holding her hand, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Perhaps now, Dorothy, I could beat you at Scrabble!” Of late, Dorothy’s passion for justice and her interest in other people, led her to work faithfully on the Growth Committee and tirelessly on our FaithActs Task Group. It’s not just that she followed Dianne in whatever tasks needed doing…it’s that she shared similar passions for the weaving of justice and compassion to help bring the Kingdom of God to earth.

Dorothy, we your church family miss you dearly. But, like the family to which you gave life—your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews—we shall carry on stronger and more loving for having known you. We love you, Dorothy…and we give thanks to your God and ours for your many gifts, which will continue to inspire us with queenly beauty, with irrepressible joy, and with love that never ends.

Dorothy Landeros Obituary

2010-03-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

Dorothy Landeros died Monday in Redlands a month after being diagnosed with lymphoma. She was 86.

A graveside service will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at Hillside Memorial Park. A memorial service will be March 6 at 3 p.m. at the Redlands United Church of Christ.

Mrs. Landeros was born in Upland, and lived almost all of her life in Mentone, before she moved to Redlands in 2001.

She graduated from Redlands High School in 1942. She later attended Valley College and Cal State San Bernardino, where she received certification in public service supervision and state publications.

Mrs. Landeros worked at Consolidated Aircraft in 1942, the San Bernardino Air Depot from 1944 to 1946, Western Auto Supply in 1946 and Wayne Gosset Ford for six years after that.

She retired as a supervisor in 1983 from the San Bernardino Cooperative Extension where she worked for 17 years.

She had been a Brownie troop leader and a Girl Scout troop leader, and a Meals on Wheels volunteer.

Mrs. Landeros was a member of the choir at the Congregational Church in Redlands for many years before becoming a founding a member of the Redlands United Church of Christ, where she sang in the sanctuary choir for 45 years -- the last three years alongside her daughter and great-granddaughter.

She was also a 27-year member of RUCC's annual art show committee and its gardening group, Weeders and Wackers.

Mrs. Landeros played ukulele with a group from the Joslyn Senior Center in Redlands.
She was also an avid Scrabble player, and was in a club at Joslyn that played weekly. She helped organize tournaments the past two years with a Scrabble club in Rancho Cucamonga, and was awarded a Team Player of the Year plaque from the club in January.

Mrs. Landeros enjoyed singing, crossword puzzles and flower arranging. She was a member of Wednesday Club, where she made cards for all occasions.She was the widow of Albert Landeros, and had managed his career as a watercolor artist, which included hours of volunteering at the Redlands Art Association, Art for Heaven's Sake in Redlands, Art-a-Fair in Laguna and many others.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Dianne Landeros and Steve Chapman of Redlands; son and daughter-in-law Rob and Geri Landeros of Medford, Ore.; granddaughter and grandson-in-law Toni and Doug Momberger of Redlands; grandson and granddaughter-in-law Sterling and Alison Landeros of Seattle, Wash.; great-grandchildren Hunter and Carlisle Momberger of Redlands; sisters Mary Ann Field Quarterly and Roxie Smith, both of Redlands; brother Bill Park of Hemet; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by sisters Elsie Garcia, Martha Romero and Marguerite Montano; and brothers Joe and Don Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Redlands United Church of Christ organ fund. Cortner Chapel is handling the arrangements

I Liked This Guy

2009-12-17T20:15:00.000-08:00

If you haven’t made it affordable, how are you going to enforce a mandate. I mean, if a mandate was the solution, we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house. The reason they don’t buy a house is they don’t have the money. And so, our focus has been on reducing costs, making it available. I am confident if people have a chance to buy high-quality health care that is affordable, they will do so. That’s what our plan does and nobody disputes that.

And this...

That starts with relieving the biggest burden to families, state budgets, and business: the crushing cost of health care. My plan would not only guarantee that every uninsured American could get the same kind of health care that Members of Congress give themselves, it would bring down premiums by $2500 for the typical family, and bring down costs for the entire country by making our health care system more efficient through better technology and more emphasis on prevention.

The Lion and The Lamb

2009-08-26T16:26:00.001-07:00

We would have been so far better off with a real champion fighting in the Senate for affordable health care on our behalf. Instead, we get Harry Reid who fights for nothing.

Apartment 45: A True Account as told to me by Chauncey Romero

2009-01-26T21:52:00.000-08:00

I don't believe in ghosts. "Life after death". The phrase itself is laughable on its face. It is the epitome of oxymorons and perhaps the most brazen and outrageous idea ever to be sold to the desperate masses.

I make that point before presenting this story so that you will know that my intent is not to promote superstitious folly or to merely shock by spinning cheap campfire horror yarns, but rather to simply recount a tale that is, to the best of my personal knowledge and judgement, factual.

The following is put forth, with some dramatic interpretation, as it was related to me by my cousin and friend Chauncey Romero of Jacksonville Oregon. All parties involved have verified the essential accuracy of this account.

Chauncey and I are part of a large family consisting mostly of first through third generation Mexican Americans. There is a long history of old-world superstitions and native beliefs that provide a rich background to the many contemporary tales the family tells - tales of the incredible and the inexplicable. The bounteous legacy of personal brushes with the supernatural, taken in its entirety, has become the stuff of family legend. Several of them are exceptionally haunting and fascinating and worthy to have come from the mind of the most highly imaginative writers of horror.

This particular narrative stands out distinctly from the rest in that, in my estimation, its veracity is stronger than most. The credibility of the people involved is about as solid as one could ask for, but that can be said of any number of similar accounts of the inexplicable. In this case, the validity of the story is bolstered by verifiable circumstances and coincidental, corroborating evidence that flies in the face of all reasonable probabilities.

We were at a family gathering sometime in 1971. My wife Dena and I were engaged in a conversation with Dianne, my cousin and your sister, where the conversation had turned, as it had many times before, to the telling and retelling of good old-fashioned family ghost stories. They say that every family has at least one gay uncle. We don't have any that I'm aware of, but what we lack in that area, we more than make up for in true horror stories. That night, I had a relatively new and recent personal experience to tell.

"I don't believe in ghosts." I told Dianne. "But I'll tell you something that happened to me about two years ago that was pretty strange."

"Oh yeah," added Dena, "That thing that happened in your apartment? Oh man. I wasn't there, but Chauncey told me all about it the next day and it really freaked me out. I do believe in ghosts but even if I didn't I'd have been freaked anyway."

"Anyway, I had come home that evening and was pretty tired. I had a long day working at the store (the House of Note, a music store in Riverside California). I think I'd been partying pretty hardy the night before, so I was probably a little hung over too. It must have been about 8 o'clock when I just spread out on the bed and crashed.

"The next thing I know, it feels like several hours later in the dead of night when I'm awakened by the sound of somebody coming through the door to the apartment. This wasn't unusual since I was sharing the place on a part time basis with Alex Caruso. He was always in and out. If he wasn't sleeping there, he'd sleep over at his mother's house. You remember Alex?"

Dianne nodded. "I think so. Isn't he that short, disheveled looking guy that sort of hangs around the band?"

At the time, besides running the store during the day, I was playing with the house band at The Banker's Club on the weekends.

"Yeah, I guess you could describe him that way. He's actually a funny guy. He always had the hots for you too. Didn't he Deen?"

"Yep."

Dena and I laughed at the quick blush we got out of my dear, modest cousin. I loved to tease her. But this was too easy and I didn't want to get sidetracked from my story. I was just starting to get scared myself - just like I do every time I recall it.

"But I distinctly heard the front door open and close. A normal sound of somebody coming in. Being in a rock band and having a hang-loose lifestyle, there were always people around. Nothing unusual about it at all.

"The apartment had a curved staircase with a wrought iron handrail that went up to an open second floor hallway that ran along the bedrooms and overlooked the entire downstairs. I was in the master bedroom at the end of the hallway.

"So I called out 'Alex?'... 'ALEX?' I wasn't alarmed or anything, I just wanted to know if it was him. It seems like I wanted to talk to him about something, but now I don't remember what it was. But I heard him, or what I thought was him, coming up the stairs. I didn't think about it or wasn't aware of it at the time, but I don't think I actually heard footsteps like you normally would. It was the sound of the wrought iron handrail that I was focused on and that stands out in my mind today. It had always made a low-pitched tone as it vibrated, like a very large tuning fork. But this time the humming was definitely louder and more pronounced. It sounded as if the rail were moaning. I called out again even louder and firmer, 'ALEX! IS THAT YOU?" The moaning of the rail had stopped so I figured that whoever it was had reached the top of the stairs and was coming down the hallway and should have been well within earshot by now. So my feeling at that point was one of annoyance, you know, at not being answered, and at the same time a growing dread at not being answered.

"I was about to curse or call out again when the figure drifted into the room.

"I need another beer. Anybody else want one while I'm up?"

"Come on Chauncey!" Dianne laughed. "You're making all this up."

"No I'm not. I really want another beer."

I couldn't blame her for her skepticism. I've pulled a lot of practical jokes and piled on the bullshit with her many times over the years. But this time I wasn't joking.

"It's true." Dena said. "I was there when it happened. Not there that night, but the next day when he told me about it and you could tell he was still shaken up."

I came back from the kitchen with another cold one. "That's for sure. That's why I need this.", I said, holding up the brew. "I've told this story at least a half dozen times but I still get the willies just thinking about it."

"So go on.", urged Dianne. "There was a figure in the room?"

"Yeah. There definitely was. I don't know if I could call it a figure, so much as a swirl. A misty swirl with a vague shape of a head and shoulders on top. I don't recall that I saw any limbs. It reminded me of a mummy. As if it were the upper part of a mummy above a swirling white cloud.

"Instinctively I tried to call out again... to ask 'Who are you?' or to call out for Alex again or for help, or to frighten it away. But I was the one that was frightened and whatever I was trying to say just stuck in my throat. The only sound that came out was a gurgling, choking sound. I could only watch in horror, my eyes transfixed on the thing as it hovered there at the foot of my bed. I reached for the bedside lamp, not taking my eyes from it, still trying to cry out, my fingers fumbling for the switch. But my fingers wouldn't work either. Nothing worked. I don't even remember breathing. It was as if the air was thick with a highly charged energy and a strong current running through my body that rendered me helpless and in a state of suspended animation. I was panicked and literally paralyzed with fear.

"And all the while the thing just stood there, not moving or making threatening gestures or noises. It was simply, calmly... being - in mocking contrast to my own state of emotional turmoil.

"Eventually - in retrospect a full minute must have gone by - my fingers managed to somehow find the light switch. Even with the room now well-lit, the ghost... or entity or whatever it was, lingered there for a few moments more before drifting toward the bathroom and disappearing beyond the door."

"Weeeeird, huh?" said Dena. She'd heard the story many times before, but never tired of hearing it again. She likes that kind of stuff. She watches that psychic guy's Crossing Over show all the time.

I could tell Dianne was impressed too. "So what did you do then? I would have left the place and never come back."

"I went downstairs, turned on all the lights and tried to call Alex and another friend or two, but couldn't get in touch with anybody. Eventually I worked up the nerve go back upstairs and peek into the master bathroom just to reassure myself that is wasn't there. And it wasn't. So I just stayed up the rest of the night and the next day I met Dena for breakfast and told her the story."

We were all silent for a moment, letting it sink in and grappling with the unreality of it, what it all might mean and how you could justify the truth of such a story in your own mind. I've since come to the conclusion that there is simply no way to explain the inexplicable.

I noticed that Dianne now looked pensive and disconcerted. "When did this happen?"

"Gee, it must have been almost two years ago when I was living in Berdoo. Not long after that, Dena and I moved to Mentone together."

Dianne was silent for a moment, obviously struggling with her thoughts, then spoke softly and hesitantly. "You know, something happened to my boyfriend, David Tripp, a few weeks ago. His apartment has a staircase with a wrought iron handrail too. He told me that he had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room and woke up when he heard somebody coming in the door. It was dark, but he could make out the dark shape of a person silently walking up the stairs. When it got to the top, it turned toward a closet door and walked through. David had a roommate, but he sensed this was not the roommate or any other person he knew. Of course, when he went to check it out, there was no one there. He was sure that what he saw was a ghost."

"Now you're the one that's bullshitting!"

I said it, but knowing Dianne, I didn't really believe it.

She shook her head.

"That is strange about the staircase and everything.", I said. I was almost afraid to ask the question. "Where does your boyfriend live?"

"At the Las Palmas Apartments, just below Highland between D and E streets."

Goosebumps. Dena and I exchanged glances. "What was our apartment number there Deen? Do you remember?"

"It was apartment 45"

Dianne's eyes widened as she drew her hands to her mouth and whispered, "Oh my god!"

This story was first published in Skreed Magazine in 2002.

Obama's Inaugural WordCloud

2009-01-26T21:42:00.001-08:00

A Long Time Comin'

2009-01-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

The last guy looks way different than the others. Very cool.

Warren Invitation Disappoints Graphic Artists

2008-12-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

Shepard Fairey, the graphic artist who did TIME magazine's Person of the Year cover, makes a statement that speaks for me about my own graphic tribute to the president-elect.

Tomorrow my illustration for Time Magazine’s “Person of The Year” hits the newsstands. While I’m very honored to be validated by a periodical that is nothing short of an American institution, the moment is bittersweet because I’m very disappointed by Obama’s appointment of Rick Warren to deliver his invocation during Obama’s inaugural address. Rick Warren is against gay marriage and reproductive rights, and he does not believe in evolution (maybe he offers himself as proof of lack of evolution). I understand that Obama is trying to appeal to conservatives and evangelicals, but this move is symbolically a slap in the face to many people. Warren is not a uniter, but a divider… he is intolerant in many of his views. I still think Obama is the best choice for president, but I can’t condone Warren’s involvement in Obama’s inauguration, no matter how insignificant it is. While I’m on the subject of gay marriage, I will be donating a chunk of the proceeds from an inauguration poster of Obama I was asked to create to the movement to overturn Prop 8. At first I was considering pulling my inauguration poster, but I think re-directing funds from it to put into a cause I care about is actually more constructive. Plus, I wouldn’t want withdrawing the image to come across as a blanket boycott of Obama. I’m sure I will ultimately disagree with Obama about many things, but I think I will agree with him on more. I think it is important to speak one’s mind, but also to not let the narcissism of petty differences sabotage our unity and progress.

So What, Me Worry?

2008-12-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

BUSH: One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand. This is where al Qaeda was hoping to take–

RADDATZ: But not until after the U.S. invaded.

BUSH: Yeah, that’s right. So what? The point is that al Qaeda said they’re going to take a stand. Well, first of all in the post-9/11 environment Saddam Hussein posed a threat. And then upon removal, al Qaeda decides to take a stand.

We Are All Iraqi Journalists Now

2008-12-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

This is a goodbye kiss, you dog.
This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.

Update: Send your old shoes to Dubya's Liberry

The One

2008-11-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

(click image for larger size)

Because he's the coolest President ever.
And because that's what we do at LanderosDesign.com in a slow economy.

[Update: A viewer dubbed this Neobama.]

Peter Schiff: Smart, Courageous Prophet of the Economy

2008-11-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

It takes courage to stand up to the pack because they will turn on you for telling the truth and facing reality. The other analysts look like totally incompetent schmucks now, running around like herd animals with their heads up their collective ass. But of course, they will be the ones offered continuing appearances on the high profile platforms of the cable news shows. Can you say Ben Stein?

A Few Minutes of Pure Joy and Elation

2008-11-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Bless the good citizens of Seattle. Bless the younger generation.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

Our Right-Of-Center Nation

2008-11-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

The above map represents the shift toward Democratic in blue and toward Republican in red between 2004 and now. The darker the color, the greater the shift.

The Village pundits continue to insist that Obama must govern to the right because the United States is a right-of-center country. What's wrong with this picture?

The Menace in Vermont

2008-11-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

The mother of a gay child speaks out in a letter to the editor of a Vermont newspaper.

Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people. I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.

My first born son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay. He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.

In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.

You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.

At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.

If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?

A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul, a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."

You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart. He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.

You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance. How dare he, you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage. You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.

The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "What ever happened to the idea of striving to be better human beings than we are?" Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

Election Day Results

2008-11-05T00:13:00.001-08:00

Election Day: What, Me Worry?

2008-11-04T11:07:00.001-08:00

McCain Associates With Communists For Over Five Years!

2008-10-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

My fellow prisoners, just who IS John McCain? Hmmmmm?

The Great Redistributor

2008-10-30T02:20:00.001-07:00

An Open Letter To The Red States

2008-10-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Red States:

If we lose the 3rd Presidential Election in a row, we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us.

In case you aren't aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.

We get stem cell research and the best beaches.

We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom...or what's left

We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of obese single teenage moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for 'God's War' on 'The Others', and will deem you 'unpatriotic' if you disagree with their neo-conservative point of view. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn-up and you secure all of those oil sources and military bases, but we're not willing to spend our lives and resources in Bush-ney's egomaniacal, misguided, and manipulative political agenda.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit, 95 percent of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners - what irony), 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you. Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe life is sacred (unless we're discussing the Iraq war, the death penalty or gun laws), 44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals superior to we lefties.

By the way, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Peace out,
Blue States

Sunday Morning & The Political Campaign Landscape

2008-10-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

A friend's brother writes...

The Political Campaign Landscape and WHY
I am going to drop out of the current politics and do drugs:

I HAVE VOTED ...
I HAVE DONE MY DUTY HONORABLY...
and there is nothing else to do
save watch the totally neurotic, if not psychotic,
campaign
playing out,
with tragic characters dying
under the lights of the media.

WE NEED TO SHORTEN THE CAMPAIGN PROCESS ...
IT IS JUST RIDICULOUS...AND IT ALLOWS NEUROSIS TO CREEP IN.

It is JUST PLAIN TIRESOME AND WITHOUT MERIT
AND HAS DRAGGED ON WAY TOO LONG
AND REDUCED POLITICS TO BLACK AND WHITE FEARS,
A CONSTANT BARRAGE OF LIES AND DECEITS,
AND PALIN'S TITS n ASS INADEQUACY AND NAUSEATING CUTENESS,
LEAVING THE DIALOGUE TO MINDLESS DIATRIBES
AND ENDLESS POLLING DISHONESTY AND CONFLICTS
BETWEEN ABC, MSNBC, CNN AND FOX...
WHO JUST CAN'T RESIST THE "TOM BRADLEY EFFECT!"

I voted here by mail in ballot over two weeks ago,
and this election is a dead horse,
being beat upon by bigots,
the insanity of Palin believing in her own PR,
the pathetic figure of McCain trying to scratch his way
out of the unethical hole into which he has dug himself,
Biden who cannot pick and choose his words, and
who is being supplanted by Hillary on the trail with Obama,
who, HIMSELF, is trying to keep his head above Republican DISTRACTIONS
who fear a conversation on real issues
and which distractions seek to suppress the issues....

When the media dwells on McCain's psychotically angry sibling (like himself),
When the media dwells on Palin's goddamned party-paid wardrobe,
When the media dwells on Joe, the not-a-plumber Plumber,
When the media dwells on the "impending doom"
of a Black uprising
(even on NPR),
which uprising will supposedly happen whether Obama wins or looses,
because Blacks "can't control themselves in either eventuality ... "
THAT WAS THE CLEAR DISCUSSION INFERENCE ...
I was totally surprised by such an insulting presentation by NPR,
under the guise of intellectual pursuit of some so called
social political understanding!

I am being JUST A LITTLE UNFAIR to NPR,
but not by much!
I was driving on the freeway on my way to work one morning,
and nearly drove off the roadway, when I heard it.

THERE IS NO SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE MEDIA...
NONE. The media has clearly lost its mind and direction.

IT IS TIME FOR ME TO JUST DROP OUT ...
AND MAYBE DO A LITTLE DRUGS!
OR GET LAID,
CUZ THERE SURELY AIN'T NO POINT
IN ME BEING ANY PART OF THIS CAMPAIGN PROCESS
AND CERTAINLY AIN'T NO POINT IN ME
LISTENING TO ALL OF THESE TALKING HEADS ON TV or NPR,
WHO DON'T KNOW THEIR ASSES FROM HOLES IN THE GROUND
AND ARE INCITING PEOPLE TO NEAR RIOTS,
RATHER THAN COVERING THE ISSUES...

They want to talk about WHAT IFs,
while the WHAT AREs are being ignored!

McCain will win votes at ANY COST, EVEN HIS COUNTRY...
The Media will win market share at ANY COST, EVEN THIS COUNTRY...
And the People and This Country
have become Bastard Children and Orphans
WITHOUT ANYONE TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
or CARING.

So...We are dropping out...
NO MORE POLITICS AND NO MORE CAMPAIGNS INVADING THIS HOME!
We have not watched MSNBC or FOX for over a week,
and have only dropped in on CNN to watch the market.

Thank God for Colin Powell's level headed assessment of the choices, and
Thank God for the economy going into the toilet....
I would have never guessed that reason would have come from Powell,
nor that the single reason for a vote for Obama would be a failing Economy:
but :)
these two single factors may be the only things
that get Obama into the Oval
and saves us from the further evils of
Republican Courts,
Republican Evil Jockeying for Big Business interests
and personal financial gain at the people's EXPENSE,
at the expense of the literal destruction of this country's financial fabric
and the WHOLE OF THE WORLD ECONOMY...

So maybe a Recession is just what we needed
TO WAKE US UP FROM OUR LETHARGY.
Why does it ALWAYS TAKE A PEARL HARBOR
TO WAKE UP THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY?!

I am still not impressed with Colin...
He should have known that he was working for assholes,
long before now...HE ACTUALLY PRAISE CHENEY AT ONE POINT!
I think he is a good and moral man...
but a little SLOW to perceiving reality in the moment!
The handwriting was and has been on the wall
long before his fairly recent epiphany..
so...
I'll not give him more credit than he deserves
as a Johnny Come Lately!
But COME LATELY better than not at all.

One last comment...

I think it speaks to who we are as individuals
and as a singular nation of this world,
that a man who is half white and half black,
with a glass of Chardonnay in his hand
IS nevertheless ... BLACK ...
and ALL BLACK if you would believe the MEDIA/PR that is out there.

Obama is being painted in such a way as to generate FEAR
... and McCain IS part of this deceit AND HE KNOWS IT ...
and that makes him and Palin flat out evil.

As a matter of fact...
Obama is just BARELY blacker than I am,
and I have the whitest ol' ass in Los Angeles :)

I just wanted to end on a LIGHTER REALITY note!

I am OUT of this current campaign politics until voting results are in.
Most of the stuff I am getting is just REHASH or CRAP...
even from the NYTimes and Washington Posts and Huffinpuff :) ...
TOO MANY BAD VIBES!
and nonsense.

I am simply trashing my subscription emails until election day is over.

It is enuf to say that
IT JUST IS NOT POSSIBLE TO VOTE FOR ANYONE OTHER THAN OBAMA.

Have a nice Sunday ...
Am going to go out and smell the fresh air for the day :)
GET POLITICS OUT OF MY MIND!

Modern Suffragettes

2008-10-25T20:25:00.000-07:00

Whazaaaaaaaaa?

2008-10-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

This Obama bud's for you.

Double Standard Much?

2008-10-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

The video is entitled "I'm Confused", but of course we are not confused at all about the fact that what we have witnessed in this race is a story of ethnic and cultural hypocrisy. It's subtle and insidious enough to have escaped the attention of the media and other observers of the political scene, but when the candidates' histories are juxtaposed in this way, the racial bias is breathtaking.

The following is from an email that is going around:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?
You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:
Barack Obama: Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations. Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden: University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science. Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
John McCain: United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

Vote Barack by M.C. Howie & Julie

2008-10-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Howie & Julie's very clever Palin directed videos are here and here.

The Turtle And The Mouse (and the financial crisis)

2008-10-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

There was a turtle and there was a mouse
And earlier this year they owned a house
What you say this must be a mistake
But not so my friend not in 2008

You see for years we had created these toys
Mortgage backed securities created by the boys
Who smoke cigars and rode in sedans
And bought up the Hampton's and other fine lands

You see there were so few who understood the indentures
The complex documents that controlled this debt misadventure
That money was lent and made so available
That any borrower's credit was essential unassailable

It all started so innocently the concept was simple
You could split a mortgage between interest and principal
By moving the payments just slightly around
Then many more mortgages could ultimately be found

We built a market with these altered cash flows
Buyers all over the world would help them grow
Money would be lent even from foreigners
So no one would have to borrow from banks on the corner

In fact as the money moved around so fast
It eventually wasn't clear who really touched it last
What started out as money for a home
Turned into a way to get a free loan

Because it wasn't the house that provided security
It was money for free that was used in absurdity
Dogs were seeing therapist, and were eating pate
Cats no longer drank milk, as the now preferred lattes

People were buying anything and all
Because the loans, well they would never be called
So cars got bigger, I mean bigger than big
So large in fact that they were referred to as rigs

Everything got inflated like boats became ships
It even extending to the size of the lips
On woman who injected some poisonous things
And worked out all day to carry 10 carat rings

And this spread thru the world this debt frenzied craze
To Russia and China where cities were razed
So new buildings would be built taller than tall
And the world's biggest cranes were sent one and all

Those factories were full and built toys full of lead
Monks in Tibet were beat on the head
But no one dared to make too much noise
Where or where would we buy all our toys

We now were a nation driven by consumption
With money lent by others that was the assumption
Even Russia was strong with its oil propped up ruble
Buying half of France, they somehow even made Americans look frugal

And of course lets not forget we were on the attack
By blowing up oil fields in terrorist filled Iraq
Of course that resulted in oil prices going sky high
And well maybe we were told just a few white lies

And while our soldiers were killed and were killin'
Well we wasted somewhere close to almost $3 Trillion
But somehow I've digressed and moved a bit off the story
About how we borrowed our way to this financial gory

So all of us borrowed more than we could
Well maybe the word is more than we should
But to our rescue and to make the game even more fun
Someone decided they could insure everyone

As long that is as no one ever really failed
How would anyone know this was just a fish tale
An innocent story to make everyone feel safe
And if house prices kept going up it would all be great

So houses were built and sold with such glee
The loans got so cheap they were actually free
As strange as it seems there was even a time
When you could buy a million dollar house with less than a dime

And if you held that house for like 30 days
You could then refinance it and pretend it was paid
The loan that you knew you never should took
Was effectively sold by some not so nice crooks

Then once all the people had eventually bought
The brokers decided that animals could be sought
They should buy houses on the same silly terms
Turtles and mouse's and I even heard worms

They were living in mansions instead of outdoors
They were refinishing bathrooms with inlaid marble floors
It was amazing how much wealth had been created
Just by taking some cash flows and have them inflated

And then twisted and turned and traded between
So everyone everywhere was involved in the scheme
Bilking the poor and those without money
Loans were made and bees stopped making honey

And it all would have continued on its slick little course
If it wasn't for the unfortunate divorce
Of the turtle and mouse who bought their fine home
But needed to sell it when they went on their own

You see they had to sell it in just one night
And the value of their house well it decreased oh so slight
Never before had such a thought occurred
And all the insurers well they all demurred

They told the banks we can't really provide
Any insurance if housing prices actually slide
And the banks then decided well what was it worth
To carry all these securities of which they gave birth

So one dumped his quickly so he wouldn't get burned
and started a rumor about poor Bear Stearns
Next thing you know they got quite a reamin'
And a few months after that it was the House of Lehman

Then panic set in and everyone started to sell
Stocks and Bonds... heck everything fell
How could this happen who was in charge
How could a mess be suddenly so large

Then that's the point where the pol's got involved
Not even grasping the problem to solve
But what a great way to take a position
On how to blame the other parties condition

Uncle Ben and pal Hank tried to provide some relief
So banks would start lending based on a belief
That buying the bad loans and credit default swaps
Would prevent any more institutions from another big flop

We lost WaMu and Wachovia and more
Morgan Stanley was even almost out the door
But somehow John Mack and Goldman found a way
To make themselves banks in just one day

Wells, Citi, JP and B of A
They just sat back and picked up the scraps all day
And lest we forget the best of them all
The boys who ran hedge funds and shorted them all

No need for an uptick no need for cash
Just short those stocks until they inevitably would crash
Its just the free market and capital formation
Really no connection to a Senate Banking relation

What were these swaps and derivative things
Who was responsible for this terrible swing
And no one it seemed wanted to face the fact
That we all knew it was a game that went way back

To the changes we made in the way that we manage
The risk that we took and what we knew it could damage
But everyone was winning so big for so long
That no one can admit that it was just so wrong

We lost our focus on building true wealth
Instead we needed more crap to put on our shelves
We borrowed money to satisfy our greed
We forgot to give to those in need

And while this is hard and will cause dislocation
We have the chance for an invocation
Remember when something is too good to be true
Its just what your grandma always told you

Work hard be honest and pray for your health
Because that is the only real thing in life that is wealth
And even though they lost that house
I'm hoping that turtle gets back with the mouse

- poem by Steve

Clean Coal

2008-10-12T00:37:00.000-07:00

This, and that Star Wars missile defense shield, and we'll be good.

P.U.M.A., West Virginia Branch

2008-10-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

Palin' Around With Wolf Murderers

2008-10-05T20:34:00.000-07:00

There she goes again. Say it ain't so, Sarah!

Palin/Fargo/Ebert Mashup

2008-10-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

When (Palin) was on familiar ground, she perked up, winked at the audience two or three times, and settled with relief into the folksiness that reminds me strangely of the characters in "Fargo."

Palin is best in that persona. You want to smile with her and wink back. But who did she resemble more? Marge Gunderson, whose peppy pleasantries masked a remorseless policewoman's logic? Or Jerry Lundegaard, who knew he didn't have the car on his lot, but smiled when he said, "M'am, I been cooperatin' with ya here." Palin was persuasive. But I felt a brightness that was not always convincing.
- Roger Ebert

Sarah Palin's Notes

2008-09-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

A Celestial Teapot Exclusive! Our investigative reporters and garbage rummagers have discovered Governor Palin's pre-interview prep notes, showing that her answers were memorized and recited by rote.

Debate Advice For Joe Biden

2008-09-29T22:05:00.001-07:00

Don't say a word!

But if you must, just speak very briefly about what a great guy Obama is. Then relinquish the balance of your time to your opponent.

The Portrait of Dorian McCain

2008-09-15T23:46:00.001-07:00

The MSM: Pigs With Lipstick

2008-09-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

And a complimentary observation from Krugman:

Why do the McCain people think they can get away with this stuff? Well, they’re probably counting on the common practice in the news media of being “balanced” at all costs. You know how it goes: If a politician says that black is white, the news report doesn’t say that he’s wrong, it reports that “some Democrats say” that he’s wrong. Or a grotesque lie from one side is paired with a trivial misstatement from the other, conveying the impression that both sides are equally dirty.
They’re probably also counting on the prevalence of horse-race reporting, so that instead of the story being “McCain campaign lies,” it becomes “Obama on defensive in face of attacks.”

John McLiar

2008-09-13T00:34:00.000-07:00

Enough is Enough

2008-09-11T03:51:00.000-07:00

If McCain/Palin go on to win the election, and the country continues to slide down the tube with their same old policies, we'll want to look back on the low point of the American electoral "process" and remember what Obama was trying to talk about.

Kerry's Speech

2008-08-28T00:20:00.000-07:00

This is the speech you should have heard but probably missed unless you were watching C-SPAN, because the cable commentators were more interested in their own analysis than listening to the well-crafted, impassioned speech they had been looking for.

Disney Appropriated My Work

2008-07-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

I created the above illustration in 1996 while experimenting with some of Photoshop's new filters and effects. I wanted to try the ZigZag distortion filter to get the effect of a sky reflected in rippling water. I thought it needed additional visual interest, so I found a photo of an oak leaf and an acorn crafted out of wood and composited them onto the background.

I then published the finished piece on my website entitling it Acorn Sky.

A few weeks ago, I glanced at the TV and was astonished to see this same image, or one very much like it - animated with the water rippling concentrically outward and the title "Great Oaks" appearing on the water. As I continued to watch, hardly believing my eyes, I learned that it was the animated movie logo preceding the movie 101 Dalmations. I learned later that the same production company also created Flubber. I got a copy of Dalmations, aimed my camera at the tube and recorded the video below and then edited in my original graphic for comparison.

I have no comment or other than I doubt that it was an amazing coincidence that two people would independently arrive at imagery that is so nearly identical and within the same time frame. The likely explanation is that some animator out there searched Google images for "acorn" and stumbled across my piece. I guess I'm glad it was put to good purpose and that the guy made a few bucks from it.

It's not as if I haven't used the ideas of others once in a while. As Picasso is purported to have said, "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."

Walmart Logo Parody

2008-07-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

I am working on a parody of the new, sucky, Walmart logo for a citizen's group that is trying to keep a super Walmart out of their fair city. I've taken the corporation's new slogan "Save money. Live better." and altered it a bit.

I invite your ideas for another new slogan.

Update: Another with emphasis on the China connection. And by the way, the first logo was a finalist in the Walmart logo redesign contest. This second one is my idea of how the winning entry could have been better.

What is the Name of this Character?

2008-07-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

There is a "correct" answer. Let us know if you think you know.

Here is a hint: "Bush Jr."

The hint is obscure and may not help you come up with the right name, but it will confirm it.

So, Just What IS a Logo Anyway?

2008-07-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

I've done my fair share of logo design over the last few years. Clients understand that their business or enterprise should have a logo and know that they want somebody such as myself to create one for them. That is the good news. Many businesses don't make much of an effort to have a good logo and some don't bother to have a logo at all.

But when my services are engaged, I've discovered that I often have to educate my clients, not just about the process of creating a logo, but about a logo actually is. And their questions and confusions are not an entirely silly.

So here are some basic guidelines that I like to lay out up front to define and describe what a logo is.

A modern logo is usually a flat, two dimensional, simple iconic shape. Otherwise called the logo icon.
Ideally, that shape should work using one color only.
Considering the first two guidelines, color, shading or texture appliled to the shape may be considered to constitute or be integral to the logo, but could also be considered optional and/or dependent on the context of any particular application or required format.
Often, the name of the business, enterprise/ project, is an integral part of the logo, if not the logo itself.
Most often, the name is text or characters that can be considered separate from the logo icon. I call it the logo text.
The logo icon and the logo text can be used together or separately or in any combination that is best suited to the particular application or required format.

Just to take a most recent case history.

The client created this nice image himself some years ago. It is a totally flat, two dimensional shape defined by one color (white).

At some point, an artist applied some effects and textures and transformed it into a polished metal image.

I recently reapplied the metallic image onto another shape with some effects applied to give it the appearance of an embossed gold foil seal.

They are all logos of sorts, but the basic, essential logo that remains at the heart of them all is the original 2D shape.

A well designed logo doesn't have to be just one thing. It can be like a living thing that is adaptable to a changing environment. Like a person whose face and body - and character - remain the same, even as he or she dresses appropriately for the particular occassion.

And then there are the questions for which I have no good guidelines: Should a logo icon convey a message or information? Should it be interpretable, and if so, should it have meaning? Or is it more important, or just as important for it to be well crafted and distinct?

Note: I use the above hawk logo because it is the one I am currently working with and its various iterations provide a good, real world example. The owner is well aware of what a logo is and is not.

Edgy Photo Stylin'

2008-07-17T03:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a tutorial for a cool little technique for adding style to portrait and glamour photography. Click the double arrows in the upper right corner for viewing options, or click here to view in a new window.

Edgy Photo Stylin' - Get more Creative Writing

Synchronicity

2008-07-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me today if I am not a believer in synchronicity. My answer is that yes, I do. It's happened to me often. I don't know if it has meaning or purpose. I'm agnostic, or even more than agnostic about that.

I am a great believer in coincidence. Sometimes amazing coincidence. When it's good, it's serendipitous. But there is that six degrees of Kevin Bacon thing and there are sound mathematical reasons for some apparent amazing coincidences.

I don't know about psychic energies creating such. Not sure at all. I am a big fan of science and empiricism and credible scientists have little to say about psychic energy. Although quantum physics, from what I've heard about it, sounds pretty mystical.

Here's an interesting set of circumstances that happened only a few weeks ago.

I was in the hardware store looking to buy a step ladder and was on my cell bullshitting with this very person who asked me the synchronicity question of earlier today. He asked where I was and I told him where I was and what I was there for. As I learned at that moment, he is, apparently, a leading authority on ladders, and he recommended the very brand and model that was there before me. He explained in depth his several reasons and theories about ladderdom, and so I'm sure he helped me make the right choice.

I had planned on buying a shorter size and the 8 footer my friend recommended wouldn't fit into my sedan. A guy in a wheelchair next to me in the parking lot, who had to hoist himself into the cab of his truck, made a comment or two and I joked about me putting it in the back of his flatbed and having him follow me to my house. He said he would be glad to. I joked that I only lived 20 miles away and, surprisingly, he said his offer was still good. I told him that I actually didn't live that far. He told me he was going home and described his route. I told him my home was right along the way and that I accept his offer. He asked the address we were going to in case we lost each other. I told him and he said he knew the street. He explained that when he was in high school in the early 70s he had dated a girl who lived on my street. He told me her name and it was the daughter of the previous owner of our house. My wife is friends with her sister who used to live next door when we first moved there.

The dude had been to my house before it was my house!

So, with a good deal of trust and confidence, I put the ladder on his flatbed, and he drove it to my house for me! I don't usually have strangers in parking lots deliver my large household purchases. In fact, I never do.

Rob's Snapshots

2008-07-13T15:26:00.000-07:00

Heck, just sharing some personal photos on a slow Sunday.

The CT Rapport: A Compendium Of Stuff

2008-07-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

YouTube - Bill Moyers addresses NCMR 2008: Legendary journalist Bill Moyers address the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 7, 2008. Presented by FreePress.net. For more speakers...

Reflections: Mine Is Longer than Yours: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker by Michael Kinsley: The last boomer game.

Inner city snail - a slow-moving street art project

Some Progress on U.S. Government's Financial Statements But Significant Problems Remain

360 degrees of Sen Obama's Detroit rally | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press: This is a panoramic image. It does not represent a specific moment in time, but it captures the environment over several seconds, much like a video camera moving in a circle. It is created from a series of overlapping photos.

Truthdig - Cartoons - War Memorial: 2008/06/22 - - War Memorial

"The Greatest Mass Exodus of Vehicles" in U.S. History? - Environment and Energy

Believe Me, It's Torture: Politics & Power: vanityfair.com by Christopher Hitchens: What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.

Let's Escrow Our Money to Keep Obama Progressive | Democrats.com

Onion's report, which predated this recent event
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Russert & the Dems: Courtiers at Versailles

2008-06-26T00:44:00.000-07:00

Chris Hedges writes:

The past week was a good one if you were a courtier. We were instructed by the high priests on television over the past few days to mourn a Sunday morning talk show host, who made $5 million a year and who gave a platform to the powerful and the famous so they could spin, equivocate and lie to the nation. We were repeatedly told by these television courtiers, people like Tom Brokaw and Wolf Blitzer, that this talk show host was one of our nation’s greatest journalists, as if sitting in a studio, putting on makeup and chatting with Dick Cheney or George W. Bush have much to do with journalism.
[...]
We chant in unison with Obama that we want change, we yell “yes we can,” and then stand dumbly by as he coldly votes away our civil liberties. The Democratic Party, including Obama, continues to fund the war. It refuses to impeach Bush and Cheney. It allows the government to spy on us without warrants or cause. And then it tells us it is our salvation. This is a form of collective domestic abuse. And, as so often happens in the weird pathology of victim and victimizer, we keep coming back for more.

10 Reasons Why Gay Marriage is Wrong

2008-06-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

By the ubiquitous Anonymous:

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

The Next First Couple?

2008-06-04T23:23:00.001-07:00

I love this visual, coming at the end of a very long campaign, between a great looking couple who apparently love, support and respect one another.

It looks like the future to me.

Two Clintonistas For McCain At The RBC

2008-05-31T23:20:00.000-07:00

I half expected a group of her supporters to show up with their tongues cut out ala the Ellen Jamesians. In the case of the first lady, I sort of wish she had.

Hillary Claims Lead In Crowd Support

2008-05-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama drew a record crowd of 75,000 enthusiastic supporters at a rally in Portland Oregon on Sunday. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton claims that if her supporters weren't busy working second and third jobs, she would be leading Obama in drawing large crowds.

Hillary Is Insane

2008-05-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

Her supporters who encourage her to stay in the race are wildly partisan, hopelessly stubborn, vindictive, perhaps mildly or overtly racist, illogical, in denial, suffer from a sense victimization or gender oppression, don't understand the delegate math, or a combination of all the above. Or perhaps they are just as nuts as their candidate.

In a previous post I referenced a Blogginghead.tv session in which clinical psychologist Ellen Ladowsky dissects Clinton's Bosnia tale. At the Huffington Post, Ladowsky expands upon her observations and delves into the matter more deeply. She rejects the notion that it was less a lie as it was a psychotic break from reality. And her subsequent explanation was so unreflective and unapologetic as to border on sociopathy. It's such a bizarre episode, from the telling of the tale itself to her subsequent explanation, yet seems to have not captured the interest that it deserves. If Obama had confabulated his own tale and promoted such a fantastic yarn as a truth, my trust and confidence in him would be shaken to the core and I would be too frightened to cast my vote for him.

Does the Hillary contingent not care about her lapse from reality into psychosis? Or do they prefer to think of it as another harmless lie from a politician? Do they understand and perhaps identify with her living in her own little reality bubble? Does this help to explain their ongoing support for her doomed candidacy?

Ludowsky writes...

In the course of Hillary's campaign, a number of features have repeatedly emerged that are also elements of her Bosnia tale. 1) Hillary is both hero and victim; 2) facts are of no consequence; 3) And there are no witnesses or observers to the facts. This last point is always startling. For example, Hillary's explanation of her vote on the war made Nora Ephron wonder if Hillary thought we "weren't alive at the time."

I know mass empathy from the large American delusional victims community doesn't completely explain the phenomenon of her continuing support. Some of it can be simply explained by Clinton supporter Carole Simpson's shockingly candid, and true, remark on Larry King last night "This country is about race."

McCain's Jeremiah?

2008-05-09T01:53:00.000-07:00

I think John McCain has some rejecting and renouncing to do. But considering how important Ohio is to his presidential ambitions, will he?

David Corn over at Mother Jones has the scoop.

Superdelegates, Please Be Super

2008-05-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

When I first learned about the existence of the superdelegates earlier this year, I was aghast at the notion that a group of party elders and party hacks should be able to determine the outcome of the race for the Democratic nomination. It seemed elitist and undemocratic. But now I see the wisdom behind it all.

The outcome of this race is almost certain. In fact, it as certain today as it has been for the last two months. The voters have spoken. (No, not all have voted, but when you have ten voters and you need a majority, you can stop after you get six votes in one direction. It's over.) It is only the spinning of reality by the Clinton campaign and the all too willing, craven and complicit media that has convinced a large portion of the electorate that this is still a contest.

By not putting an end to this process that goes on needlessly, the supers' lack of action only serves to damage Obama's chances in the general. The only thing it does is allow more time for Clinton to convince people that she is a populist and champion of the common man by drinking beer, hunting ducks, and promising fraudulent and irresponsible gas tax holidays - and that Barack is an elitist, unpatriotic, non flag lapel pin wearing angry black man who shares the views of radicals like Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers.

Of course, this is all crap. It is the old politics of fear and racism. It is Rovian, which is the worse thing that can be said of any politician. The only thing missing is the gay bashing and godless abortionists.

The idea of supers now seems like a very good one. They are more well-informed, more savvy and do know better than the average voter, especially the average white, elderly, rural, midwestern blue collar, Reagan Democrat voter. The problem is that they are not doing their job. They are inexplicably complacent, or timid or otherwise unmoved by the fierce urgency of now. We turn our eyes to them to deliver their party and this nation from the Clinton lies and from those remaining voters who are gullible, ill-informed, and bigoted enough to buy into what she is selling.

Bill Is Hillary's Jeremiah

2008-04-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

Leave it to the Rude Pundit to rudely mention the obvious, what he calls The Lewinsky Nuke, that even liberal bloggers are too polite to mention.

Let us say, and why not, that surrogates for the Obama campaign, aided and abetted by the RNC and the media, decided to go after Hillary Clinton in relation to the Monica Lewinsky scandal (and, to be clear, no matter what you think about impeachment, the President of the United States getting blown by a White House intern qualifies as a scandal). Let us say, and, indeed, why not, that in order to gain some ground lost by the interminable focus on Jeremiah Wright, Obama's surrogates decided it was time for a little refresher course in the shit people put up with in their personal lives.

It would be so fuckin' easy to take down Hillary Clinton, and the RNC knows it and can't wait for the chance to do it. Obama hasn't, and probably won't. Here's the one-two-three of how, if the Obama campaign truly wanted to go negative, the Clinton campaign would be over. Follow the bouncing ball of a logical progression to the nuke:

Read the whole thing...

God Bless Jeremiah? No, God Damn Jeremiah!

2008-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

I have defended Wright up until this point even after the Moyers interview, which I thought was rather harmless and thought it showed the pastor in a positive light. I defended him against criticisms, giving him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't mean to infer that Obama said things for purposes shielding his true thoughts, or for political expediency. But now with consecutive appearances before the NAACP and NPC, he has actively and quite unnecessarily inserted himself deeply into the Democratic campaign, and he has proven me wrong by affirming that indeed he did mean to imply Obama is something of a pandering, disingenuous politician. Whether intentional or no, whether passively or aggressively, the pastor is actively engaged in the process of throwing Obama under the bus.

I continue to argue that it is unfair to hold Obama accountable for his pastor's comments, or for the media or the other two candidates to try to conflate the two men into a single entity. But I am no longer cutting Wright any slack. At all. Perhaps Barack won't or can't denounce him (and I admire him for not doing so), but that doesn't prevent his supporters from doing so.

In a mirror corollary to Obama's position, I am, if not entirely in agreement with, then mostly sympathetic to Wright's socio-political preachings (save for AIDS conspiracy theories and the like). And the man certainly has a right to speak his mind in and about America.

My denunciation is of the man himself, for allowing his enormous ego to damage Obama's campaign. It is hard for me to believe the Reverend is completely unaware of the harm he might inflict. And if that is the case, then one must wonder if he is not intentionally attempting to undermine Obama's chances due to some interpersonal dynamic between the two not yet understood. But whatever the reason, it is unforgivable. With friends like that, who need enemies?

(I hate to end with a cliche, but there it is.)

Update: If an old friend is deliberately trying to run your campaign bus off the road and into a ditch, then the moral imperative is to throw that old friend under that bus and back up over him a few times, for the benefit of not only yourself, but for all the passengers on board, for the good of the country and the world. After having given Wright every benefit of the doubt, only to be rewarded with intentional personal betrayal, Barack did the right thing today.

Pols, Pundits, Please Just Tell Us What You Really Think

2008-04-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

We continually have candidates and their surrogates saying things like this:

No, I don't think he/she lacks integrity, but he/she says one thing and does another.

No, I don't think my opponent is a liar, but he/she keeps saying things he/she knows are untrue.

No, I don't think he/she is a [elitist, racist, etc.], but his/her comments are.

Must we really allow these politicians to continue to play these stupid games? Can't we get them to take a stand and go on the record as to what they really think of their opponents instead of engaging in all this childish innuendo?

And the same goes for journalists and pundits. If you keep raising the issues of flag lapel pins, fiery pastors and ex-Weather Undergrounders, even after the candidate has addressed those issues multiple times, and then continue to dog the issue even after having examined his personal history, read his writings and listened to his speeches, then maybe you should arrive at a conclusion about whether you think he is an America hating terrorist sympathizer, show the evidence upon which that conclusion is based, and say so outright - or just shut up, move on, and address those things that are factual, real and important to the American people.

About That Kitchen Sink

2008-04-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

We've heard a lot lately about Hillary's "kitchen sink" strategy. We've been bombarded with images of her or her campaign surrogates tossing sinks at Obama. Some, to reinforce the magnitude of the situation, may describe the sink as still filled with pots, pans, dishes, etc. The problem is, the metaphor entirely incorrect and is being grossly misused.

The phrase actually has to do with including everything except the kitchen sink. This is based on the idea that since the sink is built-in to the plumbing and cabinetry, it is extremely difficult to include, and so is specifically and logically excluded. An example of proper usage would be: "When she left, she took everything but the kitchen sink."

The Truth About Debategate

2008-04-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

Do you think the members of the MSM will ever understand that they are actually the real elitists and are the ones that are truly out of touch with the lives or ordinary Amercians and the mood in this country? Don't you suppose they read Frank Rich?

Thus did another overhyped 2008 story line go embarrassingly bust, like such predecessors as the death of the John McCain campaign and the organizational and financial invincibility of the Clinton political machine against a rookie senator from Illinois. Not the least of the reasons that the Beltway has gotten so much wrong this year is that it believes that 2008 is still 1988. It sees the country in its own image — static — instead of as a dynamic society whose culture and demographics are changing by the day.

In this one-size-fits-all analysis, Mr. Obama must be the new Dukakis, sure to be rejected by white guys easily manipulated by Lee Atwater-style campaigns exploiting race and class. But some voters who lived through 1988 have changed, and quite a few others are dead. In 2008, they are supplanted in part by an energized African-American electorate and the young voters of all economic strata who fueled the Obama movement that many pundits didn’t take seriously before Iowa. And that some still don’t. Cokie Roberts of ABC predicted in February that young voters probably won’t show up in November because “they never have before” and “they’ll be tired.”

However out of touch Mr. Obama is with “ordinary Americans,” many Americans, ordinary and not, have concluded that the talking heads blathering about blue-collar men, religion, guns and those incomprehensible “YouTube young people” are even more condescending and out of touch. When a Washington doyenne like Mary Matalin, freighted with jewelry, starts railing about elitists on “Meet the Press,” as she did last Sunday, it’s pure farce. It’s typical of the syndrome that the man who plays a raging populist on CNN, Lou Dobbs, dismissed Mr. Obama last week by saying “we don’t need another Ivy League-educated knucklehead.” Mr. Dobbs must know whereof he speaks, since he’s Harvard ’67.

>>read the whole thing

Two Elitists

2008-04-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

Christopher Duncan Is Obama - And Donald Duck

2008-04-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

The Black - White Perception Gulf

2008-03-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

Many people were stunned to learn of Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright's belief that HIV was invented by the government as a means of genocide against people of color. What they did not realize is how widely that belief, and other conspiracy theories, is held amongst the black community.

John Stossel did a fascinating report on 20/20.

Part I

Part II

Trust Your Senses

2008-03-22T23:22:00.000-07:00

Steven Weber pens a disarmingly open note of admiration.

You can even feel the beginnings of respect germinating in places formerly barren from decades of retrograde rhetoric spewed from fear mongering demagogues whose sole reason for being seems to be the deterrence of hope, the halting of action, the deriding of dreams. Obama is an incongruity, wished for but rarely seen, compelling but distrusted by the senses. Real inspiration has been dead for so long on the American scene that half-assed darlings and penny-ante celebrities with the density of meringue have been to hoisted to heroic levels only to be subsequently proven inadequate to the charge, so desperate is America's need for a truly viable, truly courageous and truly substantial leader.

Hillary - Fantasist In Chief?

2008-03-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

A More Perfect Union

2008-03-18T23:43:00.000-07:00

The First Lady's Foreign Policy Resume

2008-03-12T01:23:00.000-07:00

The NYTimes vets Clinton's White House foreign policy experience.

But during those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president’s daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda.
And during one of President Bill Clinton’s major tests on terrorism, whether to bomb Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, Mrs. Clinton was barely speaking to her husband, let alone advising him, as the Lewinsky scandal sizzled.

Bradley Speaks His Mind

2008-03-12T00:51:00.000-07:00

Former senator Bill Bradley, who is a leading supporter of Obama and ran for president in 2000, accused the Clintons of “lying” in pursuit of victory.
“The bigger the lie, the better the chance they think they’ve got. That’s been their whole approach,” he said. “She’s going to lose a whole generation of people who got involved in politics believing it could be something different.”
Bradley believes that Clinton will stop at nothing to tear down Obama even if it boosts John McCain, who was confirmed last week as the Republican nominee: “The Clintons do not do long-term planning. They’re total tacticians and right now their focus is on Obama, not McCain.”

It's good to hear credible, high profile Democratic leaders tell it like it is.

Chillingly True

2008-03-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

The Nooner reports:

I end with a deadly, deadpan prediction from Christopher Hitchens. Hillary is the next president, he told radio's Hugh Hewitt, because, "there's something horrible and undefeatable about people who have no life except the worship of power . . . people who don't want the meeting to end, the people who just are unstoppable, who only have one focus, no humanity, no character, nothing but the worship of money and power. They win in the end."

We Start From The Same Place

2008-02-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama with grandmother in Kenya, 2004

"We start from the same place. Nobody has an advantage no matter who you are or where you came from."

- Hillary Clinton, Los Angeles Democratic Debate, Jan 31, 2008

Hillary Rodham with family, Chicago, Illinois, 1953

How Quickly They Forget

2008-01-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

Robert Scheer reminds us:

[Clinton's] supporters have accepted [her] refusal to repudiate her vote to authorize the war, an ignominious moment she shares with other Democrats, including presidential candidate John Edwards, who at least has made a point of regretting it. It was a vote that has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, 3,940 U.S. service members—five more on Monday—and a debt in the trillions of dollars that will prevent the funding of needed domestic programs that Clinton claims to support. And it doesn’t end with Iraq. Clinton has been equally hawkish toward Iran and, in a Margaret Thatcher-like moment, even attacked Obama for ruling out the use of nuclear weapons against Osama bin Laden.

Read the whole thing.

Bushites: Hillary Most Qualified To Carry On Legacy

2008-01-20T11:15:00.000-08:00

Vote Hillary, Kill A Dog

2008-01-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

What can I say? I'm desperate. I am a devout dog lover, but I figure it's better than killing myself.

Women in Film

2007-11-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

A companion piece to the previously posted "Women in Art".

Hope Is Spelled With An "O"

2007-11-13T03:40:00.000-08:00

Why Not Dodd?

2007-11-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Translation: Hillary, the most polarizing candidate, is the greatest threat to achieving affordable health care.

The Politics of Parsing

2007-11-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

We Know What The Arctic Did Last Summer

2007-10-26T01:47:00.000-07:00

This is a NASA satellite timelapse video.

NASA reports: The 2007 Arctic summer sea ice has reached the lowest extent of perennial ice cover on record - nearly 25% less than the previous low set in 2005. The area of the perennial ice has been steadily decreasing since the satellite record began in 1979, at a rate of about 10% per decade. But the 2007 minimum, reached on September 14, is far below the previous record made in 2005 and is about 38% lower than the climatological average. Such a dramatic loss has implications for ecology, climate and industry.

Rush Limbaugh - Pompous Coward

2007-10-03T01:24:00.000-07:00

Co-Host of The View Doesn't Know if the World is Round or Flat

2007-09-19T01:57:00.000-07:00

You have to see it to believe it. Next up -- a debate on whether gravity keeps TV talk show hostesses from falling into space.

Poor Reasoning to Stay in Iraq

2007-09-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Reason Magazine lives up to it's name:

Whatever its merits as a cost-minimizing tactic in retailing, "you break it, you own it" isn't bad as a cautionary principle in foreign affairs. But as a plan for what to do after you've ignored the warning, it's worse than useless. As Gen. David Petraeus' recent congressional testimony confirmed, the reason not to go in has become the rationale for staying indefinitely.

Read the entire, short piece.

John Hodgman's Eight Keys To Success

2007-09-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

The 3 Minute History of Women in Art

2007-09-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

Landeros-Dunn Wedding Photos

2007-08-29T00:31:00.000-07:00

The Dems Cave Again

2007-05-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

A friend of my sister writes this email:

Subject: an opinion from the Democratic Underground

I tend to look at these things in context, and the context is just as crappy as this one vote.

We watched the Dems cave time and time again, even when we were SURE that the stakes were too high to back down.

We got Alito this way
We got Roberts this way
We got the Patriot Act this way
We got the Iraq War this way
We got those three right wing freako judges this way
We lost the torture bill this way
We let Rice, Gonzales, Ashcroft, etc. get into office this way
We gave tax cuts to the rich this way

And it looks like many of these investigations are just going to result in meaningless reports. Plus we seem to have given the WH carte blanche to ignore our subpeonas.

So this capitulation is emblematic of years and years of capitulations....and it seems to me that a reasonable person in the context of all of the examples above (plus this incident) would presume that the next year and a half will be the same. That is what irks me the most.

And I agree that this will surely embolden the boy emperor. Today NPR announced that he thanked Congress for the bill as he signed it....he THANKED them?

In my final analysis, I know exactly why we have a big problem, and it is always why we have a problem. We have a big tent...so big that a significant portion of our tent votes with the other party while marginalizing the other side of the tent. As long as we have no discipline in the party and tolerance for turncoats, then this scenario will continue to happen no matter what majority we have. Nearly 50% of our Senators are DLC, and a significant portion of the House is DLC or blue dog. They are to the right of party supporters and they are to the right of the American people on this issue, and because we tolerate them, they hold all of the cards.

How would I stop the war? (because that is what the inevitable next question will be) By fighting, of course. Sound off like they have a pair (of something). Invite the American people into Democratically-sponsored protest marches and vociferously demand airtime to get the message out. Cut off the funds for the war and only release earmarked funds for a withdrawal. If he vetos it, fine....proceed further with the investigations and start impeachment proceedings on Gonzales and Cheney with impeachment for Bush "on the table". Send out bulldog Democratic pundits and fire the entire Democratic punditry (and campaign advisors) that is in place.

Send out packets describing the fight within the Democratic party to our ardent supporters. Inform them as to what their party truly consists of and why there "never is a plan".

But for god sakes....no more lying down. No more capitaulting, and no more treating Bush like he is our President or would ever act in good faith. Adhering to his rigged system is a fool's game.

At least the writer has more fight left in him than I do. I myself have given up hope. Not just for the Dems, but in general, as a principle. There are good reasons for doing so. I encourage you to read this bit of original, counter intuitive thinking called Beyond Hope.

The God Test

2007-05-08T04:10:00.001-07:00

Which God or Goddess are you like? Your Result: Jesus You are God's lovechild. You love all and most love you. You help those who need it, and those too. The girls all chase you, and some boys too. You love to have fun, but you keep a serious life of working as well.Congratulations!! You are Christ!!
Budha
The Christian God
Goddess Sekhemet
God Zeus
Goddess Bast
You are your own God or Goddess
Satan
Which God or Goddess are you like? Make Your Own Quiz

The above are my results. Take the test yourself here.

Just Like a Stroll in an Indiana Farmer's Market

2007-04-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

John McCain's little stroll through an Iraqi marketplace has got to be the Mother of all unnatural, ridiculously staged photo ops. The area, having been swept and secured the day before, then seeded with rooftop snipers and surrounded by more than 100 armed U.S. soldiers, the Senator would nevertheless have you believe that it was, as Rep. Mike Pence (one of McCain's three cohorts in this shameless little charade) put it, "like a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime".

These Republican hacks are either deranged, stupid as a small soapdish, or cynical beyond description. I personally believe it is an unholy combination of all three. In any case, it is manifest evidence of the extent to which they think the American public, the Iraqi populace and the world community are entirely brainless and gullible.

As the old saying goes -- "Don't piss on me and then tell me it's only raining."

Take Off a Little More Shine

2007-04-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

The picture of Obama is becoming a bit clearer -- if duller and darker -- as time goes on. This from the AP wires:

Two leading congressional Democrats yesterday said their party would have little realistic choice but to fund U.S. forces in Iraq without withdrawal timelines if President Bush vetoes a war-spending bill as promised.

"I think that nobody wants to play chicken with our troops on the ground," said Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. "Obviously we're constrained by the fact that a commander in chief who also has veto power has the option of ignoring that position," Mr. Obama, a 2008 presidential contender, said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Compare and contrast with this statement from Reid and Feingold regarding their newly introduced bill calling for a defunding of the war and a timeline certain.

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced today that they are introducing legislation that will effectively end the current military mission in Iraq and begin the redeployment of U.S. forces. The bill requires the President to begin safely redeploying U.S. troops from Iraq 120 days from enactment, as required by the emergency supplemental spending bill the Senate passed last week. The bill ends funding for the war, with three narrow exceptions, effective March 31, 2008.

“Congress has a responsibility to end a war that is opposed by the American people and is undermining our national security." Feingold said. "By ending funding for the President’s failed Iraq policy, our bill requires the President to safely redeploy our troops from Iraq.”

Should Obama be the Democrat leading us out of this war rather than giving up and giving in to Bush's threatened veto?

Take a Little Shine off the Golden Boy

2007-03-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

Barrack's response to Larry King when asked about whether his campaign was responsible for the Vote Different video:

"Frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like this... "It's pretty extraordinary."

Of course, this is either total, mendacious bullshit, or even more alarmingly, lack of imagination and total detachment from 21st century digital technology. (The video was created in one afternoon on a personal computer) I suspect the former because the man is not a dunce. If the latter, then one must ask "Is this the man we want as leader of the most technically advanced country in the world, with all the inherent issues therein, global warming, etc. And do we want a technical illiterate as commander in chief of the most technologically advanced military in the history of the world?"

And while we're dealing in bad answers, let's go back a couple of weeks to Obama's first two responses to General Pace's statement that homosexuality is immoral:

1: "I think traditionally the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman has restricted his public comments to military matters. That's probably a good tradition to follow."
2: "I think the question here is whether somebody is willing to sacrifice for their country, should they be able to if they're doing all the things that should be done."

Of course, Hillary's immediate response was no better, which is not saying much:

"Well, I'm going to leave that to others to conclude."

This blog will be tracking these two leading presidential contenders for stupid, dishonest or unprincipled statements and deeds. I expect the Hill to provide plenty enough grist for this mill. But from the O man... I am a bit disappointed.

My Hero

2007-03-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

Sure, it took a senseless and costly war, thousands of suffering Gulf Coast refugees, a national deficit from which we may never recover, the violation of civil rights and the Geneva Conventions, the attempted shredding of the Constitution and installation of a monarchial presidency, loss of precious, hard-earned prestige around the world... well, the list goes on and on. But according to this Pew Research Center report, Karl Rove, with the help of Dick Cheney, working through their mutual sock puppet George W., have succeeded, in just a matter of six short years (although it seems much longer), in creating a dominant liberal, Democratic majority that may last for a generation and beyond.

That is quite an accomplishment. Thank you Karl.

Big Sister

2007-03-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

The official Obama campaign did not create, sponsor, or otherwise have anything to do with this video. But that's not really the salient fact. Obama does not control the message. Hillary does not control the message. None of the candidates control the message any longer.

Hillary has been thrust on the mesmerized, distracted, consumerist, American Idol-watching proletariat by the big monied interests that drive the DLC wing of the Democratic party, the Republican party, and big mainstream media. Call it The Establishment... The System... the Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex.

Or call it Big Brother.

Workers of the world, unite! Progressive Democrats, break through!

Worse Than a Hypocrite

2007-03-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich openly confessed to James Dobson that he had been engaged in an extra-marital affair during the Lewinsky scandal. But he did not confess to being a hypocrite:

“The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge. I drew a line in my mind that said, ‘Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials.”

On a very narrow point, I do agree with Newt. The President of the United States must be held to the rule of law. Despite the questionable nature of the underlying case, perjury and obstruction of justice, especially by a high ranking public official, undermines the basis of the legal system. Does this argument strike a familiar bell in the wake of the Libby verdict?

Bill Clinton did commit perjury before a grand jury and deserved his impeachment. The entire episode was a sorry and unfortunate spectacle, and amid all the moral finger-wagging of the Republicans, it exposed most of them as priggish and self-righteous - and for those who had their own dirty laundry hiding in the closet, as hypocrites. That does not change the fact that Bill should have first kept his dick in his pants and then told the truth under oath. Had he had more character and followed those two simple rules, we most certainly would have had a President Albert A. Gore and not a President George W. Bush.

But although Gingrich drove the Clinton impeachment, the driving force behind him and the Republican party was the Christian Right. It's one thing to preach and espouse your own deeply held morals and principles. It's quite another to espouse the principles of others that you do not hold so dear yourself or even practice in your personal life. That what makes Newt even worse than a hypocrite.

Hillary Is A Phony

2007-03-07T03:19:00.000-08:00

This is appalling and idiotic. I am embarrassed for her. Granted, in the first part of the audio, she is quoting a traditional black hymn -- rather broadly and stereotypically I might add. And there is no more reason to do so than there is to use a flowery British accent when quoting Shakespeare. And as for the latter phrases, she is not quoting anybody or anything, but is simply affecting a southern accent for her black audience.

She is a phony, a panderer, a terrible public speaker, a bad Kingfish mimic, a clown and, ultimately, an example of the worst kind of politician.

FAQ on Iraq

2007-03-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

It has always struck me that the press and the public have for the most part settled for Bush's simplistic "They hate us for our freedoms" explanation for the causes of Islamic terrorism. If it's not Bush giving the answers, then it's other Republicans, Democrats or American white men in general. In other words, just about the least qualified people on Earth to answer the question. If you really want an accurate answer, ask some Islamic terrorists. (The same goes for asking partisan hacks why people hate Bush)

So it's about time that somebody put forth the basic facts about what is really going on regarding the nature of the insurgency in Iraq. The title says it best -- The Iraq Insurgency for Beginners. Read it and be educated beyond and above the filter of the uninformed, biased and mendacious politicians, military and government officials.

Pelosi: It's So Hard For A Prez To Find Good Help These Days

2007-02-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

Speaker Pelosi was on Larry King this evening. I was with her until this exchange.

KING: President Johnson, toward the end of Vietnam, he didn't run for reelection, exhibited extreme torture himself. You see it in all the tapes that have been released, the look on his face. And he died soon after leaving office.

Why do you think this president doesn't appear to exhibit that kind of pain over all this public opinion against?

PELOSI: I think he believes he is on the right course even though the facts on the ground speak to a different reality. And I just don't know, but I don't think he's getting good advice.

Puhleeze. I've heard this excuse made for this sorry example of a decider numerous times. A POTUS can get advise from most any citizen in this country or even the world at the snap of his fingers. If you are a professor or scholar teaching Middle Eastern affairs at the University of Washington, and you are summoned to the White House unexpectedly in the middle of the night because the President wants to consult with you, you wipe the sleep out of your eyes, get dressed and catch the first flight to D.C.

And what was the Iraq Study Group if not one large bi-partisan advisory panel?

Hillary's Fantasy Speech

2007-02-27T02:04:00.000-08:00

Gary Kamiya over at Salon has penned a wonderful speech that Hillary Clinton might give in a perfect world. In this perfect world, she would be perfectly in tune with her Democratic base as well as with most Independents and even many Republicans. The fact that she never would, and genetically never could, even come close to delivering this speech, is only an indication of how far removed from the truth is the deception she has been living... how far from being honest with her constituents and the electorate she has been. Here is a little taste:

Until now, I have been saying, "If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have voted for it." That is a pathetic evasion. So let me say it clearly and forthrightly. I was wrong to vote to authorize the use of force against Iraq. Like most of my blue-state Democratic colleagues, I voted for the war out of cowardice, for purely self-serving political reasons. I didn't want to appear "soft on terrorism." I knew I was giving an incompetent president surrounded by ideologues with dubious motivations carte blanche to launch an unjustified and incredibly risky war. And I did it to save my own political skin.

Moreover, I knew I was wrong even as I did it. It was the greatest mistake of my life, and I will never stop regretting it. I will feel to my last breath that I bear some share of responsibility for an unjustified war that has become America's greatest foreign policy disaster since Vietnam, and has needlessly cost the lives of more than 3,000 American troops and as many as 700,000 Iraqis.

[snip]

For far too long I have been a follower, not a leader, timidly shaping my views to correspond to some imagined political center, some vague sense of a "silent majority." It's the same gutless deference to "Middle America" that caused the media to cave in to Bush's war. Well, I've decided it's time to lead, not follow. The truth is, Middle America is more sensible, and conservative in the traditional sense, than we give it credit for. And it's waiting for someone to tell it the truth.

There are many more big and juicy truths, facts and insights that we will never hear from the mouth of the Senator from New York, even though this knowledge, we sense, must exist in her mind to a great degree. Read the entire thing. It's an eye opener.

Bill O'Reilly Finds a Liberal

2007-02-26T23:17:00.000-08:00

SEE Bill O'Reilly identify Tammy Bruce as a liberal. LISTEN to Tammy psychoanalyze Bill Maher and the rest of us Bush haters as having unresolved parental issues. HEAR her say Clinton's personal behavior was more destructive to people than Bush's policies. WATCH her claim the attacks on Bush are worse than those against Clinton because Bush critics are without reason.

Why don't news show hosts ask actual Bush haters why they hate Bush? By the same token, why don't they ask actual jihadist terrorists why they hate America instead of asking Republicans? I'm sure you'd get much more accurate answers.

Oh and by the way, DIG Bill Maher telling it like it is!

An Unreasonably Principled Man

2007-02-26T22:38:00.000-08:00

Sure, I'm an Obama supporter. He is an attractive, smart guy. Articulate and clean too. But at this point, I have to confess his main attraction for me is mainly as the candidate most likely to slay Hillary before she has a chance to lose in the general election. Should Al Gore toss his hat (or his Oscar statuette or his Nobel Peace Prize) into the ring, I'd jump over to his ship in a heartbeat. But deep down, I'm not really happy about any of it.

This Chris Hedges piece is a brief for arguably the most principled man in politics. And my natural extension, it is also a stark look at our troubled and corrupt system. It is a reminder to me that Democrats look good only by comparison. It confirms to me that there is cause for my general underlaying malaise about the American political process, and a reminder of why I voted for Nader in 2000, and why I have no regrets for doing so.