Trekkin' in Singapore - McRitchie

expatbrian

I've posted some pictures of my trip to the rain forest at McRitchie reservoir over at World Gone Mad. See the post here.


















I didn't post it here because blogger makes it almost impossible to post a sequence of several pictures and I'm not going to struggle with it again. You'd think Google could do a better job. Wordpress does.

Screening room

by Capt. Fogg

I spent much of yesterday afternoon in a hospital waiting room with CNN blaring on the small screen and after reading everything from half a dozen elderly Field and Stream issues to the current Working Mother Magazine, I had to give up on the printed word and pay attention to the blather. I rarely watch CNN any more and if you wonder why, it's because in three hours, all I heard from them other than advertising, was about "John McCain's vision for the future" and the terribly, terribly important overturn of a gay marriage ban in California again and again like some fast paced version of Groundhog Day.

"Many people are concerned that we need more conservatives in government so that we won't have judges who decide this way" was nearly the entirety of the commentary, the balance was the observation that it was the Constitution (hence not the judges) that stood in the way of preserving the "sanctity" of marriage. Regardless of the now apparently reduced sanctity of my own marriage, I continued to wait for my dear wife to have her X-ray with undiminished dedication.

Sanctity, of course is indeed a subject that our Federal Constitution excludes from the business of government. Establishing religious rules or laws based on religious rules is specifically forbidden and not applying any laws in a discriminatory fashion, whether based on religious taboos or not, has long been established in the law. What does CNN mean to imply here: that we should get rid of that nasty secular Democracy thing so we can all be holy? What else can we infer?

And then there was John McCain's vision for the future. It seems rather blurry even for his 71 year old eyes, but then any serious predictions of a brave, new Republican World had better be blurry lest it appear too much like the cowardly old Republican World we've been suffering through at length. The "war" will be "won," sayeth John, quoting from the Gospel of Nixon. Of course he's right, since the war was won 5 years ago. What continues is the occupation of a hostile country and occupations are never won but maintained only at tremendous and usually increasing cost.

None of this seems to have left a trace, at least on CNN or CNN.com. Perhaps it's because of some fleeting sense of embarrassment or perhaps there are so many new inanities and so little time, but my sense of despair remains. No story hits the street save through such sources and no story is told without the Greek Chorus of hysterical idiots making it into something to stir the primitives to frenzy.

Maybe the public isn't as stupid as they appear. Perhaps the West Virginians John Stuart featured Wednesday night who told us they wouldn't vote for Obama because "we've had so much conflict with the Other Race" or "I've had enough of Hooooo-sayn" or "He's a Moslim" don't represent the rest of us, but the fate of old optimists like me is to become an old pessimist like me.



Cross posted from Human Voices

Clinton changes tactics

By Libby

I'm working all day and will be offline for most of it but I didn't want to let the latest rhetoric from Hillary pass unnoticed. She's really redeemed herself in my eyes with her current aboutface from negative campaigning. She defended Obama and the party from Bush's inane remarks about appeasers in Israel yesterday.

"I think today we’ve had two examples of why this country is going to be voting for a Democratic president. And I hope that people really look seriously both at President Bush’s comment and at Sen. McCain’s speech and realize that the only way we’re going to restore our leadership and our moral authority and deal with the very real challenges we face in the world is by electing a democratic president and I believe that I am a stronger candidate against Sen. McCain and will be a president who could accomplish that," she said.

Even more importantly, she earlier reached out to her supporters to ask for unity.

"Anybody who has ever voted for me or voted for Barack has much more in common in terms of what we want to see happen in our country and in the world with the other than they do with John McCain," Clinton said on CNN's "The Situation Room."

"I'm going to work my heart out for whoever our nominee is. Obviously, I'm still hoping to be that nominee, but I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that anyone who supported me ... understands what a grave error it would be not to vote for Sen. Obama."

I have mixed emotions about this turnaround. I'm happy to see it, but sad she didn't take this tack earlier. If she had, I may well have voted for her instead of Obama. But what's done is done and I'm glad to be free of the WTF is she doing factor. I wish I could say the same for her supporters.

On the heels of NARAL's endorsement of Obama, the remaining organized women's groups are staging a mass mutiny and threatening to vote for McCain, in direct defiance of Hillary's own call for unity. I have to agree with Kyle that this makes no sense. It's not like Obama has some kind of godawful record on women's rights, so one faction is angry with the other for disagreeing on which candidate would advance the long term goals of all of us, namely getting a Dem into the White House.

On a quick read, while the language is couched over electability and alleged character issues, it seems the big objection is that NARAL betrayed women by endorsing a man. Call me a bad feminist but basing their objections mainly on his gender seems to me to be -- well -- pretty darn sexist.

The war is over (if you want it)

By Libby

Okay, it's not really over but we're getting closer. I explain at Newshoggers.

Matthews knocks down wingnut radio host

By Libby

Help. My world is falling apart. Tweety actually did something good today on Hardball. He nailed some wingnut hate jockey that I've never heard of when he called him on his empty sloganeering. The guy evoked the Chamberlain appeaser smear and Matthews got him to admit that he had no idea what Chamberlain actually did.

Matthews rebuked his clueless guest — and the entire Bush administration — for being “blank slates in terms of history”:

You don’t understand there’s a difference between talking to the enemy and appeasing. What Chamberlain did wrong, most people would say, is not talking to Hitler, but giving him half of Czechoslovakia in 1938. That’s what he did wrong. Not talking to somebody. Appeasement is giving things away to the enemy.

Watch the video at the link. It's really a thing of beauty.

I wish Matthews had been doing more like this since say 2002, but I'll take a metamorphosis any time, even though I suspect it's fleeting. I suppose he'll be disappointing me by using his gotcha skills on trivialities again soon enough. Still, one should praise good behavior and he did good this time.

Perp walk in Rove's future?

By Libby

Hot off the rumor mill, this is the best news I've heard for a long time. Could be our long awaited Fitzmas present is about to arrive.

Just off the House floor today, the Crypt overheard House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers tell two other people: “We’re closing in on Rove. Someone’s got to kick his ass.”

Asked a few minutes later for a more official explanation, Conyers told us that Rove has a week to appear before his committee. If he doesn’t, said Conyers, “We’ll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We’d hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested.”

Conyers goes on to say “We want him for so many things, it’s hard to keep track.”

I've been daydreaming lately about the Democrats ramping up their investigations as a campaign tactic. What better way to define the Republican brand and frame the narrative for November? It looks like my dreams might finally be coming true.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Sexually suggestive rainbows

By Libby

This First Amendment victory in Florida is good news. A federal judge ruled the school violated students’ rights of free expression when the principal banned all rainbow themed items.

During the trial, which was held in Panama City yesterday and today, Ponce de Leon High School’s principal David Davis admitted under oath that he had banned students from wearing any clothing or symbols supporting equal rights for gay people. Davis also testified that he believed rainbows were “sexually suggestive” and would make students unable to study because they’d be picturing gay sex acts in their mind. The principal went on to admit that while censoring rainbows and gay pride messages he allowed students to wear other symbols many find controversial, such as the Confederate flag.

That guy needs to get his mind out of the gutter. I'd bet he has a computer full of hot lesbian porn at home. Meanwhile, "[t]he judge also warned the district not to retaliate against students over the lawsuit." I wouldn't count on that if I were those students, although I expect the school administration will be careful to retaliate in a more subtle manner. Nonetheless, I find it heartening to see young people standing up for their rights.

KO to Bush - STFU

By Libby

Okay, he didn't actually use the "F" word, he said shut the hell up but it's one of Olbermann's better rants. He's at his best when he's bashing the administration and it's a refreshing change from his partisan meddling in the primary. I'm not going to excerpt it because it's not that long and you should read it for yourself.

Meanwhile, I have new posts at Newshoggers where you should scroll down to my rewrite on the price Iraqis have paid for the war. Bill Roggio scolds me for my intepretation of his post and I reply in the comment section. I also have some new posts at Detroit News worth reading.

Quick bytes - triple decker sandwich edition

By Libby

I've been plagued with an inexplicable fatigue this week and just can't quite get going in the mornings. I think it's the anxiety dreams I've been having. I sleep a lot but I never feel rested when I wake up. So while I'm trying to reach coherency levels, here's a some short videos to enlighten your day.

Via Avedon, I'm sure you've all heard about Bush's great sacrifice already, but this really puts it in perspective.

I also agree with her that John Edwards opening his endorsement of Obama by praising Hillary was a classy move. It makes me feel better about the chances of healing the rift between the two camps in time to mount a united offense against the truly offensive candidate in this race, McNasty McCain.

Meanwhile, I'm increasingly concerned that Bush and Cheney are going to bomb Iran before they skulk out of the Village. Spencer has a great video on this that ends with a link to an online petition to register your concern with your Congresslizards. Please take the thirty seconds to sign on and potentially save the world.

Who would bin Laden vote for?

By Capt. Fogg

It's been called Godwin's Law, the idea that the longer a political dialog continues, the more likely Hitler will be brought up. Of course, it's not a law; the longer any conversation continues, the more likely that anything will come up, but reductio ad Hitlerium as other wags have dubbed it, does seem to occur all too often when the subject is a government we dislike, a political figure we hate or when a policy we are trying to justify needs a good old fashioned bogeyman to override considerations of accuracy, truthfulness or sometimes even sanity.

The notion that trying to deal with any bogeyman without the use of bombs and tanks and sanctions is "appeasement," has been a standard gambit since British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and the Munich Agreement of 1938, but rarely if ever has it been an apt analogy but rather a clumsy attempt to denounce diplomacy as a political tool. Is it any kind of surprise that it was used by the neocons against continuing to inspect and assess Iraq's nuclear potential? If that were true, airport security checks would be "appeasing terrorists" which makes no sense.

Did Nikita Khruschev really back Kennedy over Nixon because Kennedy was "soft on Communism?" Did Ho Chi Min really want Hubert Humphrey to win? Are we really not sick and disgusted of all this idiocy by now?

Hardly surprising that the strutting little Commander Guy has little other defense to the suggestion that talks with "evildoers" may sometimes be productive. No, talking to Adolph Hitler in 1938 wasn't a way to keep him from invading Poland the following year, but then not talking to Fidel Castro hasn't done a damned thing while we continue to appease the Saudi Royal Family and their medieval monarchy.

Let's be honest. Dealing sensibly with the Germans in 1918 might have made a difference and dealing with Palestinians differently in 1948 might have made a difference, but when it comes to deciding when it's time to stop trying and to start bombing isn't something the "Decider" seems to be good at deciding, is it?

Analogies can be helpful, but only in so far as they are honest and accurate. Neither of those terms applies to much we hear from the "Warpresident" and his latest jive from Jerusalem insisting that Barak Obama and other Democrats would endanger Israel and perhaps the world by actually engaging Ahmadenejad and other bogeymen in a conversation. "rewarding bad behavior" is the typical administration phrasing, as though trigger happy America is the world's school teacher, but either way, it's an opinion much related to past failures and with little success to its credit.

It's the sort of thing he hopes Israel will buy into, since he would love to have them pressure American Jews into supporting Republicans. In my opinion, that's bad behavior; the kind dishonesty and cowardice usually produces and I would hate to see the losers, crooks, cowards and failures we flatter by calling Neocons, rewarded for it.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Rummy's liquid lunch

By Libby

Gah. I have a last minute call to go into work for a few hours so I'm off, but this should keep you amused for a bit. I've long suspected that the Bush regime, if not actively plotting, was at least secretly hoping for another 9/11 event. This from the recent DoD document dump confirms it.

RUMSFELD: That's what I was just going to say. This President's pretty much a victim of success. We haven't had an attack in five years. The perception of the threat is so low in this society that it's not surprising that the behavior pattern reflects a low threat assessment. The same thing's in Europe, there's a low threat perception. The correction for that, I suppose, is an attack.

You can find the audio at the last clip at the link. These people have no shame. In my book this verges very close to treason. Phoenix Woman [via] has more, as does Fire Dog Lake.

The Maverick

By Capt. Fogg

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'
Keep movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them doggies movin'
Rawhide! ...

Samuel A. Maverick (!803 - 1870) had a life filled with adventures too numerous to list, but in his later years as a rancher who refused to brand his cattle, his name entered the American vocabulary as a non-conformist; a person of independent thought and action. That's hardly descriptive of John McCain, a man who followed in the family tradition of military careers, used family connections to get into the Naval Academy (and nearly flunk out) and whose political career is and has been marked by the influence of lobbyists and special interest spokesmen of dubious allegiance. The cattle at this Maverick's ranch seem to have dubious markings on them and maybe it's time someone did brand John McCain's cattle.

Some of the old doggies in the McCain corral; two of his campaign staff that is, seem to have spend time grazing in Burma in the pastures of the criminal Junta currently letting huge numbers of people starve while stealing their food. What advice has John the Maverick been taking from them?

Charlie Black, McCain's campaign chairman, ran a lobbying firm that represented vicious dictators like Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire ; even terrorist rebel Jonas Savimbi in Angola. What advice has Cowboy John been taking? How well does he examine the backgrounds of his advisers, or is it that these are the kind of people he prefers to associate with and take advice from?

Black was also an adviser to Achmed Chalabi a man who may have been working as a double agent for Iran and whose mendacious advice to the Bush administration fed their lust to invade Iraq, has also been affiliated with Blackwater Worldwide, the firm that has made a colossal killing (pun intended) from the war.

And then there's campaign co-chair Tom Loeffler, who has represented the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - need I say more?

For a man who is supposed to be independent of the influence of others and disdainful of lobbyists, it's a bit strange how the others who influence him seem to be former lobbyists for repressive dictators and oil interests and others who see the US as a cash cow to be milked dry and then perhaps led to slaughter.

Maybe it's time to round them up and move them out; the whole damned lot of them.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Anger Management - OReilly style

expatbrian

H/t to Nolocontendre for this classic vid. Only at Fox would someone like this rate his own show.

Hog heaven

By Libby

I'm not sure why, since the guys are posting a lot, but I've been posting all day at Newshoggers and I have some good stories that you shouldn't miss and I don't feel like rewriting. Meanwhile, the boyz have been invited to crosspost to Attackerman this week so they're just a ball of fire today and you might want to just start at the top at Newshoggers and keep on scrolling.

I wasn't invited myself but I don't feel bad about it. My stuff isn't wonky enough for that blog and the guy's posts fit perfectly. Meanwhile, I owe the Detroit News some posts and I see Brian is taking up the slack here so I'll be in the Motor City this evening.

God created Martians

expatbrian

Oh, brother. Now I've heard everything.

Father Gabriel Funes, the Vatican's chief astronomer said that life on Mars cannot be ruled out and and that intelligent beings may exist in outer space. And, of course, God created them.

Just as there are multiple forms of life on earth, so there could exist intelligent beings in outer space created by God. And some aliens could even be free from original sin, he speculates.

Huh? Why do they get to be free from original sin? No apple trees on Mars? And if they're created in his image, does that mean they're like us? Do you think one of 'em might be willing to loan me ten bucks?

Asked about the Catholic Church's condemnation four centuries ago of the Italian inventor of the telescope, Galileo, Father Funes diplomatically says mistakes were made, but it is time to turn the page and look towards the future.

Yeah, that whole "center of the universe" mistake was a lulu. Any other mistakes we should know about?

To strengthen its scientific credentials, the Vatican is organising a conference next year to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the author of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin.

WTF? So, we were the center of the universe but now we're not. God inspired the writing of the Bible but neglected to mention anything about putting some folks on other planets as well. And now the Catholic church is buddying up with their nemesis, Charles Darwin.

Do they know something we don't or is this the biggest case of Cover Thine Ass that the world has ever seen?

cross posted from World Gone Mad

Annika Calls it a Day

expatbrian

I just read this story about the upcoming retirement of Annika Sorenstam. I'll miss her.
Sorenstam has dominated women's golf for 15 years. Out of the 293 professional tournaments she's played in, she's finished in the top 10 in 206, winning 72 including 10 majors.

Additionally she claims eight Rolex Player of the Year awards, eight money titles, six Vare Trophies for lowest scoring average, eight Solheim Cup selections and more than $22 million in career earnings. She is in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

She has been the only woman so far to enter a mens pro tourney and actually be competitve. She is highly respected by both the men and women players and has certainly done her share to put women's golf on the map and women's sports in general.

Unlucky in love...

By Libby

But sort of lucky at the gas pump. I see the latest average price of gas has gone up to $3.72 a gallon. I paid $3.63 yesterday. The truckers aren't so fortunate though. The going rate here is $4.24, only a couple of cents off the average highway robbery.

I just missed out on the $3.59 price a couple of days ago. When I pulled up to the pumps I saw they were out of regular gas. I haven't seen that happen since the 70s. And it's only the beginning of the summer driving season.

Which raises another question. I read recently that the refineries don't process gas in the summer but rely on their stocks on hand. Why wouldn't they produce more gas when the demand is highest, other than the opportunity to do a little price gouging?

The incredible laziness of Jonah Goldberg

By Libby

Lucianne's little boy is at it again. Having 'written' his epic tome on liberal fascism largely by co-opting the commentary sent in response to his blegs, he seeks to duplicate his successful avoidance of anything resembling actual original work. Sadly, No catches his latest plea for help.

Anyway, I’m doing the interview this Thursday and while I have my thoughts far better organized, I thought it’d be interesting to know what NRO readers think Bush’s legacy will be. Please send thoughts — hopefully constructive — to JonahResearch@AOL.com.

I join S,N in urging you to help Jonah make his deadline. They've already posted their thoughts, but there's no limit to Jonah's need for serious assistance.

Song and Dance - 1964 Style

expatbrian

Shortly after the Beatles "landed" in the US and started their journey to superstardom, a whole slew of boy groups followed. Some were great and others were crap. Most were somewhere in the middle. In that group, many had just a few hits but some of those are memorable.

This group had 3 or 4 hits and I liked them. What caught my eye with this vid was the dancing of the audience. I think it's either the Jerk or the Watusi or a combo of both. Either way, its almost painful to watch. To think that I looked like that, which I'm sure I did, is almost too much to bear. Enjoy the Beau Brummels.



X posted at World Gone Mad

Breathtaking quote

By Libby

Barak Obama is taking charge of the narrative.

It is truly breathtaking for John McCain to talk about combating climate change while voting against virtually every recent effort to actually invest in clean energy. You don’t have to look further than the wind turbine plant where Senator McCain is speaking today to assess his commitment to this cause. While Senator McCain talks about the need to invest in alternative energy, he rejected the single biggest investment in renewable energy in history, including incentives that contributed to a nearly 50% increase in wind power generation last year, and he has repeatedly opposed renewable fuel mandates and higher fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks.

In stark contrast, I’ve called for a national standard to ensure that we're using more renewable energy, an expansion of our green energy sector that would create millions of green jobs, and a bipartisan plan to double our fuel efficiency standards. That is why the American people will have a clear choice in November when I am the nominee – between a candidate who opposes real solutions to our energy crisis, and leadership that will solve it once and for all.

He's starting to sound presidential.

Media Bytes - The Sky is a Landfill edition

By Libby

Song in my head by yet another musician that died too young. I'm late again with the Bytes. I was so obsessed with my pre-op appointment today that I could barely settle down to blog yesterday. All I got was a couple of posts up at Newshoggers.

I spent most of today meeting with a small army of doctors who will be slicing and dicing me in a couple of weeks. I suppose I should be grateful that I'm being treated at Duke. It is one of the best hospitals in the country but boy are they slow. Five hours at the doctor's office of which I spent about 30 minutes actually talking to doctors. Filled out a lot of forms though. But enough complaining -- on with the show.

Starting with a little point and click action, the two young superdelegates from the College Democrats of America are asking for advice on who to endorse. You can contact them via any of the means they suggest in the video or email them at khaleela@collegedems.com and wolfel@collegedems.com with your thoughts.

We can surely tell them who not to endorse of course. Mr. McNasty is a definite no in November and here's his top 10 out of touch moments for your archives. Keep them handy. We'll be getting around to fighting the GOP instead of each other any day now and you'll need them to remind the deluded why our 'maverick candidate' is as twisted as a cow on loco weed.

And somebody might want to remind Fox that subliminal endorsements work better if they're a little less detectable than this.

Moving right along, no one can accuse SNL of being subtle. Ouch. Those fickle New Yorkers. Guess bitch isn't the new black this week. Personally, although I'm not supporting Clinton, I didn't think this was at all funny.

The Bush family wedding was much more amusing. Watertiger has the pictures from the wedding party to the tacky souveniers being hawked in town to commemorate the big event. Start and the top and keep scrolling. I actually thought Jenna's dress was attractive but the rest of them -- words fail really. Just goes to show that big money can't buy you good taste. Cripes. Laura looks like she shopped at the local Goodwill store for hers.

On the lighter side, here's a little guessing game for you. See if you recognize him without reading the captions. He looks like he's aged beyond the years that passed. I thought that only happened to presidents. Meanwhile, I never in a million years would have guessed who this was but he looks a lot better now. Retirement seems to be agreeing with him.

If you're a fan major syndicated comics this list 'o links covers just about all of them. I was surprised and pleased to find that Alley Oop, Dick Tracy and Prince Valiant are still available on line. They were some of my favs as a kid. I'll bet you'll find your long lost favorites there too.

And for the eye candy, I have a gallery from the art car museum. I particularly liked numbers 5 and 17. I liked this celebrity based art also, although I'm not sure I'd want to own the pieces, they're quite clever.

I'm very sure however, that I would like to be able to balance rocks like this guy. I often have made stacks on the banks of rivers but I've never come close to his style. Pretty amazing.

Finally, speaking of amazing, this is another pastime I enjoyed as a kid, but I never came close to anything like the world's tallest stack of cards. I can imagine how nervewracking it was to put that house together.

[hat tips to Avedon and David Dillard]

Après le déluge, rien.

by Capt. Fogg

Political and economic repression probably bother the Burmese less of late than the problem of staying alive in the mud along with the rotting corpses of man and beast. It's a natural disaster of bigger than average proportions and some estimate the death toll will be over a million when the toll of disease and malnutrition is paid. The earthquake in Sichuan seems almost inconsequential in comparison and so do the hurricanes, school shootings and lead paint scandals of recent times, yet the "Hillaryobama" chant continues to dominate all three rings of the 24 hour American news circus.

If the magnitude of the tragedy is lost on most of us, the significance of the event is clear to the Apocalypse fans. It's more evidence of the end times. It's more evidence of the the human sacrifice demanding Yahweh "who so loved the world" getting warmed up for the big one. To some, possessed of a more informed and wider view of history, it's just another small incident in a billion years of much worse. To others, it's a demonstration of the perils of overpopulation and poverty. To the more fashionable, it's the alarm bell of the Global Warming warning system. To the religious leaders to whom America listens while condemning Reverend Wright, it probably shows clearly the perils of not accepting their processed Jesus product and at least hints of various sexual improprieties of the oriental sort.

To me? Well I just knew you'd be interested. To me it all means nothing. It means we live very briefly in an unfathomably huge, ancient and hostile universe in which we and all we do are supremely insignificant except to each other. It means we waste our brief and often miserable lives by pretending it's otherwise.

Cross posted from Human Voices

Where have all the mothers gone?

By Capt. Fogg

This being my first Mother's day without having a mother, I tend to notice all the hoopla from the people selling things, from flowers to Caribbean cruises, with a bit of sadness. Of course being a language snob and a grammatical elitist, at least in America where using the language at above the Kindergarten level is like carrying Chairman Mao's little red book, I'm disgusted with the metamorphosis of Mother's Day into "Mom's Day."

"I always wanted to be a Mom" reads today's local newspaper headline. The respect implied by being someone's mother would be too much for down-to-earth, anti-adult Americans. Maybe we should stop saying Mother of God or Mother Theresa or God forbid, Mother Miles and change them all to "Moms."

Isn't it bad enough that we wear backwards caps like the Little Rascals; do we have to talk like toddlers? Grow up.

And while we're on the subject, why the hell not a Grandparent's day? Particularly when the grown children are still being subsidized by said ancestors? Just don't call it Gramps' day or Granny's day. Why? Because I'm a pistol packin' Grandpa and I don't like it, that's why.

*All the above is null and void if you actually are my grandson, of course. In that case you can do no wrong.


Cross posted from Human Voices

Bless the Fools and the Drunkards

expatbrian

Today is Mother's Day in Singapore - tomorrow for you Americans on the wrong side of the international date line - but it is also the birthday of several folks of renown. Irving Berlin was born on this day as was Doug McClure and Louis Farrakhan. Mort Sahl and Salvadore Dali share this birthday as does the legendary Phil Silvers.

Another May 11th guy was the great Foster Brooks, although he was usually too drunk to remember. Here, Brooks happens to run into Dean Martin, another lush of some celebrity.



Brooks had struggled with alchohol in his early days but gave it up in 1964. He says a guy bet him $10 he couldn't quit, and he really needed the money. He drew upon his past to create a most unique and successful character. He died in 2001.

Sidetracked

I wasn't looking for this either but it's rare to find Hendrix playing acoustic.



He looks so young. Hard to believe he was older than me when this was taped.

Giving it up

By Libby

Not the song I was looking for but I'm in the mood for some Delbert.



Austin produced some great musicians in its day.

Baghdad before and after - Updated

By Libby

I think about Iraq a lot. Sometimes when I'm reading about the occupation, which I do for hours every week, I'm struck by a profound sadness that I never traveled there before the invasion. I always wanted to see the antiquities of Baghdad but many of its ancient treasures have been destroyed or ruined in the "liberation" so even if peace ever inflicts itself again on that city, it won't ever the same.

Not having a guidebook handy, I decided I wanted to see what it looked like before our bombs arrived. I discovered it's not that easy to find photos of Baghdad before the invasion. These were the best I could find. As you can see it was once a green and beautiful place.




Now, not so much. It's a broken city. [Click on the photos to enlarge them. I can't copy them full size.]



There's more shots from this photograher at this album and others have posted more. Iraq was beautiful before the 'war.' None of this will ever be the same.

I think a lot about the people of Iraq. I look at the shots at the last link, of ordinary people smiling, the kids with innocence still intact in their eyes and it breaks my heart. I haven't been able to get through the whole nine minutes yet. I find it physically painful to think of all those normal comfortable lives forever disrupted for the crass ambition of politicians.

Two weeks before the invasion Bahgdad was a happy place. The people smiled on the lighted streets, filled with sidewalk vendors and laughing party goers. An American traveler was safe to wander them at will. Now you need a flack vest and an armed guard to leave the Green Zone.

Two weeks before the invasion, the Tigris river was blue. Today it's a different color. The lights don't go on in the city at night. The remaining vendors stalls are nearly empty and no one laughs in the streets. This is the legacy our tax dollars have bought.

They tell me freedom isn't free and I believe it. We've paid dearly in blood and treasure in its name. But when we count up the cost, let's include the Iraqi people's loss in the price. It's been significant.

Update: Armed Liberal mocks my empathy and accuses me of romanticizing Saddam's regime. Spare me the horror stories. I suppose I could spend a half an hour assembling links in response but what would be the point? The warmongers lost any ground to argue about Saddam's brutality the day our government became a state sponsor of torture.

These pictures speak for themselves. The millions of displaced Iraqis who lost their homes and livelihoods and the families of the hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed suffered a great loss. No matter how you feel about the occupation, it's only common decency to acknowledge it and hiding behind Saddam's atrocities to excuse our own mistakes is pure cowardice.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

Who would God endorse?

By Libby

You have to give the fundies some credit here. The timing of this civil disobedience is diabolically clever.

The action marks the latest attempt by a conservative organization to help clergy harness their congregations to sway elections. The protest is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 28, a little more than a month before the general election, in a year when religious concerns and preachers have been a regular part of the political debate.

It also comes as the IRS has increased its investigations of churches accused of engaging in politics. Sen. Barack Obama's denomination, the United Church of Christ, has said it was under investigation after it allowed the Democratic presidential candidate to address 10,000 church members last year. Last summer, the tax agency said it was reviewing complaints against 44 churches for activities in the 2006 election cycle. Churches found to be in violation can be fined or lose their tax exemptions.

Funny thing about these investigations. They all seem to be targeted at churches with liberal minded congregations. There was a big brouhaha around these parts in 04 where a little fundie church out on the sticks basically kicked out any congregant that refused to pledge to vote for Bush. It made the national news. Nothing happened to the church. A few months later the IRS was just horrified that some Unitarian Church in CA had allowed a guest sermon that called for peace instead of war. They were forced to fight to keep their tax exempt status.

I'm not sure what the resolution of that case was and that's the point on the timing of the 'protest action.' Doing it September is brilliant. By the time the IRS gets around to deciding if its against the law, or decides to penalize them for it, they have already accomplished their mission of influencing the election from the pulpit.

They're couching their protest under the premise that the law is an infringement of their First Amendment rights. What a load of transparent crap. The deal is you get the tax exempt status because you're a non-profit organization. The clergy are free to pontificate anywhere on their own time and any place except from their tax exempt pulpits. They're supposed to be offering spiritual guidance, not political advice.

Of course, they've already been doing this without penalty for some time so I wonder about their motives on making a legal issue out of it. It's looks to me like this is back door attempt to erase the separation of church and state altogether. At moments like these, I wish I believed in the rapture because it would be really satisfying to watch God reject these hypocrites and philistines while the DFHs were passing through the pearly gates.