Back in Massachusetts for the holiday. It's nice to be back and see friends and family. Heh, but driving around town I remember one of the glaring reasons I left in the first place: people in Massachusetts are probably the worst drivers in the US. Unless it's Providence.

Well, the trip out here was quite the adventure. I left from Michigan around 7:30, and it was no big deal: it was sunny and cold. But no sooner than I'd crossed the border into Canada I realized that it was still sunny but there was snow on the ground. Interesting... Fifteen minutes later! Find myself driving right into a blizzard! Must have been 6 to 12 inches of snow covering everything in a total white out. It took me one hour and two detours just to drive 15 miles, according to the trip meter. But once I was finally out of that mess, which surprisingly didn't take long, I was in the clear until I reached central New York, near Utica. Then the snows whipped up again. By that time my windshield washer fluid was frozen, which it still is, and my windshield was filthy. Took care of that at fuel up.

Got back to the wide rolling hills of my hometown around 10:30 and, on the advice of friends, decided to surprise my fambleh. Heh, they were surprised. My grandmother's all right, apart from her memory. Short-term is more or less shot; past memories are getting mixed in with the present. What is most challenging about it is the fact that she's very talkative, so questions often get asked--and answered--several times within seconds. But it's an interesting challenge. I notice that she seems her sharpest during the day and her mind responds best to music. I come from a family of musicians, singers, entertainers, including my grandmother, and when I broke out my old keyboard and let her play it, I observed that her playing skill was the same as it had been when I was little: rusty, but capable of being redeveloped. This is great. A friend I'd spoken to just before I left for vacation expressed an interest in music therapy. That might be something I'd also like to persue.

But it is frustrating...

I can tell that today I've spent too much time online. Yep. Soon I should get off this thing. Though it's been a while since I've really been able to surf the net, I realize there's actually not much I need to do on the computer. And sitting in front of a computer all day is also frustrating.

To be perfectly honest, I really can't wait to get back to Michigan. Though things are on the surface not ideal there, I'm not too poor that I can't pay bills, and my social life is becoming more rich and interesting by degrees. While in Michigan I've had opportunities to really look at myself, I've corrected a lot of negative thought patterns, gotten involved with the theatre, music, and photography, and participated to some small degree in the political process. Things are looking up out there. It makes me feel sad, though, that I don't mind almost closing the door on my home state of Massachusetts. Guess I just don't like it here, or something.

And that encourages my cynical side to bloom.

Well, I'll be back in Michigan soon, and that makes me happyish.

Call your state senators and tell them to vote against HR 1955! I just did. It was easy.

Senate Switchboard phone no.: 202-225-3121

HR 1955 was shuttled through the House of Representatives on October 23, 2007, by a bi-partisan landslide majority of 404-6 votes and is now on its way to the Senate.

Representatives who voted against it:

1. Jeff Flake [Rep-AK]
   
2. Dana Rohrabacher [Rep-CA]
   
3. Neil Abercrombie [Dem-HI]
   
4. Jerry Costello [Dem-IL]
   
5. Dennis Kucinich [Dem-OH]
   
6. John Duncan [Rep-TN]

HR 1955 is probably the most insidious attack against freedom in America because it criminalizes any act, or any promotion of, anything the Government interprets to be "radical" or "extremist."

The Bill will allow the U.S. government to establish a new temporary National Committee to research the motivation behind any and all "violent radicalization" in the United States, and proposes the governmental implementation of long-term methods to be used to prevent the adoption of "extremist ideologies."

In simpler terms, Americans could eventually be found guilty of thought crime. Our words, actions, and ideas could come under potentially heavy scrutiny should this bill pass through the Senate.

As you can see from the following selections, the wording of HR 1955 is horrifically vague:

The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007

"VIOLENT RADICALIZATION—The term violent radicalization means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change."

"HOMEGROWN TERRORISM—The term homegrown terrorism means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."

"IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE—The term ideologically based violence means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs."

The main thrust of these words seems admirable enough, but once you stop and think about what it's NOT saying, you're left to wonder just how far the bill goes.

Here's a hint:

"The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens."

"Preventing the potential rise of self radicalized, unaffiliated terrorists domestically cannot be easily accomplished solely through traditional Federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts, and can benefit from the incorporation of State and local efforts."

"Individuals prone to violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence span all races, ethnicities, and religious beliefs, and individuals should not be targeted based solely on race, ethnicity, or religion." (Although Islam is directly mentioned as a source).

"Certain governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have significant experience with homegrown terrorism and the United States can benefit from lessons learned by those nations."

The bill itself is extremely short, because its focus is on the need for, funding, and establishment of this temporary (18-month) research Committee. And while there is a need to fight homegrown terrorism, how far is our government willing to go to do it?

I think there has to be another way.

Whenever I connected to the internet to check my mail, the Yahoo homepage pops open. Well, today, I was greeted by this loverly gem, right up front.



If You're Not Feeling It, Fake It
Posted by Gabrielle Reece on Tue, Sep 25, 2007, 2:50 pm PDT

Let's face it, sometimes you just have to fake it. I'm six months pregnant, have been with my husband for almost 12 years, have a three-year-old, and I'm in my 30s.

I don't want to be 20 but I don't want to wrestle with being aware of wanting to be hot. On the days I'm feeling a bit blah or un-hot, I just tell myself to suck it up and fake it. On those days I put an extra five minutes into getting ready and pick out something to wear that makes me feel like myself.

Oh, and really important, I don't mention this thought process to anyone, especially not my husband. This is the human condition and doesn't need to be shared with your lover. I realize if I can deal with it and not give this emotion a life, it will go away.

Adam Corolla (yes the guy who had a show called The Man Show) put it best: fake it until you make it. We are all going to feel less than great on certain days, and those are the days you put your chin up, chest out, and your best foot forward.

You focus on what is great about yourself, your life, and put a big smile on your face. Don't give in; remind yourself that people only see what we project.

I often find that by the end of such a day, I actually feel better and have bought in to my own act. How much of our lives do we create with our mind, attitude, and perspective?

Why not go for believing that your stuff is special and great and see what happens?


It seems to have created quite a reaction with comments being added every few seconds. Here's one that I think gets to the issue underlying the issue underlying Gabby's message:

"I seems even more logical and real to just reconize that your feelings of "un-pretty" today are usually just a sociatal expectation. I would be willing to bet the farm that the femine hygenie industury would agree with you. Its the bacis tenant of any Advertisment, "not feeling hot and sexy today ladies, then there is something wrong with YOU". Put on some makeup, "stick your chest out", i believe you said and "fake it" God lady, the more i think about it, the more red-dic-you-less it gets! This is makeing me depressed, and lord knows that is not acceptable in this country. I need to fake this till i get happy, wheres my PROZAC?"
~Yahoo user, "cliftonstiffler"

Personally, I respect Gabrielle and the main thrust of her advice, which is to stay positive; but she is being used as a marketing tool; and the idea of "sucking it up and faking it" has always been a strategy aimed at women to simply draw attention away from their second-classed citizenship. When something needs to be fixed, it doesn't repair itself because we pretend it's not there. And America--the world--has a very serious problem when it comes to its view of women.

It's often said,
"The journey is the destination."

Perhaps a better way to say it is this:
"The destination is within."
or
"The greatest journey is traveled inward."

This is a new discovery for me, someone who is typically fearful of the future, tormented by feelings of the present, and miserable over the past. Finally it's discernable to me that what matters most is what lives within, while all else moves without.

The world sings together,
"Let it be. There will be an answer. Let it be."

But without, there are only questions for which the world is seeking answers, and for every solution there will always be a challenge to surmount.
Always.

Ultimately, it doesn't even matter how the world chooses to run itself.

I don't need all those answers anymore, though still my heart and mind scream, "WHY!!!"

What I need is right here, within me. The answer to the greatest of questions:
"Who am I?"
and
"What is important?"

Within is one constant answer:
"I am (love)."
"I am (peace)."
"I am (joy)."
"I am (simplicity)."
"I am (real)."
"I am (whole)."
"I am (fulfilled)."
and
"I am NOW."

Edwards Raps Clinton Over Blackwater Tie

By MIKE GLOVER
Associated Press Writer

Oct 5, 5:18 PM EDT
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Democrat John Edwards said Friday the top strategist for presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton has ties to the controversial Blackwater security firm, and warned against installing "a group of corporate Democrats" to replace the Bush White House.

Edwards suggested similarities between Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, and the Republican president.

"George Bush has been a perfect example of cronyism because Blackwater has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republicans and to President Bush," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"I also saw this morning that Senator Clinton's primary adviser, Mark Penn, who is like her Karl Rove, his firm is representing Blackwater."

"It is the reason I continue to say we don't want to replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats," he said. Blackwater is a private security firm whose employees have been accused of using their weapons too aggressively against Iraqi civilians and police.

Penn, Clinton's pollster and senior strategist, is the worldwide president of Burson-Marsteller, a public relations firm. A subsidiary, BKSH, helped prepare Blackwater founder Erik Prince for a contentious congressional hearing this week, but Burson-Marsteller says the relationship has ended.

( Cahoots, I tell ya! )

Taken ver batim from deafscribe

Paul Revere and the Wolf

Imagine for a moment you live in colonial America. You know the Brits and Yanks are about ready to rumble, but you don't know exactly when.

Then Paul Revere blows through town hollering that the British are coming. What do you do?

1) Tell Maw and the young'uns to take shelter, grab your musket and charge out to join to local militia.

2) Jump on your horse and spread the word.

3) Take shelter with Maw and the young'uns.

4) Run like hell.

5) Yawn, ignore Paul, pop open another cold one, and go on reading about that shameless hussy Britney Madison.


Ok - fast forward. It's 2007. It's Paul again, but this time his name is Naomi Wolf, he's a woman, and her message is at least as urgent as Paul's was.

We're witnessing developments in real time as they occur against the background of our daily lives. We see them as distinct events separated by weeks, months and years. Precisely because we are living it, it's not always easy to clearly see a pattern, or even be sure a pattern exists. We're too close to the events, and only the distance of time can give us the perspective we need to see more clearly how things fit together.

But there is another way to discern patterns - by comparing the events of today with events in history.

Naomi Wolf is doing that, comparing what is happening in America today with historical democracies that were undermined. Naomi brilliantly lays out how it happened, how it can - is - happening here, and most importantly, what you and I can do about it.

She's consciously patterning her effort after Thomas Paine's pamphlets like Common Sense. She is a modern-day Paul Revere, and her message is too important to ignore.

Her warning rings clear in this conversation with Buzzflash. Read it - then see that Maw and the young'uns read it too. Then share it with the neighbors.

Naomi is not crying wolf.

 

See more at the Blue Grotto:
http://grottoazzurro.typepad.com/the_blue_grotto/2007/05/here_are_some_a.html

Federal Agencies Flunk Their Audits
AP IMPACT: Defense and DHS Can't Pass Audits, Aren't Meeting Basic Accounting StandardsThe Associated Press

By MARTHA MENDOZA AP National Writer
Sep 14, 2007 (AP)

Ten years after Congress ordered federal agencies to have outside auditors review their books, neither the Defense Department nor the newer Department of Homeland Security has met even basic accounting requirements, leaving them vulnerable to waste, fraud and abuse. An Associated Press review shows that the two departments' financial records are so disorganized and inconsistent that they have repeatedly earned "disclaimer" opinions, meaning that they simply cannot be fully audited.

"It means we really can't put any faith in the numbers they use," said Ross Rubenstein, who teaches public administration at Syracuse University's Maxwell School.

( Our Tax Dollars Hard at Work. NOT! )

Read the Complete Article Here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3603919

Everyone sing: "HALLELUJAH!"
(...or "Hallelijuah", if you prefer)

You may have heard of the new breakthrough in clean, abundant, natural, rewable fuel research: salt-water, discovered recently by a man who was actually trying to find a cure for cancer. I'd only heard about it today, but it's quite amazing!

SALTWATER BURNS - JOHN KANZIUS


And, yes, by using radio waves to heat ANY combination of water and salt will burn (releasing hydrogen) at temperatures as high as 1500 degrees Celcius (nearly 3000 degrees Fahrenheit).

I think I'm gonna prolly start making voice posts from now on. They're much easier for me than trying to sit down and type out what I feel like sharing. Plus they're pretty convenient for peeps when they want to multitask: I blab and you keep doing whatever it is you're doing.

**********

I just purchased a book entitled "You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself" by Harry and Christine Clifford Beckwith. In the short chapter, "The Key to Success", they discuss the "If Only" that keeps us all from doing our best. For example, "He'd be a prolific writer if only he'd keep focused on his audience."

Here's a voice post I thought I'd share with you about my own "If Only's" that keep me from doing my best.

Voice Post: "You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself--If Only" 2.5MB

Read more stuff here:

http://www.relentlesslyoptimistic.com/

This was forwarded to me today by a friend of mine I used to work with:

Two moons on 27 August
Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August 27.
It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within
34.65M miles of earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am . It will look like the earth has 2 moons.
The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again

I HATE this stupidity as I hate all chain letters!

A little research showed me, of course, that this is just a hoax, or some once-legitimate story--from 2003, no less--that has been blown out of proportion and "FWD, FWD, FWD'ed" every year around this time by as many gullible people as would rather accept anything that's handed to them than verify their information. See the link below for a more likely explanation of this phenomenon.

http://www.universetoday.com/2007/07/25/will-the-mars-look-as-big-as-the-moon-on-august-27-nope/

"Gordon Brown vs Tony Blair" on Google Video
Gordon Brown vs Tony Blair

And Tony Blair has officially resigned. *Ding Dong the Witch is 'Dead'!*

Apparently, though, he was not nearly as bad as his involvement with this war has made him out to be, but he is done as of June 27th, leaving Treasurer Gordon Brown in his stead. With him will be the removal of a large number of British frontline troops from Iraq some time this year.

Read more here:
Britain's Blair Says He is Resigning,
as reported in several papers this morning.

We gathered outside the Monroe Evening News office with our signs, flags, pots, and pans, and made some noise in protest of the president's veto of the Iraq spending bill recently passed by Congress.

The Monroe Evening News treated our protest better than I had expected with a write up on the front page and a YouTube video on it's webpage. Also, from what I've been told, we made Fox Toledo as well. So good job everybody, including the media!

Here's the article:
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS01/105030057/-1/NEWS

And the photo gallery from the event:
http://pictopia.com/perl/gal?gallery_id=14933&sequencenum=48&provider_id=323&process=gallery&page=

I just found this. Can anyone please confirm it?

Operation Bite: April 6 sneak attack by US forces against Iran planned, Russian military sources warn

By Webster G. Tarpley
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Mar 26, 2007, 01:02


WASHINGTON DC, -- The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 am on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly “Argumenty Nedeli.” Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.

The attack is slated to last for 12 hours, according to Uglanov, from 4 am until 4 pm local time. Friday is the sabbath in Iran. In the course of the attack, code named Operation Bite, about 20 targets are marked for bombing; the list includes uranium enrichment facilities, research centers, and laboratories.

( Read more... )

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer
Thu Mar 29, 6:13 AM ET


LONDON - More than two-thirds of the world's large cities are in areas vulnerable to global warming and rising sea levels, and millions of people are at risk of being swamped by flooding and intense storms, according to a new study released Wednesday.

In all, 634 million people live in the threatened coastal areas worldwide — defined as those lying at less than 33 feet above sea level — and the number is growing, said the study published in the journal Environment and Urbanization.

More than 180 countries have populations in low-elevation coastal zones, and about 70 percent of those have urban areas of more than 5 million people that are under threat. Among them: Tokyo; New York; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Dhaka, Bangladesh.
( Read more... )

Reuters,
Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:03AM EDT

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The decisions to fire eight U.S. prosecutors "were properly made, but poorly explained," said a former top Justice Department official set to testify before Congress on Thursday.

Kyle Sampson, former chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, heads to Capitol Hill to answer questions from lawmakers investigating the dismissals.

The firings ignited a political firestorm. Sampson resigned and Democrats and a number of Republicans have called upon Gonzales to step down.
( Read more... )

What does your drawing say about YOU?

The results of your analysis say:

You tend to pursue many different activities simultaneously. When misfortune does happen, it doesn't actually dishearten you all that much.
You are a thoughtful and cautious person. You like to think about your method, seeking to pursue your goal in the most effective way.
You are creative, mentally active and industrious.
You feel morose and are prone to lethargy.

I've never heard this song, but I just found the lyrics on someone's profile page. So poignant.

If you're gonna live, then live it up.
And if you're gonna give, then give it up.
If you're gonna walk the earth, then walk it proud.
And if you're gonna say the word, you got to say it loud.

You got to fight for your mind
You got to fight for your mind
While you got the time
You got to fight for your mind

If you're gonna build a house, make it a home.
If you're gonna pull some weight, pull your own.
If you're gonna help, just reach out your hand.
If you're getting up, then take a stand.

You got to fight for your mind
You got to fight for your mind
While you got the time
You got to fight for your mind

If you're gonna step, step on in.
If you're gonna finish, you got to begin.
Don't you fear, what you don't know,
Just let that be, your room to grow.

You got to fight for your mind
You got to fight for your mind
While you got the time
You got to fight for your mind

~Ben Harper: Fight for Your Mind