Maybe I should start focusing on being decorative. Useful isn’t working out for me.
~Whoopla
http://whoopingchickens.blogspot.com/
Monday, January 30, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Laura Bush's Talking Head
Bush Rules Out Senate Run for First Lady
STERLING, Va. - The Senate may be the place for some former first ladies, but President Bush on Thursday categorically ruled out a run for office by his wife, Laura Bush.
"She's not interested in running for office. She's interested in literacy," Bush said during an appearance at JK Moving & Storage.
The topic came up as the president took questions from his audience after a speech on the economy. A woman asked if Mrs. Bush would ever run for Senate from the first couple's home state of Texas, and Bush responded "never" — twice.
He also declined the woman's plea that he at least ask Mrs. Bush if she might be willing.
She's a great lady," the president said. "She's not interested in running for office."
Mrs. Bush's popularity well exceeds her husband's, leading some to speculate that she might follow in the footsteps of her predecessor as first lady, now-Sen. Hillary Rodham, D-N.Y., and seek elected office. But, as the president dryly pointed out, his intensely private wife has never shown any interest in running for office.
"I'm pretty certain, when I married her she didn't like politics or politicians," Bush said.
from Yahoo News
Amazing!
STERLING, Va. - The Senate may be the place for some former first ladies, but President Bush on Thursday categorically ruled out a run for office by his wife, Laura Bush.
"She's not interested in running for office. She's interested in literacy," Bush said during an appearance at JK Moving & Storage.
The topic came up as the president took questions from his audience after a speech on the economy. A woman asked if Mrs. Bush would ever run for Senate from the first couple's home state of Texas, and Bush responded "never" — twice.
He also declined the woman's plea that he at least ask Mrs. Bush if she might be willing.
She's a great lady," the president said. "She's not interested in running for office."
Mrs. Bush's popularity well exceeds her husband's, leading some to speculate that she might follow in the footsteps of her predecessor as first lady, now-Sen. Hillary Rodham, D-N.Y., and seek elected office. But, as the president dryly pointed out, his intensely private wife has never shown any interest in running for office.
"I'm pretty certain, when I married her she didn't like politics or politicians," Bush said.
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
from Yahoo News
Amazing!
Monday, January 16, 2006
Endangered Rabbit Reintroduced on Gallo Farm
Something nice and positive to share from California...** Endangered Rabbit Reintroduced on Gallo Farm**
In early December, 30 one-pound brush rabbits were released in California's Central Valley on Faith Ranch, a property owned by the Gallo Family. The species is on both the Federal and State endangered list. The release is part of the Endangered Species Recovery Program which,according to experts, can only succeed with the cooperation of private landowners. To read the full story,please go to: http://tinyurl.com/aomrg
If you would like to send a note of thanks to the Gallo Family, please go to:http://www.ejgtwinvalley.com/contact.asp
Al Gore: On the Limits of Executive Power
"Once violated, the rule of law is in danger. Unless stopped, lawlessness grows. The greater the power of the executive grows, the more difficult it becomes for the other branches to perform their constitutional roles. As the executive acts outside its constitutionally prescribed role and is able to control access to information that would expose its actions, it becomes increasingly difficult for the other branches to police it. Once that ability is lost, democracy itself is threatened and we become a government of men and not laws."
Presentation to The American Constitution Society and the Liberty Coalition
By: Former Vice President Al Gore
excerpt from Yubanet.com
Presentation to The American Constitution Society and the Liberty Coalition
By: Former Vice President Al Gore
excerpt from Yubanet.com
World War IV
If the "Great War" is coming, then it's because we have been set up for it.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8394
by Justin Raimondo
A worthy and dreadful read. I concur.
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8394
by Justin Raimondo
A worthy and dreadful read. I concur.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Katrina Rabbits
Here are pictures of 11 bunnies that lived through Katrina. They now need homes. Four of them are heading, a little at a time, from Baton Rouge, LA to Roseville, CA. But the others can come along and be adopted anywhere along the way. The Bunderground Railroad is providing volunteer transport through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California in early February. Really good indoor homes only. Thanks! Contact: Melanie at Our House
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Monday, January 02, 2006
So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion
The Dream is Over: The Jaws of Darkness Do Devour It Up
by Steven Laffoley
Published on Saturday, December 31, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
"The dream," John Lennon once said of 60s idealism, "is over." These were the words that came to me late one evening, sitting at my desk, in the glow of a computer screen, a glass of red wine at one hand, a spiral ringed notebook and pen at the other.
I had been searching the web for more than an hour, looking through mainstream newspapers for a chorus of principled complaint against the presidential breach of constitutional rights. But, depressingly, I found little. And after a while, when it was clear my search was in vain, I thought for a long time about Lennon's words.
Of course, I wasn't thinking of the idealists' dreams of 60s peace and love (though those were nice dreams, too). No, I was thinking of a far older, far more noble, far more meaningful dream - the great American Dream: the truly enlightened dream of a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people; the Jeffersonian dream of a nation ruled by laws and not by men.
But sitting there, looking for hope against hope in the cold silence following the president's defiant admission of warrantless, unconstitutional wiretappings, I was more certain than I had been in five years: the dream was indeed over.
I considered that, perhaps, it was like that with such dreams, dreams born of wild idealism, dreamy experiments in the angels of our better nature. In the history of civilization, such dreams are brief, perhaps necessarily brief, and rounded on both sides by dark ages and nightmarish sleep.
Of such idealistic dreams, Shakespeare wrote: "Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, Making it momentary as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!' The jaws of darkness do devour it up: So quick bright things come to confusion."
I then thought for a long while of Thomas Jefferson's dream that spoke of liberty, and of justice, and of domestic tranquility - his "quick bright things" - and how they had all now "come to confusion" in this Age of Unreason, where American democracy was just sideshow entertainment, an outrageous mockery of true public will.
And it struck me as a sad irony that Jefferson's America overthrew the tyranny of King George III, overthrew his oppressive society ruled by men and not by laws. But then, just 230 years later, another tyranny imperceptibly returns as another George dismisses Jefferson's grand Constitutional dream with a simple smirk - and in doing so declares himself King.
Certainly, I know that other presidents have tried and failed to kill the dream before. Just a generation earlier, Tricky Dick Nixon similarly wiretapped Americans without constitutionally required warrants. But back then the American press and Congress steadfastly believed in a nation of laws and moved to protect the American Dream, vigorously reporting on the president's treason and actively preparing articles of impeachment.
But that was then. And this is now. Tricky Dick was just a paranoid politician with a dark willingness to crush others for political gain. George W. is far more dangerous. He claims to be a savior, sent by God.
Throughout history, tyrants often claim to be saviors - and are well rewarded for their claims. Caesar was granted dictatorship over the Roman Republic for "saving" Rome from the democratic mob. And Napoleon was crowned Emperor for "saving" France from the republican rabble. They each claimed to save the ideal of their respective nations by becoming the ideal. They each claimed to save the law of their respective nations by becoming the law. And so it is with George W. Bush: he claims to be saving America and thus doesn't need constitutional approval for his actions. That is, he need not heed the constitution because he has become the constitution.
"The tree of liberty," insisted Thomas Jefferson, "must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." But, clearly, Americans have lost their ability to discern tyrants from patriots. Ironically, we hear the loudest support of the president's unconstitutional actions from those who passionately defend their constitutional right to own guns ("from my dead hand").
I would laugh, if I didn't feel like crying. So, I shut off my computer, raise my glass, and lament the death of a great and noble dream - the American Dream.
"And so dear friends," as John Lennon also said, "you'll just have to carry on. The Dream is over."
Steven Laffoley is an American writer living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is the author of Mr. Bush, Angus and Me: Notes of an American-Canadian in the Age of Unreason. E-mail: stevenlaffoley@yahoo.ca or steven_laffoley@yahoo.com.
__________________
What is left to say?
by Steven Laffoley
Published on Saturday, December 31, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
"The dream," John Lennon once said of 60s idealism, "is over." These were the words that came to me late one evening, sitting at my desk, in the glow of a computer screen, a glass of red wine at one hand, a spiral ringed notebook and pen at the other.
I had been searching the web for more than an hour, looking through mainstream newspapers for a chorus of principled complaint against the presidential breach of constitutional rights. But, depressingly, I found little. And after a while, when it was clear my search was in vain, I thought for a long time about Lennon's words.
Of course, I wasn't thinking of the idealists' dreams of 60s peace and love (though those were nice dreams, too). No, I was thinking of a far older, far more noble, far more meaningful dream - the great American Dream: the truly enlightened dream of a nation of the people, for the people, and by the people; the Jeffersonian dream of a nation ruled by laws and not by men.
But sitting there, looking for hope against hope in the cold silence following the president's defiant admission of warrantless, unconstitutional wiretappings, I was more certain than I had been in five years: the dream was indeed over.
I considered that, perhaps, it was like that with such dreams, dreams born of wild idealism, dreamy experiments in the angels of our better nature. In the history of civilization, such dreams are brief, perhaps necessarily brief, and rounded on both sides by dark ages and nightmarish sleep.
Of such idealistic dreams, Shakespeare wrote: "Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, Making it momentary as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream, Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!' The jaws of darkness do devour it up: So quick bright things come to confusion."
I then thought for a long while of Thomas Jefferson's dream that spoke of liberty, and of justice, and of domestic tranquility - his "quick bright things" - and how they had all now "come to confusion" in this Age of Unreason, where American democracy was just sideshow entertainment, an outrageous mockery of true public will.
And it struck me as a sad irony that Jefferson's America overthrew the tyranny of King George III, overthrew his oppressive society ruled by men and not by laws. But then, just 230 years later, another tyranny imperceptibly returns as another George dismisses Jefferson's grand Constitutional dream with a simple smirk - and in doing so declares himself King.
Certainly, I know that other presidents have tried and failed to kill the dream before. Just a generation earlier, Tricky Dick Nixon similarly wiretapped Americans without constitutionally required warrants. But back then the American press and Congress steadfastly believed in a nation of laws and moved to protect the American Dream, vigorously reporting on the president's treason and actively preparing articles of impeachment.
But that was then. And this is now. Tricky Dick was just a paranoid politician with a dark willingness to crush others for political gain. George W. is far more dangerous. He claims to be a savior, sent by God.
Throughout history, tyrants often claim to be saviors - and are well rewarded for their claims. Caesar was granted dictatorship over the Roman Republic for "saving" Rome from the democratic mob. And Napoleon was crowned Emperor for "saving" France from the republican rabble. They each claimed to save the ideal of their respective nations by becoming the ideal. They each claimed to save the law of their respective nations by becoming the law. And so it is with George W. Bush: he claims to be saving America and thus doesn't need constitutional approval for his actions. That is, he need not heed the constitution because he has become the constitution.
"The tree of liberty," insisted Thomas Jefferson, "must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." But, clearly, Americans have lost their ability to discern tyrants from patriots. Ironically, we hear the loudest support of the president's unconstitutional actions from those who passionately defend their constitutional right to own guns ("from my dead hand").
I would laugh, if I didn't feel like crying. So, I shut off my computer, raise my glass, and lament the death of a great and noble dream - the American Dream.
"And so dear friends," as John Lennon also said, "you'll just have to carry on. The Dream is over."
Steven Laffoley is an American writer living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is the author of Mr. Bush, Angus and Me: Notes of an American-Canadian in the Age of Unreason. E-mail: stevenlaffoley@yahoo.ca or steven_laffoley@yahoo.com.
__________________
What is left to say?
Under the influence of politicians, masses of people tend to ascribe the responsibility for wars to those who wield power at any given time. In World War I it was the munitions industrialists; in World War II it was the psychopathic generals who were said to be guilty. This is passing the buck. The responsibility for wars falls solely upon the shoulders of these same masses of people, for they have all the necessary means to avert war in their own hands. In part by their apathy, in part by their passivity, and in part actively, these same masses of people make possible the catastrophes under which they themselves suffer more than anyone else. To stress this guilt on the part of the masses of people,to hold them solely responsible, means to take them seriously. On the other hand, to commiserate masses of people as victims, means to treat them as small, helpless children. The former is the attitude held by genuine freedom fighters; the latter that attitude held by power-thirsty politicians.
~ Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism
Source: Information Clearing House
~ Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism
Source: Information Clearing House
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