934. Ceci n'est pas un roi

René Magritte
Ceci N'est Pas Un Roi (This is Not a King), 1928
Musée du Jobards (Lyons, France)

935. Love it or leave it

942. Bringing families together: Take your son to war day

Maximum army enlistment age raised to 42.

955. Carolina

Carolina In My Mind
James Taylor

In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind
Yes I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind

the rest of the lyrics...

Actually, I'm heading off to Carolina in the flesh. The Outer Banks of North Carolina. Duck, NC precisely, a few miles north of Kitty Hawk.

At this point it's unlikely that I'll have Internet or email access, so I probably won't be posting for the next week or so.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I experienced James Taylor live in concert a few years ago, where he opened with "Carolina In My Mind". What a pure, clean, warm voice he has. Seemed effortless. And not just a voice, but a wonderful performer and musician too. What I didn't like about the concert is that it was at a large indoor arena, too loud and with one of those huge video screens behind the stage.

I understand the economics involved, but seeing James Taylor in that way just didn't seem right.

955. B' bye

DeLay resigns as of June 9, 2006.

956. Tuesday's election: The picture says it all

957. Republicans treat Americans like 8-year olds

Think Progress:

Today on Fox News Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) tried to argue that banning flag-burning and same-sex marriage are two of the nation’s most pressing priorities, which is why he put them on the Senate agenda for June:

HOST: …Are gay marriage and flag burning the most important issues the Senate can be addressing in June of 2006?

FRIST:…When you look at that flag and you tell me that right now people in this country are saying it’s okay to desecrate that flag and to burn it and to not pay respect to it, is that important to our values as a people when we’ve got 130,000 people fighting for our freedom and liberty today? That is important. It may not be important here in Washington where people say, well, it’s political posturing and all, but it’s important to the heart and soul of the American people. … Why marriage today? Marriage is for our society that union between a man and a woman, is the cornerstone of our society. It is under attack today.

and the rest...

Americans respond by acting like 3-year olds. Wake up folks!!

958. Elections in 8 states today

"It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error."

Robert H. Jackson
(1892-1954)

United States Attorney General (1940 - 1941)
Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court
(1941 - 1954)
Chief United States prosecutor at the
Nuremberg Trials

958. Where the f*** is the hot fudge sauce?

From CBS News:

It could be the world's unhealthiest snack. The ultimate in fast-food indulgence is cooked up, not by a restaurant chain, but by a minor-league baseball club...

Despite having a charming ballpark just outside St. Louis, the Gateway Grizzlies will likely never be renowned for their brand of baseball — one step below Single-A ball.

But they're already famous at the concession stand. Or should that be infamous?

It's sweet like a doughnut, and then you've got the hamburger. You’ve read that right. It's a burger with cheese and bacon, sandwiched between a Krispy Kreme doughnut — a heart attack waiting to happen. A burger so perfect, they say, tampering is discouraged.

[snip]

For a mere $4.50 it's breakfast, dinner, and a little dessert all in one. That it packs up to 1,000 calories — the donut alone has 10 grams of sugar — doesn't seem to faze diabetic diner Floyd Schuetz.

“Oh, I’ll have another one of these,” he says.

and the rest.... (video too)

959. Incurious Jeb

First George W spoketh, now Jeb....

From Capitol Comments: Jeb Bush Says He'll Pass on Al Gore's Movie

Gov. Jeb Bush met with scientists last week to discuss the role of global warming on worsening hurricane activity. He remained moot on the controversial topic, but said he was intrigued and suggested Florida should host a "forum where there's airing out of these ideas."

That led a reporter to ask Bush if he planned on seeing former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore's movie on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth." "No, I'm not going to be doing that," he said, before offering a thumbnail review of "X-Men: The Last Stand," which he called "excellent."

and the rest...

960. Chickenhawks (forever!)

Tom Harper, at Bring it on:

The article (in American Legion Magazine) is a review of this book — AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes from Military Service — and How It Hurts Our Country . One of the book’s two authors is the wife of a career military officer, and the other is the father of a former Marine.

My favorite quote from the article is: “For those who wave the flag and support the troops but also consider their own family exempt from service because of the wealth of better options available to them — we suggest they take the magnetic yellow ribbon off their SUV and rethink their position.”

[snip]

The article concludes with “Why don’t the elites serve? Most probably they never even consider it…the reasons may change but one thing remains constant: the expectation that military service is for the “other” and never for the most privileged.”

Image: Walden3.org/Chickenhawk t-shirts

961. Call in the next 17 minutes and we'll eliminate one of your 3 easy payments!

From AP: The United States warned Iran it will not have much time to respond once offered an international package of rewards designed to encourage Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment, suggesting that the window could close and be replaced by penalties if it doesn't act quickly.

"It really needs to be within weeks," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told NBC television, referring to a response to a package of perks and penalties from six world powers aimed at halting Iran's enrichment activities.

961. Whew, that's a relief. I thought we had sumpin' to worry 'bout there.

Regarding the latest security hole discovered in Diebold voting machines, this time in Emery County, Utah....

Diebold spokesman David Bear says the so-called security hole is really a "functionality" that allows the software to be efficiently updated. What critics call a fix, Bear prefers to call a "redundant enhancement." "Keep in mind, this is not a vulnerability," Bear says. "[Election officials] are just asking for an enhancement to the existing system." The machines are already well-protected through standard procedures, including integrity tests, seals and, of course, honest elections officials, Bear says.

"It's only a vulnerability to those who would commit a felony [tampering with an election]," he says.

Read all about this Orwellian fantasy at The Brad Blog....

Image, Rand Careaga, "Diebold Variations"

962. How does it feel?

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody has ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
A complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you'd better take your diamond ring, you'd better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?


"Like a Rolling Stone", Bob Dylan, 1965

962. Don't sweat the small shit, bro

NY Post: D.C.'s Stupid Scrooges Slash NYC Terror Aid

Less than five years after the murder of 2,749 people in the Twin Towers on 9/11, the feds yesterday shockingly slashed anti-terror funds needed to protect New York City against future attacks.

The Homeland Security Department announced it was hacking funds distributed to the city by 40 percent compared with last year, while pouring hundreds of millions into unlikely terror targets like Kentucky and Wyoming.

The shocking stinginess from Washington comes just one week after a Pakistani national was convicted of a plot to blow up the Herald Square subway station.

New York City will get its vital anti-terror funding chain-sawed from $208 million this year to $124 million next year - even though security experts agree it is vastly more threatened than any other city in the country.

and the rest...

ABC News: No Icons, No Monuments Worth Protecting

New York has no national monuments or icons, according to the Department of Homeland Security form obtained by ABC News. That was a key factor used to determine that New York City should have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 percent--from $207.5 million in 2005 to $124.4 million in 2006.

"All I can tell you is if you look at their worksheets, and it says that New York City doesn't have any high visibility national icons ... I mean, I don't have to list the Brooklyn Bridge, the United Nations, Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the Stock Exchange," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in response to ABC News' questions.

The formula did not consider as landmarks or icons: The Empire State Building, The United Nations, The Statue of Liberty and others found on several terror target hit lists. It also left off notable landmarks, such as the New York Public Library, Times Square, City Hall and at least three of the nation's most renowned museums: The Guggenheim, The Metropolitan and The Museum of Natural History.

"I think the facts are clear," Bloomberg said. "What they've really done is taken what was supposed to be threat-based and just started to distribute it as normal pork."

and the rest...

963. Psssssssst. It's hurricane season again.

June 1st. Official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. So let's recall some of the finest moments from last year:

I kid you not.

In an email message distributed on Monday (8/29), a group calling itself Columbia Christians for Life informs us that a "satellite picture of Hurricane Katrina ... looks like a 6-week unborn human child as it comes ashore the Gulf Coast ... The image of the hurricane above with its eye already ashore ... looks like a fetus (unborn human baby) facing to the left (west) in the womb, in the early weeks of gestation (approx. 6 weeks). Even the orange color of the image is reminiscent of a commonly used pro-life picture of early prenatal development..."

Their point? "God's message: REPENT AMERICA !"



Frankly, I think a closeup of the hurricane image looks more like Porky Pig.


Does this then mean that God's wrath will next be unleashed upon us as torrents of pork bellies?