September 12, 2007 archive

Please Drop The Torta

In Honor of buhdydharma’s successful move to Mexico and blog launch:

Please Drop The Torta
by Dog Staring Intently at You

So, I noticed you got a torta there. Nice torta, I might say. You got that at Ruchi’s, or is that possibly from Torta Mundo? See, I am what you could say a connoisseur of tortas. I even spotted you holding that torta from across the Jardín. But I noticed, you have not dropped the torta.

Okay, we both got all day, but that torta needs to take a fall. While you talk to your friend there, that torta is just dangling in your hand. You neglect your torta, while I cherish the ground it walks on. Speaking of the ground, please drop that torta there.

How can you resist my puppy seal stare? I worked on this sad look for hours back in the old days in Colonia San Rafael. It was not until I was able to bring tears to even the most hardened hearts with my big brown eyes did I earn the right to be a street dog in el Centro. Yet, you are resistant to my well-honed skills, refusing to drop that torta.

Please drop the torta. No? Oh please, oh please, oh please? Still no?
That’s cool. This one time, back in September, this totally drunk dude spilled trying to sit down on that very bench. And this dude, right, he totally dumps a whole box of pizza all over the ground when he bit it. I’m more of a torta dog myself, as you well know, but this was from Juanita’s. That’s choice. But the dude gets up, all pissed off you know, because of the pizza, and starts just flailing away with his arms and screaming and jumping up and down. Well, you know what kind of effect that could have on a drunk dude, and he totally blows chunks all over the bench. But get this, he totally misses the pizza. I ate well that night. I was hoping this long rambling tale would lure you to sleep, so you would drop that torta, helping to bring back those good well-fed times.

Oh, that was just cruel. Did you just pull off some bread for that pigeon, that rat with wings, just to spite me? What do you have against other mammals? Are you leading me to believe that if I walk around like a bad caricature of a 70s pimp going cooo cooo cooo, I am then worthy of that torta? Sir, please, let’s digress, and just drop that torta.

We’ve been at this for, what, 10 minutes now, and not only have you not dropped that torta, you haven’t even eaten it. While I have stared holes through you, using all my Jedi skills to get you to drop that torta, you have regaled your friend there with the latest cantina gossip. That’s great what that dude said after his fifth tequila, but you have wandered off from the issue at hand, the torta. And while she found what he said flattering, while in its own right funny as all heck, that jamon con queso amarillo should be the center of all of our attentions. I know it is mine. Please drop the torta.

No? Oh, well, okay then, I will just sit here and stare and stare and stare and stare…

——-

¡Viva Mexico cabrón, don’t ever be the dog with two tortas, or with none!

To Your Health!

Congrats to the DocuDharma blogging team!  May good karma envelop Budhy and his FP and tech contributors! (Raising a glass in a toast…..Ooh!  Bubbles up my nose!)

I’m still making this up as I go along.  Yesterday’s post was called Health News Roundup, but I’m looking for a better name for this series.  Help. 

Today’s focus is on finding some of the gems about healthcare and health policy that you can subscribe to via email. These are typically daily reports with excerpts and links to primary health and policy resources.  They are deeply referenced, cited transparently, and they have a high degree of reliability and validity.

Feedback makes me all warm and fuzzy – and it makes the quality and focus better for you, dear reader. Please let me know what you think, what you would like to read, and what stories and issues you’re interested in reading about.  Here’s your cup to sip from the health fire hose.  *g*

Oh Freedom!

Thank you Joan Baez!

MY_JOAN_BAEZ_1_-500-pix-wide

This diary is to express my admiration for Joan Baez, to thank her for all she has done, and to draw inspiration from her for the struggles that lie ahead.  Joan’s singing can fill me with the sublimest emotion and her voice and spirit have shepherded me through trial and tribulation over a lifetime punctuated by tragedy – as all of ours are.  Her voice washes through my troubled soul like a river of grace and mercy.  And one can’t help but admire and be moved by her personal courage and commitment to humanitarian and progressive causes.  She has not only fought, but has led us through many righteous battles.  She is a warrior for humanity, possessing the voice of an angel and the heart of a lion.

Four at Four

Four stories in the news at 4 o’clock. Simple, huh?

  1. Two earthquakes shook Sumatra, Indonesia today, Bloomberg reports. “An 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the coast of Indonesia’s Bengkulu province on Sumatra island, prompting countries bordering the Indian Ocean to evacuate people from coastal areas amid fears of a tsunami. ¶ The earthquake hit at 6:10 p.m. local time at a depth of 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency lifted its tsunami warning two hours later, though issued a second warning following a 6.6 magnitude quake in the same area at 9:40 p.m. It later lifted that warning too… ¶ Today’s quake, which shook buildings from Jakarta to Singapore, killed at least one person in Indonesia and injured five others.” Xinhua reports seven people were killed and “the number of fatalit[ies] was expected to rise as there were many collapsed buildings still uncounted.”

  2. The Telegraph is reporting that the United States has confirmed an Israeli air strike on Syria. “A US official has confirmed that Israeli warplanes carried out an air strike ‘deep inside’ Syria, escalating tensions between the two countries. The target of the strike last Thursday remained unclear but Israeli media reported that a shipment of Iranian arms crossing Syria for use by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon was attacked… ¶ Another theory gaining ground yesterday was that Israel was deliberately attacking the Russian-made Pantsyr air defence system recently bought by Damascus. The sale includes provision for the Pantsyr system to be shipped on to Iran and it is possible the Israeli attack was co-ordinated with America to probe the effectiveness of the system. It is believed that Iran would use the Pantsyr system to defend its nuclear facilities.”

  3. According to The Guardian, Russia has announced it has created the ‘father of all bombs’. ORT First Channel, the state-run Russian television, claimed the bomb is four times more deadly than the US’s ‘Mother of all Bombs’. “Russia’s military yesterday announced that it had successfully tested a lethal new air-delivered bomb, which it described as the world’s most powerful non-nuclear weapon. ¶ In what appears to be the Kremlin’s latest display of military might, officials said Moscow had developed a new thermobaric bomb to add to its already potent nuclear arsenal… ¶ Last night’s announcement comes at a time of growing tension between Russia and the west”. The Telegraph adds the following from Russian General Alexander Rushkin. “‘Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon,’ he said. ‘The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shockwave and an incredibly high temperature,’ ORT added. ‘All that is alive merely evaporates.’ Despite its destructive qualities, the bomb is environmentally friendly, Gen Rushkin said.” That’s right — environmentally friendly mass murder. Good to see Moscow going green.

  4. Rama's Bridge (NASA)Hindus across India protested yesterday against the Indian government’s plan to proceed with the $560 million Sethu Samudram project that will dredge a ship channel through the Rama Setu (Adam’s Bridge) — a 30 mile chain of limestone shoals, between the islands of Mannar, in northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. According to Sahara Samay, “Traffic came to grinding halt at several places in the national capital today with the Vishva Hindu Parishad [World Hindu Council] calling for a chakka jam protesting the government’s plan to go ahead with the Sethusamudram project, which envisages destroying a portion of the ancient Ram Setu bridge… Hindu groups have called on the government to stop the project, saying it will demolish a bridge linking India and Sri Lanka, believed to have been built by Lord Ram.” Along with the VHP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party), and other groups blocked traffic and train service according to The Hindu and other sources. In New Delhi, according to the Times of India the blockades began at 8 a.m. and “a number of activists, including some local leaders of VHP and BJP, were also detained.” Adding to the Hindu parties anger, the Hindustan Times reports, the “Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Wednesday stating there was no historical and scientific evidence to establish the existence of Lord Ram or the other characters in Ramayana… According to the ASI, the bridge is a natural formation made up of shoals and sand bars.”

One more story below the fold…

Making Dreams Come True

I posted a version of this dairy over at BigOrange a week or so ago.
and though it got enough notice to make the rescue list that night, this story about a boy named James, deserves another look.

A Clever Smokescreen on Flame Retardants and AB 706

So, I get this flyer (well, two actually) from some group that calls itself “Californians for Fire Safety.” Hmm, I say to myself, I wonder who they are, and why they mailed me this glossy flyer? The flyer opposes those nefarious boogymen, “Sacramento politicians” trying to pass AB 706, which:

will ban material used to make flame retardant products that help to prevent fires – and keep our homes and families safe

Immediately I get curious. What materials are these? Why would they be proposed for banning? What chemicals in particular are in question? Who makes them? Who is for this bill, and who is against? Who is funding this flyer?

I look again at the flyer, and get nothing.

Two Current Myths About Iraq — Blown Essay

This is a blown essay.  In the comments, Pico points out a rookie mistake I made in looking at the poll numbers.  It appears Iraqis, by a small but real majority, don’t want U.S. forces to withdraw immediately.  This is gonna require some more thought on my part.

Thanks to Pico for pointing it out.


I’m leaving it up for awhile.

Two claims about Iraq are getting pushed, and pushed hard, this week by the press and by politicians in Washington.  They are both wildly false. 

The first is that Iraqis, and especially Sunnis, are quietly in favor of a lasting U.S. security presense.  The second is that the “federalization of Iraq” ballyhooed by Anbar true-believers in the U.S. Congress and the Washington punditry is something Sunnis would actually want.

A Blog is Born: Announcing ~ Docudharma!

In the beginning there was nothing, not even nothingness, but nothing. An absence of thought, energy and matter, an absence even of darkness. The abyss………..the Void.


Then a whole bunch of other stuff happened.


.


And then…Docudharma was born!

.


Photobucket

Graphics by OPOL!….and carpunder.

Launch Strategy Open Thread

Here’s da plan!

At the top of the hour I am going to (HTML Gods willing) post the launch essay on Dkos. When traffic dies down there, I will start going round to the other blogs and putting up a revised version.

After I revise it.

Which shouldn’t take too long,lol!

I will also post the launch diary here at the same time, so folks have somewhere to come and comment….but this seems to interfere with exemearden? Or am I reading that schedule wrong?

If not….sorry exeme!

Boycott All Fundraising For The Sitting Congress

You are nothing but an ATM to the Democratic Party. Daily Kos is a cash cow they pander to only during election years because of the money you can generate for their campaigns. And once you have secured their seats, they no longer return your calls, and your emails are returned with generated noreply responses. They do not care what you think, they only want you for your money.

Once they have what they want, they do not feel the need to comply with the wishes  of the ones who sent them there. You are irrelevant in their eyes since they have no need for fund raising this year. If they cared, if they truly cared what the netroots wanted, they would act on the principles of those who canvassed, those who worked their phones, those who gave them money.

They don’t. You are just a typing ATM machine to them, and nothing more.

in Other news…

Welcome to a weekly roundup of news related to the gay, lesbian, trans, and otherwise “other” community.

  • After Bill Richardson’s much-discussed comment in the HRC debate, the discussion over choice as a factor in sexual orientation continues with a new study on “ex-gays” published by InterVarsity Press (h/t Box Turtle Bulletin).  Of course, they can be counted on for total scientific rigor:

    Founded in 1947 as an extension of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, InterVarsity Press serves those in the university, the church and the world by publishing thoughtful Christian books that equip and encourage people to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord in all of life.

    The relationship between sexuality, biology, environment, and choice has never been an easy one to understand, much less encapsulate in a single soundbite – but something makes me a bit suspicious of scientific studies in which science is not the end goal.  Is that fair?

More below the fold…

Pony Party… it’s LAUNCH DAY wranglers

Can we visualize a 3D universe
which is finite yet unbounded?

Albert Einstein, 1954

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