July 2008 archive

Crossposted at The Crusty Polemicist.

I wish  French President Sarkozy all the luck in the world building a “Mediterranean Union”  — like the European Union, but encompassing the countries of the Mediterranean basin. His idea has three fundamental problems, things that are differences from the situation that prevailed at the founding of the EU:

1. with the EU, all the founding countries had pretty much come to the conclusion that war was no way to get things done. They were all prepared to turn their backs on making war and get on with the much harder work of making peace. With countries like Syria, Libya,  Israel, and Serbia in the Mediterranean Union  mix, there are way too many countries that still think war is a great way to solve problems.

Muse in the Morning

If there is a “We” and we want the world to be a better place, then one would think we would want to join in common cause, which requires finding common ground.  That last thing is not so easy.

State of the Onion XXVIII

The techniques I have used to create the eggs (the graphics) evolved over time, leading to the 3D look-and-feel exemplified by today’s art.  The poem is what it is.  It was written one day after my 58^th birthday.

Ah, but I was so much older then.  I’m younger than that now.  I wish.

This series is almost over.  There are only two more poems after this one, for now, but one doesn’t know how many more acts there are to this story.  Time takes its toll.

Art Link Cracks in the Shell On Aging The urge to expend all energy to protect the container is strong but what good does it do to protect the body if the spirit dies Time demands its payment Youth cannot be defended by surrendering to the needs of the flesh The vessel slowly deteriorates worn down joints creak with every motion muscles are too stiff bones become brittle but the contents the mind/soul can be bright and vital growing fresher with each new thought with each opinion challenged with each dip in the fountain of knowledge I will be forever young if I continue to bathe in the River of New –Robyn Elaine Serven –April 4, 2006

Good evening, and welcome to a semi-retro version of the EENR: the Edwards Evening News Round-up.

My friends, family, and acquaintances have all thought John and Elizabeth disappeared into the sunset since they are not on the MSM nightly news or in national newspapers.  Not so!  John and Elizabeth have been traveling and speaking at venues this past week about the issues Democrats care about.   Included are video clips from TV and radio appearances (courtesy of NCDem and other outlets).

Top stories:

1. John Edwards Interview in Rolling Stone

2. John Edwards Speaks at USW Conference

3. John Edwards Talks to Campus Progress and NPR in DC

4. Elizabeth Edwards Jumpstarts Healthcare for America Now

5. John Edwards Travels the Northeast for Half in Ten

6. Elizabeth Edwards Discusses about living with cancer on NPR

7. Is John Edwards on the Short List for VP?

More after the jump..

Found this interesting blurb over at the Progressive, the article is a few weeks old so my apologies if somebody has done a diary on the topic.

It concerns the drafting/appointment of certain personnel to assist in the

detection of terrorists in our midst. It makes me wonder if we are all facing a future of being dragged in from of a special house committee to deny that we are terrorists and to give lists of names.

According to the article….

And the latest one to come to my attention is the dispatching of police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and utility workers as so-called “terrorism liaison officers,” according to a report by Bruce Finley in the Denver Post.

Their mission is as follows…..

They are entrusted with hunting for “suspicious activity,” and then they report their findings, which end up in secret government databases.

What constitutes “suspicious activity,” of course, is in the eye of the beholder. But a draft Justice Department memo on the subject says that such things as “taking photos of no apparent aesthetic value” or “making notes” could constitute suspicious activity, Finley wrote.

The states where this is going on include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C.

So. I am about to do y’all a favor. As it happens, I undercovercalico, live in Tennessee and one of my hobbies is taking pictures. I wouldn’t say that I am a photographer because that would imply a level of skill.

And you’re going to need evidence of my activities so I might as well just give it up now…

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Updated!  Now with 85 stories!

1 Officials: 9 US troops killed in Afghanistan

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

11 minutes ago

By Gregory Kafoury, subheaded as Will Progressives Go Gently Into Another Political Night? via counterpunch.com.

While I was writing last Friday’s piece, I decided to do a bit of follow up today.  I’m always interested in words and thought I would drag some along behind me.

Please note: These words are about the subject of that other essay, Despondency. They have nothing to do with my present state of mind. Suggestions that I need anti-depressants just might be inconsistent with what that essay said and with my current state of mind, although people commenting in my essays without seeming to have actually read them is a bit depressing in and of itself.

The closest word at the Online Etymological Dictionary (quoted liberally here) to despondency is despondence, a word dating from 1676.  It derives from the Latin despondere:

“to give up, lose, lose heart, resign” (especially in the phrase animam despondere, literally “to give up one’s soul”), from the sense of a promise to give something away, from de- “away” + spondere “to promise” (see spondee [we shall return to this]).  A step above despair.

So, okay.  How about despair?