Star Trek, Stargate, ET, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Science fiction or science fact? Or have I lost it completely.
Bob Dean along with several others in the projectcamelot community blend into a rich revealing of astounding proportions. So good it just can’t be true and from another movie that line “You Can’t Handle The Truth”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
NASA, Never A Straight Answer.
December 2009 archive
Dec 08 2009
60 Years of Denial
Dec 08 2009
Bright Lights, Big City
I’ve been thinking about disappointments. And how to deal with them. How to handle that bitter taste. And the sadness.
You must know what I mean. Relationships that wither. Expectations that dessicate. Hopes that die. Plans that collapse. Love that fades away. Friends who pass on. Children who move away. Parents who die. Machines that rust and fall apart. Treasures that rot. Fabric eaten by moths. Politicians who don’t deliver. The list is long. And it’s inexhaustible. It’s about what we want but cannot have. It’s about what we want to get rid of but cannot shed. The Buddha was right. Our clinging makes us suffer. And we cling. Oh how we suffer.
Disappointment is just a particular form of sorrow, of suffering. It’s everywhere and as common as dust. It begins in expectations and ends in rubble.
I could get angry about this. Many people do. But that doesn’t do any good. I could yell about how unjust, unfair, improper, illegal, brutal and stupid it is. I could want to fight and look for a brawl. But that doesn’t matter. The hurt remains. It persists despite how I distract myself.
I could catalog my disappointments for you. Disappointments in love. And in politics, which might be the same thing. Disappointments about health. Disappointments about wealth, fame, esteem. And in all of the other human areas in which I didn’t get what I wanted or expected or desired. Or what I deserved. I could give you, if I haven’t already done it in installments over the past few years, a long list of my many, many grievances. But that’s not why I’m writing now. No. I’m writing now because I want ever so slightly to shift our attention, to shift how we deal with our inevitable and pervasive and continual disappointments.
Which brings me to the blues.
Here’s the cardinal blues idea: things are disappointing and they hurt us in our hearts and souls. We all have these profound hurts. But, and this is the biggest but in the blues, if we’re going to keep our souls and our hearts and our passion and our humanity alive, we need to release these hurts and pound them out and scream them out and see them for the rich, beautiful, human feelings they are. We want to embrace them in all their humanity. We want to embrace that we love deeply and that, sadly, we’re disappointed. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a lover, or a friend, or a country, or a political party, or a group, or an idea. None of that matters.
And it doesn’t matter how much it hurts. Sometimes it really stings. I just want to sing and dance the song of life one more day. I want to celebrate that I’m alive, I’m human, and I feel it deeply, deeply in my heart. Here’s what I mean:
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simulposted at The Dream Antilles
Dec 08 2009
Homeowners getting hit a second time
You’re in debt up to your eyeballs. You can’t keep up with the mortgage and you are going to lose your home. It doesn’t get any worse than that, right? Wrong.
Lawyers for troubled Staten Island homeowners say they are beginning to see examples of clients who go to the bank to take out money and find that their accounts have been frozen or wiped out by other banks or debt collectors — the entities holding second mortgages on houses already in default on the first and primary mortgage. Some are learning the lender or debt collector has already gone to court and secured a judgment to garnish paychecks.
It’s a move more in line with the traditional debt collection industry, which typically targets credit card debt, and it’s dragging the house and what little cash reserves people often have into the foreclosure battleground. Experts say it’s an end-run by second lien holders around the traditional foreclosure process, which involves only the first mortgage holder and provides important legal protections for the homeowner.
Dec 07 2009
What alarm?
One of the things about living north of the Arctic Circle here in Stars Hollow is you get the 24 hour days.
And nights.
News soon. When I wake up and catch up.
Dec 07 2009
On Utopia and progressive utopian ideals
Here I briefly wish to examine the idea of “utopia” for its contribution to progressive ideals, specifically w/ reference to Thomas More’s Utopia. Conceptually, “utopia” is composed of “utopian ideals.” Utopian ideals are ideals which appear to us to be impossible to achieve in full, and which for us represent the difference between what our society is and what it could be. They thus prompt the activity of utopian dreaming, which is the engagement with these ideals. This forms a starting point for the proper critique of our world and for action to create a better world.
(also available on CD and tape at Orange)
Dec 07 2009
(Lots of PICS+VIDS) Stop Stupak Rally/Lobby Day
Coverage originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change
Last week, we joined pro-choice activists from all across the country on Capitol Hill. They came to support health care reform and the public option, and they came to fight against the Stupak amendment and any bans on women’s reproductive health coverage. The program began with rally, after which, the groups headed to scheduled meetings with their legislators. We tagged along with a group from Sister Song in New Orleans and joined them for the visit with Senator Mary Landrieu’s office.
We have extensive coverage of the day’s events, with plenty of full speeches.
Dec 07 2009
Iraq War Inquiry, Day Nine
Drip, drip, drip, “”He recalled noting that: “the dog didn’t bark – it grizzled.” Don’t forget – this ‘grizzling’ for regime change was 6 months BEFORE 9/11.””. drip, drip, drip, “”But there was a ‘sea change’ in attitude after the atrocities, with former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice targeting Iraq on the very day of the outrage.””, drip, drip, drip, “”George Bush tried to make a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida in a conversation with Tony Blair three days after the 9/11 attacks, according to Blair’s foreign policy adviser of the time.””, drip, drip, drip, “”There was “a touching belief [in Washington] that we shouldn’t worry so much about the aftermath because it was all going to be sweetness and light”.””, drip, drip, drip, “”Boyce mentions the “dysfunctionalism” of Washington. He says that he would find himself briefing his American counterparts on what was happening in different parts of the US adminstration. Rumsfeld was not sharing information””, drip, drip, drip………..!
Dec 07 2009
Afternoon Edition
Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread
Now with World and U.S. News. 60 Story Final.
| From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Historic climate conference opens to dire warnings
by Richard Ingham and Marlowe Hood, AFP
Mon Dec 7, 2:31 pm ET
| COPENHAGEN (AFP) – A landmark conference on tackling climate change opened in Copenhagen on Monday to warnings of apocalyptic danger for mankind if world leaders failed to seize the moment.
The impact on humanity of man-made drought, flood, storms and rising seas were spelt out at the start of the 12-day meeting, which will climax with a summit attended by more than 110 heads of state or government. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen warned the world was looking to Copenhagen to safeguard the generations of tomorrow. |
Dec 07 2009
I’m Too Sexy for My Blog
As my blogging goes through a weird and wild transformation, I have found myself attracted to many seemingly unrelated phenomena.
I found a Buddhist site that I have both attraction and aversion towards. I’m not sure about the fellow who writes the blog, but he does have a great blogroll (if you’re into the Tibetan Buddhist lineages) and reprints some of the most treasured Tibetan Buddhist texts which were translated at great expense of time and money, not to mention the daring and courageous activities of those teachers who fled Tibet starting in the 1950s who were determined to help spread this 2,500 year old philosophy to the west (an amazing story in itself).
Anyway, that’s neither here nor there, except I found this picture and post so adorable:
Baby, It’s Cold Outside
Winter is definitely here, everybody is making plans for the holidays, and the hearth is merry. But, what of the little stinkers? Do they just magically cope with freezing temperatures?Now is the time to pay special attention to setting out food and water for the small creatures of the fields and air. This is their most difficult time of year, when they must fight for survival.
It doesn’t take much to begin the habit of tossing a couple of extra bags of seed on the cart when you’re in the supermarket. What can it cost? Ten or fifteen dollars? Stop buying the National Enquirer, back off the booze, and the Viagra, and you could feed a whole zoo.
Dec 07 2009
Should Docudharma Take On the Obamabots? Update
After the election I and many others did our very best to accommodate those at Daily Kos who can, despite their plaintive objections, can only be described as Obamabots.
I define Obamabots as unthinking cheerleaders for the president who attempt through attack and vilification seek to silence any criticism of the President that is not qualified by glowing praise and passing McCarthyesque loyalty tests.
I’m SURE you all know who I mean, lol.
Despite massive efforts to be sensitive to their feelings, it seems that nothing but gushing praise is good enough for them, and that the least bit of doubt, thoughtful questioning, or reasoned critique…..let alone trying to apply political pressure, is met with a torrent of comments attempting to silence any and all dissent from “the party Line.” Though in this case, the party is just one man.
This not directly the fault of that website. Indeed, much like the principle of free speech that it has done an exemplary job of upholding….all things considered and the internet being what it is….through all of these years, the website has no control over who posts there and what they post. As long as people stay withing the relatively few rules of posting there. I am not criticizing the website, but the people who have come to the site through the primary process, and a few that have been there all along. I come here not to bash Daily Kos, I come here to bash the users at Daily Kos who have, in my opinion, and the opinion of thousands of others, ruined it. As far as being a TRULY effective political site dedicated to changing the status quo.
But these folks have literally driven thousands of people away from Daily Kos, including me, with their tactics that ironically, Obama himself has condemned as being exactly what is wrong with politics, blind unthinking partisanship.
So I have a question for those who have been here all along and those who have come here seeking refuge. Should we….while observing one of our cardinal rules….No Dkos Bashing….which has kept many here silent about what has happened to Daily Kos at the hands of the Obamabots….
Take off the gloves?
Again I wish to emphasize the distinction between Daily Kos and the people who post in the comments there. I think the world of the FPrs there and of Markos. IF we do this, (whatever this is, lol) I will constantly remind folks of that distinction. With that in mind, and considering carefully the consequences, both intended and unintended….please vote in the poll.
I also wish to emphasize that this has nothing to do with Obama either. Personally, I like the guy! But activism means a certain amount of loyal opposition. Obama knows this, it is the bots that don’t.
Update: VERY interesting discussion. There seems to be a general consensus in the comments to NOT make DD a war zone ….despite the poll, lol. But I think we need to keep talking about this! I will reframe and try a different approach tomorrow
Dec 07 2009
Getting it out in the open
Can anyone (besides Vampire Squids and the MIC) say with a straight face that the status quo in America is good for most Americans?
Isn’t the entire point of democracy to make the status quo as good as it can be for most Americans?
Once upon a time there was a candidate that seemed to get that.
Once upon a time there were website that existed to change the status quo.
Then that candidate got elected, and something odd happened. The website that existed to change the status quo filled up with people who SUPPORTED the status quo. And who, to put it bluntly….VICIOUSLY….. attacked anyone who questioned the new status quo.
This not directly the fault of that website. Indeed, much like the principle of free speech that it has done an exemplary job of upholding….all things considered and the internet being what it is….through all of these years, the website has no control over who posts there and what they post. As long as people stay withing the relatively few rules of posting there. I am not criticizing the website, but the people who have come to the site through the primary process, and a few that have been there all along. I come here not to bash Daily Kos, I come here to bash the users at Daily Kos who have, in my opinion, and the opinion of thousands of others, ruined it. As far as being a TRULY effective political site dedicated to changing the status quo.
These people took it upon themselves to silence all dissent and run off those who dissented by unrelentingly attacking them. Unrelentingly. Viciously. As if it was not a politician who was at issue, but their own offspring…or more accurately their own ego.
While adoring and venerating this candidate and and finding ways to rationalize and justify everything that he does, they use the very tactics he purports to despise, the very partisan vitriol he says he wants to end, the exact same tactics as those on the Right who want to see him fail….in order to “support” him. They violate daily, every principle of politics that he stands for. While practicing every political practice and ethic that he has condemned. This makes them base hypocrites.
In the process, they have turned a website that was once a force for change and activism into a hollow shell, an echo chamber, where they act as a misinformed and hypocritical Praetorian Guard to a President that exists only in their minds, determined that not one word of criticism, not one ounce of pressure. not on scintilla of dissatisfaction can be expressed without being met with a torrent of hateful name calling, insinuations of racism, and a dogpile of both faux polite and unabashedly hateful condemnation of anyone who dare to dissent from a strict party line of praise and glossy images.
In the process, they make it nearly impossible for a thinking person, a questioning person, a doubtful person to support the President, because those people are instantly set upon by what amounts to nothing more than a mindless mob, intent on….well they have no idea what they are intent on.
They give no thought to coalition, no thought to