My Record Collection

No video for this one. I'm not sure how I ended up with this LP. I've had it for as long as I can remember. There are quite a few songs on this record I like -- Waiting Around To Die, For the Sake of the Song, Columbine. And this one -- Colorado Girl. The link is to an MP3. There's just something about Townes and his guitar and the way he sings. I'd listen to those songs over and over and over again. But Colorado Girl has always moved me. If you can find the LP on Tomato Records, grab it. If not, you can find the CD on Amazon. I highly recommend it. If we could only go back to a time when good music was good music. Smart lyrics, good musicianship. Raw. No in studio magic. Just great music.



Colorado Girl

I'm goin' out to Denver, see if I can't find
I'm goin' out to Denver, see if I can't find
that lovin' Colorado girl of mine

The promise in her smile shames the mountains tall
The promise in her smile shames the mountains tall
she bring the sun to shining, tell the rain to fall

It's been a long time, mama,
since I heard you call my name
Ah, been a long time
since I heard you call my name
I got to see my Colorado girl again

Be there tomorrow. Mama, don't you cry
Be there tomorrow. Now, mama, don't you cry
I got to kiss these lonesome Texas blues good-bye

I'm goin' out to to Denver, see if I can't find
I'm goin' out to to Denver, see if I can't find
that lovin' Colorado girl of mine
that lovin' Colorado girl of mine

Interesting poll.

Iraqis want us out, no?

Python

This is one of my favorite Grail scenes.



I blow my nose at you...you and all your silly English k-nnnnnnnig-its!

I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!

A beautiful sight...

Ok, so the picture's not the best. I was driving to work. ;) anyway, this is a bit of snow on Pike's Peak. A beautiful sight, indeed. God, I love the change of seasons!

Oh, bullshit.

This was the headline on MSNBC tonight.



Today we found out that Bush's war is actually doing more harm than good, and Clinton finally speaks out about bin Ladin. So what does MSNBC decide to do? Tell us that yes, Bush actually does grieve. But in private. And they give him a fucking halo for added emphasis. Actually, though, Wolf Blitzer got the real George W. Bush on Iraq. Not the "grieving in private" President. Nope. The one that thinks this whole Iraq thing (thousands dead, tens of thousands wounded) will really be just a "comma" when the history is written.

For the "No Shit, Sherlock," file...

U.S. report says Iraq war has fueled terror threat.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A classified intelligence report concludes that the Iraq war has worsened the terrorist threat to the United States, U.S. officials told CNN Sunday.

Some intelligence officials have said as much in the past, but the newly revealed document is the first formal report on global trends in terrorism by the National Intelligence Estimate, which is put out by the National Intelligence Council.

We (people that can actually take 2 and 2, put them together and get 4) told you so. Told you that Iraq would end up in a civil war. Told you that the war would have an adverse affect on the "war on terra."

My record collection

This is, by far, my all-time favorite Carole King song. When I'm down, it lifts my mood. When I'm happy, it makes me feel like I can fly.

When the jazzman's testifyin'
a faithless man believes
he can sing you into paradise
or bring you to your knees.

It's a gospel kind of feelin',
a touch of Georgia slide,
a song of pure revival
and a style that's sanctified.

Jazzman take my blues away;
make my pain the same as yours
with every change you play.

OYEZ Supreme Court multimedia site

Just thought I'd share this nify little site. It contains not only the written opinions of the High Court, but on some cases you can hear audio of the oral arguments.

OYEZ - US Supreme Court Media

For example, Loving v Virginia, Miranda v Arizona , Lawrence and Garner v Texas, or New York Times v United States.

Pretty cool stuff...

A trip to Dictionary.com

Top News Article Reuters.com: "'I'm saying that nobody knows what humiliating treatment is. What does it mean?' Hadley said on CNN's 'Late Edition.' "

Humiliating: lowering the pride, self-respect, or dignity of a person
Treatment: action or behavior toward a person, animal, etc.

Perhaps Bush and his administration could check out the word of the day. Maybe they'll get this fairly simple stuff figured out.

GO DENVER

Well, it's only a bit of common sense, isn't it?

The Blog Jonathan Rintels: FCC Report Says Media Consolidation Harms News Coverage - FCC Then Orders Report Destroyed The Huffington Post: "The FCC staff analysis showed local ownership of television stations adds almost five and one-half minutes of total news to broadcasts and more than three minutes of 'on-location' news. The conclusion is at odds with FCC arguments made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market. It was part of a broader decision liberalizing ownership rules."

More of my record collection

I've always loved this song. And I've always loved this look:



Take me now baby here as I am
Pull me close, try and understand
Desire is hunger is the fire I breathe
Love is a banquet on which we feed

Squirrel

Went to the park today with a friend. Intended to fee the geese (which we did) but some of the gesse were full. This little fellow wasn't, though. Look at his cute little tongue. ;)

Those were the days.

The gas prices, I mean. Merely 2 1/2 years ago, oil was $38 a barrel. What is it now? $65? Dunno 'bout your part of the world, but I have noticed that prices are going down. In a week they went from $2.79 to $2.45 in the little NW Kansas town my mom lives in. Where I live they are going down slowly. They are going down though. Perhaps faster in redder states than blue ones? I dunno. my state's sorta purple. Mom's is a solid red.

Back to this linked story. Perhaps there's a bit of price fixing going on now, eh? After all, OPEC's production hasn't gone up all that much.
Methinks there's something fishy...

Did Saudis assure Bush on oil prices? - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com: "And oil traders shrugged off the report Monday, sending crude prices through the $38 a barrel mark on the New York Mercantile Exchange on fears over increased violence in the Middle East. Prices later settled back. "

What the hell is this thing?

Now, I am no bug person. I'm OK with ladybugs and fireflies. Daddy long-legs are OK. Anything else just creeps me out. So, I'm minding my own business. I walk out onto my deck and I see this. I'm not ashamed to tell you it scared the shit out of me. It's likely some little harmless creature, just doing it's thing - makin' like a leaf and gettin' some sun. Still, it's creepy. Shortly after I took this pic, it decided it liked my neighbor's deck better than mine. Fine by me. I'm no bug person.

9/11 timeline from ThinkProgress.org

Don't let 'em fool ya. I know we've got short, short, short memories. This timeline should help us remember, though. Remember things like this:

EARLY DECEMBER 2001: Bin Laden escapes at Tora Bora
DECEMBER 21, 2001: Senators introduce bill to create independent 9/11 commission
JANUARY 25, 2002: Cheney “warns” Daschle about establishing independent 9/11 inquiry
JANUARY 27, 2002: Cheney: bin Laden “isn’t that big a threat.”
JANUARY 29, 2002: Bush asks Daschle not to establish independent inquiry into 9/11 attacks
FEBRUARY 5, 2002: Bush: bin Laden “not the issue.”
MAY 23, 2002: Bush voices opposition to 9/11 Commission
MARCH 2003: Bush opposes additional funding for 9/11 Commission
JANUARY 2004: Taliban “can now outspend and outman” U.S. forces
JANUARY 19, 2004: Bush opposes giving extension to 9/11 Commission investigation

whoops...

FEBRUARY 5, 2004: Bush reverses position, backs 9/11 Commission extension
FEBRUARY 25, 2004: Bush, Cheney place strict limits on 9/11 Commission appearances
MARCH 2004: U.S. government report warns of Taliban resurgence
MARCH 2004: Warlords still control large swaths of Afghanistan
MARCH 28, 2004: Rice justifies refusing to testify before 9/11 Commission
APRIL 1, 2004: Bush blocks 9/11 Commission from accessing thousands of documents
MAY 2004: Major study finds al Qaeda strong, growing thanks to Iraq war
JULY 22, 2004: 9/11 Commission releases recommendations, Bush resists quick action
SEPTEMBER 27, 2004: Bush: “As a result of the United States military, Taliban no longer is in existence.”
APRIL 26, 2005: Global terrorist attacks triple over past year
JUNE 26, 2005: Rumsfeld “doesn’t know” if U.S. is eliminating more terrorists than are being created
AUGUST 2005: Taliban have reemerged in Afghanistan
APRIL 22, 2006: Global terrorist attacks exceed 10,000 over past year
JUNE 26, 2006: Violence in Afghanistan worst since 2001
AUGUST 14, 2006: Violence against women ‘widespread’ in Afghanistan
SEPTEMBER 2, 2006: Afghan opium harvest largest ever
SEPTEMBER 3, 2006: Terrorism prosecutions fall to pre-9/11 level
SEPTEMBER 8, 2006: Released tape shows Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda members training for September 11th attacks.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2006: CIA officials report bin Laden trail has gone “stone cold”

From the Wayback Machine

NEWSWEEK: In the Months Before 9/11, Justice Department Curtailed Highly Classified Program to Monitor Al Qaeda Suspects in the U.S.: "NEW YORK, March 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Newsweek has learned that in the months before 9/11, the U.S. Justice Department curtailed a highly classified program called 'Catcher's Mitt' to monitor Al Qaeda suspects in the United States, after a federal judge severely chastised the FBI for improperly seeking permission to wiretap terrorists. During the Bush administration's first few months in office, Attorney General John Ashcroft downgraded terrorism as a priority, choosing to place more emphasis on drug trafficking and gun violence..."

Interesting, no? How is it that this administration has gotten away with so much for so long?

The Speech

Read it here.

Number of times Preznit says "al Qaeda" or "Taliban" -- 4
Number of times Preznit says "iraq" or "iraqi" or some variation thereof -- 16

Bunny

I visited my mom this weekend. She's got a coupla cottontails that walk through her garden. Most of the time they eat the weeds. We've watched this fellow since he was a baby bunny, trying to hide under her shed. Isn't he a cutie??

Going through my record collection...

Fleetwood Mac - Gypsy

I've loved Stevie Nicks since I was 17 years old. This song ranks right up there as one of my favorite Stevie songs and it is definitely my favorite Mac video -- because of this look:


"Well, lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice
Ah, and it lights up the night...
I still see your bright eyes, bright eyes
And it all comes down to you"

Suppose we'd EVER hear Bush say something like this?

The Raw Story Tony Blair to step down within twelve months: 'Time now to move on': "I also say one other thing after the last week, I think it is important for the Labour Party to understand, and I think the majority of people in the party do understand, that it's the public that comes first and it's the country that matters and we can't treat the public as irrelevant bystanders in a subject as important as who is their prime minister."

Wow, a leader who actually thinks his public comes first. How refreshing. Too bad he didn't realize this in, say, March 2003.

well now. this is good timing, huh?

CNN.com - Video is said to show bin Laden prepping for 9/11 attacks - Sep 7, 2006: "For the first time, a video has been released showing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden meeting with suspected terrorist Ramzi Binalshibh, purportedly as they prepare for the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to Al-Jazeera, which aired the tape Thursday."

Why is it that bin Ladin rears his ugly head during elections? And why does this sort of thing let bush administration supporters believe that this war on terror is working? Seems to me that it'd be an embarrassment, being that he's still on the loose and all. Bet you all sorts of talking heads will be on the Sunday talk shows this weekend saying this tape proves that Bush is correct and that we must 'stay the course.'

A letter to Ann Coulter from Kristen Breitweiser

The Blog Kristen Breitweiser: A Letter to Ann Coulter The Huffington Post: "Actually, I expect that you will continue to scream and shout and smear as nastily as you want, so long as you think that that kind of behavior sells books. But we have tackled bigger bullies than you and lived through far worse circumstances than your book tour. We're not intimidated by you. We're not running away.
And under no circumstances will we be silenced by your 'godless' rantings and ravings."

God bless the Jersey Girls.

Nazis and Commies and Slaveholders, Oh My!

So, the administration is stretching it thinner and thinner and thinner. First, those of us that are against the Iraq war (and we can support the troops without supporting the president, by the way) were Nazi sympathizers. Then we were commies. Then we were pro-slavery.

Why is it that George Bush only seems to care where bin Ladin is when we are close to an election?

Cat nap

ABC and the 'documentary'

When (if) you watch the ABC 'documentary' about September 11, 2001, don't forget this:

AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth: "The Republicans stopped President Clinton from getting all the tools he needed to stop the next September 11 - well, no, actually they opposed giving President Clinton all the tools he needed to stop the actual September 11. Could September 11 have been stopped if the GOP had given President Clinton the tools he requested to stop Osama and Mohammad Atta from killing 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington?"

Remember who was in control of Congress from 1994 on . . .

Dog

So, stopped to get gas. Saw this puppy. Asked if it was okay to take the pooch's pic. T'was. Ain't he cute?