“I still have a Question!”

        The Felicity Daily Herald
       “All the news that’s fit to print; and a whole lot more”

Scientists: Lost whales may be in ocean

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press Writer Wed May 30

SAN FRANCISCO – Two lost whales last spotted near the Golden Gate Bridge may have slipped back into the Pacific Ocean after a two-week sojourn that took them 90 miles inland up the Sacramento River, scientists said Wednesday.

Rescuers launched several boats Wednesday morning in an effort to find the mother humpback and her calf but hadn’t found them, said Bernadette Fees, deputy director of the California Department of Fish and Game.

The pair were last seen Tuesday night in San Francisco Bay, where few obstacles were left on their route past Alcatraz to the ocean.

“The assumption is if we have not sighted the mother and calf by late afternoon that they have made their way out to the Pacific,” Fees said.

Rescuers planned to rely on commercial vessels and Coast Guard patrols on regular duty to watch for any sign of the pair in the bay. Biologists originally planned to attach a satellite tracking tag to the mother humpback, but gusty wind and malfunctioning equipment stymied the effort.

The whales was first spotted May 13 in the Sacramento River and got as far as the Port of Sacramento before finally turning around.

Thousands of people have since lined Northern California waterfronts to see them. Biologists also said the chance to closely observe the pair for so long was invaluable for science.

Ariadne Green, 57, of Vallejo, caught a glimpse of the pair on Tuesday and earlier in the week at Rio Vista, where the whales had circled for several days near a bridge. She described the humpbacks’ inland visit as a “profound spiritual experience” but was equally grateful for their departure.

“They need to go home now because their health is in jeopardy,” Green said. “It’s good to know they’re on their way back.”

Biologists said the saltier water where the mother humpback whale and her calf had been swimming since leaving the Rio Vista area helped reverse some of the healthproblems caused by long exposure to fresh water.

Recent photographs showed that serious wounds suffered by both whales appeared to have be healing, said Rod McInnis, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Antibiotics were injected into the whales on Saturday to try to slow the damage from the gashes, likely from a boat’s keel.

Lesions that had formed on the humpbacks’ skin over the weekend also appeared to be sloughing off, Fees said.

“While they may have gone on their way, we still have the benefit of all the information we haven’t had access to before,” Fees said. “If we learned anything about these two, it is that they will do what they do when they want to do it.”

___

“All’s well, that Ends well!” huh.

All of us here in Northern California are extremely HAPPY that MoM and Child have slipped through the Golden Gate and made it back out to sea:

 as well as equally “HAPPY”, too, are all those lurking and hungry ‘Killer Whales’ holding up big WELCOME banners as they prowl the waters outside the Gate, I’m sure.   : )

I really didn’t think they were going to make it, what with the deep cuts they had incurred and lack of food. But they did, to the Delight of Animal Lovers around the world.

During the whales travel these past several weeks, a thought came to mind:

     “How do whales sleep (if they do sleep) without drowning?”

That question still bugs me. Like the phenomena of sharks needing to CONSTANTLY ‘move’ to pass water over their gills:

                          when do sharks SLEEP!! 

Anyway. “Good Luck” to our two Visitors from the Deep!

And watch out for those black & white big fish that have their eyes on YOU two, too!   : )

“Khazad-Dum Revisited”

Beginning In The ‘Fifth Age’ of Middle Earth

Thrimidge 27, 5007

During the ‘Third Age’ of Middle Earth, the Dark Lord Sauron held Middle Earth in the grip of Fear and Uncertainty. Then, I guess it could be said that Orcs, Trolls, and other dark creatures of the earth was that ‘Ages’ Terrorists and Fanatics.

During the ‘Third Age’, Middle Earth was on a War footing. And it was the role of ‘All Freedom Loving Peoples’ to eradicate this ‘Grip of Death’ and thralldom from the Dark Lord.

Today, as back during the ‘Third Age’, the world is caught in the grip of Violence, Fear, Terror, and threats to our very way of Life. Reading today’s Headlines tell a tale of wanton Killing and wanton Distress. So, what is the Balm that we in the Twenty-first Century can use to SURVIVE this cycle of Mass Suicide (as a Species), and instead make Our Age one of Peace and Human Progress.

In order to answer this question, I constantly look back to the ‘Third Age’; and in doing so I note that certain ‘Helpers’ were made present, like Gandalf, to assist Freedom Loving Peoples during their TIME of greatest need. But first, the People THEMSELVES had to recognize this NEED ~ and do what was necessary to defeat the THREAT of coming War and strife.

Well, without getting religious, I strongly Believe that our ‘Age’ ~ the ‘Fifth Age’ ~ also has been sent ‘Helpers‘ to assist Mankind against the Forces of Evil. Our problem is …. the World often finds it difficult in determining just ‘WHO’ the real contemporary Sauron is!!

Bush?

bin Laden?

North Korea …

Iran ….

the United States: we’re just not so clear on this, are we. After all, recent Polls throughout the World indicate that Bush and the U.S. holds the greatest THREAT to the Safety and Peace of the World ~ so don’t be so quick to criticize me for including our President as one the World holds in disdain, okay.

This Premise I feel is important to the SURVIVAL of Humanity ~ ‘All ‘of Humanity ~ because until the World can COLLECTIVELY determine just WHOM is our Sauron …. then the Forces of Peace & Progress will forever be weakened and splintered; and as such, the Balance is tipped in the Enemy’s favor (as it is today).

From a “Fifth Age” perspective, EVERY TIME you have Muslim v. Jew; Black v. White; Rich v. Poor; ‘Them’ v. ‘Us’ etc. we weaken the spiritual tools NECESSARY to Defeat the Enemy. And just WHO (or WHAT) is the Enemy:

Today’s Sauron has taken on the guise of Greed, unbridled Hubris, Nationalism, blind allegiance to Political Ideology; and a LOVE of Death. Make no mistake about that!!

See. This is why for Decades ~ Centuries ~ the World, by allowing the above to fester and Grow, is NOW faced with the culmination of so much Neglect toward those Issues of Prime Importance to Humankind …. that it has NOW given today’s Sauron food to Grow his massive Army.

Take our current Issue on how best to handle Terrorism.

I’ve stated since September 11, 2001 ~ that you can only wage War and Defeat Terrorism by Understanding ‘Terrorism’s Context’. What is it about “US” that would make 19 Individuals want to fly planes into buildings? And if you simply address that question with: “It was their Religion that HATES us!” …. well, I strongly suggest YOU  get used to working in buildings no taller than 2 stories high, okay. 

To Understand and Grasp the CONTEXT of ANYTHING requires a Commitment and Focus at the task at hand. Such Questions as to : ‘what things have we done here and abroad to foster such hatred’; ‘what role does poverty and a lack of opportunity play in developing these perceptions around the globe’ and amongst so many People; and ‘is Terrorism a paramilitary strategy to disrupt Law & Order, or merely an outpouring of YEARS of frustration against politics and/or governments’ from which People ‘feel’ alienated and/or disenfranchised.

We NEED to Understand these Roots!! Because there exists in each-and – every country on the face of the earth Unaddressed Ills and frustrations just waiting to explode. Explosions that could so rock and shock Civilization, that our current horrific Days will seem mild compared to that of the ‘Third Ages’ worst!!

I would compare where we are today to that of Frodo & Company’s journey under the mountains at Khazad–Dum. WE’re searching and feeling our way around in the Dark; with Shadows and promises of even more terror ahead. But the ‘Gandalfs’ of the world are in our midst. All it takes is a Committed ‘Will’ to listen to them and drop our childish and Foolish ways.

“They Found Scotty!”

   The Felicity Daily Herald
   “All the news that’s fit to print; and a whole lot more”

Space ashes recovered in N.M. mountains

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. – A rocket payload that flew briefly into space with ashes of astronaut Gordon Cooper and “Star Trek” actor James Doohan was recovered Friday in the New Mexico mountains.

The payload was found in its designated recovery zone 20 days after Farmington, Conn.-based UP Aerospace sent it up in a 20-foot rocket on April 28.

The rocket, the first to be successfully launched into space from the fledgling Spaceport America in southern New Mexico, made a 4-minute suborbital flight before drifting back to Earth.

On board were partial ashes from Cooper, Doohan — who played Scotty on “Star Trek” — and 200 others, including John Meredith Lucas, a writer for the original “Star Trek” series.

The payload landed in rocky, steep terrain in the San Andres Mountains on White Sands Missile Range, east of the spaceport, and was found by a UP Aerospace crew with help from White Sands.

UP Aerospace co-founder Eric Knight said the payload “landed where we wanted it to be. It was just in difficult terrain.”

“And some days, the weather was not cooperative,” he said.

Wende Doohan, James Doohan‘s widow, said he “was in great company with Gordon and Meredith Lucas.”

“He probably wished he could have stayed” in space, Doohan said in a telephone interview from her home in Renton, Wash.

“When Senator John Glenn went up in space (aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1998), he said, ‘They’re starting to use seniors now,’ and he wanted to put his name on the list,” Doohan said.

The remains of the 202 people were in sealed metal capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space flight.

The cylinders will be mounted on plaques mentioning the space flight and given to the families who provided the ashes.

                                                          ****

This Story fascinated me ONLY that because when I read it I thought to myself:

Damn! A person CAN find damn near ANYTHING now a days!

I mean, have YOU ever misplaced your car keys?

How about a wallet …. a favorite ink pen …. a book … YOUR OWN MIND!   : ) 

                                  I have!  : )

             And the older I get: the more I lose!!   : )

Yet apparently I’m in the Minority (figuratively speaking <g>), because they found ol‘ Scotty’s ASHES in a remote and rocky hillside somewhere East of Nowhere!

And I thought one had to be a CSI detective to FIND stuff, huh!

                          Apparently not!

This wasn’t NASA looking for Scotty, baby: but some garage, rocket builders that smack of a ‘B Movie’ at its most awful self!!

If they can Find the Ashes of ol‘ Scotty on a rocky cliff in a desert …. then why can’t Bush find Osama bin Laden, hum?

Hell! Bush finds me every April 15th!!   : )

“Spineless”

Congress Approves Iraq Funding Bill

New Measure Lacks Troop Withdrawal Timeline

By DAVID ESPO AP

WASHINGTON (May 25) – Bowing to President Bush , the Democratic-controlled Congress  grudgingly approved fresh billions for the Iraq  war Thursday night, minus the troop withdrawal timeline that drew his earlier veto. 

Reflecting unhappiness among conservatives in his own party, President Bush said he would have preferred less domestic spending than the bill contained.

“The Iraqi government needs to show real progress in return for America’s continued support and sacrifice,” said the commander in chief, and he warned that August could prove to be a bloody month for U.S. troops in Baghdad ‘s murderous neighborhoods.

The Senate ‘s 80-14 vote to send the legislation to the president came less than two hours after the House gave its approval on a margin of 280-142. In both cases, Republicans supplied the bulk of the support, an oddity in an era of Democratic control.

Democrats in both houses coupled their concession with pledges to challenge Bush’s his policies anew – and force Republicans to choose over and over between the president and public sentiment on the unpopular war. “This debate will go on,” vowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi .

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid  of Nevada was even more emphatic. “Senate Democrats will not stop our efforts to change the course of this war until either enough Republicans join with us to reject President Bush’s failed policy or we get a new president,” he said. 

–>More Coverage: Dems, Bush Near Agreement on Iraq Funding Bill

Talk About It: Post Thoughts –>

But Senate Republican  leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky cautioned against more of the same. “I want to make it clear ... that if all funding bills are going to be this partisan and contentious, it will be a very long year,” he said.

From the White House to the Capit<SPANCLASS=CORRECTION id=””>ol, the day’s events closed out one chapter in an epic struggle pitting Congress against the president over a war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,400 U.S. troops.

Democratic presidential politics played a role, as Sen. Barack Obama  of Illinois, then Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, cast votes against the legislation, which was strongly opposed by anti-war activists.

In the House, Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio choked back tears as he stirred memories of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “After 3,000 of our fellow citizens died at the hands of these terrorists, when are we going to take them on? When are we going to defeat them,” he asked.

The legislation includes nearly $95 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan  through Sept. 30. In addition to jettisoning their plan for a troop withdrawal timeline, Democrats abandoned attempts to require the Pentagon to adhere to troop training, readiness and rest requirements unless Bush waived them.

                                                            ********

 

Either we’re SERIOUS about getting out of Iraq, or we’re not! And I believe the Dems have LOST a huge opportunity to effect CHANGE by writing Bush another check!

 

 

I don’t get it:

 

 

Bush has been PROVEN WRONG from A to Z about Iraq, yet he clings to his Failed Policy as if his Legacy depended on it (which it does).

 

 

His ‘Approval Ratings‘ have long been in the toilet, and soon we’ll be the ONLY nation on earth dumb enough to be in that Hell Hole ….. yet Bush STILL prevails over the Democrats!!!

 

 

I don’t get it!!

 

 

So what if Bush vetoes each-and-every Spending Bill sent him by the Democratic Congress; the Dems can then STILL go back to the American People and say: “We TRIED to change the course of the war, but it was the President that refused to follow YOUR wishes!”

 

 

But “No”, the Demsare STILL scared to death of being Accused of ‘letting our Troops down’ (??) rather than Fighting for what THEY believe is ‘right’ for themselves and the American People!!

 

 

Already THIS MONTH more then 80 Troops have been KILLED!!

 

 

 

And how do ya like this ~ no sooner had Bush received his ‘Blank Check’ from Congress did he do what:

 

 

Moan the FACT that this summer would perhaps (??) be the bloodiest on record in Iraq! (America’s newest State)

 

 

A Blood Bath THIS SUMMER. And the next; and the next; and the next; and into adfinitum!!

 

 

Oh, well. At least Hillary and Barack had the Intelligence and Common Sense to VOTE AGAINST this chickenshxx Blank Check that Congress continues to send Bush, Halliburton, Cheney, and theIraqis Puppets that by now have phat bank accounts in Switzerland!!

 

 

Lawd, have Mercy on us.

 

 

 

 

“Pew’s look at the Obvious”

  The Felicity Daily Herald
   “All the news that’s fit to print; and a whole lot more”

 Some US Muslims say suicide attacks OK

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer Tue May 22

WASHINGTON – One in four younger U.S. Muslims said in a poll that suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaida.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive ever of the country’s Muslims, revealed a community that in many ways blends comfortably into society. Its largely mainstream members express nearly as much happiness with their lives and communities as the general public does, show a broad willingness to adopt American customs, and have income and education levels similar to others in the U.S.

Even so, the survey revealed noteworthy pockets of discontent.

While nearly 80 percent of U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings of civilians to defend Islam can not be justified, 13 percent say they can be, at least rarely.

That sentiment is strongest among those younger than 30. Two percent of them say it can often be justified, 13 percent say sometimes and 11 percent say rarely.

“It is a hair-raising number,” said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, which promotes the compatibility of Islam with democracy.

He said most supporters of the attacks likely assumed the context was a fight against occupation — a term Muslims often use to describe the conflict with  Israel.

U.S. Muslims have growing Internet and television access to extreme ideologies, he said, adding: “People, especially younger people, are susceptible to these ideas.”

Federal officials have warned the U.S. must guard against homegrown terrorism, as the British suffered with the London transit bombings of 2005.

Even so, U.S. Muslims are far less accepting of suicide attacks than Muslims in many other nations. In Pew surveys last year, support in some Muslim countries exceeded 50 percent, while it was considered justifiable by about one in four Muslims in Britain and Spain, and one in three in France.

“We have crazies just like other faiths have them,” said Eide Alawan, who directs interfaith outreach at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Mich., one of the nation’s largest mosques. He said killing innocent people contradicts Islam.

Andrew Kohut, Pew director, said in an interview that support for the attacks represented “one of the few trouble spots” in the survey.

The poll briefly describes the rationales for and against “suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets” and then asks, “Do you personally feel that this kind of violence is often justified to defend Islam, sometimes justified, rarely justified, or never justified?”

The question did not specify where a suicide attack might occur, who might carry it out or what was meant by using a bombing to “defend Islam.”

Those of all ages backing at least some suicide attacks were about evenly divided between men and women, with support stronger from those who were U.S.-born and less educated, and those who attend mosques at least weekly.

In other findings:

_Only 5 percent of U.S. Muslims expressed favorable views of the terrorist group al-Qaida, though about a fourth did not express an opinion.

_Most said they are concerned about a rise in Islamic extremism in the U.S. and around the world.

_Only 40 percent said they believe Arab men carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

_By six to one, they say the U.S. was wrong to invade  Iraq, while a third say the same about  Afghanistan — far deeper than the opposition expressed by the general U.S. public.

_Just over half said it has been harder being a U.S. Muslim since the 9/11 attacks. Nearly a third of those who flew in the past year say they underwent extra screening because they are Muslim.

_Forty-seven percent said they consider themselves Muslim first, rather than American. Forty-two percent of Christians and 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants identified themselves primarily by their religion in earlier surveys.

_By six-to-one, they favor the Democratic Party over the Republican Party, and by five-to-one say they voted for Democratic Sen.  John Kerry over  President Bush in 2004.

The survey estimates there are roughly 2.35 million Muslim Americans. Among adults, two-thirds are from abroad while a fifth are U.S.-born blacks.

By law, the  Census Bureau does not ask about people’s religions.

Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,050 Muslim adults from January through April, including in Arabic, Urdu and Farsi. Subjects were chosen at random, from a separate list of households including some with Muslim-sounding names, and from Muslim households that had answered previous surveys.

The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

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

I have always found it strange, to say the least, why so many Americans find it …. shall I say “Shocking” (barbaristic, even), that Muslims would use WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY to Defend their Faith. Especially when “WE” spread death under the slogan “Shock & Awe“!

If one were to divorce his (or her) self from the illness of Racism, Bigotry, Hubris, and Intolerance …. then I would doubt seriously that “WE” would find it unfathomable that a People ~ Any People ~ would use extreme tactics to Defend themselves or their Faith. In fact, I’d go so far to say that “WE“,  too,  would resort to using WHATEVER IS NECESSARY to defeat a foreign invader ON OUR OWN SOIL:

“Yes“, even if  Suicide Bombings were resorted to.

I’ve read and Studies the Holy Quran ~ and “Yes” they are Commanded to ‘Defend to the Death’ Islam; but I‘ve read and Studied the Christian Bible as well, and the Song “Onward Christian Soldier” heralded much as the SAME ideas and dictates as found in the Quran that “WE” now find so shocking!!

Hell. Do ‘WE‘ really need the Pew Research Center to tell us that Muslims will respond using ANY MEANS NECESSARY to ~ as the Pew Research Center failed to add as a corollary ~ Defend themselves and their Religion from attack? Because if ‘WE‘ do …. then ‘WE‘ are in worst shape than I think ‘WE‘ are.

Human Nature and Behavior is a Universal phenomena; with Patterns of ‘same-ness’ and commonality unique to ‘All’ Humankind.

‘WE‘ need to Understand and Accept this Basic Point!!

“Let Us Decide”

American Optimism at New Low, Poll Finds

By ALAN FRAMAP

WASHINGTON (May 20) – It is gloomy out there. Men and women, whites and minorities – all are feeling a war-weary pessimism about the United States seldom shared by so many people. 

 

Only 25 percent of those surveyed say things in the U.S. are going in the right direction, according to an AP-Ipsos poll this month. That is about the lowest level of satisfaction detected since the survey started in December 2003.

Rarely have longer-running polls found such a rate since the even gloomier days of 1992, ahead of the first President Bush ‘s re-election loss to Democrat  Bill Clinton .

The current glumness is widely blamed on public discontent with the war in Iraq  and with President George W. Bush .

Women and minorities are less content than men and whites, which has been true for years. But all four groups are at or near record lows for the AP-Ipsos poll, and at unusually low levels for older surveys as well.

Ann Bailey, 69, a retired school secretary in Oklahoma, is a conservative who believes the country is on the wrong track. That sentiment should raise alarms for Republicans hoping to hold the White House and recapture Congress  next year.

She cites a widespread lack of honesty plus immigration , gasoline prices and Iraq – where a son and grandson are serving.

“As much as I hate it, I think they need to finish up what they’re doing and get out of there,” said Bailey. “I think we should step out and say, ‘OK, now you solve your problem. We’ve done the best we can do.”‘

Three in 10 men and two in 10 women said this month they think the country is on the right track, down from nearly half of each who felt that way at the end of 2003.

By race, 28 percent of whites and 18 percent of minorities said the same – just over half their rates of optimism from late 2003.

Asked in April why they felt things were veering in the wrong direction, one-third overall blamed the war and one-fourth blamed poor leadership.

Nine percent faulted the economy, 8 percent a loss of moral values and 5 percent gasoline prices.

“We need to get out of war, get our economy back up, quit spending money outside of America and bring it here,” said Democrat Lisa Pollard, 45, an insurance company analyst in Texas. “It all starts at the White House.”

When voter optimism hits such low levels, “It’s not being driven by any specific group. It’s a general kind of malaise that’s across the board,” Republican  pollster Neil Newhouse said.

Former President Jimmy Carter  used the word “malaise” to describe a time of low national self-confidence in the late 1970s. He lost his re-election bid in 1980 to Republican Ronald Reagan .

Today’s numbers are reflected in polls that show voters prefer the Democratic Party to the Republicans — without naming specific candidates — to win the White House next year. Early polling, though, shows specific front-running Republican hopefuls largely holding their own against top Democrats.

The mood prevailing in the polls is giving Democrats optimism about an election that is a long 18 months away. 

“You connect the dots back to Bush. He’s done more to undermine their brand than we could have done spending millions of dollars,” said Cornell Belcher, who polls for Democrats. “I’d rather be us right now.”

The especially low “right direction” numbers for women and minorities result largely because both groups tend to be more Democratic, less supportive of the war and more vulnerable to economic downturns, analysts say.

The percentage of white people who say Bush made the right decision to go to war in Iraq has exceeded that for minorities by 9 points to 25 points in AP-Ipsos polls over the past four years. The spread has been 5 points to 16 points when comparing men versus women.

For women, their pessimism extends across party lines. While 52 percent of Republican men said the country is heading the right way, only 33 percent of Republican women agreed.

Those who think the U.S. is heading in the right direction tend to be white male Republicans in strong financial situations who say they sense a solid economy and are satisfied with the country’s leadership.

“I feel like despite the nation’s problems, we’re going to work our way through them and be better, stronger for it,” said Robert Beard, 49, of California, a programmer for a bank.

The lowest level of overall “right direction” responses in AP-Ipsos polling was 23 percent in May 2006 – virtually identical to this month’s 25 percent because of the margins of sampling error in both polls.

AP-Ipsos polls last spring and in the fall of 2005 showed similarly low percentages of men, women, whites and nonwhites saying the country was moving in the right direction.

This month’s AP-Ipsos poll involved telephone interviews with 1,000 adults from May 7-9. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Associated Press News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and writer Ann Sanner contributed to this report.

                                         _______________________

I’ll tell ya why Americans are so ‘Gloomy’ these days ~ and it cuts across all Races, Cultures, Nationalities, and Economic Class. It’s a ‘Human’ thing, okay!

See. You can’t govern by Fear & Intimidation, and expect People to ‘feel’ GOOD about themselves or their Country: ya just can’t!

You can’t reduce PEOPLE to mere Statistics or ‘Body Counts’ and expect People to ‘feel’ Whole and Hopeful about the Future!

You can’t have these Right wing Jokers vomit their Hatred and Ugliness over the airwaves (like Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage) and expect People to ‘feel’ Spiritual and full of Goodwill toward their Fellow Humankind!

It’s that simple!

I mean …. what does HATE & INTOLERANCE really do to the Human Condition except cause it to turn INWARD and upon itself. As a Nation, we’ve become so screwed up that we can’t TRUST or have Faith and Confidence in our government, our Media, or even our ‘Way of Life’!

Listen to yourself as you THINK about the Immigration Issue!

Listen to your Ideas as you consider ~ REALLY CONSIDER ~ what you think about Iraqis and their miserable Plight THAT WE CAUSED!!

Listen to your thoughts as you weigh Obama’s Candidacy!

I say these things because I bet in most cases your THOUGHTS are tinged by Racism, or Intolerance, or raw Hatred, or just plain utter Ignorance. Conditions, I might add, that are the Lowest of ‘Base Instincts’ that contribute to the Negativity not against the victim …. but feed upon the perpetrator.

In fact, for all our High Sounding Boasting about how we’re a ‘Christian Nation’, I find little Christian Ideals on display in our Politics, our way of dealing with ‘others’, or in how we treat our Fellow Americans.

We don’t give a damn when the government cuts Social Programs or Mental Health facilities; we could care less about the Homeless (even will step right over them); or Cheer the police when they whomp on blacks …. just so long as you ‘feel’ Safe & Secure from “them” or ‘Those People’.

One would think that a Society that REALLY BELIEVES in those Values of Freedom, Justice, and Equality would hold the more tightly to same when under attack: but apparently that’s not the case in America as evidence America after 911.

This is ‘why’ we’re in a deep FUNK now. And this is why in short order we’re going to have t decide what kind of America do we want in the Twenty-first Century:

a ‘Shiny City on a Hill’ or Mordor.

“C’mon, Brotha!”

Obama and Brownback team up on Iran bill

from Alexander Mooney

“Irrelevant?”

White House hits back at Carter remarks

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Sun May 20, 3:31 PM ET

CRAWFORD, Texas – In a biting rebuke, the White House on Sunday dismissed former President Jimmy Carter as “increasingly irrelevant” after his harsh criticism of  President Bush.

Carter was quoted Saturday as saying “I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.”

The Georgia Democrat said Bush had overseen an “overt reversal of America’s basic values” as expressed by previous administrations, including that of his own farther, former President George H.W. Bush.

“I think it’s sad that President Carter’s reckless personal criticism is out there,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto responded Sunday from Crawford, where Bush spent the weekend.

“I think it’s unfortunate,” Fratto said. “And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments.”

Carter made the comments to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper’s Saturday editions.

Carter spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed his comments to The Associated Press on Saturday and declined to elaborate.

                                                 _____________

‘Irrelevant‘, Fratto? Me thinks your Boss is (and hasbeen) IRRELEVANT as the so-called Leader of the Free World!

But you see, Fratto, when a former President says THESE KIND OF THINGS about another Member of the Exclusive ‘Presidents Club’ ~ then what makes Carter’s comments RELEVANT is that 100 years from now future HISTORIANS will Evaluate Carter’s remarks from the proper ‘Perspective of History & Scholorship’; and no doubt what Carter said will then appear weak compared to the way Bush will be held in HISTORY.

Why hasn’t this man (Bush) been Impeached?

Why is it the Media stills hangs on every word Bush utters, especially when his Approval Ratings have been in the Low 30s since January 07?

Bush, Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Libby, Rove, Gonzales, Ashcroft etc. have all lowered the Standard of the Executive Branch of Government; so why is what Carter stated seem so shocking or troubling? After all, wait until Future Historians get through viewing Bush thru the Clear Prism of History, baby!

Why …. what they’ll say will make what Carter said about Bush seem more ‘Mr. Rodgers-ish‘.

“Condi v. The Big Bad Bear”

Rice: No new Cold War for U.S., Russia

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 

MOSCOW – Secretary of State  Condoleezza Rice said Monday there’s no “new Cold War” between Washington and Moscow, though she acknowledged growing strains ahead of contentious talks with Russian President  Vladimir Putin.

“It’s time for intensive diplomacy,” said Rice, who meets face-to-face with the Russian president on Tuesday amid major differences over U.S. missile defense plans and Putin‘s increasing criticism of American policy.

Rice said Washington is committed to working through the differences, notably over U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe, Russia’s threat to suspend a major military treaty and Moscow’s opposition to a U.N. plan for  Kosovo independence.

There is also growing U.S. concern about Moscow’s treatment of its former Soviet neighbors and steps Putin has taken to consolidate power in the Kremlin — seen as democratic backsliding as Russia prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

“I don’t throw around terms like ‘new Cold War,'” Rice said. “It is a big, complicated relationship, but it is not one that is anything like the implacable hostility” between the United States and the Soviet Union for a half-century after World War II.

“It is not an easy time in the relationship, but it is also not, I think, a time in which cataclysmic things are affecting the relationship or catastrophic things are happening in the relationship,” Rice told reporters aboard her plane on the way to Moscow.

“It is critically important to use this time to enhance those things that are going well and to work on those things that are not going well.”

She noted that the United States and Russia are working together in numerous areas: on  Iran and  North Korea‘s nuclear programs, the global spread of weapons of mass destruction and efforts to achieve Middle East peace.

“Russia is not the Soviet Union, so this is not a U.S.-Soviet relationship, this is a U.S.-Russian relationship,” said Rice, an expert on the Cold War who first visited Moscow in 1979. “A great deal has a changed.”

Her visit comes as the two nations have traded increasingly sharp barbs, despite ostensibly warm personal feelings between Putin and  President Bush, who spoke to each other just last week and are expected to meet at a summit of leaders in Germany next month.

A planned event at which Rice and Putin were to be photographed together and make brief remarks was canceled by the Kremlin, according to U.S. officials.

And a senior Russian diplomat warned the U.S. not to try to go it alone in world affairs.

“Unilateral steps, the more so unilateral force reaction, interference in affairs of other states under various pretexts … lead to a deadlock,” the chief of the foreign ministry’s North America department, Igor Neverov, told the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency as Rice arrived.

In April, simmering Russian anger over U.S. plans to place missile defense components in Poland and the Czech Republic, both former Warsaw Pact members, boiled over despite Washington’s pledges to cooperate with Moscow on the system.

Russia views the plan as an attempt to alter the strategic balance. Rice has dismissed such concerns as “ludicrous,” but top Russian military officials have hinted the system might be targeted.

“Moscow is not convinced by Washington’s assurances that (missile defense) in Europe will not be directed against Russia,” Neverov told ITAR-Tass.

Last month, hours before the United States and its  NATO allies met in Norway to discuss the matter, Putin threatened to suspend Russia’s participation in a key treaty limiting military deployments in Europe.

Rice said Monday that NATO and the United States want to keep the Conventional Forces in Europe pact alive but cannot unless Russia abides with its treaty commitments.

Russia views U.S. activity in its former sphere of influence with growing suspicion. Just last week, Putin denounced “disrespect for human life, claims to global exclusiveness and dictate, just as it was in the time of the Third Reich.”

The Kremlin insisted that Putin had not meant to compare the Bush administration’s policies with those of Nazi Germany, but the reference appeared to highlight Russia’s annoyance at what it sees as U.S. domination of world affairs and meddling in Russian politics.

Rice did not address Putin‘s comments but said she had urged counterparts to avoid “rhetoric that suggests the relationship is one of hostility.”

She said of Russia, “This is a big and complex place that is going through a major historic transformation. … Things are not going to change overnight, but frankly we would like to see them change faster than they are changing, and for the better.”

In addition to discussion of missile defenses, she said she would push the Russians on accepting a U.N. proposal for supervised independence for Kosovo, now a U.N.-administered province in Russian-allied Serbia, that Moscow has threatened to block.

                                                          ******

THIS is what turns Condi ‘on’, baby : Russia v. United States!!

Nothing ~ and I mean NOTHING ~ so engages Aunty Rice then fighting the ‘Big BAD RUSSIAN Bear’!

Condi Rice is a ‘Cold WaR Warrior‘ LOST in the Twenty-first Century. In fact, she sees EVERYTHING through the prism of a ‘Russia v. U.S.’ eyeglass.

Terrorism: Russia v. U.S.

bin Laden whereabouts: Russia v. U.S.

Threats to the American Way of Life: Yep! Uncle Sam v. the Bear!!

She’s LOST and can’t understand why the World doesn’t see things the way she does!

Condi is my ‘Home Girl’ <g>, but her Politics stink; her view of the World stinks; and she ain’t nothin‘ but a Gonzales dressed in ‘drag’ when it comes to your and my Civil Liberties & Rights.

She may be an excellent Classical pianist; she may have overcome some staggering odds to get where she is today; and no doubt she has a brain in her head: but that STILL makes her a dangerous individual that has the ear of the President of the United States. And like all those other neocon-neonazis that Bush relies on to be his ‘brain’ ….. it’s no wonder the U.S. is in the poor shape its in, is there?

Condi Rice: the last of the OLD TIME ‘Cold WAR Warriors‘!! 

“HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

“Mother’s Day“, out of all the holidays celebrated, to me is the most needed and respected. After all, Mothers are the Creators of Human Life; Mothers are those that first set our feet on the Path of Knowledge; and Mothers often stand behind us when all others have turned their backs. So it is out of deep Respect and Honor do I wish Mothers “Happy Mother’s Day” this day!!

A Mother can often mold the Development of a child. For without the unconditional LOVE of a MoM ….. many a child would have grown constantly looking for the LOVE that only a Mother can provide. I was one of the Blessed to have had a LOVING & SUPPORTIVE Mother ~ as well as having a LOVING & SUPPORTIVE Mother for my two children. And although Death took from me BOTH Mothers ….. still their Legacy exists as towering giants that through sacrifice, dogged determination, and LOVE insured that their Children would be well grounded to live fruitful and productive lives.

As a child, my own Mother often stood between me and the Ultimate Executioner (my Father) whenever I strayed too far from what was expected of me. Sure, I often did my best to play upon her maternal instincts to ‘protect’; but rarely did she raise a hand in anger at me ~ although she was awfully good with a switch <g> ~ because I ALWAYS KNEW that no matter what I had done (or would do), MoM would ALWAYS ‘be there’ to dry an eye or sooth a hurt.

ALWAYS.

I gave the Eulogy at my Mother’s Funeral. And I recall saying to all the children in attendance this:

“One thing I’m very Proud of today; and that being I KNOWINGLY never and unduly caused my Mother grief or pain. That I tried, to the BEST of my ability to NEVER cause shame to visit my family. Because at times like these ….. I don’t know what I’d do had I KNOWINGLY caused grief to come to my Mother. So kids, do your very best to Honor and Respect what your Mother has done (and will continue to do) for you.”

I’ll remember what I told those kids till the day of my own death.

We all have only ‘ONE MOTHER’. So if you’re Blessed to still have ol‘ MoM with you on THIS DAY:

                 Thank God that it is so.