Webb on Race

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TLL*

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TLL*

Jeebus ! She was an adjunct professor at Pat Robertson’s Regent University !

Man..How long is it going to take to weed out these Wack-Jobs from Our Government ?

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Lu'...great big drops with lots of distance in between..that is the desert way...

Skin grafts likely for third this week
By Kristina Davis
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 22, 2008

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO – Two construction workers injured in Monday's hotel explosion underwent surgery for temporary skin grafts yesterday but will remain in drug-induced comas for two weeks to control the pain, officials said.

“It's been a good day,” said Dr. Bruce Potenza, head of UCSD Medical Center's burn unit in Hillcrest.

The men might be ready for permanent skin grafts by late next week.

A third worker, who was burned over 40 percent of his body, is still too swollen but might go into surgery as early as tomorrow.

Potenza said the men are still in critical condition, but he is “cautiously optimistic” that they will recover nicely.

“I hope to see these fellows walk into the clinic a couple months from now,” Potenza said.

A fourth victim is still being treated for orthopedic injuries at Scripps Mercy Hospital.

Thirteen workers were injured during Monday afternoon's explosion at the San Diego Bayfront Hilton, a 30-story hotel under construction.

Fire officials said the explosion happened when flames from a water heater or electrical spark ignited natural gas that had been leaking into a mechanical room on the fifth floor.

Investigators from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration continued yesterday to sift through the mangled debris at the blast site on Harbor Drive.

The Cal-OSHA investigation could take up to six months to complete, said agency spokeswoman Kate McGuire.

The contractor, Hensen Phelps Construction Co., has been cleared by the San Diego Unified Port District to begin removing debris and making repairs; however, it is unclear if that work would begin this week.

Officials said Tuesday the hotel should open as planned this fall.

Damage so far has been estimated at $5 million.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080522-9999-1m22hilton.html

Marc Maron gets 'Stand Uppity' at Echoplex By -- Ian Cohen

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/valley/la-gd-night22-2008
may22,0,4640489.story

May 22, 2008

MARC MARON was one of the regular guest stars on the sorely missed "Dr. Katz" series from Comedy Central, and his recent stand-up performances seem to represent one of those career trajectory pivots that makes perfect sense.

More so than most comedians walking a fine line of self-realization through self-deprecation, Maron has been treating his gigs as therapy, with lacerating romance requiems and fourth-wall destroyers that seem to have a lot in common with your run-of-the-mill emo bands hell-bent on sharing their catharsis.

Fortunately, Maron doesn't see it that way.

"It's not that therapeutic. I'm still not entirely well," he says. "Entertaining is subjective. I have always been entertaining to some people. The more 'therapeutic' sets have been the most entertaining to people who were/are wrestling with the same monsters as I am. These are common monsters that need to be taken out for a walk. Those who want to walk their monsters dig these sets and need the entertaining deeply."

It's indicative of the kind of volatility that's marked Maron's comedy since a very public and harsh breakup with wife Mishna Wolff that he's more than willing to address in a live setting. (In fact, at a late show in August at the Steve Allen Theater, you weren't sure whether he was going to make it.)

But throughout his career, instability has been a double-edged sword for Maron, his acidic point of view being a draw for audiences as well as a source of conflict -- Maron's run on Air America Radio was marked with disputes over everything from contracts to content, and he wasn't afraid to address any of it.

A willingness to take on the dingier portions of process is a hallmark of Maron's oeuvre, particularly in regard to government. It's hard not to think that political aspect of comedy has taken a tone of malaise and even boredom; at this point, even in the midst of an election cycle.

One would think that someone with his predilections for muckraking would be anticipating what the new regime might bring in terms of laughs, but even he's wary.

"I don't find any of them particularly funny. We have no idea what any of them can or will do," the 44-year-old Highland Park resident says. "Whoever gets the job will be holding the biggest bag of flaming [dung] in the history of the country.

"I like Obama. I'm excited about . . . the way he looks just over the audience into the distance at something good and right for all just out on the horizon. I think this is a historic opportunity for black people to be misrepresented by one of their own. We've been misrepresented by ours since the beginning. I say pass the baton, brother."
THE STAND UPPITY TOUR
WHO: Edgy routines from Andy Kindler, Marc Maron and Eugene Mirman

WHERE: Echoplex, 1152 Glendale Blvd., Echo Park
WHEN: 8 tonight
PRICE: $18
INFO: (213) 413-8200; www.attheecho.com

Dallas Air America
http://www.dallasairamerica.org/

of Patreas and Odierno in the Senate. per MSNBC

Rice defends Bush policy on Iran as 'successful'

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday defended as "successful" the US administration's policy on Iran after Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama criticized its approach.

Though she tried to avoid commenting on the presidential campaign, Rice told reporters that the United States and other powers agreed on what she considers a common, effective approach to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

"I will note that the Iranian problem is not just America's problem, it is an international issue, and it is an issue on which the international community is united in confronting Iran with choices before it," Rice said.

Flanked by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, a US ally on Iran and other issues, Rice recalled that Tehran must either halt its enrichment of uranium in return for economic benefits or face international isolation.

With its continued defiance, she said, the UN Security Council has adopted three sanctions resolutions against Iran while the United States has taken punitive measures of its own.

And Iran has paid an economic price with the "drying up" of international investment in its oil industry, economic infrastructure and export credits, the secretary of state said.

"I think this is called a successful multilateral coalition of states that have the same view" that Iran should be rewarded for its cooperation or isolated for its defiance, Rice said.

She added: "I would like to see what other options there are for the international community, given that this policy is one that I think is the best course for us."

Obama has been taking aim at Republican presidential candidate John McCain over his and President George W. Bush's policy toward Iran, including their stated refusals to engage Washington in high-level negotiations with Tehran.

"Thanks to George Bush's policy, Iran is the greatest threat to the United States and Israel and the Middle East for a generation. John McCain wants to double down on that failed policy," Obama said.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Rice_defends_Bush_policy_on_Iran_as_0521200...

Officials: Obama begins top secret VP search

Democratic officials say Barack Obama has begun a top-secret search for a running mate.

Democratic officials said Thursday the party's likely nominee has asked former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson to begin vetting potential vice presidential picks. Johnson did the same job for Democratic nominees John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984.

The Democratic officials spoke on a condition of anonymity about a process that the campaign wants to keep quiet.

Vice presidential searches are usually closely held secrets, but Obama campaign officials say the effort is being handled by a particularly tight circle of advisers.

The campaign also does not want to discuss the effort because they are still engaged in a fading primary campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Officials_Obama_begins_top_secret_VP_0522....

Sadr City welcomes Iraqi troops
US absence seems to make difference, troops greeted with flowers, gifts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR200805...

WASHINGTON — Republican John McCain says same-sex couples should be allowed to enter into legal agreements for insurance and other purposes, but he opposes gay marriage and believes in "the unique status of marriage between and man and a woman."

"And I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue," the likely Republican presidential nominee said in an interview to air Thursday on "The Ellen DeGeneres show."

McCain, who also opposes an amendment to the Constitution to ban same-sex unions, said people should be encouraged to enter into legal agreements, particularly for insurance and other areas where decisions need to be made.

DeGeneres needled McCain on the issue, arguing that she and the senator from Arizona aren't different.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/22/ellen-challenges-john-mcc_n_103...

Italian government plans to bring back nuclear energy, first plant by 2013

Staff
AP News

May 22, 2008 07:37 EST

Italy's industry minister says the new government plans to restart the country's nuclear power program.

Claudio Scajola told a business lobby group Thursday that the government has scheduled the start of construction of the first new nuclear-powered plant by 2013.

The business lobby Confindustria has called for a return to nuclear energy to reduce the high cost of electricity in Italy.

Italians decided to close the country's nuclear energy program in a referendum a year after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986. It was unclear how Silvio Berlusconi's new government intended to move forward despite that referendum.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Italy_wants_to_bring_back_nuclear_p...

is that on now?

am bored i wanna watch something

Ask Hillary First (!!!???)
Submitted by gloryoski on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 8:52am.
---------

We the people nor Obama owe The Clinton's anything. No indeed. The media that Hillary complains about is courtesy of her husband. When he was elected, the Fairness Doctrine could have been restored. But he chose to kiss the ass of big media with the 1996 Telecommunications act. Right now you can find grandmothers and their daughters working at McDonald's. It was apple bottom herself that encourage Bill to throw poor women to the curb. When Cindy Sheehan was being called whore and ugly, Hillzilla kept her opportunist mouth shut. Furthermore, her stance on the right to vote is pure bullshit. When Ohioans had their voting rights blatantly stolen, where was Bill and Hill?

Thom can go to hell, and please, take Hillbilly with him.

doesn't seem an apt punishment for Thom's desperation move...I think it would be better to have a hillary supporter like wes clark who will bring over he clintonistas...he also has military experience and is a handsome devil

Marc Maron gets 'Stand Uppity' at Echoplex

Thanks, DAA. It was broken off in my browser. I will forward to intelligent Angelino friends. I had the misfortune of sitting in front of a transplanted LA doofus Tuesday night who spent 5 minutes bagging on the San Antonio Spurs because they were so 'gay'. Translation-too boring and no bad boy players.

I think Maron wants to get the hell out of LA. He seemed to want to get 'home' but not to Los Angeles. Maybe time for a move to Phoenix?

i cannot stand him he is such a sell out--why is thom sucking ass anyway

but he would help Obama win. I have become so damn strategic in my old age...I don't know what is with thom....he is great for the most part but kind of wussy...must be the psychology background...

McCain to miss Petraeus’s confirmation hearing to raise cash for campaign.
Today, Gen. David Petraeus will testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee for his confirmation as CentCom commander. But Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who has missed 60 percent of votes this session, has other priorities. The AP reports that McCain “is expected to miss the hearing because he is in California,” where he will hold high-dollar fundraisers:

Atherton, CA Finance Luncheon: “Tickets for a Host Committee reception with a photo opportunity are $25,000 per couple (contribute or raise) and tickets for the luncheon are $2,300 per person,” according to McCain’s website.

Stockton, CA Finance Reception: McCain will be attending a “cocktail reception” and fundraiser for his campaign. “Tickets for the general reception are $1,000 per person or $2,300 per person.”

McCain will also hold a media availability and attend a rally in the state. Yesterday, he taped an interview with Ellen Degeneres, which will air today. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), also on the committee, will attend the hearing.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/22/mccain-to-miss-petraeuss-confirmatio...

not bad!

On Wednesday, President Bush “found himself in opposition to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a group that has generally supported him. The group’s national commander, George Lisicki, emerged from a meeting with the president expressing strong support” for the 21st Century GI Bill, which Bush has threatened to veto.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/washington/22soldiers.html?_r=1&adxnnl...

Wow, that was revealing.....

Was expecting to get my hopes up on the guy and he drops the nuclear power bomb....GREAT!!!

Where do we put the waste Webb?

Today, the New York Times’s Helene Cooper writes that the “Bush administration’s own policies appear to be at odds” with the President’s recent pronouncement that talking to enemies is “appeasement.” Many State Department officials “concede that the United States does not hew to one policy on engaging its enemies. ‘I’d rather be right than consistent,’ a senior Bush administration official said.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/washington/22assess.html

he seems very wormy off late i dont know why...obama is going to win with or without wes clark that is for sure..Michele i am tired of these military people in power..what is wrong with having a peace activist as VP?

the same...super deal for LA...I used to live in the town next door to Marc. I am glad I don't live there anymore..smog, congestion, traffic, violence..icky poo. I should find a nice house boat on some river...that would be serene...but the rivers here dry up completely in the summer...all the water goes to feeding the cows...

Career FBI agent Bassem Youssef told Congress yesterday that “counter-terrorism agents and managers at FBI headquarters often lack basic knowledge about Middle Eastern culture, language and terrorists’ ideology.” “The FBI counter-terrorism division is ill-equipped to handle the terrorist threat we are facing,” Youssef told the House Judiciary Committee.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fbi22-2008may22,0,3...

dont hold back tell me exactly how you feel!

At a hearing with EPA administrator Stephen Johnson this week, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) went over his allotted time while grilling Johnson. Issa angrily accused Waxman of breaking the rules, but as chairman, Waxman “banged the gavel six times in Issa’s face.” Yesterday, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called Waxman and complained about his “outrageous threats and intimidation.” Waxman, however, is laughing about “Boehner’s suggestion that he was a threatening force.” “Just look at me,” he said. “How can you not quake in my presence?”

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/0111/mlb_g_waxman_300.jpg

doesnt thom hartman have a house boat...where 2 gay ducks come back to every year?

the BEST military people are anti war...clark fits that mold. He ran an incredibly weak pres. campaign...but I could get over my anger at him for all those stupid talking points about hillary...he is not a very verbal guy...but looks pretty for all those diplomatic things a vp has to do(if Obama undoes all the unitary presidency moves that Bush has ramrodded in.

snowing outside it was 95 three days ago...fucking snow and lots of it...wtf

New temporary worker visa procedures to cut bureaucracy
The Department of Labor is rewriting H2B rules to help employers find and hire immigrant workers more quickly and efficiently than current guidelines allow.
By Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 22, 2008
WASHINGTON -- With restaurants and resorts facing summer staff shortages, the Bush administration will announce federal regulations today to streamline the way foreign workers enter the country for seasonal jobs.

The Department of Labor is rewriting rules to help employers find and hire workers for temporary jobs as landscapers, waitresses and crab pickers more quickly and efficiently than current guidelines allow.

In one major change affecting industries such as construction and shipyards, the definition of "temporary" will be drastically expanded -- from the current 10 months to three years.

Adjusting the so-called H2B visa program is part of an ongoing administration effort to reconfigure immigration laws on a piecemeal basis in the absence of a comprehensive overhaul.

Last year, an attempt to remake the nation's immigration laws collapsed in Congress amid conservative anger over proposals to grant legal status to many illegal immigrants currently in the country.

A frustrated President Bush, who had favored the overhaul, responded with a 28-point plan to tighten enforcement at the border and in the workplace -- moves largely meant to placate conservative Republicans. That has led to more aggressive immigration raids and an even greater shortage of workers.

But in an effort to aid businesses, Bush also outlined plans to simplify existing visa programs for foreign farmworkers, highly skilled professionals and the short-term workers from all over the world who enter the country with H2B visas.

There are limits, however, to the administration's ability to change the seasonal visa program, especially in one crucial area: the number of visas available.

Employers consider the 66,000 new visas offered every year to be woefully inadequate, and efforts to expand the H2B visa program have been stymied in Congress. So federal officials hope that by smoothing out the procedures, some of the difficulties businesses are having in filling jobs with foreign workers will be eased.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in an interview with The Times that the changes being announced today would cut down bureaucratic delays.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immigration22-2008m...

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan3_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3

we could be neighbors...but I am terrified of geese. I got chased by a rooster once...major ptsd....hey nando, see you aren't the only one

Probably the best VP choice. He would help inoculate the ticket against the 'weak on security' saw.

I don't know what makes him a sellout. He has been connected to the Clintons for years and he is from Arkansas. I also thinks he is independent from the Clintons and could adapt in no time. He was a soldier and is used to having different commanders.

does it ever snow there?

Submitted by mhappenow on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 10:25am.
...if Obama undo's all the unitary presidency moves that Bush has ramrodded in.
-----
A few of many options:

...if Obama undoes...
...if Obama reverses...
...if Obama overturns...
...if Obama strikes...
...if Obama erases...

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan3_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS3

i liked him before he joined the clintons. he spoke for himself. he turned me off when he was interviewed by Sam he kept blaming iran for whatever was going wrong in iraq. and i heard him on msnbc about 3 times saying the same thing. he was not blaming this adminstration.

what is wrong with non military person being VP? i ask again!

we get a fair amount in the winter...when I first moved here from temperate LA we went to a party and it was -7. I used the windshield washer to try to get rid of the ice.

just 15 miles from here are the best ski areas in the Sierras. They get 20 feet of snow up there..

ours usually melts by the end of the day...but in 92 we had 4 feet on the ground for 6 weeks...I had just moved here and was PISSED...

he should be able to stand his ground..the pretty face is not going to help undo all the crap that has happened the last 8 years

It is a good deal, even in SF. It is almost cheaper than rent. I think repuglicans got a discount or went for free.

oh how cute...with all the snow we get here in NYC

it does not snow in Johannesburg, but does up in the drakensburg mountains. when it does we feel the chill

hahaha thats funny

and he speaks his mind and does not back down..though i did not like him wanting to chop iraq up into sections like it was ours to do

its just way too quite

congratulate, thank, hopeful..sugar and spice and all things nice

June 6-8, Minneapolis-St. Paul
Much more here:
http://www.freepress.net/conference
Registration for NCMR '08 ends May 27:
http://free.convio.net/site/PageNavigator/NCMR08/NCMRRegistration

Lindsey Graham is such a tool. He and his crew think nothing of spending trillions on the Iraq war, but want to shortchange the troops. It would only take 3 1/2 months of Iraq war funding to pay for the GI bill.

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_gibill_0522may22,0,6389367,print...

filling his role for the Clintons. As O'Bama's VP candidate/VP he will be able to take command and charge up the hill. He will also provide cover in campaign that will be focused on Barack's inexperience and questions of security. I know that does not matter much to this crowd but it does resonate in the echo machine.

I think O'Bama will duly undo the system abuses of the Bush coup. I don't think his VP will be another Cheney nor allowed to be. I am not confident that the Clintons will so readily reverse the Bush power grabs and abuses.

does anyone know whats going on with itune radio stations disappearing from the canned list in itunes. i thought i had a workaround by moving them to playlists but i rescanned by music directory to rebuild things and lost a bunch like others were saying a few weeks ago.

specifically kphx is gone.

you picked a bad day to correct me...I am in a shitty mood...undo's undo's undo's....

is that because I misattributed you yesterday by confusing you for chubb's?

from Rumi:

Four Men entered a mosque and each busied himself in salah, humbly prostrating before Allah. Each one said the "Allahu Akhbar" after first having made his intention, and began to pray with humility. Meanwhile the Mu'adhdhin came in and gave the call to salah.

The first man blurted out to the Mu'adhdhin, "Are you calling to the prayer? Is it the right time?" The second spoke on the spur of the moment, "You have wasted your salah by speaking during prayers." The third retorted, "Why did YOU speak? Tell yourself how to behave!" The fourth mumbled, "Praise be to Allah! I wasn't a party to their arguments."

Thus all the four broke their solat and wasted it. The fault-finders went more astray than the one who made the orginal mistake.

Moral of the story: Correct oneself before correcting others!

I will edit it...OK?!

sheep? followers?

it couldnt be me

a VP (candidate) should be a good soldier.

is it coz of the snow?

tell me Michele does the Snow effect Steve's garden? You said he loves planting (or did i read that wrong somewhere?)

Crank?

hummppphhh....bah....grunt....

why zeek? why? i dont get it! why? fuck the echo machine that has been running our lives...maybe its time we defy it!

oh man you are really mad! remind me not to fuck with you today...i have enough of my own shit going on here!

of all this undulation

whats that mean?

susan collins says

must be the fucking corporatists...banning free speech...I noticed it too...plus every time I get on I have to cancel an air america sign in over 20 times before it goes away...and I am not even trying to go to aar which I canceled after all the sam stuff...grrrrrrr

CN8 has fired veteran TV journalist Barry Nolan for publicly protesting the decision by the local Emmy Awards to honor Fox News blowhard Bill O’Reilly.

Nolan tells MediaBiz he was fired Tuesday following a two-week, unpaid suspension.

“I knew going in that there was serious risk that I’d lose my job,” Nolan said yesterday, “but nobody likes it when people tell them to stifle, not even Edith Bunker.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/22/nolan-fired-over-oreilly/

un·du·la·tion (nj-lshn, ndy-, -d-)
n.
1. A regular rising and falling or movement to alternating sides; movement in waves.
2. A wavelike form, outline, or appearance.
3. One of a series of waves or wavelike segments.

perfect!

i wont correct you on that one...ok? ggrrrr back at you

McCAIN: Well, my thoughts are that I think people should be able to enter into legal agreements, and I think that is something that we should encourage, particularly in the case of insurance and other areas, decisions that have to be made. I just believe in the unique status of marriage between man and woman. And I know that we have a respectful disagreement on that issue.

DEGENERES: Yeah, I mean, I think that it is looked at, and some people are saying that blacks and women did not have the right to vote. Women just got the right to vote in 1920, blacks didn’t have the right to vote until 1870, and it just feels like there’s this old way of thinking that we’re not all the same. We are all the same people. All of us. You’re no different than I am. Our love is the same.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/22/mccain-ellen-gay-marriage/

off...? no harm intended...just trying to get out of this bad mood by trouncing...

oh look zeek the marc clip was posted upthread....i did not see it earlier

crank is gonna get you just watch..

Just found this magazine & thought Sammy might be interested - 21st century Southern America...

http://www.gardenandgun.com/

I thought it was joke @ 1st - but I think it's for real.

It worked! I would marry Ellen if I wasn't married to Steve...she is so cute and smart...Rachel is too young for me...but I love her too

RNC Hiring Rove Protege To Dig Oppo Research On Obama
By Greg Sargent - May 22, 2008, 10:50AM

The Republican National Committee is hiring one of the party's toughest oppo-researchers -- former Karl Rove protege Tim Griffin, who was also at the center of the U.S. Attorney scandal -- to dig into Barack Obama's past and unearth info to damage his general election candidacy, a senior Republican operative confirms to me.

Griffin played a lead role in the GOP oppo operation during the 2004 campaign, unearthing info that damaged John Kerry's presidential bid. According to the senior GOP operative, who's familiar with Griffin's past work, he was instrumental in unearthing a videotape of a 1971 interview that Kerry did in which he appeared to confirm that he renounced his medals to protest the Vietnam War.

The video was subsequently used in an ad by the Swift Boat Vets, whose work was renounced by McCain. The McCain campaign -- and the RNC -- declined to comment on Griffin's hiring.

"Griffin is basically going to consult for the Republican National Committee on working out Obama's vulnerabilities," the senior Republican said, somewhat euphemistically. "The hope is to do to Obama what folks successfully did with John Kerry."

Griffin tends to describe his own work in fairly bellicose terms. "We think of ourselves as the creators of ammunition in a war," Griffin once said. "We make the bullets."

Regular TPM readers will know Griffin from another prominent role, one that's central to the U.S. Attorney scandal. After his 2004 oppo service, Griffin went to work at the White House as an aide to Karl Rove. In December 2006 he was quietly installed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas in what later was revealed to be part of the Attorney Purge. Griffin later withdrew his nomination.

Robert Novak had a one-line mention of Griffin buried in his column today, but only reported that his hiring was imminent, with no sourcing.

More on this soon.

is a putz plain and simple...he will be in jail soon too....for vote caging

This is like the bird whose shadow is there but cannot be seen because it is cloudy outside. It just awaits the coming together of conditions, the conditions that allow it to become manifest, such as sunlight. The causal factors are always present for the imbalances of the diseases. They only await the conditions to make them manifest, when those conditions manifest, then suddenly one has one or another type of imbalance or illness.

This simile of the birds helps us to illustrate this, but it only goes so far, because the bird, so long as he is flying under the sun, there will always have a shadow. However there is a way that we can become separated from basic causes of illness, when we become free of their ultimate underlying cause; innate ignorance.

Once we’ve done that, we lack the cause of illness or any type of imbalance. No matter what conditions arise, we will not be subjected to illness. As long as the bird is there, you have a shadow. If you remove the bird, you’ll have no shadow. With the removal of ‘innate ignorance’, there can be no cause allowing illnesses to arise.

What we have here, is a progression from the ultimate root cause (innate ignorance) to the generation of the unwholesome mental factors of greed, hatred, and delusion and from that to the imbalances of the winds, bile, and phlegm. In this way we can understand how the processes proceed according to the combinations of the underlying mental factors. We’ve talked, here, about the specific way in which diseases arise. That is to say the ultimate source of illness is ‘innate ignorance’ and the unwholesome mental factors that arise from that disturb the constituent elements of the body, leading to disease processes.
lots more here: http://www.khandro.net/animal_birds.htm

Detainee Reveals Potential Torture ‘Loophole’: ‘Water Treatment’ Is Different Than ‘Waterboarding’»

In February, CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed that his agency used waterboarding on three al Qaeda suspects. But revelations from a former detainee in a hearing yesterday raise questions as to whether the administration has been playing word games with its definition of “waterboarding.”

Murat Kurnaz, “freed from Guantanamo in 2006 after a personal plea from German Chancellor Angela Merkel,” detailed the gross abuses he underwent in U.S. custody yesterday. Kurnaz said he was subjected to “water treatment” which involved a “strong punch” that forced him to inhale water. Asked if this was waterboarding, Kurnaz said “water treatment” is different:

ROHRABACHER: You suggest that you were waterboarded in your captivity. Is that correct?

KURNAZ: No, it’s not waterboarding. It’s called “water treatment.” There was a bucket of water.

ROHRABACHER: Was a cloth put over your face and you were put on a board?

KURNAZ: There was a bucket of water. And they stick my head in it and at the same time, punch me into my stomach.

Rohrabacher responded: “The CIA is claiming that only three people have been waterboarded. And this may be a loophole that they’re suggesting that’s not ‘waterboarding.’” Watch it: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/21/water-treatment/

how you feeling sweety...i have not left you

WASHINGTON — U.S. home prices posted their sharpest first-quarter decline since the government began tracking the data 17 years ago.

The Washington-based Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said Thursday that home prices fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter compared with last year. The index also fell 1.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, the largest quarterly price drop on record.

"The large overhang of real estate inventory awaiting sale continues to force price declines in many areas, but particularly in places that had seen very sharp appreciation," Patrick Lawler, the agency's chief economist, said in a prepared statement.

Prices fell in 43 states, with California and Nevada showing the biggest declines. Home prices dropped by more than 8 percent in those states.

The government index is calculated by tracking mortgage loans of $417,000 or less that are bought or backed by the government-sponsored mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Legislation enacted in February temporarily raised the limit to as much as $729,750 in high-cost areas.

The government index focuses on less expensive properties and includes fewer houses bought with risky home loans that have gone sour over the past year.

Another reading that includes such properties and focuses on major U.S. cities, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller has shown larger declines.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/22/government-home-price-ind_n_103...

I am all tucked in bed...finished my hot soy latte and getting ready for a phone client from CA. I can stay in bed for that one...contemplating whether I should swim today...feeling better now

thanks....

didnt you mention snow there today?

swam there all winter...

http://cvswim.com/

ok went back and fixed it ok!

oh ok what would i know about these things...i used swim in the wild

did you know we used get water in huge buckets from a spring..and carry the buckets on our heads with out ever holding them....thats what i call balance baby

mhappenow,

The corrections are almost always a comedy vehicle. If correcting all of the language arts mistakes on this blog were my goal, I'd be busier than Lucille at a free lunch buffet.

In the most recent case, my motivation was to write the wordplay Paying Your Undo's. Thanks for the setup.

The reason that Sunny J created rule #2 is because he knows that I am always on the lookout for something, anything, to give me a joke jumping-off point.

It is a lot more difficult to crack wise out of thin air than it is to opportunistically crack wise using something innocently written (or said) during a discussion.

My intent is not to be mean. For instance, the Rajah and I (and everyone else) have a running joke about his typos. The more I pick on him, the more he typos. At this point I am unable to ascertain when he has typoed accidentally from when he is doing it intentionally.

rain

snow

swim

springs

rivers

so I hope you know I am funnin' with you too..

how did my food get into this conversation?

on the span now

what happened to the hearing?

...Senator Webb had control of that interview. He didn't answer the first two questions and positioned himself for Obama's Veep with the third. Masterful manipulation.

My family ancestry and extended family members are as diverse as they come.

My paternal grandmother's ancestry comes from Scotland and Ireland and landed on these shores in the early 1600s starting in Maryland, moved into Pennsylvania and West Virginia. My paternal grandfather's ancestry came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s. My maternal grandmother's ancestry came from Poland in the mid-1800s and farmed in Missouri. My maternal grandfather came from Russia in the early 1900s. My sister married a Mexican-American. His mother returned to Mexico and left him with the family she worked for. My niece is the child of my brother and a woman of Native American and Japanese ancestry. And I was married to a man whose family, both maternally and paternally, are the longest standing African-American family in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Since my thing is research, and geneaology being a hobby, everyone worked and works hard to live. Very few family members, if any, had or have great wealth.

In America, we need to resist the measures that are put in place by a few "greedy bastards" to divide us. We need to understand that by short-changing one ethnic group and bestowing selected benefits upon others are meant to work up resentment to keep us occupied and pitted against one another, while they lie, cheat and steal. These people who stir up our nationalism and want us all to wear a "flag lapel pin" have no allegiance to anyone nor to anything but power and money. We all are expendable to them.

Unfortunately and sadly, as I have detailed many times on this blog, I have immediate relatives who are Republicans, conservative and have used derogatory slurs and remarks against those of African, Irish and Mexican descent despite our own relations. Maybe its self-hatred, selfishness, fear, etc., I don't know, and they're not likely gonna change. But I do like to challenge and inform them when I have to be in the same room with them. This explains why my invitations are few.

I have hope for the children. Through my genealogy hobby which is reinforced by their social studies classes in school (they have been able to present extensive family charts), the younger family members know that we are not only Americans but "we are the world." Hopefully, this will encourage them to seek out and facilitate peace and justice and to use whatever acquired power and money for that purpose. I, if not their parents, have planted those seeds and try to nurture them with attention, respect, discussion and action whenever I have the opportunity. Speaking and standing up is essential.

Full Monty Python

god, this is a tough crowd.

"I'll be here the whole week. Tip your waitress. Try the veal. YOu've been a great audience goodnight everybody...."

princess hillary is questioning now

Submitted by mhappenow on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 11:58am.
so I hope you know I am funnin' with you too..
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Sure, I know. Go for it. The more you write, the greater the chance that you will set up another joke.

i found that real interesting where webb was describing the ancestry of the applachains and the need to understand it.

free food

where are my quarters man? let me see if i can afford lunch today

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2sSVWxBmjl8

Submitted by dan on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 12:04pm.
god, this is a tough crowd.
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No shit. They assume that we have short memories.

did i mention you should try the veal :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wdoGVgj1MtY

they've got some asshole on there saying the only reason jobs are getting shipped overseas is because of unions.

sometimes it gets real tiring with hartmann having wingers on.

please hold back on your ministry

hahaha

5 quarters---wow i can count yay!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_poFnAnh-7w&eurl=http://www.talkingpoints...

the ultimate source of illness is ‘innate ignorance’ and the unwholesome mental factors that arise from that disturb the constituent elements of the body, leading to disease processes.

The essence of the behavioral sink. Hell of a busy day here. Sorry for the delay responding...

Y'know Thom will have torn that guy a new one by the time you've read this.

And as far as 'asking Hillary first'; I dunno if I'm dead set against it.
But I'm not sure she needs to be first, either.
Among the first, why not?

The V.P. as always been about bringing around the people who didn't vote for the Presidential candidate the first time.

In Oregon we had a 72% turnout rate for Democrats. If we can get those kind of increases in turnout all over the U.S., this thing is soo over.

So went out to see Maron the other night and what a show it was. Got a chance to chat with him as he stood outside the club puffing on that ubiquitous stogie. As we all know, Marc is a ferociously intelligent and insightful guy but I was truly struck by his intense anger vibe. Sure, we've all seen him flip out on the VOD but wait until you meet him in person! This is a deeply wounded and profoundly angry man, rage literally radiates from him, even when he's being nice in an intimate setting. He almost immediately admitted to me the fact that unlike Sam, he was a "broken man". Perhaps this all was compounded by some pre-show nerves and the fact that he was rather pissed at having to compete with Flight of the Conchords who were playing across town the same night. Apparently my enthusiastic presence wasn't enough to mollify him. I began thinking to myself, "Wow, I admire this guy as a comedian and cultural critic but could I really hang out with him in real life?"

He certainly is a masterful comedian, he set was a lot longer than I thought it would be and he's amazing at intuiting the energy of the crowd. His set was almost musical in terms of its pacing and rhythm. About 3/4 of the way through he really started to relax and that's when his material was funniest and most poignant. However, woe be it unto him or her who attempts to heckle Marc. He totally savaged this one girl who piped up, more so than I thought was necessary, but hey, the man was trying to work up there on that stage. Also, I have a sneaking suspicion that relationships with women might somehow factor into his anger although this is just a theory.;)

Yeah, getting out of LA would probably do him a world of good but I imagine being in showbiz would make this a difficult prospect. I know more than a few people who've had to make an unsavory deal with that particular geographical devil. Well, get out and catch him if you can, Eugene Mirmam is hilarious too!

Buzz up!

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*
*

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — A wind-whipped wildfire threatened several homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Thursday, forcing some evacuations.

The blaze, first reported around 5:30 a.m., had grown to about 1,000 acres by midmorning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The flames sent a thick cloud of smoke into the air that could be seen miles away.

The fire is in the mountain range that separates Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties south of San Jose, and the rural area is dotted with homes.

At least 20 homes were threatened by the blaze, said Chris Morgan, a state fire prevention specialist.

"Our main priority is evacuations, getting people out safely," Morgan said. "Then we can start working the perimeter of the fire."

Firefighters were grappling with winds gusting up to 40 mph and heavy brush and timber, officials said.

In Florida, a wildfire forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in the Deerhaven area north of Orlando. The blaze started Wednesday and has scorched more than 1,000 acres. It was 20 percent contained Thursday. The cause is not yet known.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/22/california-wilfire-threat_n_103...

Millions of Images, mp3

___________

is that he is so self aware...he like so many recovering addicts have to get to know themselves if they expect to recover...so he openly claims his woundedness and is at heart so very sweet...he works the program and tries to do something good every day...

but low(help me here crank) the woman who ever falls for him...

Media: What's up with the hat?

According to a spokesperson, the vice president had a perfectly legitimate reason for wearing a cowboy hat at the graduation ceremony.

Connecticut reporter Ted Mann asked a "very considerate spokeswoman" for Cheney, "What's up with that hat?"

"It’s to protect his head from the sun," Megan Mitchell, the spokeswoman explained.

Mann writes, "Well. There goes our still-developing theory about the airfoil properties of ten-gallon hat brims. Shoot."

One media outlet noted that the "weather led to something of a fashion statement by Cheney, who looked every bit the man from Wyoming."

However one blogger from the left had a different take.

"Judging from the content of his speech, the hat was not only a Texas-style head accessory, but also a vestiary middle finger to the world," Chris in D.C. writes at Inside-Out the Beltway. "It put an exclamation point on the now-clear fact that Bush and Cheney intend to swagger past their final days in office with every bit as much empty-headed bluster as the first time they recklessly aimed their silver-plated six-shooters at the country and the global community."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Sporting_10gallon_hat_Cheney_tells_Coast_0...

eya A.!

William S Burroughs clip a good omen today.

truth worms it's way out from the underground...

..."You have a daughter in law school?" and some other "remarks".

Actually she's been practicing law 3 years now. So, later today when a total stranger stuffs an envelope into your hand, no hard feelings pal!

;-)

___
bluerootsradio

apply here for the bloggie bad sprelling permit.

only $5.

cash...