Spare the divining rod Spoil the perv

Maybe the Rethugs can't and won't be a divining rod for what's moral or decent but us liberals are, and will be, for you. There aren't many things the Republicans do that are even close to being moral and decent. Mark Foley is their latest poster manchild for what is terribly wrong with their entire Republican Party of bacchanalian hubris, gluttony, and total corruption.

This is how we spell hypocrisy:

From a 1999 interview with Mark Foley -

Congressman Mark Foley, Hollywood's New Point Man on Capitol Hill, Is Full of Surprises by Alicia Mundy September 21, 1999

You're supposed to be a key conservative member in Congress. So, how do you explain your leadership role in blocking Henry Hyde's so-called "culture amendment" in June?

"We should not be the ones to tell the public what they should let their children see. We can't be the divining rod for what's moral or what's decent."

Why don't we see you out there holding press conferences with other conservatives like John McCain, William Bennett (author of The Book of Virtues) and Joe Lieberman (a liberal Democrat who complained a few years ago that the dialogue on Cybill was too dirty for family viewing)?

"I admire William Bennett and Joe Lieberman and definitely John McCain. But they're trying to blame society's ills on one aspect only--entertainment. As for their impact--hey, I don't think anyone sees a politician as being a moral leader."

Foley got that last part correct, no we do not see you as being moral leaders, quite the contrary. Then we have Foley's testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee:

THE HONORABLE MARK FOLEY TESTIMONY BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM AND HOMELAND SECURITY HEARING ON H.R. 2423,

THE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION AND NOTIFICATION ACT JUNE 9, 2005

.. The numbers are shocking. There are currently over 500,000 registered sex offenders in the United States – with 24,000 of them living in North Carolina and Virginia alone. Of that, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, we are missing between 100,000 to 150,000 of these predators.

.. The legislation, which has been introduced in the Senate by senators Hatch and Biden, builds on the assumption that everyone – the federal government, the states and the average citizen -- has a role to play in keeping track of sex offenders.

.. Sex offenders are not petty criminals. They prey on our children like animals and will continue to do it unless stopped. We need to change the way we track these pedophiles.

.. Mr. Chairman, it has often been noted that a society can be judged on how it best treats it children. We have a moral responsibility to do everything in our power to protect our kids from these animals. This bill will turn the tables and make prey out of these predators. Failing to act on this measure is just playing Russian roulette with our children’s lives. (emphasis mine)

That's right, we're looking forward to seeing Mark Foley have to register as soon as possible with his own sexual predators and sexual offenders bill he was the head of. A new report has come out in the LA Times this morning with the type of story we've all been expecting that it was much more than emails and IM's, they have first hand account details of actual sex with an ex-page:

Ex-Page Tells of Foley Liaison

The young man says the then-congressman eyed males in the program. He says he was 21 when he and the Florida Republican had sex.
By Walter F. Roche Jr., Times Staff WriterOctober 8, 2006

A former House page says he had sex with then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) after receiving explicit e-mails in which the congressman described assessing the sexual orientation and physical attributes of underage pages but waiting until later to make direct advances.

The former page, who agreed to discuss his relationship with Foley with the Los Angeles Times on the condition that he not be identified, said his electronic correspondence with Foley began after he finished the respected Capitol Hill page program for high school juniors. His sexual encounter was in the fall of 2000, he said. At the time, he was 21 and a graduate of a rural Northeastern college.

.. The FBI has begun contacting former pages, and at least one — a deputy campaign manager for Rep. Ernest Istook, an Oklahoma Republican who is running for governor there — has hired a criminal defense lawyer, according to a published report. Istook issued a statement last week urging the media to protect the young man's privacy after his name was briefly posted on the ABC News website.

.. After leaving the program, the former page began receiving messages from Foley. He is uncertain how Foley knew his college instant-message name, but assumed the congressman had access to a directory listing former pages' whereabouts.

.. The exchanges quickly became provocative. In one 2000 message, Maf54 inquired about the length and direction of the youth's erection.

.. The former page, who served during Foley's first term, said that he believed Foley became bolder in his behavior during his decade in Congress.

"He clearly has used his position, but who hasn't?" the former page said. He still follows protocol in referring to the former congressman as "Mr. Foley."

So let me get this straight, Congressman Foley used his congressional position to find this page's personal contact details, targeted him, groomed him, and then used him to have sexual positions with and continue his long term, well known, pattern. The same pattern the highest levels of Republicans have known about and covered up for years. Just like the rest of their numerous crimes they cover up. Clearly this ex page must be a Young Republican to think be brainwashed that everyone does and should use their positions of power to get everything and anything they want, but I'm here to tell this young man even though he was of age by the time the tryst went down that our representives in Congress are there to work for us and govern the land properly, make good laws that follow the Constitution, use good judgement, practice oversight - and insure checks and balances- not to party, use people, or fuck over Americans and children.

This is not a gay issue, it's a sex crimes and sexual predator issue from the very people who are supposed to know and act better. It is a chronic Republican crimes and coverup issue. Had enough? Vote Democratic for humane morals, decency, safety, protection, and oversight.

Last fun night the Rethugs or Foley will ever have again

Mark Foley, Amo Houghton, Bill Thomas


Amo Houghton, Dennis Hastert, (James R. Houghton?)


Fred Grandy, Bob Michel, Amo Houghton, Dennis Hastert

Let's back up that Foley timeline once again, just a tad, to what was happening when life was still fun for the Rethugs before Page Rage set in, the Heave Eve if you will of cocktails, weenies, and trophies. In slow mo reverse it goes something like this:

• Sept. 30: Hastert writes letters several months years too late asking for an investigation of Foley's conduct.
• Sept. 29: ABC publishes explicit Instant Messages. Foley resigns his seat in the House along with his co-Chair seat as head of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus.
• Sept. 28: ABC News alerts the whole freakin' world of inappropriate Foley emails.
• Sept 27, 2006: The Eve of destruction. Republican Main Street Partnership holds their Annual John Chafee Dinner Republican Par-Tay.

Mark Foley is was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership [wiki] until very recently, right up until at least Sept 27th or 29th - give or take a desperate hour - (the original member list is cached in Google retrieved on Sep 25, 2006 08:19:16 GMT). He did attend the big dinner the night before all hell broke loose:

PRESS RELEASE

September 28, 2006

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) Headlines Main Street’s Annual Chafee Dinner (Washington, D.C.) – Wednesday night, the Republican Main Street Partnership hosted its annual Chafee Dinner – named for former Rhode Island Senator John Chafee (R).

Representative Mark Foley (R-FL) was master of ceremonies for this year’s dinner, which was headlined by Chafee Award winner –Senator John McCain (R-AZ).

Annual Dinner- Senator John McCain(AZ), on the right, accepts RMSP Chafee award from Rep.Tom Davis (center), the RMSP Board President, and Rep. Mark Kirk (left) at our annual dinner, held Sept. 27, 2006.

The Master of Ceremonies is quite the attendance. Odd isn't it that a main URL about an 'annual dinner' has been disappeared, but a different one showing Foley's pic up top is cached, and his image is still in their main directory. I guess they forgot to remove it when they yanked it off the web page and his name off the current membership list.

Hastert himself, who claims he doesn't really know Foley, was a recipient of this RMSP award for the 2001 season, (Tom Ridge in 2002, Andy Card in 2003, Bill Frist 2004, Specter in 2005, are some more past honorees) the yearly awards are listed on the very web page Foley's pic was on originally. They've done a whole lotta scrubbing and shuffling things around on the site in the last week it seems, their site search function turns up lots of dead links.

The top three images above all seem to have been taken on the same night if you look at the striped 'yellow tie' Amo Houghton is wearing which would put ole Denny Hastert and Mark Foley smack together on that evening. It's hard to tell if the three pics were taken in 2005 for last year's dinner or if they are from this year, their site mislabeled or was unclear about a few things here and there that didn't match up or make sense at first, and most pics are simply labeled "recent dinner". The fresh McCain pic is a screenshot from the home page. Did Hastert attend the dinner last week where Foley was the master of ceremonies and John McCain was the headliner? Have they even arrested Hastert for the hugely corrupt Page Scandal Coverup yet? What do you think would happen to you if you sent lurid emails to young teens?

The man on the far right in image 2 is cited as being Bob Michel in a pic (see image 2 and 3 above) in their photo gallery , both men couldn't be the same Bob. I stumbled upon a pic of James Houghton (of Corning and Exxon) looking for Bob confirmation. Amory-father, Amo-brother, James looks like father Amory (founder of RMSP), all are related to Katherine Houghton Hepburn.

Hope all those drinks, food, and jovial hugs were real good there guys no matter how long you have been partying together, I think Sept 27th will be the last fun night any of you will have in quite awhile, not so much to laugh about these days is there? The Iraqis, us, and the world certainly aren't smiling either, nor do we believe a word that comes out of your mouths.

Had Enough? Vote for someone who really cares about our kids and ALL kids. Vote Democratic.

UPDATE: Over at Left-Over blog I see that seenos found the same pic of Foley on Oct 3 from the RMSP site, whereas I found it in a Google search and became curious over the dead links.

I also found a couple blurbs about a USA Today story from Oct 3 that briefly mentions Foley emceeing the dinner:

Foley's announcement Monday surprised Sarah Chamberlain, executive director of the Republican Main Street Partnership. Foley emceed the group's annual dinner Wednesday.

At the dinners, he was always working, so usually he didn't have anything to drink," she says.

Checked his bad self into drunk rehab huh? Do they have a Drunk-On-Power-And-Hubris Rehab Adult Day Care Center for the damn near entire Republican Party yet?

Annular Solar Eclipse Sept 22 & New Moon in Virgo

New Moon in Virgo
Friday, September 22, 2006
7:45am EDT
29º 20'

Annular Solar Eclipse
7:51am EDT
29º 23'


I grabbed a couple of screen shots above from the klipsi eclipse webcam this morning before they went to a four screen live simulation of the partial eclipse. I've searched for an actual live streaming webcast like I watched last spring on March 29th from Turkey of a spectacular total solar eclipse, but to no avail. The link I found at the NASA site for the University of North Dakota webcast did not work. Here you can read more about the New Moon in Virgo.



From the NASA Eclipse Home Page for today's eclipse:

On Friday, 2006 September 22, an annular eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor which traverses half the Earth. The path of the Moon's antumbral shadow begins in northern South America and crosses the South Atlantic with no further landfall. A partial eclipse will be seen from a much larger region including South America, the eastern Caribbean, western Africa, and Antarctica.

The path of the annular eclipse begins in Guyana at 09:48 UT when the Moon's antumbral shadow meets Earth and forms a 323 kilometre wide corridor. Guyana's capitol city Georgetown lies just a few kilometres outside the path's northern limit. Here, a magnitude 0.920 partial eclipse will be seen at sunrise. On the central line 160 kilometres south, the duration of annularity is 5 minutes 31 seconds.

Rushing east, the antumbra quickly enters Surinam where its capital city Paramaribo lies deep within the antumbral path. Maximum eclipse in Paramaribo occurs at 09:51 UT, the Sun's altitude is 5° and the duration of annularity is 5 minutes 1 seconds. Continuing into French Guiana, the capitol city Cayenne stands just 10 kilometres south of the central line. Maximum eclipse occurs at 09:53 UT as the Sun stands 8° above the eastern horizon during an annular phase lasting 5 minutes 42 seconds.

The southern edge of the antumbra briefly clips the north coast of Brazil before spending the next three and a half hours sweeping across the South Atlantic. Greatest eclipse occurs at 11:40:11 UT. The annular duration is 7 minutes 9 seconds, the path width is 261 kilometres and the Sun is 66° above the featureless horizon of the open ocean. The central track runs south of the African continent and nearly reaches Kerguelen Island before ending at local sunset (13:31 UT). During its 3 hour 40 minute flight across our planet, the Moon's antumbra travels about 13,800 kilometres and covers 0.83% of Earth's surface area.

Annular eclipse path image from live.saros.org

Mickey Mouse says Bill Clinton is Satan!

Over at Kos a diary went up with 6 leaked clips from Disney/ABC's "Path to Propaganda 9/11" fantasy movie, from a fundie site called Traditional Values that we weren't allowed to peek at like they were. The Traditional Values folk seem to like to celebrate death and destruction. They are proud of Mickey Mouse slandering and lying about an ex President boys and girls. Here's three screen shots I took from clip #6:


Taking target practice at a movie playing of Clinton. Mickey Mouse loves this shot.


Celebrating how much Mickey Mouse will love this gun raising up that's supposed to be pointed at the ground like my dad the master sharp shooter taught me at the Navy shooting range on gun saftey when I was growing up.


Here Mickey Mouse screams to the world: CLINTON IS SATAN!

I could have taken at least a dozen screen shots of that last shot across the bow as there were so many frames available. Now Mickey, where are the frames calling Bush the AntiChrist?

Trailer for 9-11: Press For Truth

Jennifer Nix over at Firedoglake has this to say:

With the help of MediaChannel, we can also offer an alternative to ABC’s Path to Shame on Sunday and Monday nights. Director David Olson tells me they will offer up, for free viewing, the entire film "9/11 Press for Truth," which was just released this week. Without $40 million in corporate backing, this film needs the support of the netroots to help provide a balance to ABC’s airbrushing of history. The filmmakers deserve our support, as they’ve done the hard work of bringing to the screen the voices of the 9/11 families, and synthesized more than 7000 media reports with the help of Paul Thompson, author of The Complete 9/11 Timeline. Let’s do all we can to get the netroots driving traffic to MediaChannel this weekend to watch this movie.

On Monday, in Washington, DC, the "9/11 Press for Truth" filmmakers and the 9/11 families will hold a press conference at the National Press Club, too, launching a campaign calling for a new investigation. Tell the media to go! From the film’s producers:

Polls now show that a majority of Americans support a new investigation. “Once again,” says producer Kyle Hence, “the 9/11 families will play a crucial role in galvanizing the public’s will to confront a combative administration, a pliant Congress and an apathetic media corps that has studiously avoided dealing with countervailing facts, inconvenient evidence and excessive secrecy. The message these families bring must be heard, loud and clear. They deserve answers.”

A lobbying campaign calling for a new investigation will be launched on September 5th, the day of DVD release, and continue into the week of September 11th, during which every member of Congress will receive a copy of the documentary.

In the comments Millineryman says:

Good Morning America does a Top 5 of You Tube views on Wednesday morning, let’s get the 9-11 Press for Truth trailer up there followed by 4 anti disney videos. See how they handle that.

Please watch the YouTube trailer of Press For Truth as many times as possible and see if we can get it into the top five. Click on my title or anywhere on the YouTube to go get the code to embed it in your blogs. Email it (click on the Share button on the video) to all your friends and family.

June 2006 Lunation Charts for Washington, DC

Here's the June 2006 Lunation charts for Washington, DC. Please click on the image above for a close up view. You may right click to save and download.

• The Full 'Honey' Moon is June 11th
• The New Moon is June 25th

The graphic below is the general Void of Course Moon periods for June EDT. Click on the image for a close up view. If you are in the time zones to the west subtract hours accordingly from eastern time, the aspects remain the same. I'll be posting these at the beginning of each month.

Hello

Net Neutrality - Save The Internet

Please join the Fight for Internet Freedom at: Save The Internet

Join Save The Internet.com Bloggers :

"A corps of bloggers are mobilizing to win the campaign for Internet freedom. Sign up here to join with other bloggers, be kept in the loop and take action"

Sign Petitions and take more Civic Action at: Move On.org

Pachacutec has updates on more breaking news and civic action steps at FDL.

UPDATE: Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) has introduced The Network Neutrality Act of 2006. You can read his full speech at his website HERE.

Download the The Markey Network Neutrality Act of 2006 (63.46 KB)

Stephen Colbert - The Sharpest Knife in the Drawer

graphic by darkblack

Humor Has It... that Stephen Colbert skinned 'em alive without leaving a hair on them at the WH Correspondants' Association Dinner, all 33% of the Bush "backwash". The rest of us licked our lips. It was delicious. Chef Colbert out did himself dishing it out with flair, liberally grinding the pepper mill in all the right places to perfection.

Go over to the new blog Thank You Stephen Colbert and add your name to the thousands and thousands of satisfied customers.

A good Re-Improved Colbert transcript can be found in a diary at Kos.

A clip of Colbert's routine can be seen at Crook and Liars.

UPDATE 5/4/06: I had to remove the clips from YouTube, according to their site they were taken down for copyright infringement from using the C-Span.org clip. Thankfully another taped clip of Colbert’s full speech at the WH Correspondents’ Dinner found HERE (total time 24:27).

May Lunation Charts for Washington, DC

Here's the May Lunations charts for Washington, DC. Click on the image above for a close up view. You may right click to save and download.

• The Full Flower Moon is May 13th
• The New Moon is May 27th.

The graphic below is the general Void of Course Moon periods for EDT. Click on the image for a close up view. If you are in the time zones to the west subtract hours accordingly from eastern time, the aspects remain the same. I'll be posting these at the beginning of each month.

Whitehouse Shakeup

Tony Snow of Faux News may be replacing Scotty McClellan in the latest shakeup at the Whitehouse. Christy over at Firedoglake has more. Be sure not to miss Connecticut Bob's take on it here.

Graphic made at Squiglys Playhouse.

Media Matters puts ad on WaPoo

Al-Gebra weapons of math instruction

This too good to let pass by. I saw a comment about the fearsome Al-Gebra and this report seems to be the earliest I can find doing a google search. As for the aftermath, well it all adds up...

At New York's Kennedy Airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, and a calculator. Attorney General John Ashcroft believes the man is a member of the notorious al-gebra movement. He is being charged with carrying weapons of math instruction.

Al-gebra is a very fearsome cult, indeed. They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on a tangent in a search of absolute value. They consist of quite shadowy figures, with names like "x" and "y", and, although they are frequently referred to as "unknowns", we know they really belong to a common denominator and are part of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the great Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, there are 3 sides to every angle, and if God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes.

Therefore, I'm extremely grateful that our government has given us a sine that it is intent on protracting us from these math-dogs who are so willing to disintegrate us with calculus disregard. These statistic bastards love to inflict plane on every sphere of influence. Under the circumferences, it's time we differentiated their root, made our point, and drew the line.

Remember, these weapons of math instruction have the potential to decimal everything in their math on a scale never before seen unless we become exponents of a Higher Power and begin to factor-in random facts of vertex. As our Great Leader would say, "Read my ellipse." Here is one principle he is uncertainty of---though they continue to multiply, their days are numbered and the hypotenuse will tighten around their necks.

Reserved - not conservative

Reserving this space for a future permanent link project

Swami Beyondananda's 2006 State of the Universe Address

Swami Calls for an Up-Wising

Wise Up, Everybody ...The Evolution Has Begun!
By Swami Beyondananda

For years now, we've been hearing "shift happens," and wondering when, where and how. Now finally, it looks as if the shift is about to hit the fan. This is good news for all those shift fans who've been wondering if the new age will arrive before old age does. Of course, if you're looking for signs in the news, you won't find them. At least, not yet. The news might as well be called the "olds," because the world still seems stuck in greedlock, ruled by fossilized fools fueled by fossil fuels. But I have been receiving encouraging intelligence reports that say indeed, humans are becoming more intelligent. Yes, people everywhere are wising up. And that's great, because we could sure use an up-wising!

The evolution has begun. But before we see changes in the old needy-greedy, we humans must change our consciousness -- and the first step is becoming conscious of how unconscious we've been. As the saying goes, the truth shall upset you free, and last year saw lots of disillusionment. But what better to free us from the far more dangerous condition of illusionment? If we want to stop the abuse of power, the first step is to disabuse ourselves. So, here's some good news: Despite a massive media impropaganda machine that feeds the public "babblum" (strained bullshit made digestible for a simple child's mind), more and more Americans are reading between the lyins' and peering behind the Irony Curtain.

In 2005, Americans had to face the sad realization that the Bush Administration's "pro-life" stance appears to be limited to the unborn and the brain-dead. Despite being panned by critics everywhere, the Iraqi Horror Picture Show continued its run, as thousands and thousands of born fetuses - ours and theirs -- lost their right to life. While we may or may not have saved face by staying there, we have most definitely lost ass. And we've been assured we'll be stuck in that morass until -- well, until there's no more ass to lose. Meanwhile, more and more Americans reached another sad conclusion: We're not in Iraq to keep the peace, we're there to keep the pieces.

The signs of up-wising are everywhere. Even the most unpleasant stories are beginning to break through the soundless barrier and defy the President's "don't ask, don't tell" policy: "You promise not to ask us what we're doing, and we promise not to tell you." Although we've been inundated with "fear-gnomes" and ominously warned we have to protect ourselves in this dogma-eat-dogma world, a majority of Americans are no longer comfortable with the notion that the only way to defeat the "evil-doers" in the world is to out evil-do them. Although our President has assured us that "we don't torture," it is now common knowledge that we simply send detainees to countries that do torture when we want them to "testify under oaf."

As for those progressives who've been whining that the President "never listens" to them, well it turns out he's been listening all along. And thanks to the so-called Patriot Act (which, I understand, is about to be renamed the Eternal Insecurity Act), it looks like he'll be able to listen in even more -- all in the name of making us safe. But now even some Republicans are beginning to see that there's a difference between protection and the "protection racket." And with the recent revelations about Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and other gold collar criminals, some of the more devout conservatives have come to realize that the "family values" they voted for bear an uncanny resemblance to Soprano Family values.

If there was any warm feeling in 2005, chalk it up to climate change. Katrina hit, and in the government's response we saw a future when at last all Americans will be equal -- where everyone regardless of race or creed will be treated like Black folks.

Alarming Policies Have Awakened Millions!

Fortunately this is the State of the Universe Address, and from a universal perspective, things are humming along quite nicely. It turns out that the Earth is the talk of the Universe these days. In fact, the odds-makers at the Intergalactic Enquirer say the odds are actually in our favor: "We're betting on the human race to reach critical mass before they get to critical massacre." And we could beat the odds, if we finally gave up our addiction to getting even and got odd instead. It stands to reason. If each of us used our unique oddness to improve the odds for everyone, there would be no need for getting even.

Yes, the up-wising has begun, and intergalactic observers are saying that we have none other than George W. Bush to thank. How is that, you may ask? Well, I am reminded of a story my guru Harry Cohen Baba used to tell. A well-known minister died and arrived at the Pearly Gates at the same time as a cab-driver from New York. The cabbie was ushered in, but the clergyman was left waiting outside. After waiting and waiting and waiting, he finally called over the attending angel. "Excuse me, but I'm a renowned minister. How come you let that cab-driver in, and I'm left waiting out here?"
"Well," the angel said, "when you preached, everyone slept. But when he drove, everyone prayed."

For millennia, spiritual teachers have been calling on us to go for the highest common denominator, but we've always seemed to end up with the lowest common dominator instead. And now, George W. Bush has done what preachers, teachers and other far-sighted visionaries have failed to do up until now: His policies have been so alarming, that he has awakened a slumbering body politic that slept through all previous alarms. Where others have failed, he has people all across the world praying, "God help us!" And instead of waiting for an intervention from above -- after all, we cannot expect to be fed intervenously forever -- people are beginning to help themselves, and even more importantly, help each other.

Sure, there are still plenty of Not-Sees out there who insist on not seeing that we humans are all in the same boat. The good news is, more and more Americans are getting that sinking feeling that there's only one Earthship, and ignoring a leak because it's "on the other side of the boat," is a mistake of titanic proportions.

We Are the Leaders We've Been Waiting For

America, the world's only super-power, doesn't need a revolution. We've already had one, thank you. What is needed now -- and what has already begun -- is the American Evolution where enough of us wake up and see that those two political parties have been partying on our dime, and we the people haven't been invited. Time to go beyond choosing the lesser of two weasels. If we want to evolve the dream of our Founding Fathers -- instead of devolve into the nightmare of Big Brother -- we must become the leaders we've been waiting for. I've said it before. The only force more powerful than a super-power is a Super-Duper Power -- the power of the people plus the power of love. And anyone who doesn't believe we are a Super-Duper Power, well they have been super-duped!

It's true, many people still feel that the affairs of the world should be left to the bolder and badder among us. But look what that leaves us with: Are you satisfied choosing between Saddam Hussein and George Who's-Not-Sane? Now I know those "God, guns and guts" Old Testament Christians might have forgotten, but Jesus did say that the meek shall inherit the earth. In all undue immodesty, maybe it's time for us meek folks to boldly step forth and accept our inheritance.

For just as 2000 years ago Jesus stood up to a class that placed the rule of gold above the Golden Rule, today we face the modern version of the Pharisees -- the Phallusees, I think they are called. They cynically cloak themselves in religious robes, but the only power they trust is the power of the stick. Well, there's another old saying: It doesn't matter how big your stick is, if you stick your stick where it doesn't belong, you're stuck.

Another sign of the up-wising and coming evolution is that people are growing dissatisfied with the positionality of "my side vs. your side," and are seeing the whole issue of sides from a new angle: Maybe we're all on the same side. For example, this argument between creationism and evolution is just another way for dueling dualities to steal our energy. I believe in both. I believe the Creator created us to evolve, otherwise Jesus would have said, "Now don't do a thing till I return." I have it on good authority that the Creator is pulling for us: "Come on, you children of God. Time to grow up and become adults of God instead."

Time to Overgrow the System From the Grassroots Up

The time for revolution and overthrowing has past. Now we need an evolution where we "overgrow" the current dysfunctional system from the grassroots up. You are probably familiar with the story of the Native American grandfather who tells his grandson that there are two wolves fighting inside all of us: The wolf of fear and anger, and the wolf of love and peace.
"Which wolf will win?" asks the young boy.
"Whichever one we feed," replies the grandfather.

And so when people ask me to predict what will happen, I tell them the only thing I can predict with certainty is the uncertainty of any prediction. The future's just too unpredictable these days. This is a Universe of infinite possibilities, so it all depends on which futures we invest in.

There is something far more empowerful than predictions, and that is Tell-A-Vision. If you're fed up with the current programming, my advice is turn off your TV and tell a vision instead. That way, we will have healing and functional visions to step into -- and that beats what we've been stepping into. So I will tell my vision for 2006: This is the year of the American Evolution, where all those who prefer the Golden Rule to the rule of gold get past left and right, and come front and center.

I see Americans of all political stripes, plaids and polka dots (not to mention solids), choosing to face the music and dance together. Sure, we'll have to learn some new steps, but it's time for a new dance - A-Bun-Dance. That is where we get up off our assets, move our buns, and dance together in rhythm and flow. And what better way to turn the funk into function, and leave the junk at the junction?

I see us in a new reality show -- Extreme Planetary Makeover -- where everyone can play and everyone can win. Just think. Something more compelling than reality TV ... it's called reality!

I know, I know. Only a crazy person would dare to propose anything that sane. But maybe it's time to declare the current institutionalized insanity illegally insane, and set about building a sane asylum big enough for all six and a half billion of us. As my guru Harry Cohen Baba has said, "Life is like a good deli. Even if something isn't on the menu, if enough people order it they have to make it." So what kind of new world order are we ordering up? Do we feed the wolf of fear and buy into the "it's every man for himself" story? Or do we nourish the wolf of love and evolve into the "we're all in it together" story?

If we're going to be a Super-Duper Power, we have to be super-duper powerful in activating the power of love, and cultivating the power of joy. So laugh more. Why not? We all know there's something funny going on. The wall of lies cannot withstand the vibration of laughter. All seriousness aside, only a farce field that combines truth and laughter can bring down the Irony Curtain once and for all.

Release the old story -- been there, done that -- and speak the new story into the world. Dare to imagine what we could be doing if we weren't spending so much of our livelihood on weapons of deadlihood. Think about it ... think tanks where they think about something other than tanks. Young people living for their country instead of dying for it. Health and education fully funded, and the Air Force having to run a bake sale so they can buy a new bomber.

Can we change the course of history? Can we shift our karma into surpassing gear? I cannot say for sure, but if we choose to give up that old Dodge and trade it in for an Evolvo, that's a good first step. So ... let the Evolution begin. We don't have to wait until the first Big Shot is fired. If we create a powerful enough field, the Big Shots will end up firing themselves.

May the FARCE -- as always -- be with us.

© Copyright 2006 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved.
Find out more about the Swami at Wake Up Laughing

WaPoop'd again

Humor Has It... that The Wapoo has pooped again over the so called ombudsman Debra Howell and the huge firestorm of her not retracting her inartful lies about Democrats and Indian Tribes, then having the .post blog deleting, replacing, deleting, half ass replacing the comments that poured in over her article. Instead of outright addressing the fault of the issue which belongs squarely on the WaPoo and it's lack of journalistic ethics, it was more convenient to twist the story to blame the bloggers and everyone who noticed then rightfully complained. Now we are -ahem- "uncivil" for practicing our right to dissent and demand ethics and truthful reporting. *gasp* Imagine that. Now I know truth and ethics are quite quaint and rather archiac these days amongst most of Old Media, but enough is enough.

So Jim Brady decided to invite his butt buddy Glenn Reynolds (whom I refuse to link in)to poorly attempt to abuse and manhandle our lovely heroine Jane Hamsher in an online panel called "Interactivity Ethics" yesterday. What a joke! Those guys will find out karma is a boomerang.

At first this 'panel' was invited to go to D.C. but that was soon cancelled as being much too dangerous to have to take on the formidible Jane in person, he hastily switched it to a tightly controlled online chat to try to marginalize her. Go read for yourself what happened there.

Jane has issued a challenge to Brady for a real live Combat Chat, and has more of the story here and here. If he's a real man he'll show up.

Graphics love to Jesus' General, he has

Mrs. K8's Yellow Feather Postcard Project

My lovely friend Mrs. K8 that comments over at my fave blog Firedoglake has come up with a great idea and project to put some pressure on the MCCM (Mainstream Corporate Co-opted Media) that perpetually practice Yellow Journalism, especially the blatant water carriers for the rightwingnuts and the Republican Corrupted Administration. They don't seem to care if they deliberately spread lies, propaganda, falsehoods, misinformation, or any manner of dishonorable, sloppy, unfactual reporting, as in "what journalistic ethics?" Whether it's on TV, online, radio, or in print it's time to do even more to remind them that they have ethical standards to uphold, and not be lead around by the hand, nose, and pen to do the Republican's bidding at beck and call.

Mrs. K8 hopefully will come up with some type of official kickoff to showcase this wonderful idea to help get us Progressives, all over, onboard with this program. In the meantime I have lots of time on my hands with the new blog to give this Yellow Feather Postcard Project some wings, and want to help Mrs. K8 get the word out as much as possible.(Note: I don't have the official name of it yet) Mrs. K8 briefly outlines her project here :

My updated idea is to get yellow card-stock to cut into post-card shapes. [You know there are plenty of cowards and yellow journalists out there, deserving to hear from us.]

I will find a pen-quill clip-art image, to print on the card-stock post-card. The message on the card will make it clear, too. The beauty of the post-card is that it doesn't frighten the cowards -- no envelopes to open with the dreaded fear of "powder" inside. In addition, the bright yellow post-card itself will be starkly visible to all who handle the mail, and who might take a gander at the message.

It's very simple really, send mail (or fax instead) to deserving wayward journalists, pundits, editors, and TV anchors with yellow feathers or yellow postcards, or yellow postcards with an imprint of a feather on it with your message of some noble sort to get a clue on. Let them know their inartful lies are unacceptable! Let's help make this a symbol of being put on notice that higher ideals and honesty are expected and demanded of them. Another possible name to use could be Yellow Media Project for short? Let's mindstorm then mailstorm when needed.

I'll be back with some updates on this as soon as I know more. Blessings to Mrs. K8. It would be cool to add on all of them as a clarion call something that we've discussed before -
"The Constitution: Are you for it - or against it?"


UPDATE: A commenter 'notjonathon' at FDL alerted us to "Operation Yellow Feather" via Political Cortex. Following the links lead me to the original article dated 11/22/05 over at Booman Tribune posted by Boston Joe. He says about his Operation Yellow Feather :

[..] You can help. Please print off one of the protest forms below and send them to the offices of Rep. Schmidt and Rep. Bubp. Take the time to write a personalized note on your form, explaining that the "chicken hawk" tactics of the Republican party will not be tolerated. Let's bury their offices with "chicken hawk" feathers, so that the next time they feel like squawking in public, they will remember that we are watching them.

Here are the forms: (My warning- small PDF's)

Lost Your Chicken Hawk Feather?
The Chicken Hawk Unit Patch
The Classic Yellow Feather (Make sure to explain)
The Ugly Chicken Hawk (Fill in the voice bubble)

[..] You are welcome to share this information far and wide on the Internet. In fact, we hope you do so. We hope to keep these lovely people warm with piles of "chicken hawk" feathers. It is getting awfully cold for Republicans in Ohio about now.

Humor Has It... that great minds really do think alike. Granted 'Operation Yellow Feather' is geared more towards the War Chickenhawks and we want to target the Hack Journalists/Media with the 'Yellow Feather Postcard Project', both have the same underlying premise to gladly promote as a bright yellow sunny wake up call.

Some Political Predictions for 2006

Robert Wilkerson has written an excellent article called Some Political Predictions for 2006 that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's inspiring and uplifting, and gives us a peek of what we can hopefully expect in 2006. Some of my favorite excerpts:

Last year was "business as usual" blowing up in the faces of the arrogant, and America's secret torture and spying operations are now out for all to smell. While there will be much we don't know, expect 2006 to bring about a widespread call for justice, equilibrium, fairness, and openness. When that happens in the body politic, it usually accompanies a "throw the bums out" tidal wave that grows stronger over months and results in fairly large political changes. Incumbancy will not help those who seek re-election in 2006.

Another factor in the 2006 election will be an increasing number of calls for more transparency in voting, including greater scrutiny of electronic vote machines. The companies that make the machines will soon not be able to steal elections as they have in the past due to calls for paper trails and recordable and verifiable records.

All in all, by this time next year it will be seen that 2006 is going to be a fairly radical year, and progressive and just policies more important than the exclusive, secretive policies of the past two years. The signs of a long range political revolution will begin to emerge this year, and those who are liberal or progressive will be a lot more bold and outspoken. There will be fierce defenses of alternative views, and the status quo will no longer be favored. Thus reform policies will gain traction, with more focus on practical tasking and less ideological crowing.

Again, there will be increasing outrage against injustice, with the usual fault finding as teams are formed to accomplish more than has been thought possible up to now. The political tide is definitely turning, and revolution will be in the air. The drums of war will diminish, and we may expect an atmosphere of confidence and optimism, and temporary improved economic conditions. Humanitarianism, justice, and devotion to higher ideals of service and loyalty will be more in evidence. Those who are insincere or noncommittal will be very frustrated this year.

New solutions will be found for long-standing problems, including environmental ones. There will be substantial breakthroughs in science and technology, helping fuel capital markets, R&D, and overall investment. Security tech will go through the roof, as will medical, with big pharma sinking under its own weight. Stock markets will be volatile, with overall gains due to new companies fueling increases while obsoletes shrink, fracture, or are absorbed into larger groups. The insurance industry will continue to reel from losses due to increasing numbers of natural disasters. Expect them and other malfunctioning sectors to seek more governmental protections.

This will be a year of fire and vitality, with sincerity, enthusiasm, and working for a better world valued more than previous years. Dirty tricks and dirty politics will continue to fall out of favor, and the collective memory will awaken to what a more ideal world would look like.

Go read the rest and may we all pray that things will shape up this year to bring fairness and justice, build bridges of sanity, and improve the world for All. Thanks Robert.

*Graphic of the Mackinac Bridge connecting the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan.

Humor Has It... I'm blogging

Humor Has It... that I'm going to jump in with my fellow Liberal Progressives and blog. The world has gone crazy and if we can't laugh it's enough to make you cry. Regardless of the fact I lose my sense of humor these days with what the Republican Corruption of Crime and Cronyism are up to, their tactics and New World View are outrageously ridiculous. And so I'm going to pound away each day bringing their foibles, mischief, and mayhem to light and mock the hell out of them as they so richly deserve.

Humor Has It... that I run across alot of funny shit on these here Internets which I will want to share. Especially in the comment sections I see everywhere, I'll be highlighting and linking to any that make me laugh. Keep your Eye out for any that deserve a special Humor Has It... "Spew My Drink Award", please email me the entry with the links to any that you find to be showcased here. That includes great graphics, there's some brilliant photoshop artists around.

Humor Has It ... that I'm getting a crash course in PHP language, thankfully I know CSS. I'm having a blast tweaking the template, colors, and getting some basics in the sidebar. Much more to come soon.