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My friend asked my why I'm an Atheist - she wanted a list of points. Here's what I came up with really quickly. Please note - this is geared toward ISLAM and so references within it may not relate to other religions. I tried to avoid delving into science, because at the end of the day - scientific details are not what make me an Atheist, it's simply the process of thought that I follow when considering religion. Please - feel free to comment with your own thoughts, journeys, experiences.
1) I have no reason to believe the Quran is divine other than hear-say – people telling me so. "Proof" of its truth has rung hollow – many people have given me reasons for its truth – all of which are either false/exaggerated scientific claims or contrived miracles/predictions – just like every other 'religion.'
2) We have been around for hundreds of thousands of years, why did God show himself for a few of those and disappear again? And why did he leave us to hundreds of millennia of savagery and 'sinful' existence before revealing himself?
3) If Religion was given to us by God to deliver us from our insane, primitive existence - why is it a major source of a very large majority of human conflict and suffering?
4) Why is a "perfect" and "completely clear" message interpreted so differently by everyone who reads it?
5) Why do the believers of this "completely clear" and "perfect" message need experts who study the religion and its meaning their whole lives to interpret it for them?
6) Why is it that, in our age of modernity we are overcoming differences one after the other – race, language, geography, and coming together more and more… EXCEPT when it comes to our Gods? Why is God one of the last few things standing between human kind and unity/peace?
7) Why would a 'good' God allow so much evil and suffering in the world? The human existence around the world is a miserable one - hunger, war, crime, drugs, abuse, poverty, etc...
8) Why does God, a merciful creature, demand the death of those who leave the Religion, followed by an eternity of indescribable misery and pain? Why are most humans I meet kinder and more merciful than him?
9) Why does God, a being who doesn't have human weakness/desire, DEMAND worship under fear of eternal punishment? These are the tactics of a despotic king, and far more primitive than modern civil society allows - how can humans evolve beyond God?
10) Moderate Muslims tell me they don't follow the Quran to the letter because that's too extreme and we live in the 21st century - why should that matter if God's word is timeless and eternal?
11) Nothing in the Quran sounds like anything more than just a story - there is simply nothing in Islamic text or in the world that has ever made me think "It must be divine". It makes more sense that a human (or group) decided to invent it as a tool for social control (a common theme in human history).
12) Many Muslims use what science DOESN'T know as an excuse for God. For example – 'How did the Big Bang start?" is a popular one. Simply noting gaps in our knowledge isn't proof of anything other than the fact that there is more to learn. And for that matter – these people demand I tell them how the Big Bang started, when they cannot tell me how God came into existence. I cannot believe in something that claims to have all the answers (when it doesn't) simply because I myself don't have all the answers.
13) Looking at the religion as an outside observer rather than a Muslim - it doesn't stand out too much from Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, and ancient pagan religions - it looks like just another story with its own twist, its own rules, etc, but still just a story. If I picked up a book describing all these religions without ever having even heard of religion, they would all read like fairy tales to me.
14) God creates everyone and everything - it is a common theme in Islam that any good deed that a person does comes from Allah, his thoughts are from Allah, the environment he grew up in comes from Allah - so why is it AGAINST Allah when people don't fit the mainstream? Why is it illegal to be gay, atheist, etc? Why does Allah make you who you are and then punish you for it? Even in the Quran it states that "Allah has blinded the unbelievers and chosen to keep them from believing."
15) Islamic "science" (and by this I mean scientific 'proof' of Islam) has always been determined to be exaggerated, false, or highly contrived when scrutinized
16) Why would God give us the ability to question and doubt, then punish us for doing so to our full ability?
17) Of the millions of other Gods in History, why Allah?
18) Every religion claims to be the true religion, but at the end of the day - your religion depends on your geography and race. Being in the right religion is a matter of luck? Even those who hear of other religions, most have NO reason to change - would you convert to Christianity? (This question targets Muslims)
19) Why did God send all his messages to the most backward, illiterate part of the world? He could have sent it to much more advanced, literate, larger civilizations like China.
20) Why not send multiple prophets around the world at the same time with the same exact message? THAT would be more effective and more convincing
21) Why is Arabic God's language??? There have been so many other languages, Arabic evolved from other languages and has since evolved further. God happens to speak a form of Arabic that was prevalent in a small part of the Arab Peninsula for a very short period of time in Human history? Why does god even have a language?
22) People tell me morality comes from God – but I have no God and I have good morals - even by Islamic standards. Ghandi did not have Islam and he is more moral than almost every Muslim I have ever met. Buddha was the same and in fact, Buddhism is a "Godless" religion. Morality and God is a contrivance of the religion itself and not a fact of life. Many pre-Islamic pagan societies had well-established moral guidelines which devised ancient legal systems – of which our modern civil codes are derived today.
In a nutshell – I don't believe in God because there simply isn't any reason for me to believe in a God or in a Religion. I simply need evidence, and Islam doesn't have it, nor does any religion (hence the word FAITH). The funny thing is people don't have faith in each other if they aren't given a reason to. If someone tried to convince you that God was in fact some ruling body of Alien races, and asked you to take this on faith… where exactly would your faith in such a claim come from? The only reason anyone would actually believe this man is if they simply wanted to believe it. Maybe he says the aliens really like us, and if we have faith they will give us their technology, but if we don't, they'll wipe us out. This is Religion in a nutshell.
Religion adds nothing to the world or to life for me, claims of God's existence all ring as false in my ears, or people grabbing for straws with "we can't know how God thinks" arguments.
I simply have no need for God or religion – there are explanations for most natural processes without him and for the ones we don't understand yet – well that's all there is to it, we just don't understand them yet. I don't need to rectify that by believing the hear-say of other men.
One of the biggest questions I asked myself growing up that I could never shake, that really pushed me away from Religion more-so than science ever did was this, "Am I abiding by a law book that a normal human man wrote 1500 years ago to control people?" And I could never find an answer that proved to me otherwise. I was disgusted with the thought that I was the tool of some long-dead man, and that millions of people worldwide were worshipping a man-made God.
Views: 721
Thanks for your thoughtful comments.
I am most appreciative that you point to the reasons you are an atheist, rather than falling into the trap of believing that you hold these reasons because you are an atheist.
Still, I am of the notion that too much effort is made to "explain" one's atheism to challenges that come from theists. In any such discussion, the attention should be turned to the theist's posession of faith, the only reason the discussion is occurring in the first place.
So, I still believe that the best answer to the question "Why are you an atheist" is the answer: "Because I do not share your faith".
#18 is one that I bring up as often as possible. It's hard to deny the rationality of this concept. Your faith is nearly always a function of geography and race. How can one be so positive that they are practicing the one true religion if they have no exposure to all the others? How can you be exposed to the others when each one emphatically tells you that it is the truth, and that if you leave it you will suffer eternal damnation? It's a game of political mysticism. Religion has always been and will always be a tool for gathering numbers to a cause.
@Future, yep that's how I see it. It is and always has been a tool. A very cleverly designed, highly effective tool that takes advantage of peoples feelings, desires, and their natural ways of behaving and thinking in society.
Oh wow. This is some great material! You know, growing up in the culture I grew up in, most everything gets measured by the standard of Christianity. It is interesting to see a comparison to Islam.
Number 18 is one that has always spoken strongly to me. The fact that religions are so regional and cultural is a powerful argument against any so-called "universal truth".
Also, I like your aliens analogy! I have never heard that before.
@ Humble Pie - Thanks :). Yeah I realize re-reading the aliens analogy that it's pretty much Scientology, and I think someone else mentioned that in a comment as well haha. Wish I'd come up with it first :-/
You could be rich! Or in a Sea-Org labor camp, which is where I believe the previous church president is rotting. He kind of deserves it, though, so it is hard for me to feel as bad for him as I should.
"If someone tried to convince you that God was in fact some ruling body of Alien races, and asked you to take this on faith… where exactly would your faith in such a claim come from? The only reason anyone would actually believe this man is if they simply wanted to believe it. Maybe he says the aliens really like us, and if we have faith they will give us their technology, but if we don't, they'll wipe us out. This is Religion in a nutshell."
Yeah, this is actually Scientology in a nutshell. Great list! I can see which one's you've taken from various sources like Hitchens for example. You might want to change #17 to "thousands" for accuracy, but still terrific. My wife is a Muslim and I'm thinking about showing her your list, when she's ready. Thanks for the post!
@Jedi Wanderer - Haha yeah I wish I'd come up with an analogy that's not actually a real religion, dangit! You're right about the millions to thousands thing, I was trying to include the pre-historic, unrecorded Gods of early humanity but then again, there weren't that many humans back then so I doubt it would take it up to the millions. I suppose I didn't think that little tidbit through all the way!
And you're right I did get a number of those thoughts/questions from some of the "Four Horsemen" as they're called - I hope it doesn't seem like I was trying to rip the ideas!
Haha a Muslim who married an atheist? Dang she's already more open-minded than almost every Muslim I know in that regard.
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Officers: Teen sold property stolen from slain woman
18-year-old arrested in connection with homicide
Police in Titusville arrested an 18-year-old in connection with a homicide.
Detectives said William Weber pawned some of Michelle Chappell's items. Chappell was found dead in her home on Avilez Boulevard in Titusville on Sunday.
According to arrest papers, Weber admitted he pawned stolen bracelets and other jewelry belonging to Chappell.
Police officers said 21-year-old Christian Murphy killed Chappell. He was killed in a crash while trying to escape authorities, officials said.
Weber also allegedly admitted to investigators he pawned the items as a favor to Murphy, investigators said.
Police suggested that the scene was so gruesome, it was difficult to tell at first whether the victim was a man or a woman.
Police said they would not address numerous reports that the victim was beheaded and dismembered They will not say how she was killed.
"My experience (in) 25 years of prosecuting homicides, including one where the body was cut to pieces, is that until you sort through the whole thing it's hard to tell what went on," said Assistant State Attorney Gary Beatty.
Investigators said a 16-year-old girl was driving the car Murphy died in. Charges against that teen are pending.
Weber is charged with violation of probation, trafficking in stolen property and providing false identification. He is being held on $60,000 bond.
It's not clear what led to Chappell's killing.


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We're liking that LCD viewscreen on our digital cameras, and haven't used that little peephole (isn't it called a viewfinder?) in ages, but sometimes there are good reasons to use the viewfinder instead of the LCD. A little tutorial at the Digital Photography School suggests that the LCD is great for convenience, gives you instant playback, enhances creativity by allowing you to hold the camera at all kinds of weird angles, and helps overcome framing inaccuracy of some cameras' viewfinders. The LCD is also great for those of us who wear glasses.
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Should I use the LCD or Viewfinder on my Digital Camera? [Digital Photography School]


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How to Choose a Green Vacation Destination
Where you choose to go on your eco-friendly vacation depends largely on what you want to do when you get there — aside from enriching your mind and renewing your spirit without harming the planet. Whether you want to wander through museums, play historian at archeological sites, kayak along a seacoast, or simply lounge by the pool, some things to take into consideration when you're looking for a location are
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- Dom Perignon 2004 brut Evaporates on your tongue
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Editor's Overview
While not quite cutting-edge, the redesigned 2012 Honda Civic remains a smart choice for those in need of capable, competent transportation. Offered with a range of engines, including hybrid and natural gas options, along with sedan, coupe and sporty Si variants, there is a Civic to fit most tastes.
You'll Like The 2012 Honda Civic If...
If you appreciate mechanical refinement similar to what you might find in a commercial airliner, the 2012 Honda Civic is the clear choice in the category. And even if you don't easily discern such qualities, just-right steering and pedal feel are the kinds of qualities that quietly contribute to long-term driving satisfaction.
You May Not Like The 2012 Honda Civic If...
The 2012 Honda Civic is neither as sporty nor as stylish as the Mazda3 or Ford Focus, the interior design isn't as interesting as the Hyundai Elantra's, and it isn't the smoothest or quietest car in the class.
What's New
The all-new-for-2012 Honda Civic is instantly familiar inside and out, with key changes comprising increased fuel economy, more refined driving dynamics and enhanced infotainment abilities. The Civic hybrid is now more fuel efficient, the Civic Si is more powerful and there's the new mileage-maxing 2012 Civic HF that delivers 41 highway mpg.
Interior Features
If the 2012 Honda Civic has an Achilles' heel, it's the interior styling. Everything works wonderfully, but the design, textures and materials put its visual appeal in the bottom half of the segment, behind new and newly relevant nameplates like Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus and Chevy Cruze.
Exterior Features
Just when observers thought Honda might unleash the most expressive Civic yet - as an answer to the bold new Hyundai Elantra attracting so much attention – the even-keeled automaker instead delivered the most evolutionary Civic redesign ever. It's hard to argue against sticking to a styling strategy that's helped keep the Civic at or near the top of the sales charts for many years running.
Driving Impressions
The 2012 Honda Civic is not the smoothest or quietest car in the category. Nor is it the most fun to drive. Curious, then, that we'd rate it tops in driving dynamics in our shootout of the four newest cars in the category. How does it do it? With the help of steering and pedal response that other automakers could only dream of delivering. It's easy to overlook excellence in these areas, but just as driving feel is a big part of the magic in a Porsche, the way the Civic gracefully listens and responds to a driver's input is a key reason we consider the 2012 Honda Civic the connoisseur's compact sedan.
Pricing Notes
For an adequately equipped 2012 Honda Civic you're looking at close to $20,000. You'll find similar pricing for many of its key competitors, so if $20,000 is more than you care to spend and/or you want more goodies for your money, you might consider stepping down a segment into Honda Fit territory. Even though the 2012 Honda Fit isn't the least expensive car in the category, we deemed it the best value in our recent four-car comparison test thanks in large part to its legendarily strong resale value.
Notable Equipment
The 2012 Honda Civic starts at a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $16,555 (including destination) for a Civic DX, but that's with no radio, no air conditioning and no power mirrors or door locks. Stepping up to the Civic LX remedies those shortcomings and nets a few other goodies for an extra $2,000, but an automatic transmission will set you back another $800. The Honda Civic's myriad active and passive safety technologies are included as standard equipment across the line. The EX and EX-L models sit at the top of the 2012 Civic's non-hybrid, non-natural-gas pyramid, with the Si coupe and sedan covering performance side of the street.
Notable Options
A 2012 Honda Civic EX-L with Navigation has an MSRP at $24,225 and includes leather seats (heated front), a moonroof, Bluetooth phone/audio connectivity, a full-function i-MID display and a six-speaker AM/FM/SAT/MP3/ Bluetooth audio system with USB and auxiliary ports (which offers plenty of functionality but just-okay sound).
Favorite Features
Bluetooth Audio
We like being able to listen to the music on our iPhone without having to plug it in, and the Civic's Bluetooth Audio system is notable for how quickly it connects and begins playing.
i-MID Display
Standard in all but the base Civic DX trim is a new five-inch LCD monitor that provides music and mileage info, plus Bluetooth and navigation info when equipped.
Under the Hood
With no direct injection or turbocharging, 140 horsepower, and five speeds not six in the manual and automatic transmissions, the 2012 Honda Civic has the simplest powertrain of the newest compact sedans. Nevertheless, it delivers exceptional fuel economy and plenty of power. The mileage-maxing HF trim features the same powertrain, but adds two highway miles per gallon with a lower ride height, aerodynamic adds and tires with lower rolling resistance. The Civic Si, in sedan and coupe form, comes with 201 horsepower and a six-speed manual transmission.
Civic DX, LX, EX, EX-L and HF
1.8-liter in-line four cylinder
140 horsepower @ 6,500 rpm
128 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4,300 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 28/36 (manual), 28/39 (automatic), 29/41 (Civic HF automatic)
Civic Si
2.4-liter in-line four cylinder
201 horsepower @ 7,000 rpm
170 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4,400 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 22/31 (manual)
Civic Hybrid
1.5-liter in-line four cylinder + electric motor
110 horsepower @ 5,500 rpm
127 lb.-ft. of torque @ 1,000-3,500 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 44/44 (Continuously Variable Transmission)
Civic Natural Gas
1.8-liter in-line four cylinder
110 horsepower @ 6,300 rpm
106 lb.-ft. of torque @ 4,200 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: N/A
Editors' Notes
The 2012 Honda Civic is the all-new, ninth-generation version of the country's best-selling compact car and third-best-selling car overall. Offering a unique combination of affordability, reliability and refinement, the Honda Civic has long been a gold standard not just for the category, but for personal transportation in general. Its dominance is in decline, though, as evidenced by our most recent compact sedan comparison test in which the 2012 Honda Civic tied for first place with the ultra-stylish new Hyundai Elantra. The Honda Civic does remain the clear leader in variety, with a wide-ranging lineup that includes sedan and coupe body styles, a 201-horsepower sporty Civic Si version, a 45-mpg Civic hybrid variant, and a limited-availability natural-gas-powered version.


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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
skippy's tuesday nite music club
california....(there it goes.)
phantom planet on david letterman - "california (here we come)"
Labels: bankruptcy, california, music, sacramento, skippy's music club
she deserves to be hated for herself, not because she's a woman
now, anyone who reads this humble space knows that we are no fans of the alaskan gov. but we tend to agree w/melissa over @ shakesville (itself no right-leaning organ) who wonders if vf couldn't have written an attack profile on the gov w/o all the condescending bullcrap about her sex:
that said, even the (relatively few) passages examining palin's being "at once the sexiest and the riskiest brand in the republican party," even if still insufferably sigh-eliciting ("fertile female," really?), are better than the usual fare, giving time to the reality that palin's appearance is a double-edged weapon:
there are, it happens, lots and lots of very good points about palin made in the piece.
and all of them risk being lost beneath the crushing weight of the lazy implication that she is a monster.
worse yet, dismissing her as a monster, as a wild animal, as crazy, is tacit encouragement to pay her no real attention at all. she's not even serious enough to warrant your time.
do we really have to consider palin's fertility when thinking about her career? is that really a salient point? maybe it is for some gopers w/nasty fantasies about their candidates, but, really, aren't we past the time when mothers had to stay at home? as we mentioned on the moderate voice thread about this same subject, how often do male politician's ability to father their own children get ink in the national press?
we're all for a hard look @ what makes sarah tick, and why it's bad for politics. but can we do w/o the strange permutation of the whore/madonna complex, which seems to be "crazy movie monster bitch/baby factory" syndrome?
breaking! coleman's latern burns out!!
sanford: "because they're not mine...i crossed some lines"
the gop hypocrisy chickens are still coming home to roost. gov. mark sanford, who voted to impeach bill clinton when sanford was a congressman, now admits to "crossing" certain "lines" w/other women besides his argentine tango partner. asspress:
the governor says he "never crossed the ultimate line" with anyone but maria belen chapur, the argentine at the center of a scandal that has derailed sanford's once-promising political career.
during an emotional interview at his statehouse office with the associated press on tuesday, sanford said chapur is his soul mate but he's trying to fall back in love with his wife.
yes! senator franken!
Al Franken
Originally uploaded by Aaron Landry
editor's addendum: the minnesota supreme court unanimously rejected norm coleman's appeal. star-trib:
"affirmed," wrote the supreme court, unanimously rejecting republican norm coleman's claims that inconsistent practices by local elections officials and wrong decisions by a lower court had denied him victory.
"al franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled [under minnesota law] to receive the certificate of election as united states senator from the state of minnesota," the court wrote.
in upholding a lower court ruling in april, the justices said coleman had "not shown that the trial court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous or that the court committed an error of law or abused its discretion."
but the court did not grant franken's bid to make its ruling effective immediately, leaving a window for an appeal by coleman before gov. tim pawlenty is required to issue an election certificate.
but don't hold your breath. pawlenty is, after all, a repubbblican.
the d.c. metro accident that killed nine riders this week has renewed calls for rail safety upgrades and reminders that car travel remains far riskier than transit. but the crash is also shedding light on a problem that goes beyond washington: tax shelter deals between banks and struggling transit agencies -- deals that were given a retroactive pass by congress even though the irs considers them illegal.Read more »
the tax shelters at issue are called "sale in, lease out" deals, also known as silos. starting in the 1980s, local transit agencies began selling rail cars and other equipment to wall street firms, which would then turn around and lease the goods back to the agencies.
...it remains to be seen whether the silos played a role in this week's d.c. metro crash. but when federal safety inspectors asked the wmata, which runs the d.c. metro, in 2006 to replace its aging rohr series rail cars -- the model that crumpled in this week's crash -- the agency declined.
wmata was "constrained by" silo leases from phasing out the rohr cars, it said.
and that's just the beginning of the fallout from the tax deals, which have affected transit systems all across the country.
Labels: taxes, transportation, wall street
republican war on the fec, democratic elections
election-law experts, supporters of campaign-finance regulations, and even some members of the commission itself are expressing growing concern about a string of cases in which the three republicans on the commission -- led by tom delay's former ethics lawyer -- have voted as a block against enforcement, preventing the commission from carrying out its basic regulatory function. as the normally mild-mannered washington post editorial board wrote recently: "the three republican appointees are turning the commission into the little agency that wouldn't: wouldn't launch investigations, wouldn't bring cases, wouldn't even accept settlements that the staff had already negotiated." - tpmmuckrakerrepublicans hate an america not run by multinational corporations or the uber wealthy.
Labels: election, election integrity, fec, lawlessness, republicans
so long supreme souter
souter departs supreme court with solid environmental legacy. when justice david souter retires from the supreme court today, environmental interests will lose one of their most dependable votes. souter won near-universal praise from environmental court watchers for his dogged questioning during oral arguments. greenwire
Labels: environment, new hampshire, supreme court
and now, some perspective...
the jokes popped up almost immediately that mark sanford was the luckiest guy on earth after word broke that michael jackson had suffered a heart attack. but the notion that jackson's death, which preempted virtually all other news coverage on the cable networks last night, is sucking up media attention from other matters carries a dark edge to it as well. national-security experts are warning that without sustained attention on iran, its repressive tactics could grow more deadly in the coming days.
the jackson story, paired with farrah fawcett's death and sanford's own scandal, "without a doubt" poses a danger in iran, according to michael rubin, an american enterprise institute scholar and former bush administration official.
"to put it this way, the gods are not in favor of hope and change," rubin said. "unfortunately in iran people are going to prison, but when a tree falls in the forest and there's no one to hear it, the pressure goes away."
"it's a sad commentary that celebrity still trumps national security in news coverage, but that's the world we live in," he said...
yes, it is. and it probably sucks big time if you're an iranian. but if you're an american, it works out rather nicely, doesn't it? as long as we're amused, everything's dandy -- twitter doesn't care if the subject is tributes to jacko or protesters in tehran being hauled to prison. it's just... well, amusing... to hear the sad truth coming from a former bush administration official. who did those people listen to when it came to national security for about eight years? the neocons. these clowns have wanted to take ahmadinejad down for years; now they're supporting him. that's precious.
but that's about the level of seriousness we're accustomed to. so if what went on in iraq for the last six years is any indication, the iranians might be better off if we just stay the hell out of that mess and let them sort it out themselves. we like to think of ourselves as that shining city on the hill. well, if the city is las vegas and the hill is in reality a dune? yeah, that sounds like us...
Labels: foreign policy, Iran
Monday, June 29, 2009
skippy's monday nite music club
joe jackson - "sunday papers"
Labels: journalists, music, newspapers, skippy's music club
have you sent a govt regulation hating republican
...health officials still do not know how e. coli 0157, a bacterium that lives in cattle intestines, ended up in a product that seems so unlikely to contain it. the risk usually associated with cookie dough is salmonella, a bacterium that can be found in raw eggs. none of the ingredients in the dough -- eggs, milk, flour, chocolate, butter -- is known to host e. coli 0157.
federal investigators spent more than a week at the danville plant and did not detect contamination in the equipment or among workers, acheson said. "it raises the likelihood that it was an ingredient," he said. "and it really means that industry has to be constantly vigilant, because foods we think of as low risk could be contaminated with a deadly pathogen."- wapo
Labels: cookies, food safety, recalls, regulation
the great ones always go in 3's...no, 4's...no, make that 5's
travalena, who began being treated for an aggressive form of non-hodgkin's lymphoma in 2002 and saw the disease return last july after going into remission in 2003, died sunday at his home in encino, according to his publicist, roger neal. travalena also was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003 but had been in complete remission since then….
in school, he said, he learned to deal with bullies by imitating a martian voice or porky pig. and he found he could deflect a teacher's question of why he didn't do his homework by making her laugh with his impression of crazy guggenheim, the goofy character played on tv by frank fontaine during jackie gleason's "joe the bartender" sketches.
during a stint in the army's special services, travalena won the all-army entertainment award for best singer and once impersonated president lyndon johnson's voice on the base theater's answering machine to announce the movies and show times…
at one point after launching his career as a singer, he and his singer wife, lois, were performing together at andrews air force base near washington, d.c.
as recounted in a 1989 new york times story, lois surprised her husband by spontaneously asking the audience, "how'd you like to hear fred do impressions?"
he went on to impersonate dean martin, paul lynde, jim nabors and presidents kennedy and johnson.
"people liked it," he later said.
travalena reportedly was performing at a resort hotel in the catskills when impressionist rich little was in the audience. after the show, little congratulated travalena and later recommended him for a spot in british celebrity journalist david frost's show at the riviera in las vegas.
rest in peace, fred travalena.
wingers' buttons pushed because palin photoshoppers push wingers' buttons
alaskan blogger linda kellen biegel photoshopped a pic of the gov. & her baby trig, only biegel put the face of alaskan conservative talk show host eddie burke. (ms. biegel was trying to make a point about how cozy the gov. is w/alaskan conservative media. see below)
sarah palin, fresh off her "victory" of making dave letterman apologize, whines because the original pic of her & baby trig is "an iconic representation of a mother's love for a special needs child." that's what her spokesperson said. not us.
will the holier-than-thou self-righteous pearl clutchers never learn? the one sure way to make smart asses act out more is to tell them to stop acting out.
ergo, @ the site something awful (via wonkette), posters ran a whole thread displaying their skills w/photoshop. the results are sometimes brilliant, sometimes disgusting (in the way that south park is sometimes disgusting; ie, hilariously disgusting).
one of the least offensive (but still hilarious) pix:
we personally do not condone the fuss that has resulted from this terrible brou-ha-ha, and we would like to mediate between the parties.
we ask that the lefty bloggers and photoshoppers direct their energies towards something more important, such as the trouble in iran, or passing health care reform thru congress.
and governor, we'd like to apologize on behalf of all of us on the left for your trouble. please, take a breath, and calm down.
here, we brought you a glass of water.
and a banana for your monkey!
good night folks, try the veal! and be sure to tip your waitresses!!
this cat is a nut!
and he's a pretty good bowler for a feline...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
skippy's sunday night music club
neil diamond on the johnny cash show - "brother love's traveling salvation show"
Labels: music, skippy's music club, teevee, youtube
when we think of michael jackson, we think of carol burnett
tampa police say billy mays, the television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as orange glo and oxiclean, has died. he was 50. - latimes
Labels: advertising, passings, teevee
around blogtopia (and yes! we coined that phrase!)
leftist grandpa wonders who would jesus shoot?
talkleft muses that the white house might be manufacturing faux grass roots support for indefinite detention.
digby reports that whole litters of lynx kittens have been found in colorado!
and chris clarke, over @ the wonderful coyote crossing, proves that not only can you can go home again, but you have to remodel and rennovate if you do.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
skippy's saturday night music club
eric burdon & war - "spill the wine"
Labels: music, santa barbara, skippy's music club, wine
yet another beef recall
keep in mind that republicans don't want inspections...they think that individuals should test their own food stuffs. oh, yeah...and if you get sick from eating some of this tainted food, you better pray you have enough insurance to cover your hospital stay without losing everything you have to pay for it.41,000 pounds of beef recalled.jbs swift beef co. of greeley, colo., has recalled more than 41,000 pounds of various beef products because of possible e.colie contamination but there's a catch: the beef products recalled were produced back in april and were shipped to distributors and stores in arizona, california, colorado, florida, illinois, michigan, minnesota, nebraska, oregon, south carolina, tennessee, utah and wisconsin. eleven products are being recalled. the problem was discovered as the usda's food safety and inspection service was testing for samples in an investigation of other products - examiner
gotta a little captain in you?
in june 2008, u.a. virgin islands governor john dejongh jr. agreed to give london-based diageo polc billions of dollars in tax incentives to move its production of captain morgan rum from one u.s. island -- puerto rico -- to another, namely st. croix.
dejongh says he had no idea his deal would help make the world's largest liquor distiller the most unlikely beneficiary of the emergency troubled asset relief program approved by congress just four months later. - bloomberg
Captain Morgan v2
Originally uploaded by www.dewi1.com
gas refineries with attitude; or, straight outta nigeria
the new firm, to be called nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in nigeria.
addendum: via lawyers, guns and money, here is gazprom's big hit, elif4zagin.
never let it be said we had dignity or respect
"wow!" exclaimed the holy ghost. "we really enjoyed your work here. especially charlie's angels! i still have a poster in my office of you with that red bikini!"
farah is a little taken aback. "thank you, lord..."
jehovah goes on, "well, i have a special reward for you. i'm prepared to grant you one wish. have anything in mind?"
not one to act selfish and change god's opinion of her, farah thinks for a second and decides upon a wish. "i'd like for all the children of the world to be safe and sound forever."
"done!" exclaims the heavenly father. he snaps, and michael jackson appears next to farah.
around blogtopia (and yes! we coined that phrase!)
steveaudio actually worked w/the jacksons back in the day.
mediabloodhound points out cnn convenient forgets about the us backed coup in iran in '53.
the freeway blogger has been biking thru california.
truthdig warns that the american empire is bankrupt
and now, it's king crimson fix for jimmy time...
question of the day...
Labels: questions
i'm off to the santa barbara wine festival
Foxen Wine
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian
forgive my posts later this evening...they may, well...be "enhanced"
Labels: flickr, local news, santa barbara
i can relate.
had enough michael jackson yet?
Friday, June 26, 2009
some habits never die...
Labels: blogtopia
skippy's friday nite music club
matthew lombart - "(marie's the name) his latest flame
Labels: elvis, music, republicans, skippy's music club, youtube
top story tonite
ok, we love his music as much as the next guy, and we see how his death affects a huge amount of fans thru-out the world.
but wasn't there any other news on tv today?
addendum: but as john cole points out, it's still not as bad as the "three day self-absorbed wankfest that followed tim russert's death."
sleestak cheered by steelworkers, specter disinvited
on sunday, he told the united states steelworkers legislative conference in atlantic city that he backs the employee free choice act, the proposed law that would make it easier for unions to organize.
here is the full story, courtesy of an email exchange with jim savage, who is president of a steelworkers local here in philadelphia:
- "the senator [arlen specter] was invited & confirmed as the keynote speaker."
- "there was quite an uproar when we found out. he was uninvited because of the rank-and-file reaction."
- "also, it's worth noting that the senator was none too happy about it."
- at that point, sleestak was then invited. before he spoke, he was "introduced to the delegates as "our next senator" to a rousing ovation."
- the general sentiment toward specter was "fuck'm."
i have to say, talking to local union leaders is a lot more fun than talking with communications staff.
sleestak gets cheered by labor
on the inerrant text of scripture
sanford: king david didn't resign, so why should i? | tpmmuckraker: "and the south carolina governor started out by using an interesting comparison to respond to calls for his resignation. king david didn't back down after his own sex scandal, he told his colleagues, and neither will i."
obviously the hateful christians became aware of and articulated this new understanding of scripture somewhat after clinton's indiscretions.
Labels: sexscapades
michael nicole smith
mad aobut mark sanford's trail...of hypocrisy
Thursday, June 25, 2009
fox may suck, but at least it has news on the weekend
we loathe joe scarborough (for reasons dating back to his work as a florida congressman), and the only way andrea mitchell could be any more "establishment" in her presenation and point of view, is if she slept w/alan greenspan. what? oh, never mind, then...
but we are mostly astounded that the cable news division of one of the largest news organizations in the world, doesn't have enough resources to program weekends. we agree w/the latimes:
over the weekend, with its cable rivals devoting generous airtime to demonstrations convulsing tehran and online viewers transfixed by amateur video of a young woman apparently felled by a sniper's bullet, msnbc stuck to its usual diet of taped documentaries, including one titled "sex slaves in america." a rerun of the prison documentary "lockup" aired saturday night. meanwhile, anchor shepard smith was giving viewers of fox news channel a special two-hour wrap-up of iranian developments. cnn likewise devoted substantial blocks of time to covering the crisis live.
on the web, msnbc's coverage decision generated some furious reactions. on twitter, one user called the network "mia"; another wrote, "msnbc closed eyes to murder in iran." and the huffington post's tom d'antoni blogged that msnbc "disgraced themselves this weekend by ignoring the biggest story in the world."
we noticed msnbc was happy to pre-empt their usual weekend docu-cavalcade of "behind bars: the women of pelican bay" "america's funniest home pedophile videos" when tim russert died.
the cable channel ran a full 48 hours of "boy wasn't tim the best damn journalist in the world" that weekend, which consisted of msnbc's on-air pesonalities talking, reading copy, and introducing taped segments.
hey, msnbc, here's a bit of info for you: that's what it takes to do a news program, too, you morons!!
as much as we loathe the faux news channel, we must needs give it props for original news programming on the weekend. if msnbc wants to ever actually beat faux in the ratings, they had better start broadcasting news on saturdays and sundays.
michael jackson's playground
Michael Jackson's Playground
Originally uploaded by SB John Wiley
jackson bought the land and created his own little version of childlike reality, including fair rides and a zoo, complete with zoo keepers and various wild animals such as tigers and elephants. the valley was inundated with traffic from helicopters, planes, paparrazzi, etc. including the fiasco that was liz taylor's wedding (was it her 6th or 7th...i can't keep up), but jackson was the local legendary celebrity, so i guess the valley neighbors weren't so vociferous in their complaints.
neverland featured prominently in jackson's problems with the santa barbara district attorney and his long time attempts to convict jackson on child molestation charges. the mug shot seen throughout the internet(s) was taken here in santa barbara. throngs of jackson fans, young and old, male and female, trekked to their idol's mecca to show support. hotels were booked solid. herds of journalists hung out in restaurants and bars, chatting up each other and the locals and starting up relations, professional and otherwise. the "jackson" business was thriving in town, it seemed sometime, to be the only business in town. however, these long, dragged out legal slugfests sucked the county coffers of money and put a large dent in jackson's monetary treasure chest, too.
neverland was never the same after jackson fled the county...and then the states. the animals were neglected and then were shipped out to places where they would be cared for. the employees were neglected and claimed they went unpaid for months on end. the property started aging, falling apart piece by piece, some would say like jackson himself.
today, hearing the unexpected news of the peter panish michael jackson passing, i thought about long ago when there was life...and song...and magic in the old property. in the boyish man himself.
michael, your music brought magic to lives throughout the world. your ranch brought entertainment to many lives in the county and beyond. but, neverland is nevermore.
i hope you find peace in your rest, michael. i hope you don't eventually cross paths with sneddon again.
5560 Neverland Estate
Originally uploaded by SB John Wiley
(flickr photos by sb john wiley)
remembering michael from 1974
Labels: michael jackson, neverland, passings, santa barbara
john kerry (r)?
in a closed-door meeting of senate finance committee democratic members and their staff wednesday evening, sen. john kerry (d-mass.) suggested that the committee bill include a ten-year delay between passage of health care reform and the implementation of a public option that americans could buy into, according to two democratic aides.i think folks might be showing the senator a certain finger, not necessarily the "trigger" finger.
under the plan floated by kerry, a public health care option would only be triggered by private insurance companies failing to meet certain criteria after ten years. known as the "trigger" in legislative lingo, the idea is vociferously opposed by health care advocates who consider it the death of reform.- huffpo
Labels: healthcare, kerry, public health, republicans, things that make you go hmmmm
volcano from space
no...not the newest b-film horror flick, but stunning photos of nature showing off her power to the astronauts on the international space station.
see more at mailonline.
Labels: nasa, nature, space, things that make you go hmmmm, volcano
farrah fawcett dead at 62
i was a freshman in college in 1976 and that poster of hers was in practically every college freshman male's dorm room that year (okay, I had the six foot long lord of the rings poster, the one from the covers of the paperback version). i could walk into almost any guy's dorm room and there she'd be in a bathing suit smiling that amazing smile. that's how i'll always think of her. she won't be a charlie's angel and she won't be any of those other roles she played. she'll just be that smiling, beautiful, alive young woman.
npr wants to know
Labels: congress, congressional testimony, healthcare, lobbyists, npr
mad about michael steele's plan for health care
this clip sums up just about everything that the year 2008 was for me in just under seven minutes. the good news is, i lived to blog about it. believe it or not, there were a few moments where i honestly believed i would not live to see this year -- that's how rough 2008 was for me.
well, i'm still here. and last year is gone. so if i come across as too silly or too irreverent at times, too bad -- as my favorite character from the pogo comic strip, porky pine, said so many years ago, "don't take life so serious -- it ain't nohow permanent."
you only live once. never forget that.
and enjoy the clip...
they distort, we deride...
Labels: fox news, it is what it is, liars, republicans
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
skippy's wednesday nite music club
tom lehrer - "the masochistic tango"
Labels: music, sexscapades, skippy's music club, youtube
chasing the wallaby
the wallabies are increasingly entering the fields and eating the poppy heads.
that causes them to get high and run around in turns creating "crop circles".
"the one interesting bit that i found recently in one of my briefs on the poppy industry was that we have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles," ms giddings told a budget estimates hearing.
"then they crash. we see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."
dude, don't bogart that poppy...
photo: the tazmanian mercury
what is it with these repressed republicans?
Originally uploaded by A digital life by Rod Rodriguez
wonder if someone will point out to the governor that adultery is against the law in the state that he "governs?"
south carolina's code of laws, title 16--crimes and offenses, chapter 15 "offenses against morality and decency"
section 16-15-60. adultery or fornication.
any man or woman who shall be guilty of the crime of adultery or fornication shall be liable to indictment and, on conviction, shall be severally punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year or by both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.
Labels: liars, republicans, right hypocrisy, sexscapades
down the penrose lane
why would a governor of a state go to a foreign country, alone, with no security detail and not notify the us embassy there (let alone his staff and family) when there is a chance of being kidnapped?
bizarre. just bizarre.
Labels: governor, mystery, south america, south carolina
drink at your own risk
water quality disclosure not government's job.oh, freakin' come on. of course disclosure is the government's job. it oversees the supply and part of "overseeing" isn't just making money, but actually providing a life sustaining substance that won't harm the populace. the public is trusting that the water they are drinking is safe and, companies being for profit in nature will try any which way to save money, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the public. that's where the government comes in. it's there to protect its investment....its citizens. if the current government and its agencies can't do that, it needs to be replaced.
government agencies that oversee thousands of small water suppliers in california don't have to order the companies to notify their customers when their water is contaminated, the state supreme court has ruled. - sfgate
Labels: government, pollution, toxins, water
mad about a missing governor
what does success look like?
this is what great music looks like:
this is what courage looks like:
here is a group of american voters debating politics:
ah hell, is there anything else we don't know about you?
just one thing: i'm a furry. a gay liberal furry. i think everyone already knows about the gay and liberal parts. but the furry thing... well, i've been a furry for as long back as i can remember -- there just wasn't a name for that back then. now it's official...
hell, let the games begin...
the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees and the moon up above...and a guy they call "gov"
his wife's response when asked about her missing husband was that she was "not concerned". she later changed her story to say that he was writing a book and wanted to get away from the kids. he didn't want to get away from them by going to his office where he could probably have complete silence plus access to research materials, nor did he want to check into a hotel room where he could have silence and access to research materials or, at least a writing desk. no, he was walking in the woods all by himself on the appalachian trail...
...which doesn't pass through south carolina.
and now? he claims he was in buenos aires, argentina. duh huh? "it's a great city."
if i were a betting man, i'd bet that the governor was getting his walking stick polished by someone other than his wife. the whole story is awfully fishy, but, surprisingly, nobody claims went fishing.
listen to your mother...
james, you neglected to say that i quit smoking after having the flu years ago, and i've had nothing but problems with my lungs and sinuses ever since! just as essaress, it takes me forever to bounce back, especially after having pneumonia twice last fall and winter! mom :-)
for the record, mom quit smoking after having the flu years ago, and she's had nothing but problems with her lungs and sinuses ever since. just as essaress, it takes her forever to bounce back, especially after having pneumonia twice last fall and winter. so the bottom line here is, don't smoke. and if you do smoke, then quit now. because it will mess up your health something fierce. (by the way, the culture ghost can tell you all about what can happen if you don't quit smoking, too.)
sorry about leaving all that out, mom. i tend to generalize when i go off on a tangent these days... (good lord, you really are keeping up with skippy's blog. your son's a real piece o' work, ain't he...)
Labels: life
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
skippy's tuesday nite music club
cake - "short skirt/long jacket"
Labels: music, sacramento, skippy's music club, youtube
pistachio recall...same as it ever was...
tainted nuts but different packaging.
the u.s. food and drug administration is warning people not to eat california prime produce- or orange county orchards-brand pistachios.
fda officials said orca distribution west inc. of anaheim, calif., received and repackaged pistachios recalled by setton pistachios of terra bella inc. setton had recalled all of its pistachios because of possible salmonella contamination that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections. - upi
Labels: food safety, recalls
rip ed mcmahon
but it was in the role of the faithful tonto to carson's wry lone ranger that mr. mcmahon made his sideman's mark. after he rolled out his introduction like a red carpet for introduction like a red carpet for the boss, and after carson delivered his nightly monologue, mr. mcmahon, in jacket and tie, would take his seat on the couch beside the host's desk, chat and banter with carson a bit before the guests came on and almost invariably guffaw at his jokes, even when he was the butt of them. when the guests did arrive, he would slide over to make room and rarely interrupt.
the work paid handsomely — some reports said $5 million a year — and it made mr. mcmahon a familiar face, and voice, in millions of households. "the tonight show" became the country's most popular late-night television diversion, and the "heeeeere's johnny!" introduction became a national catchphrase...
"i laugh for an hour and then go home," mr. mcmahon once said. "i've got the world's greatest job."
we are touched by ed's passing. skippy, along w/his friend buzz belmondo (of whom we have spoken before), were lucky enough to work w/ed on a tv project (that never saw the light of day) back in the 90's.
ed was a consumate professional and a lovely person. after watching buzz do his routine only once, ed jumped in for the second rehearsal and fed buzz the straight lines for his jokes. afterwards skippy told buzz, "ed mcmahon was your straight man!" an honor indeed in hollywood.
for a couple of years after that, the skippy's received christmas cards from the mcmahons. ed was a class act and a true hollywood legend.
we suppose god needed someone to introduce johnny carson up in heaven.
rest in peace, ed mcmahon.
south carolina governor sanford wasn't nude hiking
on tuesday, sources told news 4's nigel robertson that a state vehicle is missing and was tracked down, not to the appalachian trail, but to the hartsfield-jackson airport in atlanta.
sources told robertson that a federal agent spotted sanford in the airport boarding a plane. robertson was told that the governor was not accompanied by security detail. - wyff4
Labels: governor, mystery, south carolina
congrats to the culture ghost
Labels: blogtopia, cancer, healthcare
the rats are leaving the ship
they want the united states to fail. greed over country.
executives in charge of the largest us companies sent a signal of their concerns by selling far more shares than they bought this month, according to data based on securities and exchange commission filings.
share sales by so-called company insiders are outstripping purchases so far this month by more than 22 times. trimtabs, the investment research company, said insiders of s&p 500 listed companies have unloaded $2.6bn in shares in june, compared with $120m in purchases."the smartest players in the us stock market – the top insiders who run public companies – are not betting their own money on an economic recovery," said charles biderman, chief executive of trimtabs. - financial times
Labels: ceo, financial markets, stock market
case of missing governor sanford solved
(h/t to the fabulous thom hartmann)
Labels: governor, hiking, mystery, south carolina
obama signs anti-smoking bill...
the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act allows the fda to lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, ban candy flavorings that appeal to kids and block misleading labels such "low tar" and "light." tobacco companies also will be required to cover their cartons with large graphic warnings.
the law won't let the fda ban nicotine or tobacco outright, but the agency will be able to regulate what goes into tobacco products, make public the ingredients and prohibit marketing campaigns geared toward children...
whether this law will live up to expectations or not, i don't know. time will tell. new think-of-the-children laws like this one always sound great in theory while the president's ink is still a wee bit wet. but what i do know is my own history of smoking. it goes like this...
Labels: politics
Monday, June 22, 2009
skippy's monday nite music club
travis - "side"
Labels: music, skippy's music club, ufo, youtube
calitics sums up the california dream dilemma
...but as our infrastructure deteriorates, our manufacturing sector withers, and the innovation inspired by education diminishes, will the middle class really stay in california? could they afford to?
so, with arnold's cuts to calgrants, public schools, community colleges, state parks, and other services utilized heavily by the middle class, will the middle class flee? is this the way that the california dream really ends?- brian at calitics
cue the locusts.
Labels: california, economy, education, infrastructure, republicans
shades of danny boy's potatoe
on saturday, pat buchanan hosted a conference to discuss how republicans can regain a majority in america. during one discussion, panelists suggested supporting english-only initiatives as a prime way of attracting "working class white democrats." the discussion ridiculed judge sotomayor for the fact that she studied children's classics to improve her grammar while attending college. the panelists also suggested that, without english as the official language, president obama would force americans to speak spanish.
one salient feature of the event was the banner hanging over the english-only advocates. the word conference was spelled "conferenece." - think progress
Labels: republicans, right hypocrisy, supreme court
daily kos pootie-a-thon to benefit the netroots for the troops effort. in pittsburgh this august, our goal is to pack 300 care packages to be sent to our soldiers stationed overseas...
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Labels: blogtopia
now that's creepy...
somewhere down the line, maybe within the next two years, i want to start playing live shows again. presently, i have neither the equipment nor the means, so it's all speculative right now. i'm not looking to make a career out of music -- i don't have what it takes to do that, i figured that out years ago. i just want to have a little fun now and then, that's all.
and one of the songs i want to play is boots walker's bizarre little ditty "they're here." i've always loved this tune. but after seeing this clip, i'm not so sure i can do it justice.
enjoy -- if you can...
a skippy reader in the know responds
people are still not delinquent until 3 years have passed. 2005 returns just went delinquent on 4/15 of this year.i stand corrected..but it still "looks" baaaaaaaaad.
the guy who said he filed every so often -- well, now it has to be in under 3 years, but he is right about getting back all the overpayments for that period. the computer automatically tacks on interest. anything older than 2006 and they confiscate the overpayments instead of giving you interest. and even when they confiscate the money, they send one last registered letter saying "if you have a good excuse, like you were sick or we are wrong about when you sent it, notify us now." a simple proof of mailing by 4/15 will get the money sent right along, with a delay for internal paperwork.
and these policies are not based on rich/poor -- only on dates of receipt.
Labels: irs, skippy reader, taxes
Sunday, June 21, 2009
ten random late night pandora tunes...
Labels: music
skippy's sunday night music club
will smith, his son and a few friends - "just the two of us"
Labels: holiday, music, skippy's music club, youtube
goldman sachs...most profitable year ever
staff at goldman sachs staff can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year, sparking concern that the big investment banks which survived the credit crunch will derail financial regulation reforms.
a lack of competition and a surge in revenues from trading foreign currency, bonds and fixed-income products has sent profits at goldman sachs soaring, according to insiders at the firm.
staff in london were briefed last week on the banking and securities company's prospects and told they could look forward to bumper bonuses if, as predicted, it completed its most profitable year ever. figures next month detailing the firm's second-quarter earnings are expected to show a further jump in profits. warren buffett, who bought $5bn of the company's shares in january, has already made a $1bn gain on his investment. - the guardian
it's time we start rewarding folks who actually do something.
Labels: banking, class warfare, corporations, financial markets, greed
new rules...
because putting things in perspective is a good thing...
watching the events in iran and listening to talking heads
just wondering.
Labels: election, election integrity, Iran, republicans, vote, voting integrity
too funny...too true
(h/t linkmeister in the glorious "foreign land" known as hawai'i.)
Labels: hawaii, healthcare, public health, youtube
Saturday, June 20, 2009
skippy's saturday night music club
janis joplin - "summertime" (live in stockholm 1969)
Labels: music, skippy's music club, summer, youtube
question of the day
Labels: cookies, food, food safety, public health
this is amusing...
Labels: life
one more tally hall video, and i'll cut it out...
twenty bucks says skippy reader mahakal will love this one.
recommended reading...
it's summer solstice parade time!
Summer Solstice - float
Originally uploaded by santa barbarian
foreclosure causes pain
one day soon, deputies may shutter the ranch and evict the retired emergency room nurse, likely spelling the end of a rescue operation that has saved hundreds of neglected and abused horses.and why did she refinace primarily? to cover her medical bills.
"this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me," she said, standing in the doorway of her near-empty house.
like thousands of riverside county residents, duncan, 63, fell on hard times, refinanced and ended up with a monthly mortgage she couldn't afford. during the housing boom, she said, her ranch was valued at $2.4 million. now the bank says it's worth about $345,000. she was scheduled for eviction monday but won a last-minute delay friday. for how long, no one knows.
unlike others who can just pack up and leave, however, duncan must relocate the contents of a small noah's ark.
"she was operating a very well-run rescue group," said john welsh, spokesman for the riverside county department of animal services. "you can't just say you love animals. you have to prove it, and she has."
as the operation grew, so did the costs.
then, in 2005, duncan was diagnosed with tongue and throat cancer. undergoing treatment, short of money and no longer working, she refinanced three times. each time, she was charged thousands of dollars in fees. - latte times
can any animal loving hollywood star help out? maybe donate half of your multi-million dollar salary for one picture to someone who is doing some good in our society...saving lives of horses.
hey, sylvester stallone and tommy lee jones...y'all play polo...and kevin costner and kevin klein, you guys rode horses in silverado. can you pony up a few bucks to help?
meadowbrook animal sanctuary & haven
18285 collier ave. suite k, po box 106, lake elsinore, ca 92530; or call 951-505-7871
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Labels: animals, foreclosure, horses
Friday, June 19, 2009
skippy's friday nite music club
joe smith - "games people play" (grammy award winner for best song - 1970)
Labels: congress, healthcare, music, skippy's music club, youtube
mad about don't ask don't tell
things are heating up
rising ocean temperatures near worst-case predictions. the ocean is warming about 50 per cent faster than reported two years ago, according to an update of the latest climate science. - melbourne age
Labels: climate change, environment, global warming, ocean
question of the day, california citizens only...
Labels: questions
california leading the way yet again
california's unemployment rate shot up to 11.5% in may, its highest level since current record-keeping began more than three decades ago.now i don't think this 11.5% includes those folks who have given up the job hunt, those who are not qualified to file for unemployment insurance or those folks who are underemployed. to factor in those, estimates of the true unemployment in california can range up to 15%.
...the national unemployment rate for may was 9.4%. - latimes
we're hurting and sacramento is just playing freakin' political games.
Labels: jobs, unemployment
how the hell do you not file tax returns
choice as chief of protocol for the state department, a position that carries the status of an ambassadorship, did not file tax returns for 2005 and 2006, errors she corrected last november.apparently this woman is clueless on the protocol we working slobs of the country have to adhere to. if one of us "non wealthy, non connected" americans didn't file tax returns for 2 years, we'd have the irs breathing down our neck threatening to take everything we have.
the nominee, capricia penavic marshall, has placed blame for the problem on the postal service and on miscommunication between her husband and their accountant.- nytimes
2 americas. it's not democratic vs. republican...it's rich vs. poor.
*update* - a skippy reader in the know responds...
people are still not delinquent until 3 years have passed. 2005 returns just went delinquent on 4/15 of this year.
the guy who said he filed every so often -- well, now it has to be in under 3 years, but he is right about getting back all the overpayments for that period. the computer automatically tacks on interest. anything older than 2006 and they confiscate the overpayments instead of giving you interest. and even when they confiscate the money, they send one last registered letter saying "if you have a good excuse, like you were sick or we are wrong about when you sent it, notify us now." a simple proof of mailing by 4/15 will get the money sent right along, with a delay for internal paperwork.
and these policies are not based on rich/poor -- only on dates of receipt.
Labels: class warfare, irs, two americas, wealthy
hoppy kangaroo blogging friday
Country romance
Originally uploaded by aaardvaark
more furry fun and frivolity over at the modulator's friday ark
Labels: animals, flickr, kangaroo blogging friday
Thursday, June 18, 2009
skippy's thursday nite music club
elvis costello (disguised as a late nite talk show host) and "peace, love and understanding."
Labels: elvis, music, skippy's music club, youtube
illegally download 24 songs
Labels: copyright, corporations, lawlessness, lawsuits, music
bank of greedy tax sucking america hating bloodsuckers
bailed-out bank of america has been doling out millions in bonuses in an effort to lure talent and keep investment bankers who management views as vital, sources tell the post.lure "talent?" yeah...tanking the county's economy took real talent.
...the guarantees being shelled out by the embattled bank run by ceo ken lewis are raising eyebrows on wall street because bofa has taken $45 billion in capital from the troubled asset relief program and hasn't been allowed to refund that money. - the nypost
Labels: bailout, banking, bankruptcy, financial markets, greed, new yawk, taxpayers
the united states won't enforce anti-trust laws
a senior chinese official yesterday attacked the planned iron ore joint venture between rio tinto and bhp billiton, raising expectations that beijing may use its antitrust law to try to scupper the deal.
chen yanhai, head of the raw material department of china's ministry of industry and information technology, told state media that the joint venture "has an obvious colour of monopoly" and should be subject to china's anti-monopoly laws. - financial times
Labels: china, corporations, economy
we can't buy american in our stimulus package
it's official: china wants to shut foreign companies out of its 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) economic stimulus package. the "buy chinese" command laid down publicly by top planners in beijing will unavoidably intensify the tension between china and its trading partners. - forbesand it could hamper our green economy
a controversial "buy chinese" policy could leave overseas manufacturers of wind turbines and other renewable energy technologies locked out of the bidding for new low-carbon projects undertaken as part of china's $586bn (£361bn) economic stimulus package. - business green
Labels: china, economy, foreign policy
and now... a little more music...
this band calling itself tally hall? i totally love it. i've posted one of their videos before. last month, in fact. but tally hall is my new leonard cohen -- when i stumble upon an act i truly love from the bottom of my heart, i just can't seem to stop praising it no matter how hard i try.
Labels: music
one hell of a great call -- and then some...
on the off chance anyone even noticed i reinstated americablog on the blogroll. i had removed them over the summer when their "coverage" of the campaign became so vituperative. but i think it's going to be a lot of fun watching them as the new president is revealed to them...call me sadistic
and from john aravosis yesterday:
i was surprised to see the human rights campaign's president joe solmonese standing with openly-gay reps. tammy baldwin and barney frank behind president obama at a white house event that most considered a thinly-veiled attempt to divert attention from the uproar over the white house's total abandonment of its campaign promises to our community. is it just me, or is terribly inappropriate for our leaders to be giving the president cover at this time, when just today his spokesman reaffirmed that the president stands behind the homophobic doma brief that equated our marriages with incest and pedophilia?
my sense is that tammy, joe and barney are giving the president cover, and you don't give him cover unless and until he fixes the problem. these benefits do not fix the problem. they don't even scratch the surface (and in fact, they're not even new benefits). tammy and barney, for their part, continue to host a gay fundraiser for the dnc, along with jared polis, next week even though the gay attendees are dropping out like flies.
i'm just very disappointed.
i am, too. just not for the same reasons. but first i want to say: you called it spot on, ghost. you nailed him good -- and frankly, you've schooled me, too. in a mere five months. good work -- as always. but i'm not finished with this yet after all...
i honestly did not get the impression that same-sex relationships were being compared to incest or pedophilia when i first got wind of this legal brief. and believe it or not, i still don't get that impression from the way it's worded. call me blind, but what i see is the doj using cases where one state's laws disagree with those of another in explaining its defense of doma. i didn't like the fact that it defended doma, but i was far more upset that a mormon co-wrote that brief. which might explain how those incest and pedophilia cases got in there in the first place. i liken letting a mormon cult member co-write that doj brief to letting randall terry run a women's clinic -- don't tell me ideology had no hand in this whatsoever.
Labels: gay/lesbian, it is what it is


text:
Cats and the paranormal
Posted 02 November 2007 - 09:30 AM
Its funny my husbands got 3 cats who have bonded closely to. and the quiet independent one who usually doesnt curl up with me is headbutting the laptop and purring and asking for love. lol she knows im talking bout them. anyways back to topic. i believe cats are intune with the paranormal
Posted 07 November 2007 - 09:35 PM
She does chase things that I can't see but honestly I think she just has Tourette's Syndrome (she has plently of what I like to call "tics"). There have been a couple of occasions where she was sitting at the top of the stairs staring at the closet door, then she suddenly bolted down the stairs and leaped into the door (must've hurt). Once I was on the couch in the living room, and she actually jumped from the "cat walk" on the 2nd floor on the couch.. I don't know if she saw something or if she was just happy to see me... I just know that it scared me half to death....
Posted 08 November 2007 - 11:07 AM
Of course, if you've ever seen the Far Side cartoon (oh, how I miss that!), there was one comic that pretty much sums it up: It shows an woman, sitting in a chair. Behind her, two dogs are sitting, looking at a closet door. One dog says to the other one, something like, "You wanna have some fun? Let's just stare at the door and start barking". It's much funnier with the drawing, but I can't find it.
Beannacht ort
Posted 09 November 2007 - 06:24 PM
Experienced and wise hunters will use non bleach, non color safe detergents that have flourocites in them because the deer will see the hunter from miles away, lit up like a beacon. They usually have a black light to test new detergent products... if there is some glow under the black light, you will have a real hard time staying hidden from deer. This is an example... a human wearing the chemical will catch and magnify the UV in the pre-morning hours. They look like walking search lights.
Cats have this vision too and yes, they see without a doubt far more than we do. And their sight is far more sensitive than even a FLIR based device that we use to... you guessed it, detect temperature changes in the air that herald a spiritual presence.
If you want to test this, go get a infrared remote and wait for your cat to sleep. Unplug the device it controls, point it at your cats eyes from about four feet away, and press some buttons. The changing patterns that we cannot see will wake your cat, usually. Some cats are heavy sleepers though, so it's not 100 percent reliable on every animal, though it works more often than not. Hehehe, I have my cat chase the IR beam too, like a red dot on the wall people like to play with with laser pointers. Makes a great conversation piece, cause it looks like the cat is chasing nothing.
Posted 14 April 2009 - 12:54 PM
I have a 3 month old siamese blue point. A minor story when i was younger living at my grandparents place i would be the only one home and downstairs watching tv or playing nintendo,
i would hear footsteps up stairs, i would check it out but nobody was there it freaked me out of course but eventually it was all good .. this was many yrs ago now..
Posted 14 April 2009 - 04:58 PM
I think all animals re sensitvie to energy and spirits,but cats more so.They are a witches familiar for
a reason one would suppose.
Posted 15 April 2009 - 11:11 AM
My familiar : Cat
I've always been very connected with my cat Ruth, And shes always able to tell when theres a ghost in the house/around the house/ect. Her curiousity and brave sort of adventure into the paranormal activity that goes around our home and the bond made me choose her as my familiar.
Watching her chase around dead rats and mice would be kinda cute if the rodents hadn't been killed by poison.
Posted 27 June 2009 - 04:12 PM
Posted 19 January 2010 - 07:13 PM
I always knew cats were special, that's why I love 'em so much!
Cats are made of energy. They take up the patches of sun on the carpet (sun/heat is energy), every time you try to concentrate on a project or reading a book or something, they put themselves *right* where you're focusing.
And when I do tarot readings, my cats get on the bed with me and lay around (but never *on* the cards). This is why I think cats are familiars, involved in the paranormal, and are generally good about keeping ghosts and other such beings away... they are attracted to energy!
Edited by thedragonwalker, 19 January 2010 - 07:13 PM.
Posted 20 January 2010 - 09:04 PM
Just my opinion, I could be completely wrong though.
Posted 18 March 2010 - 02:08 AM
i also am a believer that cats can sense things that humans cannot. recently, two things occurred that make me believe that even more:
i visited mount carmel cemetery, home to a lot of "infamous" individuals on two different occasions. during my last visit there i experienced some very strong negative sensations and had a variety of strange occurrences happen following the visit. two of those incidents involved my cats. one was fairly simple, which others have discussed in this thread, which is that when i got home that night, my cats were acting crazier than usual, so it appeared. it could have just been my imagination since i was already freaked out from my experience, but it just seemed as if they were acting nuttier than usual (i.e. jumping at the walls, looking around wildly, running about like crazy, staring at "nothing" behind me, etc). another incident happened one morning while i was home alone. my alarm had awoken me and i was relaxing in bed for a little bit before i had to get up for the day. my eyes were closed but i was almost fully awake. i heard one of my cats come into my room and meow really loud. all of a sudden i heard a loud crash... several items from the shelf in my closet had fallen out onto the floor. these items were not teetering on the edge of the shelf, or stacked improperly that would warrant a fall, but it happened, and i found it strange how my cat meowed just before it happened. she was not involved with the fall (i.e. jumping up on the shelf and knocking things down)... she was sitting on the floor when it happened, and there is no way she could have gotten even close to getting on that shelf. two small instances, but both sort of validated this belief for me.
also, whenever i cry or am upset about something or sick, they always run to my aid. <3
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text:
USAV Honors U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team
Bill Kauffman
USA Volleyball Communications
Phone: 719-228-6800
Email: email@example.com
USAV Facebook - @USA_Volleyball
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Dec. 20, 2012) – The U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team, ranked number-one in the world by the FIVB, collected one additional honor for 2012 by being named the USA Volleyball Indoor Team of the Year.
The U.S. Women ended the 2012 season with an amazing 30-2 record using varied lineups in three different tournaments netting two gold medals and a silver medal. In the pinnacle event, Team USA came within two sets of claiming its first-ever Olympic Games gold medal. The Americans won their first seven matches at the 2012 Olympic Games in London to reach the gold-medal match for the second consecutive Olympics. The U.S. then reeled off a 25-11 opening set win over defending Olympic champion Brazil, but came up short in a four-set loss.
"Our team had a great season in 2012 and we're honored to receive this recognition from USA Volleyball," said 2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Coach Hugh McCutcheon.
"We made an incredible run," U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team captain Lindsey Berg (Honolulu) said. "We were undefeated all summer (one loss without the Olympians) and with 25 girls playing many different spots. Obviously it is disappointing, but obviously it is an incredible journey to do what we did the last four years. I am proud of my team and have no regrets with what I left on the court."
Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) was selected as the best spiker of the 2012 Olympic Games women's volleyball competition. She converted 136 of 290 attacks into points for a .379 hitting efficiency to top the Best Spiker Category. Further, she ranked second among all players in scoring with 161 total points. Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) ranked in a tie for 10th place in scoring with 95 points. Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) finished with 80 points for 16th place in scoring. Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah) ranked 20th in scoring with 75 points. Davis (Stockton, Calif.) held a 74.3 excellent reception percent for fifth in Best Receiver and averaged 3.59 digs per set for sixth in Best Digger. Overall, she was second in Best Libero with an 8.30 average per set. Berg, despite missing the quarterfinal match, ranked fourth overall in Best Setter with 9.74 running sets average.
The U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team opened the 2012 season by capturing the 20th Annual FIVB World Grand Prix title with an undefeated 14-0 record. The victory marked the third consecutive year – and fifth time overall – that the U.S. won the 16-team premier international women's volleyball competition. In the process, Team USA became just the second country to win the FIVB World Grand Prix for three consecutive years.
The U.S. roster composition changed significantly week-to-week during the World Grand Prix, but that did not stop the team's momentum on court as everyone contributed to the victory. The U.S. had 17 players compete at some point during 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix and all 17 had at least two starts. The balanced squad featured 11 players with at least five starts each and contributing to the gold-medal cause. Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) was named the most valuable player and best scorer of the 2012 FIVB World Grand Prix. She scored a Final Round-best 103 points and finished second in best spiker with a 43.8 kill percent, third in best digger with 1.84 per set and seventh in best blocker with a 0.68 average.
Team USA continued its dominance on the court at the XI Women's Pan American Cup, despite sending a team void of 2012 Olympians competing against two squads laden with Olympic athletes. The Americans finished pool play with a 4-1 record with their only loss to Cuba. However, Team USA bounced back to defeat Olympics-bound Dominican Republic to win its pool and followed that up with another win over Dominican Republic in the semifinals. The U.S. Women then rallied from two sets down to defeat Olympics-bound Brazil in five sets for its first Pan Am Cup gold medal since 2003.
Kristin Richards (Orem, Utah), the most valuable player of the Pan Am Cup, scored a Team USA season-high 35 points with 32 kills, two aces and a block in the title match. She also pulled in the Best Scorer award with 128 points in seven matches.
The U.S. Women also hosted Bulgaria in a three-match challenge series July 14-18 in Southern California in which the Americans won each contest with a different leading scorer.
During the course of 2012, a total of 26 athletes played in at least two international matches for the U.S. Women contributing to the 30 total wins. To review the cumulative DataVolley stats for the squad, click here. For the 2012 results, click here.