Trex, peace go with you.

-your brother

TRex, sorry to hear about your friend.

As the legendary Stan Freberg once remarked in one of his more serious tracks, “We’re all just sort of penciled in here.”

Peace, TRex, to you both.

Go and hold your friend, stroke her face, and give her your wordless love. She will know you.

Be at peace.

TRex, I am so sorry.

I am so sorry for you and for your friend. It is a terrible thing to go through.

I don’t understand why so many people who are so special and bring such joy and light to the world get taken away cruelly and too soon

I tell myself that maybe God needs them as much as we do. (Nine months, and I’m still wanting to call my mother every week.)

my deepest sympathies for your pain, and that of your friend. If it hasn’t been done already, get her and her family in touch with a hospice organization- they really can help with not just the medical aspects, but the emotional and spiritual pieces as well.

oh sweetie pea, love to you and love to your friend.

Sorry to hear it, TRex. God, would I love to see the day when that bastard disease would never take a life again.

So touching – your words. Your friend has a very wonderful friend.

Your friend will have your love forever, T.

TRex — Wishing you both safe passage to the next place, here in this plane or the next.

go hug her–be there and love her

It sounds like she did what she wanted in life, which is wonderful, and far more than many many others get to do. She got to touch people with her voice–a great gift to her and to all who heard her.

Thank you, darkblack, and everybody. I’m sitting here at the computer with tears streaming down my face. (That’ll do wonders for my radio voice.)

I didn’t expect to do this post tonight, but it was all I could think about. I’ll try to be funny again soon.

I tell myself that God needs them as much as we do. (6)

Same here, she is going to a better place.

I’m so sorry, TRex. I’ll be keeping you and your friend in my thoughts.

Oh Trex you made me cry. My Mom has cancer too right now. I guess I am in denial of what might happen. Of course she is my only parent that I like too. Life sucks sometimes, it really sucks. My grandma is 92 and going strong, my mom is 59 and she has cancer. What is up with that.

Big hug for you and your friend. Spend the time and cherish it.

I know that I am constantly recommending this book – but it is something I read that made the real necessary difference in my life when facing a real deal serious diagnosis. My sis does end of life care, and recommends it to her patients and their families.

kitchen table wisdom

——-

I’m really sorry to hear that. The Ms. and I went last night to a memorial service for a good friend’s mother, who we were close enough with to call “Mom.” She’d had emphysema for quite a few years (she didn’t stop smoking soon enough, sadly) and got a lung infection she couldn’t recover from. She wasn’t young, but it was still too soon.

about the mad at God thing: My grandma would always say that when you’re born, the day you’re going to die is written in a big book somewhere, but you’re never allowed to know the date. The reason is because never knowing how long or how little you have left doesn’t matter—it’s what you do every day, and to try to be good and make a difference and stuff that matters.
(then she would say something like “you could be hit by a truck tomorrow”) : >

TRex – so very sorry that a good friend, and wonderful spirit has to be taken from this world before you, her friends, and the world have had their fill of her light. All I know having just experienced the untimely death of someone way too young to go, there are no answers. Only those left with the pain of the loss.

Acceptance is one of life’s biggest tribulations. She will not be forgotten and you will make sure of that.

TRex-
Thank you for sharing this with us. Your grief, pain and love are tangible; I wish these damned toobz that both connect and separate all of us could transmit our affection and comfort back to you as effectively.

TRex: Hold her hand and talk to her. Even if she doesn’t respond, she’ll know you’re there. Oh, and consider yourself hugged.

I had an experience when giving birth to my first child that I can only describe as kundalini. My head and consciousness were cracked wide open; I realized during that singular moment that we are one, we move as one, what separates us is illusion, what separates is what we are supposed to transcend.

What makes me angriest in this world is that which seems to work in deliberate opposition to our transcendence; I cannot fault disease and age because in some way, it is the natural process of transcendence for us to be joined in some way that no longer requires corporeal presence. There are people I’ve known and loved who’ve passed, who are still very much here — just not drinking with us, at least for the moment. It is the power that separates while we are corporeal that we must resist.

This week we “celebrate” the passing of my brother-in-law seven years ago at the age of 46. It was sudden, devastating; there are never words to describe the pain of loss. It seemed as if we’d never be happy again, my husband having lost his best friend. I wish I could spare TRex and others this pain, but it is the nature of our humanity. We take more pains now with others in the family than we did before, realizing it is all too short this time in this particular place. And yet, this brother is still with us; he is with us every damned time my husband tells that silly joke that made him giggle like a girl.

It will be better, just not soon.

I’ll try to be funny again soon.

Take your time. As you’re here for us, we’re here for you and your friend.

OT – Colbert: Lamont is using his commercials to get his message out to al qaeda sleeper cells in the US!

ROFL!

Thoughts with you and your friend, my friend.

I can’t come close to the eloquence of the other posters but I was very moved by your post and I will keep you and her in my prayers.

{{{{{{TRex & Little E}}}}}}

Truly sorry for your friend. Recently I spent two days at the bedside of an old sailing partner in a semi-coma. We went back four decades and I knew all five kids when they were young. He tried really hard to come around to no avail. He was sent off with the best vibes possible. Peace to you and yours. Wil

That clear pure voice…I can almost hear it.
love to you both

Rex, sorry for your friend.

I’m a bluegrasser; not so much into rock, but Amos’ bittersweet song, accurately reflects the solitude and passages we have to go through.

I hope the knowledge of the continuity of our souls offers you, and your friend, some small consolation.

I’m but a lurker, but I know: my Flock, my closest friends, are the most precious thing in my life. They have helped me survive when nobody else would come to my side, more then once. Were one of the to die, the grief would be overwhelming.

It sounds like you have one too, T-Rex. From one dinosaur to another, blessings to your friend and you. Even if I am but a stranger feathered one in a cruel world…I understand.

one of my mentors, a big, huge man from arkansas, had surgery today and was found to have cancer throughout his abdomen, including his pancreas, which is a death sentence. they took his stomach, so for as long as he continues to live, he’ll be eating through a tube. if you knew this guy, you’d realize he’d rather be seeing the business end of a pillow right now.

i can relate, t-rex. it’s fucking awful to lose people who you care about, and who mean something to you.

it’s times like this when you wonder why the shitbags continue to live like royalty while good people die.

as someone much wiser than me once said, bad things happen to good people. a lot. that’s just how life is.

my condolences on the impending loss of your friend.

From Julian of Norwick, via the writer, Carol Lee Flinders, comes this big and little-person lullaby for soothing difficult times: “All will be well and all will be well and all manner of thing will be well.” I sang it to my then 4 month old niece during the days before and weeks after by sister’s brain surgery. It was very nice, almost like a prayer.

TRex, I am so sorry. May the peace that passes understanding surround you and your friend. You are loved.

a beautiful tribute David, clearly reflecting a beautiful friendship

so sorry darlin’

You are doing the right thing, going to visit. It’s the most important act, all that matters, what we are left with is friendship and compassion at the end, in this world.

Well, this shift is almost over. I’m going to make my way to the grocery store and then home. See you all in a bit.

You are a sweet, strong, genuine, caring man T. Thanks for sharing your pain, your anger and your love.

J

Hey TRex,

Thank you for the tears on my face; I’ve never seen the pain of unjust loss better expressed.

Thanks too for the Tori – I had no idea you were a fan.

TRex, positive vibes coming atcha from the NW.

So sorry to hear this news, TRex. We grieve with you, here. This song is new to me, but it’s an amazing piece of work.

A book that’s been around awhile but which helped me resolve many things in my mind about inexplicable tragedies like this is Harold Kushner’s “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” I actually keep extra copies on hand to give to friends who are hurting. If you’d like one of ‘em after the “gold dust” settles from your loss, drop me an e-mail and it’ll be headed your way…

dale dot short at gmail dot com

I’m so sorry, David. I know right now you’re too sad to care about this, but you were both quoted and linked to in the top rated diary at dkos today. It’s not Wolcott, but it’s not nothing. When you come back to this thread in the future, and you’re feeling a bit better, you can read this and, I hope, enjoy it. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/16/15553/6570

My thoughts and deepest sympathies for everyone here who is going through this right now.

My parents are in their mid-60s, I visit them every year and when they come though town – who knows how much longer any of us will be around. As Neil Finn sings: “I could go anytime/there’s nothing safe about this life…”

It’s no substitute, TRex, for this very special friendship that is disappearing like water in an open palm, but please feel buoyed by the caring of all the people here. And when the grief waves hit — let them. I’m reciting Dame Julian’s beautiful mantra for you — we all are. Who knows why He decides things the way he does? We’ve just got to take our licks, grieve, and keep on keeping on, enriched and ever changed by having had those special people/beings in our lives, for however long we have them.

Peace.

OT From Huffpo:

Airline Gives Employees Tips On Saving Money After Slashing Wages:
-Dig Stuff Out Of The Trash
-Take Dates To The Woods
-Shop In Thrift Stores…
***

To think I was ahead of the curve when I became a street musician.

My heart dies a tiny bit more when I hear of another musician dying before their time. I will pray for her and you both TRex.

TRex

My prayers are with you and your friend. I’ve had three close friends pass on in the past 8 months, which sucks because I’m really not a mourning person.

I wish you well in this time.

so sorry to hear about your friend, trex. may god be with her.

I hope your friend has no pain….she is going to place free of physical wants or needs.

And we’re stuck here with the assholes.

So sad to lose someone so young….go see your friend very soon.

Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 48

My heart dies a tiny bit more when I hear of another musician dying before their time. I will pray for her and you both TRex.

I remember when Nancy Lamott passed away. For those who’ve never heard her, she was a caberet singer with the voice of an angel, and she passed from cancer just as her career was taking off to amazing heights.

Be happy for the hearts your friend touched, TRex. In this life that’s all that matters.

TRex,

Your post, the song, are ineffably touching.

You said “I believe in God, although sometimes I wonder why, and at times like this, I sure don’t like Him very much.’

Maybe you’d feel more comfortable with the idea of God if you either didn’t anthropomorphise the Deity or make it male.

I’ve lost so many friends and close relatives over the years, held the hands of a few in their last moments, been brought back twice myself with the paddles, and played “taps” at so many, many memorials for Vets, that I’ve ceased to be bitter about the injustices on an individual basis. A lot of what makes us human is how we take these events – one at a time.

But it is hard. I was asked top speak briefly at a memorial for a great Alaska pioneer last Saturday. He was a gruff old fart who was many things over the years, including one of the best dog photographers there is. But I spoke of how young flute and piccolo players were inspired by him year after year, and how he was a model for for so many, including my daughter. When I got to the part about him being a surrogate gramps for some kids I’ve worked with, I broke up and couldn’t continue until I drank some water and took a few deep breaths. Then it was OK, and I was able to share some more of his life with his friends.

OT: NYTimes Via Atrios

Yet some outside experts who have recently visited the White House said Bush administration officials were beginning to plan for the possibility that Iraq’s democratically elected government might not survive.

“Senior administration officials have acknowledged to me that they are considering alternatives other than democracy,” said one military affairs expert who received an Iraq briefing at the White House last month and agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity.

“Everybody in the administration is being quite circumspect,” the expert said, “but you can sense their own concern that this is drifting away from democracy.”

Condolences … your friend will know you are there for her with the squeeze of your hand or a gentle kiss on her forehead or a whisper in her ear …

TRex, I am so sorry to hear about your friend.

Years ago, in a moment of great clarity, I realized that cancer cures the human spirit of physical suffering.

The spirit, as part of the one stuff that is the god stuff of the universe, is indestructible. All flesh, all that is substantial, passes away — but the spirit is indestructible.

In Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well Act 2 Scene 1, Helena visits the King, and offers to treat his malignancy, on pain of death if she fails. He accepts, and is cured.

Perhaps you and a friend could read it to E — it might offer some comfort.

An excerpt from the text:

HELENA

What I can do can do no hurt to try,
Since you set up your rest ‘gainst remedy.
He that of greatest works is finisher
Oft does them by the weakest minister:
So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown,
When judges have been babes; great floods have flown
From simple sources, and great seas have dried
When miracles have by the greatest been denied.
Oft expectation fails and most oft there
Where most it promises, and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.

KING

I must not hear thee; fare thee well, kind maid;
Thy pains not used must by thyself be paid:
Proffers not took reap thanks for their reward.

HELENA

Inspired merit so by breath is barr’d:
It is not so with Him that all things knows
As ’tis with us that square our guess by shows;
But most it is presumption in us when
The help of heaven we count the act of men.
Dear sir, to my endeavours give consent;
Of heaven, not me, make an experiment.
I am not an impostor that proclaim
Myself against the level of mine aim;
But know I think and think I know most sure
My art is not past power nor you past cure.

KING

Are thou so confident? within what space
Hopest thou my cure?

HELENA

The great’st grace lending grace
Ere twice the horses of the sun shall bring
Their fiery torcher his diurnal ring,
Ere twice in murk and occidental damp
Moist Hesperus hath quench’d his sleepy lamp,
Or four and twenty times the pilot’s glass
Hath told the thievish minutes how they pass,
What is infirm from your sound parts shall fly,
Health shall live free and sickness freely die.

my older son’s wife died this way two years ago. she was also 36. she was diagnosed with cancer seven years before. many times i thought, how young! why not me instead?
the good that came from it, as best i can figure, is that many of us who were close to her now have an even keener awareness of how precious life is and how fragile we all are.

Peace, TRex.

And courage.

Subway Serenade — wow. Didn’t expect to see Nancy LaMott’s name, of all people. She was a hometown girl, grew up not but a few miles from here. The town took it hard when she passed; you are right, she did sound like an angel. Still does, sings with the best of them, just not with us.

My heart is with you and your friend too TRex. Your post touched me deeply as I have helped a close friend pass from cancer, it will be two years in Jan. My tears blend with yours.

I haven’t managed to comment today because a local girlfriend just came from the doc and found out she has a brain tumor. She’s scared shitless, I’ve spent most of the day in an IM window with her trying to calm her down. I had a strange dream two nights ago about a tree, a wind came up and caused the tree to sway almost in circles then uproot completely and crash to the ground. Her news was much like that for us both.

Must go, but just remembered a favorite poem by Rumi, for TRex.

I died from minerality and became vegetable;

And From vegetativeness I died and became animal.

I died from animality and became man.

Then why fear disappearance through death?

Next time I shall die

Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;

After that, soaring higher than angels -

What you cannot imagine,

I shall be that.

Oh Shez, I just caught that after posting. So very sorry. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.

TRex,

Godspeed on your journey to your beloved friend’s side.

I hope this does not seem morbid to you and I apologize if it does, but I tell you from personal experience that making that last connection – bravely saying “goodbye, until we meet again in a better place. I love you and always will” is one of the most sacred and cherished experiences lowly mortals like us will ever (barely) make it though.

The cricket household keeps you and your friend in our thoughts and prayers.

TRex:

Sorrow is a painful emotion, but it makes us better human beings having experienced it. Make this a cause for you to grow in wisdom and compassion.

Learn to deal with sorrow from Jane. Her mother’s passing reinforced in her the urgency to work for her cause. Your writings are touching many readers and will be better for the pain and sorrow you have/had to endure.

Trex dear friend … I’ll be thinking of you both and praying your friend’s step off the wheel is peaceful and surrounded by love

and you know dear, you don’t have to be funny, just yourself – we love you in all your variations

Trex:

I, and my family, were at my sister’s bedside when she died of cancer 4 years ago, at age 38. I lnow it doesn’t help, but we share your broken heart.

{{{{{{{ HUGE HUGS TO BOTH OF YOU }}}}}}}

Sorry about your terrible news, Trex. My dad died of cancer 2 years ago, and this year I lost my favorite aunt, his sister, in almost the exact same way during the exact same week. (And what kept her fighting more than anything was wanting to live long enough to see Buscho indicted!) Thing is, you don’t really lose them at all. I get almost as many communiques (for want of a better word) from them now as I did when they were here. There truly are angels among us.

Know dear Trex that many stand with you right now, sending you good energy in many different ways. Take heart.

That’s a beautiful poem you shared. gold dust in our hands, indeed.

I was just looking up some lyrics from a band from over 25 years ago. I met my husband at one of their shows.
The lead singer died of cancer at about the same age. We went to the funeral and tonight I was shocked to realize it was exactly 10 years and one month ago. Time flies…

Here’s a poem we read at my sister’s memorial service. I don’t know the author.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not here, I do not sleep
I am the thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow
I am the sun on ripened grain
I am the gentle autumn rain
I am the shining stars at night
When you awake to the morning light
I am the soft uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight
My time has come, I am at rest
I am the sunset in the west
I am the clouds that race above
Where I watch over those I love
Do not stand at my grave and cry
I am not here, I do not die
So hear the words that here I say
I am the love that guides your way.

May you be forever guided.

And may she stay forever young.

Trex-sorry to hear about the pain your friend is in…go tomorrow…it’s easier to replace jobs than it is friends.
Seems your right about God too, His Kid is much nicer and the Boy’s Mom has helped me out on more than one dark time.
Get yer ass to your friend’s bedside, we’ll cover for you.

Maybe Bush Will Get a JonBennet Bounce

Since that London Terra™ scare didn’t work out last week, maybe this will give Supreme Leader Bush that elusive boost in the polls that he and Lieberman are so desperately seeking.

Why not? Bush’s non-involvement with the apprehension of the JBR killer is a lot like his non-involvement with the London Terra™ plot.

It’s so crazy, it might just work…

Check it out folks, Abu Gonzalez wants to fight the terrorists over here so we dont have to fight them over there.

T-Rex, I’m sorry too.

When I’m too sad for words, music is where I go.

So here’s some. Nancy Lamott was awesome. I didn’t discover her until after she died, but have all of it. The album “Listen to My Heart” is my favorite. It has so much wisdom and beautiful music that all I can say is listen to it. Beth Nielsen Chapman is another stop on the musical life list. After her husband died from cancer she published “Sand and Water.” It’s remarkably beautiful. I gave it to a friend whose fiance died of meningitis on their wedding day, leaving her pregnant and bereft. She found comfort there.

We are so fragile. Sometimes I wonder what the point is.

There may still be hope for your friend, if her liver is functional:

http://www.gerson.org/

But the doctors will definitely kill her.

Sorry TRex.

TRex – there are no words, just compassion. You have mine.

Bionic – that was the poem our rabbi recited at my mom’s funeral. I believe it’s a traditional American Indian poem.

Shez, if you are still around, I would be glad to talk to you and your friend. Been there, still there.

I’m not caught up on all the comments yet, but Shez, I just read your post. I’m so sorry.

God is recruiting mighty angels. There must be something big coming.

Ed*ard T.: I only use “he” for god when I am talking or writing too fast to say “The-Infinite-World-Mind-Creator-Destroyer-Thing-That-Ties
All-of-us-together-and is-simultaneously-kitten gentle-and-Red-in-Tooth-and-Claw”.

You know, verbal shorthand.

TRex @
78

Ed*ard T.: I only use “he” for god when I am talking or writing too fast to say “The-Infinite-World-Mind-Creator-Destroyer-Thing-That-Ties
All-of-us-together-and is-simultaneously-kitten gentle-and-Red-in-Tooth-and-Claw”.

You know, verbal shorthand.

707!! Or like when I call God “Kenny”.

Your beautiful friend and your wounded soul reminded me of this song….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGC29fn8JFU

Peace to you and yours Trex

Wendy

Rayne @
59

Subway Serenade — wow. Didn’t expect to see Nancy LaMott’s name, of all people. She was a hometown girl, grew up not but a few miles from here. The town took it hard when she passed; you are right, she did sound like an angel. Still does, sings with the best of them, just not with us.

Here in NYC we have the flagship Pacifica Radio Station, WBAI. David Rothenberg plays Nancy LaMott’s music often on his saturday morning show. She had a voice like liquid silk and she was amazing on the piano. I still cry when I listen to her.

I have to go to bed. If y’all could pass on word that I might be of assistance with what she and her friend are going through, and I very much would like to help if I can . . .

Bionic @ 69

It’s by Mary Elizabeth Frye, apparently. Wonders of google-fu.

astralplame @
82

I have to go to bed. If y’all could pass on word that I might be of assistance with what she and her friend are going through, and I very much would like to help if I can . . .

“word to shez”

OK, so playing Nancy Lamott’s “We Can Be Kind”
which I haven’t listened to in forever, but it feels like an FDL theme song of sorts:

So many things we can’t control
So many hurts that happen every day
So many heartaches that pierce the soul
So much pain that won’t ever go away

How do we make it better
How do we make it through
What do we do when there’s nothing we can do

We can be kind
We can take care of each other
We can remember that deep down inside we all need the same thing
And maybe we’ll find
if we are there for each other
that together we’ll weather whatever tomorrow may bring….

Sentimental, but real.

I only use “he” for god when I am talking or writing too fast to say “The-Infinite-World-Mind-Creator-Destroyer-Thing-That-Ties
All-of-us-together-and is-simultaneously-kitten gentle-and-Red-in-Tooth-and-Claw”.

that’ll do…

TRex-

You’ll always, always be in each others heart.

I know you know.

Peace and comfort and love to you and your beloved.

More last throes:

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Bombers have demolished a statue erected in Baghdad in memory of 32 children killed last year in an insurgent attack.

In July 2005 a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car among a crowd of children who had gathered to collect sweets from U.S. soldiers near an old monument in the Baghdad al-Jadida downtown district.

To honor the memory of the 32 who were killed and 31 who were wounded, local artists used sections of the mangled car to create a sculpture to overlay the former statue in the

http://www.usatoday.com/news/w…..atue_x.htm

Thank You Rayne and TRex and astral. I love you all. TRex your synchronicities always amaze me. You reflect “As Above So Below” every single night.

She had looked it up online and has 7 out of 9 symptoms listed. She came to me right away because she knows I do healing work. I explained to her the only person we can heal is ourself, I can only guide her how to do it. I’m sure that surprised her, everyone seems to look to others or outside of themselves for help, healing, love, answers, or Godd/ess, when it is all within us at every moment. And yet everything is interconnected, we need each other, we have been everybody, we are everybody.

I stuck with some gentle basics for now, visualization techniques since she’s still reeling from the shock. We’re going to do an auric cleansing ritual soon, during that I will be flashed pictures of inside her body. Eventually I will talk about our soul blueprints we form before we incarnate on what lessons and karmic debts (good and bad) we decide on this time around. Sometimes we can heal from the worst of diseases, other times nothing will help simple maladies, if either is what our soul on a higher level decides to experience.

Sometimes we take on terrible diseases or a young death on a soul level more to teach the people around us. In this choice all involved progress on a spiritual level by lightyears. I feel this may be your friend’s choice TRex, look how many people she has touched tonight in this loving virtual community already. Your Higher Selves have known all along that you would have a perfect medium to share her story and stir the depths of our many souls reading about it, feeling your pain, your unconditional love. You and her family have the added gift of knowing her in person. Pure gold.

May angels speed your trip to your friend, TRex. The only thing worse than losing a friend is not being able to say goodbye. It’s been a year since I lost a close friend to brain cancer, and I still wish I could have gotten back.

I think the new song by country group Lonestar is one that speaks volumes:

Mountains – Lonestar

“There are times in life when you gotta crawl.
Lose your grip, trip and fall.
When you can’t lean on no one else
That’s when you find yourself.

I’ve been around and I’ve noticed that
the walkin’s easy when the road is flat.
Them danged ol’ hills will get you every time.
Yeah, the Good Lord gave us mountains…
so we can learn how to climb.

This world ain’t fair,
it’ll knock you on your butt.
You can just lie there -
or you can get back up.

Ya gotta get back up.”

At times like that, TRex, for some reason, perhaps a personal one, I am often reminded of this:

Blue, blue windows behind the stars,
Yellow moon on the rise,
Big birds flying across the sky,
Throwing shadows on our eyes.
Leave us

Helpless, helpless, helpless.

very sorry about your friend, TRex

Hey, punaise. Thank you.

You know, every time I put up a post, there is an awful moment right before I hit ‘publish’ where I think, “Is this a huge mistake? Do I need to hold this back and write something else tonight?”

And then we have a thread like this, where you see the best, kindest, most loving side of the community, and I realize how lucky I am to be able to share these stories with you all.

Thanks.

TRex @
93

Hey, punaise. Thank you.

You know, every time I put up a post, there is an awful moment right before I hit ‘publish’ where I think, “Is this a huge mistake? Do I need to hold this back and write something else tonight?”

And then we have a thread like this, where you see the best, kindest, most loving side of the community, and I realize how lucky I am to be able to share these stories with you all.

Thanks.

not a huge mistake by any stretch. you lay it on the line for us nightly, so why hold back now?

I haven’t read through the comments yet, but I’m sure they’re full of heartfelt, compassionate wishes.

TRex – This community wouldn’t be this community without posts like this one.

Well, you know, often times I write a post so fast that 11:00 comes and I swear it’s just barely held together with the verbal equivalent of twine and baling wire. Then I cross my fingers and throw it into the air like a kite, and somehow, miraculously, more often than not (so far), they seem to catch the wind and fly.

TRex,

Thanks for such a humanizing post. The snarkiest ones are always the sweet ones…

I am young, but I have lost so many people already, especially to cancer, that I should have something more profound, more true to say. But basically, there is much meaning to mine in times like this, and go for it.

It can be really thrilling.

Cathartic, too.

Oh, Man TRex – so sorry. Take it slow.

we stumble through this life in various ways, cobbling together our lives from the circumstances around us.

the “what ifs?” are infinite, but each path lived, specific.

but for a missed bus or some earlier fork in the road you may never have met her. so there is that, small solace that it may be.

TRex,
I am sorry about your friend. I am holding you both in my heart.

very sorry, TRex…

TRex @ 98

It can be really thrilling.

Cathartic, too.

Yes. Especially when entered into consciously.

TRex:

Not sure what more to say except thanks much, from the heart.

OT:

~For Rayne~

Will Thrillseeking Joey escape the clammy clutches of…

DIKULA?

;>)

TRex…I also send my and Dr.Turtles condolences at this difficult time for you and your loved ones.

we are back in Germany. Dr. Turtle went back to work this morning. I have some reading to catch up on and email and such, and tomorrow will be my first day at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest military hospital in Europe. I plan on checking in with the soldiers and using my veteran status to advocate for them. I wish yo all well and Ill check in later tonight (your tomorrow)

Love, HopeSAT

TRex,

My closest friend in high school caught a tropical lung disease while serving in the band on the carrier Shangri La during the Vietnam War. Eventually all the band and USMC detachment (those berthed in the foc’s’l) died of the disese. Late in his Seattle hospitalization, I was down there from Alaska, fishing in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. I’d visit him at the VA Hospital on Beacon Hill. We’d play chess and talk about Mad magazine and crazy things we’d done.

I visited him several times. Occasionally, his wife would visit at the same time, with little Hal, their toddler son. One day, he got really serious, looked me in the eye and asked me to “take care of Lucy and Hal for me, Phil.” He knew I didn’t live in Seattle anymore, so I was able to home in on his wish fairly quickly. He was asking me to marry his wife after he died.

I didn’t know how to deal with it at all. I told him I would, like I was a politician making a promise, just briefly flickering him a direct look from time to time. We finished our current game of chess, played one more, hugged, and I left.

When I got out to the parking lot, his wife and son were there, almost as if it was pre-arranged. She was always sweet, but she really poured it on. I kept steering her talk to Dave and his quickly deteriorating condition. She kept getting closer. Inside I was freaking, ’cause I loved Dave like a brother, but wasn’t at all attracted to his very beautiful, very dull wife.

She and I hugged, longer and firmer than usual for these hospital goodbyes. She made me promise to come visit her in her apartment. I said I would.

I quit working on the boat I was crewing the next day and flew back to Alaska. Dave died three weeks later.

ET 107:

Jeezus, that’s heavy.

SteveAudio,

First time I’ve told that whole story to anyone ‘xept my wife…

ps. told my son your amp head advice. He’s moved on – right now (just short of midnight) he’s writing new lyrics to the Banana boat Song for the kids in his group at a day camp in Anchorage.

That’s pretty cool. Unless he’s writing the Sepultura version of the song. That could be bad.

Hey, wait a minute…just short of midnight…that puts you in the Pacific Ocean somewhere, as it’s just short of 1 AM here in L.A..

For the first night in a while, I’m done with paperwork before 1 am. Signing off to sleep, but here’s a funny – fairly off-color, but the night calls for a little flop.
Night TRex – peace to you and yours.

http://warehouse.nimbit.com/er…..ntonBJ.mp3

newtonusr:

Thanks! Ed Schultz played that on Air America Radio, wonderful!

Above the Pacific Ocean and over 1,000 miles west of LA.

Alex is a counselor at a day camp in Anchorage. Like every camp, they’re supposed to come up with a new song each week. Although the camp is run by an environmental group, most of the kids are from well off families working for the oil industry or stuff like that. The kids keep returning year after year, so you have to come up with a new song and lyric every time. The counselor turnover there is low enough that you get dumped on by your peers (or the kids) if you use anything anybody has used before, so I doubt he’ll chance any existing lyric. Alex is 17, the kids he’s counseling 9.

Good for Alex, sounds like he’s well on his way to becoming a good citizen.

Never been to Alaska, always wanted to. Had friends playing in bands that travelled up there, late ‘70, during the pipeline construction. Now they had some decadent stories.

But I’d like to see the ice floes, and the fjords, and the ANWR before the bastards drill there.

StevAudio,

BP just did a Hazelwood with all their inept line management, so ANWR’s been put back until BP pays enough reporters to get their corporation’s malfeasance into the old memory hole.

ET has an open invitation to fdl denizens to stop on by, and you’re at the top of that list, Steve. Good thing you didn’t come this summer!

General consensus with folks I talk to, as well as Air America Radio, is that the whole BP thing is either trumped up, or else was planned for some time.

Most people I talk with believe that the pipeline is monitored well enough, both robotically as well as by humans, that such widespread corrosion could NOT take place suddenly without warning.’

Thanks for the invite. Right back at you in re: L.A!

Peace be with you, TRex.

That’s scary, Steve – LA. Two years ago, when invitations were coming in to perform “The Skies are Weeping,” my cantata about Rachel Corrie, one of the better offers was from a group in Claremont. Even thought they were about fifth down the list in potential, I put them further down than that ’cause LA is – LA.

Do you like to fish?

ET:

I haven’t fished since I was probably in Jnr Hi school, early ’60s. I enjoyed it then, but never really had success. Our family had a cabin in the SoCal mountains, sort of near Big Bear, my great-grandfather could put salmon eggs on a hook, throw it in the creek, and have his limit in about 10 minutes. Me, well, not so much.

Having said that, i love to eat fish.

So do I. We usually try to catch 200 to 400 pounds of salmon and halibut a year. I distrust ANY beef or chicken or pork from a store – any store, including places like Whole Paycheck Foods – and dislike hunting, so fish is a real mainstay.

Steve, my dad was like that. Man could bait with just about anything, toss the line in and within a few, had a big one hooked. Maybe it is an alternating generation gene.

TRex,

Bless you and your friend. What a great comfort you surely are to her in these hours.

I’m right there with you on the total unfairness of losing someone special. Plenty of shouting at God then. “Do You even care?” “Why do You create us to love people and then tear them out of our lives?”

Nothing will make this better for a long time, but when you are ready for us, we are there for you. My heart is breaking for your friend right this minute.

((((((TRex and friend))))))

Hi ET! (I can’t believe I’m up this late). I’ll bet your son is having the time of his life. When I was 19 I was a camp counselor at the day camp I attended as a child. And yes, I was the songleader, strapping on the guitar first thing in the morning, and at the end of the afternoon, just before packing the kids onto their buses home.

And, um. Steve A – it was in Brentwood (it probably still is…)

The ceasefire spin politics thicken:

“Annan to Israel: Ask me first – Israel may not shoot back without permission.”

This article is wsritten from the Zionist expansionist vierwpoint and is interesting:

http://www.jnewswire.com/article/1026

ET: Sadly, my idea of good fish is from the local union supermarket that didn’t lock out workers during the strike a coule of years ago. And Trader Joe’s frozen fish quality seems pretty high. No one here eats beef, or pork (well, the virtual son’s French wife enjoys her jambon, so it’s mostly some chicken and fish.

Hey Suz…

Shoephone, what was in Brentwood? (Besides Arianna’s house)

shoephone! where have you been. I’m up past my bedtime too, listening to Noah’s messengers beating on my roof – it is coming up on 40 days and nights of rain.

I wish you’d met Alex when we were down in Seattle last month! He’s at a breaking point with his songs and needs experienced people like you or TRex or SteveAudio to help him push through that last layer of veneer out of metal. (SteveAudio spews his maalox at this point).

Steve – that’s funny. I swear, I’ve never been to Arianna’s house! No, I meant the day camp. I think it’s been there since the 1950’s. I went there in the 60’s. Was a counselor in the 70’s. It was run by three old folkies, who were socialists…

ET – Oh gosh, metal? That’s not my mettle.

Where’s punaise when you need him?

ALthough I did play through a Marshall stack on a studio gig once. Hilarious, to say the least!

Nah, I love good metal! I worked on the first two Alcatrazz albums, with the lovely and talented Yngwie Malmsteen on lead guitar. I also did some work back in about ‘82 for Tony Iommi, and worked for AC/DC in ‘83 (not really metal, just great Rock’n’Roll.

I sorta liked Black Sabbath when I was 14. Does that count?

Trader Joe’s works, Steve. They are weird overall, but their seafood is very well presented.

shoephone, if you are inclined, the Seattle Opera’s Rosenkavalier is superb! We went opening night, and I cried almost as much from beauty as I did earlier tonight from remembrance and sadness reading the first 80 comments on this thread.

Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 54

OT: NYTimes Via Atrios

Yet some outside experts who have recently visited the White House said Bush administration officials were beginning to plan for the possibility that Iraq’s democratically elected government might not survive.

“Senior administration officials have acknowledged to me that they are considering alternatives other than democracy,” said one military affairs expert who received an Iraq briefing at the White House last month and agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity.

“Everybody in the administration is being quite circumspect,” the expert said, “but you can sense their own concern that this is drifting away from democracy.”

I was well into the second paragraph before I realized this wasn’t about the United States.

TRex, Shez, all who are in pain or helping those in need with the blessing of friendship: much, much comfort and peace to you all.

TerrinTokyo

*don’t even get me started on the conversation I plan to have with the deity when I arrive on its doorstep. It may not be pretty – picture an exasperated black woman signifying: “Even my feeble imagination could have come up with something better than death!”

ET – my sister’s gonna be here in two weeks, and she looooves opera. And since my landlord plays in the opera orchestra, I can probably snag tickets. We were planning on Bumbershoot, but (RBG, please don’t be mad at me for saying this) I don’t like the scheduled bands much. I guess we could go to the opera instead. It sounds like a weeper!

TRex —

Peace is about to envelop Little E. May its overflow bathe all of you who cherish her.

A hug to you, darlin’.

ET:

Just to prove that I am not a total philistine when it come to music, because i enjoy the odd metal now and then, I am working on a prety big blog piece, which I will put at my place as well as at HuffPo, about the startling number of really good female classical guitarists to come out of China recently.

I still play classical to try and keep my reading chops up, and I feel that good music is all rock’n’roll. Mrs. Audio went with her cuz to the Hollywood Bowl last Sat. fr Tschaikovsky and fireworks, and that definitely is rock’n’roll.

Speaking of opera, you ever seen Bartoli in person? I’d love to hear her sing.

shoephone – you won’t regret it. Sorry, RGB. Boy, he must be BUSY…

Two important issues have emerged this past week.

Globally, the most important is the growing perception of linkage between two failing sets of policies – American government misunderstanding of their true situation in Iraq, and Israeli government misunderstanding of the difficulties of continuing what they feel has worked for them since 1948.

Nationally, the resonance of Ned Lamont’s primary victory and the tectonic lines emerging both inside the Dem apparatchik structure and in GOP districts vulnerable to growing concerns about Bush’s ineptitude are becoming too obvious for even the most jaded beltway insider to ignore.

What is real interesting about both the failed sets of linked wars and the primary upset is that instant information over the web is becoming so much more important so quickly as to be BY FAR the most important new event observed.

But, hey – and I hope I’m wrong – it won’t matter in five weeks when we’re involved in all-out neutron bomb nuclear warfare.

ET – please don’t even think that. The very notion is too frightening to consider. I’d rather focus on the hailstorm of reality hitting the GOP candidates. I am worried about the hemming and hawing about Loserman among the Dems. The article in the Hill today said they are really pissed at him, and that if he wins, they seriously want to strip him of committee assignments, and his seniority status. But they shouldn’t even be saying things like “if he wins”. They should be saying “Joe, you LOST. You’re out. Go home and let the adults handle things now.”

Yep. That was the word. #140 now in moderation too.

Insomniac that I am, I’ll try some sleep now. Goodnight all.

ONe ofastralplame @ 18

I know that I am constantly recommending this book – but it is something I read that made the real necessary difference in my life when facing a real deal serious diagnosis. My sis does end of life care, and recommends it to her patients and their families.

kitchen table wisdom

——-

one of the best books writtten EVER

‘night, shoephone, everyone else.

I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
The love that’s all around me
And so the feeling grows

ET at 137 –

I was going along fine until I hit your final sentence there. Gotta pull back from that one for my [remaining] sanity’s sake, so stroll along with me down this path a bit, wouldja?

For the GOP, a Heartland Plunge

By David S. Broder
Thursday, August 17, 2006; A25

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When the Columbus Dispatch’s respected poll recently reported that Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell was trailing Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland by 20 points in the race for governor of Ohio, there was dismay but no shock among his fellow Republicans. Those I interviewed during a recent visit here said they had seen it coming for a long time.

. . . One of them said, “I’m afraid this could be another 1982[.]” … Another said, “I’d settle right now for another 1982. I’m afraid it will be another 1974,” the year of the Watergate election, when Democrats swept everything in sight.

A leading Minnesota Republican [said] polls there show “the bottom has dropped out” … . In Wisconsin, … . In Oklahoma, … . And in Iowa, … .

For all of them, service in this Congress has turned out to be a handicap rather than a benefit to their chances of advancement. [Explained] the Republican governor of one of the states where a congressman of his party is struggling …, “What has this Congress done that anyone should applaud?” he asked scornfully. “Nothing on immigration, nothing on health care, nothing on energy — and nothing on the war. They deserve a good kick in the pants, and that’s what they’re going to get.”

In full here.

shoephone,

if there’s something worse than two hungry pirahnas circling each other wondering what to do next, it is two desperate pariahs circling each other wondering that same thing. Bush and Olmert are, to paraphrae Bush’s daddy, “In deep dooh-dooh.” And Assad kicked them in the nuts by daring them to go nuclear.

Barring that, Lamont is a shoe-in, shoephone. He’s getting smarter, reaching to the pragmatic (real) middle, rather than the fantasized (beltway campaign company-manufactured) amorphously disinterested middle.

Dear TRex,

I wish you and Little E peace. Go listen to Eva Cassidy, another beautiful voice, stilled too soon. A favorite from the Live at Blues Alley CD: the wonderful song by Pete Seeger “Oh, Had I a Golden Thread.”

Sweet dreams to the Left Coasters, and another day dawns for us all in the east.

Barring that, Lamont is a shoe-in, shoephone. He’s getting smarter, reaching to the pragmatic (real) middle, rather than the fantasized (beltway campaign company-manufactured) amorphously disinterested middle.

Rather than his “getting smarter,” ET, I think Ned’s finally getting to reveal his smarts in venues such as WSJ. Now watch the corporatists go for his clear ideas and straight talk over Joe’s hack vapidity.

Good Morning All.. A gorgeous morning here in Eastern Maine. My best wishes to you all for a great day or evening wherever you are.

Go Lamont, the Wave of the Future!

lotus @ 146

Barring that, Lamont is a shoe-in, shoephone. He’s getting smarter, reaching to the pragmatic (real) middle, rather than the fantasized (beltway campaign company-manufactured) amorphously disinterested middle.

Rather than his “getting smarter,” ET, I think Ned’s finally getting to reveal his smarts in venues such as WSJ. Now watch the corporatists go for his clear ideas and straight talk over Joe’s hack vapidity.

as a recovering Green, I’m not sure what you mean. The term corporatist is perjorative to me. The WSJ op-ed worked for its successful Lincolnesque character, which may be difficult for for-hire puindits (is that redundant?) to assail.

Redd!

Time for a hojo poetry slam?

no ho but hojo would blow enron’s
blown lobbyist to tow joe slowly,
ever more slowly,
down to where joe never knew
he wanted to go
that was joe…….

Yoohoo, OS, our morning angel!

Yup, “corporatist” is a pejorative for me too, ET. Lemme have another run at trying to make (pre-tea) sense here.

What I’m thinking is that, rather than settle again for well-he’s-a-fool-who-costs-us-in-upkeep-but-otherwise-does-us-no-harm Joe, CEOs and their political operatives will prefer Ned BECAUSE: Not only do they not have to bother with his care-&-feeding a la Joe, but what’s not for them to love in Ned’s good business head, innate efficiency, and willingness to tackle their burgeoning problems — healthcare, education, energy — in sensible ways?

Looks like a no-brainer to me (but hey, whadda I know? My investments in various CEOs’ good sense have flattened my fisc something fierce by now).

Like that ditty, ET! Say, would you mind spiking this cuppa mine with whatever you’re having?

Fosters and tea, pu-leeze, lotus? OK, I’m in enough trouble already. Send me a bill for the damages, TRex.

Oh T’rex, I’m so sorry for the glass of cool clear water of life you’re sipping at now. May you (her friends and family collectively) find peace in the golden light of the mystery and may we all rest in peace…….

Fini at 54……..what a piece of pathetic news…an alternative to democracy (she turns her collective pockets inside out on behalf of the nation and nothing’s there but a bunch of toxic dust and bones and heartache……) another “great moment in history circling the bowl”…

Shez…may the goddess be merciful to your friend and her circle. The dream was a portent.

ET..about your 107, telling your friend what he needed to hear was a gift from your heart to his……

Steve Audio, I believed the BP Prudhoe announcement was 91% true with regard to the potential for leaks in the pipelines, and 100% political timing. Can we say ANWR?

Um, thank you, ET. Another time . . .

When your precepts and reality are constantly at odds, it is time to evaluate your precepts. When a child finally starts to understand that it is impossible for a fat man to come down millions of chimneys around the world on a single night, they start to understand there is no Santa Claus. This is not meant to be an insult to you or your friend or hurtful to you or anyone else. Your precepts are wrong. There is no such person as Santa, and there is no such thing as god. Once your precepts conform to the universe around you more closely, the conflicts which are so painfully confusing no longer exist and your pain and confusion will diminish somewhat. Your friend will still be horrible sick and reality will still hurt, but you will no longer have to try to reconcile your precepts with no success. It hurts to give up Santa. It will hurt you to give up your god-belief. However, both lead to adulthood.

Good morning coasts — East and West! Nice day dawning here in the Bostony raea. Coffee is percolatin’ and little Imm continues in dreamland for the moment. More writing today (with some meetings mixed in for good measure.

Edward T. __ i have been reading the Nukes are coming tea leaves as well — but there is no reason to believe that they will be nuetron bombs. Those are people killers, not huge hole makers. If we are going ever to use non-conventional, it will be in the service of deep penetration tactical weapons first — just to get people used to the idea.

Then we will see where we go from there.

The WaPo has had this idiotic video, “Castro’s Daughter Speaks!” up on their web front page for days. She says critical things about her dad….

I am waiting for the more important, “Jenna and Barabara Speak Out!”

Milo, go soak your head.

Good morning, imm! Imm Jr. get his fill o’ chocolate-mint ice cream yet? Dumb question. Scuze me.

Trex you made me cry.

My thoughts and prayers are with you today.

immantize said:

“The WaPo has had this idiotic video, “Castro’s Daughter Speaks!” up on their web front page for days. She says critical things about her dad.”

It would be interesting if WaPo spent as much time trying to get Sen Allen’s sister or ex talking on the record.

Chocolate cupcake bribery last night. But lest anyone get the wrong idea, I do almost all the cooking in th ehouse every day, so he is always getting a good meal first. This weird wet summer has made my garden come in late — but it sure is popping now, especially the tomatos and green beans….

Mmmm, homegrown vedge.

My momma once tried to send me a box of her backyard tomatoes and pole beans (I was jonesin’ bad). You don’t wanna know what the inside of that box was like by the time it got here, bless her heart.

Just love the darkblack at 6 of the prior post……….also the minivid at 36…….

Hi Imm, Lotus and the rest of the sunrise crew. My garden is late this year too. Of course, I always plant a little late anyway, my mantra having been never do today what you can put off until tomorrow, but the veggies are organic and great. I don’t think I’ll have much more than hard green marbles for tomatoes this year–fried tomatoes anyone?

And I am trying to learn how to reframe that mantra before THIS life is over………lol

Tyco Kozlowski’s wife wants a divorce, CNN says. What took her so long? lotus says.

Big ol’ YES, PLEASE to ‘em fried green tomatoes, OS!

One thing the “old school” lobbyists and campaign managers have gotten which we havn’t yet, about Lamont, is RESONANCE. Not as in “the message resonated,” which is valid. More like in the kind of resonance which can create multiple effects in terms of making sense or standing out above the clutter of events.

The learning curve on instant communication is pretty frigging vertical, but we’re competing against people grasping at maintaining control over media whose learning curve slowly descends, whose costs rise hourly, and whose clients are flocking away a bit faster than might be expected.

ET @ 164 Great insight, I feel smarter already today! Thanks. The trick is to learn how to exploit (in a good way) this new communication while not losing the right to continue to use it.

One thing the “old school” lobbyists and campaign managers have gotten which we havn’t yet, about Lamont, is RESONANCE. Not as in “the message resonated,” which is valid. More like in the kind of resonance which can create multiple effects in terms of making sense or standing out above the clutter of events.

I must not be reading this bolded part correctly, ET (I’d have switched the “’old school’ lobbyists and campaign managers” and the “we” in your sentence). ?

(lotus hangs head, says duh)

immanetize said:

“Edward T. __ i have been reading the Nukes are coming tea leaves as well — but there is no reason to believe that they will be nuetron bombs. Those are people killers, not huge hole makers. If we are going ever to use non-conventional, it will be in the service of deep penetration tactical weapons first — just to get people used to the idea.’

What the planners may have learned in the past 50 days is that terror bombing works as it always has, no matter how much you try to convince the world otherwise. But the USA has got to go for the big banana before the elections.

Neutron bombs are the USA’s only option to clear the Iranians away from the defense, port, terminal and distribution facilities on the north side of the Persian Gulf. Otherwise, the whole operation is useless, and Assad gets away with kicking W in the nuts We’ve stated we destroyed our small stockpile of them, but, hey………?

Tony’s deputy PM equivocates . . .

Prescott denies slur on Bush

TRex, your words always touch us, with laughter, with joy, and now with pain. Take care in these so-difficult times, we all hold you close in our hearts and now open our hearts for your dear friend.

CBS: TV Stations’ ‘Fake News’ Scrutinized
Owners Of 77 Stations Queried About Using Video News Releases

You just gotta love a creative force that gives its most flexible aspect the power to utterly destroy…..

I worry horribly about the pit the US is opening up in the world. It does seem to be the beginning of the end of life as we know it. The use of any sort of nuclear weapons opens the door for any and everyone else to use them. And in the horror of a massive war action in the Middle East, all bets are off on anyone else’s sane withholding of the use of nuclear weapons. When I think of the beautiful fragile planet Earth being so despoiled, I weep. Would that that same creative force would simply exit the spirits of the above mentioned anti-life individuals and leave the rest of us a fresh field……….

Let me clarify #169.

The neutron bomb is a hypothetical weapon. From the early 1950s, nuclear enthusiasts (what a Diabolical term that is) have posited various ways to create a “clean” atomic explosion. The neutron bomb is the most cost-efficient of the actual solutions to that problem.

We’re talking bering able to kill every person in the lowest part of the Tigris-Euphratis Delta (10 % of the Shia population), controlling all tanker traffic out of the Gulf, and creating a new zone for the building of democracy, after something between twelve and fifty years, give or take a few years or a few million people – after the radiation levels subside.

But the important advantage of neutron bombs is that the ratio of human kills to infrastructure damage is clearly advantageous to maintaining corporate infrastructure in the oil distribution system.

That is why it will be, if it exists, the weapon of choice around the north Gulf coast.

So correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t neutron bombs hugely radioactive…..or do they kill by percussion? If the former, just whose oil field workers would want to be in there working on oil production……….

oops, should have refreshed first….thanks ET. So it’s still just a theoretical instrument?

lotus @
167

(lotus hangs head, says duh)

Ed*ard Teller @ 173

creating a new zone for the building of democracy….(snip) after the radiation levels subside.

Go Team Red

Teacher, how do I make my comments appended to a quoted comment appear outside (to the left of) the inner bar?

For Mary et al., the Thurday Writing Heads Revue:

NYT’s homepage includes:

Insurgent Bombs Directed at G.I.’s Increase in Iraq (a must-read)

Eye on Election, Democrats Run as Wal-Mart Foe

Faces, Too, Are Searched at U.S. Airports

More Tapes From Sept. 11: ‘They Have Exits in There?’

President Joins in G.O.P. Attacks on Democrats About Terrorism

Democrats Counter G.O.P. and Lieberman on Iraq

Gnter Grass Under Siege After Revealing SS Past

Cancer Institute’s New Chief Talks of Cutbacks

When Politics Is Local: In Iraq, a Failure to Deliver the Spoils

The Nation: With Friends Like Joe’s …

The Nation: An Antiwar Campaign That Takes a Page From the G.O.P. Playbook

Editorial: Already Falling Behind (behind Hezbollah in Lebanon, that is)

Op-Ed Contributor: Is Hamas Ready to Deal?

And WaPo’s has

Lebanese Army Sends Troops to Border Region

K Street Courts Democrats

Officials Release Tapes of 9/11 Phone Calls

FBI Training in Post-9/11 World

Rival Iraqi Shiite Militias Clash in Basra

Va. Candidates Differ on Iraq

For the GOP, a Heartland Plunge (Broder)

Cease-Fire Reality – Dealing With Syria (Dennis Ross)

Big mistake believing in a god when confronted with life’s quandries, cruelties and injustices. Your egg is racked up with everyone else’s, the cue ball scatters them and after that it’s just random happenstance which pocket or piece of the table you come to rest. It’s much easier to accept your lot and that of those you love knowing fate is determined by biology, the actions of you and others and the random events of nature. Banish gods from your lives and it all becomes much simpler and clear and easier to accept.

Old Sow @ 178

Teacher, how do I make my comments appended to a quoted comment appear outside (to the left of) the inner bar?

Make sure you type them AFTER/BELOW all the blockquote-code carrying-on, OS.

Sheez, I wake up and come here and cry. Oh well, feeling is better than not feeling. Sending you hugs today Rex.

theoretical as in possibly never been exploded.

But several countries (USA, USSR, France, Israel) have been cited as having maintained stockpiles of neutron bombs. The first three claimed to have destroyed their experimental or actual stocks. Israel never comments about their nuclear programs.

In the 70s and 80s when neutronukes were an issue, the goal was to produce a product which killed people and left towns and buiildings standing and inhabitable within day or hours (wearing the right suits), rather than in centuries or longer. Advocates of the US weapon proposals claimed they had reached those goals.

And thank you everybody for such moving comments.

Hey, Sharkie Sweet-Face.

sorry lotus, hit the quote button instead of refresh.

it’s been quite a night (morning and now afternoon for me) starting with TRex’s elegy. seems we are definitely living the interesting times wished on us by the chinese. if things keep going this way and we can avoid the ultimate horror of a nuclear assault on iran, i hope the democrats are ready to lead come november. i think conyers and feingold will be. i think lamont and jon tester and james webb will be.
we’re not there yet but we should start preparing for that eventuality. having a coherent strategy and some hard but fair tactics in place would sure be important. i wonder if anybody with influence has something ready that we can rally behind?

Hi, fahrender. When you say “anybody with influence,” what kinds of folks have you in mind?

back at ya, lotie :)

Thanks Lotus.

OS, that code carrying-on is sneaky stuff — thwarts lhp’s best efforts regularly, it does.

Thanks ET. I recall that from the 70’s, but didn’t hear much since then. I would doubt that the US actually ever disarmed any of its weapons.

Heh. There’s a chameleon (actually an anole, but we call ‘em chameleons) diddling about on the screen of the window I’m facing. Kate the Cat is — as EVERY day — enthralled and vocal in her fruitless attempt at smacking it offa there. That would be okay but she keeps stomping on the phone and making it talk too. I hope she doesn’t call and wake you up . . .

And sorry for my personal pity-partying last night. Bad form. Put down the chardonnay and step away from the computer, ma’am…

Hey mornin’ pups! How’s everyone today?

Been wondering where you (and tommy and medaka) were, twolfie. Have a nice sleep-in?

Sharkie, if you can’t whine here among friends a little, where can you? We’ve all been there at times and are always compassionate. Hoping the AM is looking better for you.

And how’s the Twolf-pup today?

Hey TRex – my heart aches for you, and also for your friend. There is no sense in what is happening, the silver lining not in any cloud you’ve looked in, no peace to be found in someone else’s physical pain and fear, or in your own.

Years ago – 17 in Janaury – my dad was away on a long weekend with my mom and another couple. He started having some symptoms that his friend thought should be checked out. Long story short, he was moved from the community hospital to Johns Hopkins, where his regular internist practiced, and the testing began. Later, after they determined that he had pancreatic cancer, one of the docs who was involved in the daignosis told us that they kind of get a sinking feeling when they meet the really nice people, because they seem to be the ones who get the worst diagnoses. So, it isn’t just us who wonder why the bad people are allowed to live, and the good ones forced to suffer so. Yes, lots of good people do recover, thank goodness, but there are still way too many who don’t.

Will be thinking about you, and about your friend, who is truly lucky to have someone in her life who loves her as much as you do, and who will have you at her side.

And know that we love you, too, and are sending our love and strength to draw on when you feel like you are running on empty.

Love and hugs, and peace.

Lotus – yeah, been sleeping in this week. Still sleepy though but i’ll get over it.

Lovely — and so true — at 196 and 197, OS and Anne. Y’all just produced another of our patented serial-comments-making-one, didn’t you?

Old Sow – did they figure out what kind of freshly deaded beastie was found up in your area? dunno if u heard ’bout it or not but there was some kind of predatory animal found by the side of the road and early reports said that nobody knew what it was.

Enough of FITZ, sitting on our laurels, and introspection!
NED is in BIG TROUBLE

I dunno, but I fear it was Democracy in an advanced state of decay……

who’se 201? a troll?

OS – here’s the story.
http://www.localnewswatch.com/…..;id=211397

Faux news has a link w/ a picture but I prefer not to give them traffic.

who’se 201? a troll?

An inane shouter, at the very least.

You’re a good friend TRex,I’d give anything to have someone love me that much.It’s a gift that has no price tag or limit.Be careful driving into Atlanta in your grief(maybe someone can drive you?),driving while crying isn’t recommended.(((hugs)))to you and your friend.

OS and twofie, keep us apprised, OK?

Sheesh…..(looks up location of Turner quickly in the atlas)…where there’s one……….oh do give the linky…….

Non-Pox News pix of the State o’ Maine Critter at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14383883 and http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0816-mutant.html

For the record:

I am, this morning, officially suspending my support of Imus. Blind allegiance, stay the course, is what got us in the mess in Iraq in the first place. Until he invites Lamont on his show, or a Dem leader like Richardson who has spoken publicly on why Lieberman should withdraw from the race, Imus is dead to me.

DINO Biden on the show this morning is torn between, oh you know, that silly little thing called democracy and his good buddy J-Lie. In Biden’s view, votes don’t matter. Elections don’t matter…as it seems they also don’t to the DC establishment and the media oligarchs…

So I hope Imus is trimming down his pudgy little son and getting him combat-ready, because thanks to him and J-Lie and BushCo, when Wyatt grows up, he’ll make good cannon fodder for the endless war Bush has put us into.

Political Wire

In Connecticut, Lieberman Holds Double Digit Lead

In Connecticut’s U.S. Senate race, a new Quinnipiac poll finds Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I) leading Ned Lamont (D) among likely voters, 53% to 41%, with Alan Schlesinger (R) getting 4%.

Lieberman leads 75%-13%-10% among likely Republican voters, and 58%-36%-3% among likely independent voters, while likely Democratic voters back Lamont 63%-35%. Just 2% are undecided, but 28% of those who name a candidate might change their mind before Election Day.

Says pollster Douglas Schwartz: “Sen. Lieberman’s support among Republicans is nothing short of amazing. It more than offsets what he has lost among Democrats. As long as Lieberman maintains this kind of support among Republicans, while holding onto a significant number of Democratic votes, the veteran Senator will be hard to beat.”

Of course, I much prefer http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Anim…..fm?cam=LP2

Yikes is all I can say about the dead animal. May it rest in peace.

WRT *ilson’s Connecticut polls posting, can I say Blue America?

Off for a walk and I’ll bring back fresh blueberries for one and all, okay?

Congratz for living to tell the tale, PS — and Good Morning!

*ilson – that Q-poll is a punch to the gut this morning, and means Joe is in it for the long haul…blergh.

Don’t mind if you do, OS — we’ll have the cream ready!

new thread, y’all…

Trex, I’m so sorry. I send my warmest wishes for you and your friend. You have such a fierce community of support here.

Yeesh, *ilson. We got WORK TO DO!

I hate crying so early in the morning. Love is powerful and, in the end, will overshadow any sorrow we may feel. Peace, brother.

TRex says; “God is recruiting mighty angels. There must be something big coming.”

How very wise and profound – Well, let us all be up to the task, as well.

TRex, you have my love and respect – we all will make this a better place, including you and E, each in our proper place.

lotus @
210

Non-Pox News pix of the State o’ Maine Critter at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14383883 and http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0816-mutant.html

Looks like one of da coulter-seeking firepups escaped from the training facility again.

TRex @ 93

Hey, punaise. Thank you.

You know, every time I put up a post, there is an awful moment right before I hit ‘publish’ where I think, “Is this a huge mistake? Do I need to hold this back and write something else tonight?”

And then we have a thread like this, where you see the best, kindest, most loving side of the community, and I realize how lucky I am to be able to share these stories with you all.

Thanks.

Aww; you’re bringing a tear to my eye first thing in the morning. But it’s a good thing. It is so good to be part of this community.

TRex,
I’m so sorry to hear about your friend. It’s been 19 years yesterday since my brother was taken, at the ripe age of 25. I had that same thought, my favorite human is taken, why him? At least if you believe in an afterlife (actually it’s reincarnation that comforts me), know that there are all those kind souls to welcome your friend. Take care.

I’m so sad for you and your dear Little E. Glad for your chance to cover her face with kisses. Have a safe trip to your friend’s side, then carry her everywhere in your heart. She knows you will.

Ed*ard Teller #107,

Your story reminds me of a former coworker whose wife was dying of lung cancer. He thought I was very supportive (I listened to him with sympathy), and he said his wife told him it’d be ok to date me after she passed. Oh my, but then he took a leave of absence from work, and hardly came back so it wasn’t too much of a problem. I feel for you.

These are making me cry too much, I have to walk to the wetlands and see the birds.

Way late to this thread, but want to offer my thoughts and prayers, too. Peace be with you, TRex, and with your friend too.

Gosh, that happened to me, too. A good friend and mah jongg partner said i should date her husband. (She had salivary gland cancer.) So i said that, in my eyes, he would always be her husband.

My thoughts are with you. Your tribute to your friend is beautiful, and I just pray you get to spend some time with her. (Tori Amos has always done that to me, too.)

TRex, so sorry. My prayers are with you and your friend.

Look at that…tearstains leaking through my monitor…

I’m so sorry Trex…

TRex,
It is hard, I know. But at this point, she probably wants to go, and may need to hear from her friends and family that it’s okay for her to to, that you love her but you know she needs to let go and rest.

And go ahead and yell at God. He can take it, and if you ask him to, he’ll send you peace. He sent me peace when my husband died, in a weird and wonderful way that still makes me marvel. Yell at him, then demand he send you peace….
Love,
V

TRex, you’re just SUCH A GIFTED WRITER. My God! Anyway, just wanted to say I’ve been reading your blog since the Lamont-Lieb race. I’m a huge fan. . .

Secondly, I’m sorry about your friend. Times like this call for faith of some sort. Personally, I’ve found strength in the teachings of Buddhism, but to each his own and I respect all faiths. I say whatever leads you to the way and your own path of understanding. You’ll know it when you find it. And when you find it, you’ll have found a form of peace. It can be fleeting, but it will provide for a temporary respite, and ultimately that is all we can hope for in our current human form . . . Hang in there.

Take care. Many of us are sending you and your friend our good wishes and prayers.

You’re in my prayers tonight, you and Little E.