When I was 15 years old, I placed an ad looking for pen-pals in a magazine called "Star Hits". It was the US spin-off a magazine called "Smash Hits" and was basically a way for fey American teenagers like myself to score glossy photos and frothy interviews of Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Cure, Depeche Mode, the Smiths, and so on and so forth, up to and including Duran Duran and Culture Club. For some reason my ad was absurdly successful. The magazine hit the stands between Thanksgiving and Christmas and for the next five months, I got anywhere from 20 to 50 cards and letters a day every single day. I would get home from school and there would just be a pile of mail in the middle of my bed, often decorated with skulls, black hearts, bloody-looking smears of candle-wax, crucifixes. You know the drill. Goth mail. I feel fairly certain that the postman began to hate me with a passion and vigor.
Anyway, one friend I made through all of this was a girl named Justine. She lived in southern Maryland and was 19 when we started writing back and forth. She was hilarious, a little shy, sweet, and very, very smart. We stayed in touch for a couple of years and when she was 22, she went to EMT school and became a paramedic in Washington, DC. After she had been on the job for a few months, she called me one Saturday morning and said, "I don't think I can do this anymore."
"What? Why?" I said.
"Last night I almost got hurt real bad," she said, "We were responding to what we thought was a heroin overdose, but the guy turned out to be on angel dust."
"Shit. What happened?"
"I was standing outside the apartment door about to knock when the guy came through the door at me. It was like the wood just…vaporized. My partner ducked and rolled, but because of the angle of the hallway, I was stuck in this little cul-de-sac. He cornered me and told me he was going to kill me. Well," she paused and I could hear her take a drag off her cigarette and let it out, "He told me he was going to rip my arms and legs off and then kill me. But he also seemed to think I was somebody else."
"Oh, my god. What the fuck? What happened?"
"The cops shot him," she said, "But they shot him like ten times. Ten times, and he just wouldn't go down! He just kept screaming at me, and he never took his eyes off of me. The bullets smashed into his body, but it was like he didn't even feel it. I watched him die."
"Jesus, Justine! Are you hurt?"
"I got some scratches from bits of wood from the wall that flew around when the cops were shooting, but no, he never managed to get hold of me. He kept grabbing at me and once or twice he almost got a firm hold on me, but he was all slippery from sweat. I dunno. It all happened so fast. I just remember the cops shouting at me to cover my face before they started shooting and then there was blood and screaming and…oh, Jesus. I just don't know if I can do this job anymore."
Over time, she got her confidence back and last I heard of her, she was still driving an ambulance five nights a week and teaching new paramedics, which she was thinking about taking on full time. But the reason I bring this up is because the president is starting to remind me of that dust-head that almost killed my friend. He's out of control, impervious to everything that anyone can throw into his path to try and stop him. He's like a mindless, war-hungry zombie. Even as the War in Iraq becomes more and more of a snowballing disaster, the freak is launching random (and apparently unsuccessful) air-strikes in Somalia, engaging in acts of aggression against Iranian personnel, and rattling the sabers at Syria. Even that atrocious dunderhead Chris Matthews knows that we're going to war with Iran. Now it's only a matter of getting the formal announcement, I guess.
What will it take to stop him?
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists are advancing the "Doomsday Clock" this week.
The symbolic clock, maintained by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, currently is set at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight marking global catastrophe.
The group did not say in which direction the hands would move. But in a news release previewing an event next Wednesday, they said the change was based on "worsening nuclear, climate threats" to the world.
"The major new step reflects growing concerns about a 'Second Nuclear Age' marked by grave threats, including: nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea, unsecured nuclear materials in Russia and elsewhere, the continuing 'launch-ready' status of 2,000 of the 25,000 nuclear weapons held by the U.S. and Russia, escalating terrorism, and new pressure from climate change for expanded civilian nuclear power that could increase proliferation risks," the release reads.
I used to have nightmares about the Doomsday Clock. Back during the nuke-happy Reagan years it was something that I was acutely aware of, the fact that the world was constantly poised for instantaneous destruction, that at any minute hell could be unleashed on earth a thousand times over. But sometime during the Clinton years when we were at peace, I stopped thinking about that clock. It seemed like the world might well be on the path to greater peace and understanding. Now I see how quickly all of that can be reversed. The clock is back. And they're moving it up.
UPDATE: This post has been linked by an aggregate of English language blogs from Iran. I just wanted to welcome our new readers and assure you that there are Americans working and praying tirelessly for peace. The majority of people in this country do not support the current administration nor its destructive policies in the Middle East. We are doing everything we can to stop the killing and to recover our government from the hands of religious extremists and we pray that you are, too. God bless you, godspeed, and good luck.
Related posts:
- Second Iranian Nuclear Facility Discovered; Obama, Brown, Sarkozy Pledge Sanctions Unless IAEA is Allowed to Investigate
- Iran: “Today Cities Quiet… Like Martial Law”
- Biden on Iran: ‘Some Real Doubt’ About The Electoral Outcome
- House Voting on Iran Resolution; Human Rights Activist Not Against It, But…
- Late Night: Mishugeh in Missouri
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…swoops in and grabs the zed!
For the last time, a zed is a “Z”. A NOUGHT is a zero!
Hello TRex, did you see this?
HotFlash @ 149
Sorry. That’s just been bugging me.
TRex! Wow. Strong post. Interesting timing. I just posted the full 90 Minute 1987 Bill Moyer’s PBS Documentary, “The Secret Government” which discusses many of the things this clock represents. Very powerful watch!
FITZ
HotFlash @ 3
Melanie Morgan is a stain on the sheets of humanity.
Be right back kids. Pizza’s here.
TRex @ 2
It’s too late. Z/zed for the letter Z has become Z/zed for the word zero. DeGaulle saying, don’t stand between a dog and a lamppost. This is a done deal.
TRex @
2
I accept responsibility for maybe zedding in haste once, long ago
I think we all knew Bush would be most dangerous in his last days, which I think it’s clear we’re in. What scares me the most is it seems like there aren’t any sane and reasonable people around him to derail his most crazy of actions, like Nixon had when he lost control.
I keep hoping someone will say whoa, this is fucking nuts and just get people to ignore Bush. But it seems the crazies are running the asylum. They’re going to take a lot of people with them when they go. These cult things never end well. And Bush is a madman with nukes.
Alright, how about a Nil?
Nate @ 5
There’s also a follow-on to this, with Bill Kurtis narrating. Altogether, it’s about four hours’ worth (I’ve got it all on tape).
The most important line in the whole damned thing is the last one: “who will watch the watchers?”
No one paid much attention almost twenty years ago, and look at what has happened. The watchers are now ubiquitous.
punaise @
10
Zeds…Zigs…you sure do seem to like your Z’s.
I have this fantasy. It is pure and unrealistic. I envision the CIA or someone who has power moving into the WH and removing George and Dick and the rest of the evil fuckers. And then they give us back our country. Does this mean that the usual channels of remedy are useless? Or am I way off base. Like on jupiter.
TRex @ 7
Yes indeed. But it appears she has an agenda. A paymaster. Would this not be FCC stuff? Oops, I forgot who owns the Fcc. Wait, do *we* own it?
Zed. Z for Fitz and rhymes with Ned.
The FDL version of V for Vendetta.
back on topic:
That forkin Atomic Clock has always scared me. I remember doing the duck and cover drill in school as a kid. I was living in N’Orleans during the Cuban Missle Crisis – it felt like we did those dayam drills daily.
as a kid, The Day After gave me nightmares
Mary McCurnin @ 15
Umm, the CIA is part of the same system of elites that put the Bushies into power. Don’t expect anything from them except self-preservation. There may be a few Boy Scouts in the analytical side, but most of them are even more conservative than the average Republican.
Waiting for Maximus to depose the Emperor and return the country to its people.
And speaking of mc/gaelic, there is a new post at egregiousBlog.
Come on over and rant away if you are mentally ill, whether from biology or from the egregious actions of this not so legitimate government.
Key phrases:
Years of peanut butter sandwiches
Trying to make the world better
Ferrari children
Molasses/alcoholic madness
Are we the Matrix
Existential threat
The wall and the settlements
The most important line in the whole damned thing is the last one: “who will watch the watchers?”
No one paid much attention almost twenty years ago, and look at what has happened. The watchers are now ubiquitous.
I keep seeing that word. It’s everywhere.
Twisted Martini @ 20
Seriously.
Someone should call that TV show “Intervention” and see if we can get it on tape.
Someone should call that TV show “Intervention”…
Fredo is a pretzel eatin’ zombie on a bicycle.
It’s the last throe.
Suzanne @ 17
New Orleans would have been relatively safe.
Y’know, I grew up in the `40s, `50s and `60s, and I never went through a single one of those drills in school.
Why?
Because I always lived on or near SAC bases. We were ground zero, so hiding under your desk was a pointless exercise and everyone knew it….
The whole point of those drills was not to protect the population (because the government had no means of protecting the public), but, rather, to indoctrinate an entire generation into the belief that we were under constant threat of annihilation by outside forces, as a means of perpetuating a climate of fear.
punaise @ 10
There is naught to be done about this egregious error.
Pelosi for President 2007!
The country deserves no less and can ill afford to wait for a national election to cleanse the west wing of the present criminal cartel.
We can do this folks – impeach the bastards sooner than later.
montag @ 19
Yes, I understand this. But they were sorely pissed when Bush pushed them under the bus concerning the “intelligence” about WMDs.
Remember that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent. They are not all rotten.
Mary McCurnin @ 15
I’m sure there are lots of Americans in the CIA who love their country and are aching for it to be whole again, just like we are. But there are a lot of wingnuts, too, and who has been running the CIA for how long?
But I agree, I keep hoping that when BushCo melts down, the Secret Service or *somebody* will honour their oath to the Constitution and save us all at Tiananmen.
But I don’t know any CIA types, that I know of. Lessee, I figure Valerie, and Larry Johnson and Mary O McCarthy, would do right. Dusty Foggo, not so much…
Anybody have any educated guesses as to what might happen?
Thank you, TRex, for this cheery post. My feelings exactly, about this being W’s final days. Imagine the war they’d wage after he KenLayed, though — like LBJ waged Vietnam to honor the martyred President.
TRex..You are too young to remember crawling under your school desk, for duck and cover, to prevent getting killed when DC was nuked. That would have worked as well as taking you shoes off at the airport. The govt bullshit never changes. There are a small number of people driving a bus with 300 million passengers over a cliff. I haven’t been this worried since the Cuban missile crisis.
EPU’d:
TeddySanFran @
158
Mary McCurnin @ 31
There were also people within the CIA who happily contributed to those lies, too. Otherwise, things like the Iraq NIE could not have happened.
The CIA isn’t about to admit it any more than Bush would, but their lies made Iraq happen, too….
Steve, I remember hiding under the desk.
duck and cover was replaced by duct tape and plastic sheeting
ccmask @ 38
I remember being kept home from elementary school for the Cuban Missile Crisis. This seems scarier, now.
If they run out of handcuffs in DC we can finally use all that duct tape.
Twisted Martini @
12
A Ni would be acceptable to me.
Lewis Black does a wonderful version of duck and cover. Wooden desks burn under the pressure of WMDs dont ya no.
Twisted Martini @
20
And I’d prefer Biggus Dickus.
good to see you around Balrog. Been a little while.
I think in my case, that goes without saying.
TRex @ 46
He has a sister…
Balrog, got vacation pictures?
twolf1 @ 45
Yeah T, been out of town for a few weeks. Good to see you.
Is there a connection between addiction of some sort and an out-of-control, masochistic resignation? Would it be accurate to say that Bush has suckled from the teet of power and privilege all his life and now, having finally been told to grow up and admit mistakes, scale back and draw down, he can only plunge head-long off the deep end? How do you explain this phenomenon?
He really does seem literally insane doesn’t he?
Actually the whole cabal of them – Dick, Condi, Rummy. Their disconnect with reality is textbook insanity…
HotFlash @ 48
Actually I do, but only above water ones. I flooded my flash socket on the first dive and was unable to shoot underwater the rest of the time.
Talk about a test of my stability…
Where might I post JPEGs where y’all can look if you are so inclined?
Democrats with the reputation for moral suasion, like our brave Senator Obama, will throw caution to the winds and loudly denounce the prospect of war with Iran!
yeah right. He did nothing with the Military Commisions Act coming down the pipe, just made a bleat of protest from the floor of the Senate the day it passed.
Same deal with the next atrocity, and then the next.
He’s Beelzeshrub.
Link.
Mary McCurnin @ 15
Imagine this scenario.
They act slowly.
And invisibly.
Remember their speciality is taking down governments.
I find this idea curiously refreshing.
I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.
BTW, TRex, last night, late night–totally effin’ fabu!!
I saw a bumper sticker today that said, “I’M ALREADY AGAINST THE NEXT WAR”.
My.
Sentiments.
Exactly.
sporkovat @ 53
Senator Kennedy spoke eloquently about W’s escalation, but only Olbermann speaks about the fears I have about the War on Iran. Where are the Senate Dems on this perpetual war for perpetual peace — is Iran next? Syria?
TRex @ 57
nice
bg @ 56
Ain’t I a stinker?
ED Encho at Taylor Marsh’s blog starts connecting the dots and is going to get hammered.
http://www.taylormarsh.com/
Breaking MSNBC: Japan warns of 3-foot tsunami after powerful quake off Kuril Islands
Now that the White House stops letting them take snapshots of W’s speeches, the Press Corps squawks.
I grew up in Las Vegas. When I was in school as a kid they would let school out during the day so we could all go outside and watch the mushroom cloud over the horizon when they lit those suckers off in Frenchmans Flat.
When they did it at night it would light up the whole sky like daylight. My bed was under a very large window and one time that whole window got blown in from the blast. That thing was 50 miles or more away.
egregious @ 55
Sweet Egregious, have I ever told you that I love you?
Fiyero, the explanation is that he’s insane. It’s happened lots of times in the past, just not to America recently. I think we keep saying, “He can’t *really* be insane, can he?” He can. He is.
He’s been plunging head-long off the deep end forever, but now it can’t be smoothed over. But he has no way of knowing that. It has never happened to him before and he cannot imagine it because he has no imagination.
Balrog @ 52
You have a flickr account?
I always enjoy your posts TRex.
I’ve lived through the “Days in October”, was in school during the “Duck and Cover” years, knew what the sticker on my neighbor kids home’s “This Home Is Prepared” stood for.
It’s a damned shame that we are doing the same crap again……………..
Bombing in Somalia, attack on our embassy in Greece, cui bono?
If you were to have a suspicious mind you might envision attacks in 2 other fairly random countries as a way of reinforcing the War On Terror™ to remind Americans to be afraid/very afraid.
Maybe that’s too too cynical. Or not.
And what people and what country and what corporations benefit from all terra all the time, just asking.
TRex, your post reminds me of 25 years ago.
We were big Deadheads. One of our biggest joys was getting new tapes of LiveDead to listen to.
Of course 81 was WAY pre-internet. So we would pick up copies of Relix magazine, which was pretty much all-Dead at that time. In the back was a classified section where Deadheads could advertise and grovel for tapes (The Dead was always pro-taper).
I met 6 of my best lifelong friends responding to those ads. And for anyone here that doesn’t know, The Dead were much like the Dirty Hippies of today. They were just good.
twolf1 @ 62
link
Kentucky Woman @ 65
As my father is fm Breathitt County I must graciously accept.
Fiyero @ 50
Oil. Bush certainly has more than his share of issues, but what’s driving this continuation and acceleration of the war is oil. They are very close to getting the legal basis to take most of the Iraqi oil at the cheapest possible price.
The desperation showing up now is that the oil companies, being highly risk-averse, cannot take advantage of the new petroleum law until the country is pacified. If Bush doesn’t accomplish that pacification, and keep a government in place there which will enforce the oil deal, he’s failed, and he knows it.
Sure, Bush may be delusional on the details, but there is one thing he’s assiduously avoided talking about, which only draws attention to it by its absence, and that is oil. He never mentions it except to deny any question about it.
So, I think, what we have is a guy who was going to–with the assistance of the cabal behind him urging him on–show his father that he was a better oil man than his dad, that he could be even more ruthless in manipulating the country toward a personal goal of his than his father, and, equally, that history would show him to be a genius for doing so. He probably is a sociopath, but, if anything, that ought to inform everyone that he’s dangerously single-minded.
karnak12 @ 64
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!
I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure that would scar me for life.
In fact, I think it has.
TeddySanFran @ 63
Clusterfuck is too paranoid to let the reporters and photographers into the same room with him. You never know when those rouge CIA dudes will show up in reprorter garp to take the presnut away.
HotFlash @ 67
No, but my wife has ShutterFly. Does that help?
Zednought!
Great post, nite-master TRex.
Lets see after 2006 we have Bush threatening to use nukes on Iran.
We gave/sold India nuclear technology and agreed to sell them gawd knows what.
Iran the Sauidis and other gulf states have announced their intentions to advance their use of nuclear technology.
Spys are poisoning each other with nuclear cocktails.
What else?
Watching Tweety and others today was like watching people who didn’t allow the threats President Bush made in his speech really sink in (much less his apparent vacant gaze)! Aren’t we in a situation where congress should stop everything until they effectively stop Bush and Cheney? Feels like an episode of the Twilight Zone. But this is real.
I read in EPU zone that Hillary is on her way to Iraq. Does anyone know who she might be talking to or what other intentions she may have?
TSF – In re your brainstorming on future VP’s, who do you think would actually choose the VP in a hurried situation this year?
BTW, Huge props to you for doing the Delegate Dance! Best of luck.
Frankly, I worry about Harriet Miers leaving the White House. I think W doesn’t like it that mommy has to leave (Bolten reportedly tried, and failed, to get rid of her previously) and I wonder if she doesn’t keep him, well — tethered.
If you envision the CIA taking back our government from criminals then you have the Russian situation in a nutshell.
must not zig….
ahhh…roots in the Bluegrass..
I know the valuable service you provide to the world, but I hope you get to visit home at times.
If you are ever in Yarmuth’s district…
The Rude One: Joe Lieberman Is a Little Bitch
Fascism is fascism no matter how they try to repackage it. The world has seen several fascists in the last hundred years and many well established countries have fallen under their spell. That fascism couldn’t happen in the USA is a cherised belief that we have shared our whole lives. This belief that “it couldn’t happen here” just made it that much easier for Cheney and his DC insider cabal to hide behind a likeable half-wit and hijack our government. Now that it appears that the middle east cakewalk they had theorized over scotch and cigars has failed miserably and they have to find a new public diversion and fast.
twolf1 @ 82
Did you see TBogg’s photo essay?
We dress like students, we dress like housewives, or in a suit and a tie
I changed my hairstyle, so many times now, I don’t know what I look like!
Eureka Springs, AR @ 78
She wants to make sure she comes back with many pictures to prove she was there.
Thanks, ES,AR — I’m bound to learn something, and have fun too. Here’s the statewide skinny for ‘pups who wanna play.
Trying to think of what to say in a one-minute speech that might shake up the powers-that-be, and help get me elected too.
Balrog @ 76
If it works like flickr you can post there and make them public (or friends, if you prefer) and we can see them if yuu give us the url.
egregious @ 80
Right. Like how would you take the country back from the CIA?
Perhaps it is time to take to the streets en mass. I don’t want to be a drama queen but who will come to the rescue but ourselves?
TRex @ 84
Did you see TBogg’s photo essay?
Perfect! what an odd expression on the little shitball.
Mary McCurnin @ 89
Well said, Mary.
TRex @ 84
Did you see TBogg’s photo essay?
I saw that and thought it quite moving actually. It perfectly juxtaposed what happened with J Quis and the Katrina fiasco (continued).
TRex @
74
The next time it happens in my home town, I’m gonna get a six-pack and go up on the roof to watch.
TeddySanFran @ 87
I’d recommend including Troops Home Now. But you probably were planning to do that.
TeddySanFran @ 87
“The people in charge are maniacs. I am not a maniac. Vote for me.”
Oh, and “MORE SWAG FOR BLOGGERS!”
Mary McCurnin @ 89
And as y’all are suggesting, some of the rescuers could be *much* worse. W and co are only C students.
I know, it’s like, “I just put a crab-cake up my ass and NO ONE NOTICED! Hmmmmm. Yay!”
HotFlash and montag – good insights both, and I agree.
Throughout all of this administration’s debacles and crimes, I have always been interested in looking at them from two perspectives: the macrocosms of geopolitics/power/oil/&money informing their neo-con ideologies, and the microcosms of their individual psyches, where we see these signs of insanity, pathology, neurosis, etc….
If the consequences of their actions weren’t so horrific and real, it might be merely intellectually interesting to see how these two overlap. Instead, it’s terrifying.
ZZZZZZZZZ … ;-)
TRex @ 97
Classy
Today I went out to Sunrise and Gold Express in Rancho Cordova to meet with folks to protest the surge, escalation, war, whatever the fuck you want to call it and no one was there. It was a planned event and no one was there. It was going to be the coldest night in ten years but, hey, bone chilling endurance is the mark of a true patriot. I went home cause I didn’t have a sign. Can’t do much alone without a sign. I guess.
Oh man, talk about wonderful contest material..)
Maybe you could get Speaker Pelosi to endorse you if you promise to write her only once per day. *s*
Teddy, do you have a straight ahead majority of votes to get elected? In our state, we have a complex system to elect state central committee members. Is it by district? We do ours by the county. . .and we did a takeover with a complex system of slates. . .anyway, our elections don’t happen until March.
Hey TSF, why not use a quote from a former resident of San Francisco, Mark Twain:
You’ve goth mail.
You’ve goth mail.
You’ve goth mail.
Fiyero @ 98
Me too, I’ve been banging my head against the blogs and Google and everything I can find that would help explain why. And my conclusion at this moment is that I’ll never know that until I understaand what. And I am more and more convinced that one has to look outside the US to find the rest of the players.
Fiyero @ 98
As a purely intellectual exercise, consider the premise of the documentary, “The Corporation,” which concludes that the corporation, as an entity, if human, would be a sociopath, and then, think about the relationship of human sociopaths aiding and abetting corporate sociopaths, and imagine the result.
I think it would be very much as we see events unfolding today.
Balrog @ 52
For a quick upload of public pictures: http://www.thumbsnap.com/
Save each as a fav for later posting. http://thumbsnap.com/vf/bnSKchy2.jpg
TRex @ 97
the shot could be worthy of a caption contest.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 104
I want to get old someday so I can be just like Mark Twain.
HotFlash @ 96
No, not worse. Just not willing to give up power back to the country.
Patrick 4/4 @ 105
apply directly to the mailbox
Mary McCurnin @ 101
Oh dear. I find that depressing and very lonely-making. One can hope that the organizers were just very bad but still, I’d worry since it sure feels like whatever’s going down it’ll be soon. And we will need each other.
Patrick 4/4 @ 105
Undead Letter Office
TRex @ 110
Yeah he’s kinda one of my role models. My uncle Joe reminds me of him, same storytelling style minus the handlebar moustache. I hope I am as much of a curmudgeon as Twain is when I get old.
As a purely intellectual exercise, consider the premise of the documentary, “The Corporation,” which concludes that the corporation, as an entity, if human, would be a sociopath, and then, think about the relationship of human sociopaths aiding and abetting corporate sociopaths, and imagine the result.
my new e-mail signature
twolf1 @
109
Juck Foe
Mary McCurnin @ 101
I think we have this idea that everyone will take to the streets like during Viet Nam. However, since there is no draft, yet, I fear that tactic is a bit passe. The only way to get them off their butts is to put that butt on the line.
Lieb You Joe Fuckerman!!
Webb Does More For Troops in One Day Than Allen Did In Years
bg @ 103
The rules seem incredibly complicated: apparently about a third of the Delegates are getting elected this weekend, in Assembly District-wide meetings. Insiders (it sounds like) either chose the rest earlier or hold public office — and get elected by being incumbents. There will be 12 chosen in my Assembly District (13) and there are 48 candidates, about evenly split between MEN and WOMEN.
Yes, apparently the reforms from the seventies, allowing equality of representation by gender have collided with San Franciscan values about, well, bathrooms. “You want me to run for office by gender, and there’s only TWO choices?”
heh heh.
My platform is that I think the Democrats in California are letting Arnold steal our issues: universal health care, addressing global warming. Watch — now that he’s not running again, he’ll get on the gay marriage bandwagon. The local teevee news speculated he might leave the GOP to be an Independent!
I think Democrats in California need to be progressive and people-powered. The party needs to build a blog infrastructure in-state.
…oh, and:
Troops
Home
NOW
Wow. This post has been linked by a page of English language blogs from Iran, it looks like.
Um, hello, Iranian readers! We really, really don’t want to have a war with you! It’s just our president! He’s CRAZY!
I bet you guys know something about that, huh?
Jay @ 118
Fixed.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 119
Maybe you could re-phrase that.. I believe Lieb is German for “fond of”
TRex @ 114
“It’s been returned to sender – and this time, postage is due…” Rated G. Viewers wiith ghostly complexions must be accompanied by dread, ennui and piercings.
There’s a nifty, free and easy service called BubbleShare that uploads pics in seconds and then allows you to creat an automated slide show that displays the pics, that you can embed in a blog post.
http://www.bubbleshare.com
Jon Husband @
99
I resemble that remark.
TRex @
114
A Letter to Elise
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 123
Thanks..I think you’ve solved it, Fini!
Jay @ 124
Mein Gott! Wait. The man’s name in German means “fond of man”? BWAAAHAAHAAHAAHAA!!!!!
TRex @ 122
put that in an update up top so they will be sure to see it
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 130
You might get an arguement from some of the other Liebermans..
Rangel wants to reinstitute the draft so the populist will get off their butts, take big risks and move these idiots in the Bush admin off of the map. There are so many problems with this. I envision the neocons calling this bluff and then we have to protect the innocents who would be drafted. So, no draft. People need to understand they will be compromised to the extreme if they don’t do something concrete.
I’m too fat and gimpy to go stomping in the streets, I prefer to do my sign waving and shouting “Hell no we won’t go” right here in these toobz.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 134
next meeting on the corner of Fitz and Toob St.
Trex – IHOP was a brilliant convergence.
That’s it. I’m writing the LA Times requesting that they replace their unreadable Wednesday gig by pantload Goldberg with Mr. TRex of Athens Georgia. Another excellent post, Mr. Rex.
Thanks Jon at 99, and pleased to meet you. I can now inflick slide shows on Firedogs. I’m a triple grandma *and* I have 6 cats. Just wait til I figure out how to use this. Bwahaha!
Mary McCurnin @ 101
Take heart, Mary. I’m an area resident, too, and would have loved to have been there with you. It’s odd, though – I’m reasonably well-informed, but I didn’t know about this event tonight (1240/1320/mailers, etc…) See you at the next DL?
marksb @ 137
Thank you. I would love to slap the donut right out of Jonah’s chubby little hand. That would be very satisfying.
Jay @ 132
Or perhaps it means “loverman“.
Mary McCurnin @ 133
Draft wouldn’t make a difference to me. Knowing my marching/demoing made a difference — that would make the difference.
The big difference I think between the antiwar 60s and antiwar 00s is social. A lot of the folks in the 60s movement were not actually that political but pretended to go along with the movement to get in on the cultural and sexual revolutions taking place. Those first skirmishes have been done for some time and we dont have a similar dynamic in our current culture except for one thing – the digital revolution.
The Toobz are the new streets, Kos and Jane are the Abby Hoffman and Angela Davis figures, the Netroots are the new Black Panthers and hip hop has replaced acid rock as the underground music favorite of the revolutionaries.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 130
Umm, no, not as I recall. “Man,” in German, is the equivalent of “one” in English usage when referring to a hypothetical other. In English, we say, “one says,” and the equivalent in German would be, “man sagt.”
So, in this sense, Lieberman’s name is self-referential, probably translating to “loving one,” or “loved one,” or refers to an object of fond attention.
Me, I think “The Loved One” in this dysfunctional context, is probably appropriate.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 143
Spot on, Fini, and ‘ere.
TeddySanFran >
Here is a link to the USGS official report which has technical details & maps.
“The internet can be as informative as the library of Alexandria or as crass as a bathroom wall.” – GSD-firedoglake.com
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 134
Yes, well I am a sore, impaired, arthritic, one booped woman who would rather be home watching Law and Order but we all better get the hell out of the house and fuckin mingle.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 143
and the old, white men in charge need a visual.
TeddySanFran @
87
Me too – though I’m not sure if I’m going to get my one minute or not, there are so many of us vying for the twelve slots from my district.
Kentucky Woman @ 148
You have to get on TeeVee..
Jay @ 150
teh TeeVee
montag @ 144
What a cast! I got to see this, I hope its on DVD.
apologize for zigging
montag @107:
Thanks montag – haven’t seen that yet, so I will. Yes, it’s that idea of a compounded pathology that is frightening and endemic to this admin and our present paradigm.
If it gets messed up the first time try again; USGS official report.
“Before the Internet, the idiot tended to stay in his own village.” – unknown
BTW, Rosa Parks had a genius essay in the Los Angeles Times today about how Nixon and Kissinger snookered the Democrats over the fall of Viet Nam.
loverman
Somebody last night was wondering how we would connect if They froze up the tubes, did we have snail addresses or phone numbers or anything. And there were these crickets. I am loathe to put personal contact info out for all, but connecting up in meat-based exercises from time to time is probably good insurance. We may need it. Sigh, Rayne is right I should get myself to a DL or something. Although I hate joining things. I invariably over-commit.
Oh you mean teevee like this?
The update:
HotFlash @
158
The Internet is so vast and so large at this point they would have to do major nuclear bombing to make it shut down. Don’t think for one second they have any control over this beast that cant be worked around. The folks who run our Internet connections and the media players making all the money off the toobz would never allow it.
Jay @ 156
Rosa BROOKS, sorry Freudian slip..
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 152
It is worth finding (I managed to tape it about twenty years ago). It’s based on the Evelyn Waugh book of the same name, which was Waugh’s way of looking down his nose at American cultural outlandishness, but, with Terry Southern doing a good deal of the screenplay, the results are amazing. Almost every minute of it is over the top. Everybody gets a chance to chew the scenery (Ayllene Gibbons gets to chew on a good deal more than that).
TRex @ 160
standing on chair clapping
Kentucky Woman @ 153
It’s a lovely zig. FWIW, four seems to be the safe number. Five is iffy and six is almost certain to bust the margins.
While we’re on the subject, we really do appreciate the zig maintenance that so many folks have picked up from Zig Master P.
punaise @
136
Oh, it was in the air. Bunnies, pancakes, philosophers. Who wouldn’t’ve?
The Lurking Mod @ 165
thank you for your tireless efforts.
TRex @ 122
Wow — hi to Iranian patriots! We love our country, too, and we don’t want to destroy yours. Can we try to work this out without blowing each other up?
twolf1 @ 120
Bravo. I dare Bush to veto this bill.
Speaking of bunnies, this is hilarious. Its a response video to the Justin Timberlake Xmastime smash Dick In A Box from some girl named Bunny called My Box In A Box. (h/t to Keef Olberman from his show)
tomorrow’s headline: ‘Crazy liberal blogger TRex from crazy liberal blog FDL responsible for making first attempt at diplomatic relations with Iran’
ok, maybe it’s a little long for a headline. how about just ‘TRex/FDL Rock’
TRex @ 160
Outstanding! There is still hope that the sane, rational majority of people in this country can be heard above the war-mongering clamour of this administration.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 170
Yeah Keith killed that one and he got the exclusive. Go newsman Keith!
Box in a box is helarious and disses Shrub to boot! Ha!
The Toobz are the new streets.
I agree that the Toobz are one way to go. But it is not the only way. The many people that did not vote in the last elections are not the people that rely on the Toobz for their information and motivation. The information hwy impacts far less than you think. Most people may buy things on the Toobz but they don’t get their political info from the internet cause they don’t want political information in their lives. But if they see us on a street corner with our impeachment signs they will be confronted with a new reality. We are their neighbors and friends. It will make a difference.
TRex @ 160
Nicely said.
twolf1 @ 171
How about “TRex Extends Olive Branch to Ancestral Homeland”. There’s gotta be some cousins being pumped out of there, where do you think the oil comes from?
big bunny
Fiyero @
172
Amen.
Mary McCurnin @ 174
In the Toobz, we don’t have to count on the editors at CNN and Fox to get our message right.
Down here in southern Ohio we had a couple of well-attended anti-escalation rallies. The honk and wave kind. One in Cincinnati, one in Dayton. Both were very well attended. Both had intense media coverage. I got to do a four-minute TV interview and I verbally kicked George’s ass.
TRex @ 160
way to charm them, baby.
twolf1 @ 177
Holy sh*t, twolf1, is that photo real?
DON’T SAY THAT!
*claps tiny forelimbs over ears*
LA LA LA LA LA LA!!!
I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!
SusanD @ 180
Praise you!
The Nefarious Leslie @ 182
yes. it’s a really big bunny but the wide lens used and angle of the shot enhance it’s size a little.
twolf1 @ 171
TRex Saves The World! thank you TRex.
you know, hindsight is 20/20. Valerie Plame was working on nuclear proliferation regarding Iran and Joe Wilson was working on the Niger forgeries concerning Iraq. Looks like the administration needed to shut those two up so they could carry out their plans.
montag @ 73
If it wasn’t for the oil, Bush wouldn’t give a damn about the Iraqi civil war. That civil war totally blindsided him, because he didn’t bother to investigate his target. The thought that we would be greeted as liberators discounted the fact that Sunnis and Shiites kill each other if left unattended.
Bush really got us into a mess here. I think he is now simply reacting to the quagmire by throwing more troops at it. It’s the only way he believes he can win, holding both Sunnis and Shiites down while we loot the oilfields. Problem is that this would take 200,000 troups for 20 years to accomplish. He counts on the next president (in his view McCain) understanding the primacy of the oil and thus continuing the pacification and occupation of Iraq. That’s where he really is delusional because we simply are not able to pacify Iraq with the currently available troops. Some of us even think looting the oilfields is immoral and criminal in the first place.
twolf1 @ 185
Yeah, but not that much. Jeebus, that’s a big bunny!
Witney @ 187
I guess the smoking gun will, after all, be a mushroom cloud.
TRex, when you achieve world peace, do we still have to be imaginary friends?
I’ve always worried about the Doomsday Clock, too. Spooky as hell. Maybe this will help contain the damage from George Bush’s latest Middle East adventure. But you never want to put all your eggs in one basket. We should back it up by holding open the possibility of impeachment.
“In the Toobz, we don’t have to count on the editors at CNN and Fox to get our message right.” –TRex
That is why we have to go directly to the streets in our neighborhoods. We bypass CNN and Fox and talk directly to the family two doors down.
It didn’t work for me for a couple of years. But lately people have been coming around. Eventually, as in Vietnam, everyone knows how screwed up it was. It has only been since the repugs have been in power that there was a notion that we lost Vietnam cause we turned “liberal”.
The Nefarious Leslie @ 189
The caption says it would feed 8 people. :( That’s why i didn’t link the story.
Mary McCurnin @ 174
See I tend to think of the Toobz as the meeting places for the people who then take the organizing power the Toobz gives us back to our localities. I can coordinate an effort in Indy with people in the comments here from all over the country.
So I agree with you, but I think old way activism doesnt receive as much respect as you think, while I know new Internet based activism is limited. When my neighbors see me shaking a sign on the street corner they write me off as a whacko, but a few of them will read my blog and find it not nearly as whacko.
I just dont think Americans have a stomach for rocking the boat. Political parties were not as accepting in the 60s as they are now. It was a lot harder to get around the machines in the parties in those days. A lot of those radicals spent the last 40 years reforming both parties and forming new Libertarian and Green parties in an effort to shake up the system via the democratic process. We dont rally in the streets anymore because we can hold political rallies that are more effective at effecting change. Look what just happened in November.
I wish we could skip impeachment and go straight to involuntary commitment to the nearest psych hospital.
UPDATE – Possible Tsunami: Tsunami warning expands to Hawaii, Aleutian islands after quake
SusanD @ 196
My kingdom for a tranquilizer dart!
(”We’ll stay here while Jim wrestles a straight-jacket on to the president. Jim’s insured with Mutual of Omaha…”)
SusanD @ 196
George W. Bush as Randall P. McMurphy.
Now, there’s a script….
twolf1 @ 194
Ugh. No wonder it looks terrified. Poor thing.
TRex @ 183
Sorry dude, maybe theyre not your cousins. Maybe theyre Joe Loverman’s cousins.
SusanD @ 196
But before we send Bush to the Hague I fell we should impoverish the entire Bush clan through ruinous taxation. That goddamn movie set ranch in Crawford will make a nice down payment.
TRex @ 198
Oh god, there’s a 707!
TRex @ 198
One dart and it’s...
I find that when I work via the internet I don’t know if I am having any real effect. I find that when I am working through an organization that meets and talks and demonstrates I don’t know if I am having any real effect.
Is it me. Am I spinning my wheels? Geez, I am tired.
twolf1 @ 197
linky to pacific tsunami warning center
Jay @ 202
Its a start but for me, Babs and Poppy have to give up the Kennebunkport compound. I want that fat bitch living in a shelter so I can say to her “They’ll take care of you here so that will work out well for you”.
Japan, Alaska, Hawaii on lookout for tsunami
Alerts issued for Hokkaido, Aleutian islands after 8.3-magnitude quake
Kentucky Woman @
184
Great news!
Bush’s decision (and Bush himself) is not popular in SE Ohio.
If you go back a few years, remember that the earliest forms of PNAC were leaked in 90 or 91 and whoever did it, threw Chenyy under the bus when they did, sorry I can’t remember the whole back story right now. So I suppose that the Clinton years gave the neocons time to plan and decide what – that they want to destroy all of us by 2007? for what? oil profits that will be useless when no one is left. Help me understand the logic. Surely this isn’t so they can sustain drilling rights for the next 30 years? At what point is someone or something going to step in and say enough? We are in unchartered waters here.
Time for some shut-eye. ‘Night, all.
And if we burn all of that oil the atmosphere will be?
Fini – I don’t march in the streets because I live many miles down a dirt road and hundred miles from a town large enough or conservative enough to march in.
Many people know from experience *cough* that you will be arrested as soon as there are enough people marching to make a difference. I have been arrested protesting war in Iraq for over fifteen years now. I would gladly march again in the morning. The tubes are fabulolus but we libruls must do everything possible. (peacefully of course)
Mary McCurnin @ 205
Hey, Mary, we old hippies (I’m making an assumption here) have got to hang on and save this country from the idiot child..
Well, it’s settled.
Donald Trump says, “Bomb Iran!”
TRex @ 214
yeah, he’s a douchebag. some of the comments are funny.
twolf1 @ 215
Yours is the best.
RE TODAY’S KURILE EARTHQUAKE/TSUNAMI:
If you’re concerned about a tsunami because of where your coastal community is located around the Pacific rim, this page lets you click on all the communities or areas for which alerts have been issued so far:
http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/eventmap.html
TRex @ 214
As if the narcissism, greed, and hair weren’t enough reasons to hate Donald Trump.
Tsunami warning information from NOAA
http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/eventmap.html
Witney @ 210
Maybe Dead-Eye Cheney sold us out to the Commie Chinese. He starts a war we pay for by borrowing the money from Peking and then one day they start making the rules cuz they gots the MONEY!!
I am going to bed. If not for you all I would lose my everlastin’ mind. Love.
Mary McCurnin @ 221
Goodnight, Mary.
Mary McCurnin @ 219
Do you guys think this is real? I have been refraining from comment thus far.
EvilDrPuma @
218
Trump stole that line from the Beach Boys. They keep yelling that in one of their songs, don’t they?
Jay @ 220 – you’re right – the debt we owe to China is enormous. However, I can’t see “Duck, It’s Dick,” having allegience to anyone other than himself
(spew) that one took me a minute, ET, but i like it
Thanks Mary, rest well.
Ed*ard Teller @ 224
bomb iran
Witney @ 225
Oh I’m sure he gets a whole lot of loot and maybe a nice townhouse in Shanghai..
Witney @ 210
The back story is that Cheney tasked Wolfowitz to write a paper advocating long-term military policy when he was Sec. of Defense. That policy paper advocated a huge build-up of defenses and most of the things regarding preventive war and control of the world by military outposts–much of the same stuff which did appear later in other forms.
But, Cheney didn’t get thrown under the bus. Someone did leak it, but just to stop it. It was widely circulated within government, but when a copy was given to someone in the press, Bush the Elder got very nervous about it and had it withdrawn. There are still rumors that all available copies were gathered up and went into a burn bag.
So, it wasn’t that the policy itself was odious to the Bushies. More that it was exposed as the nutballery that it was, and, true to form, the old school guys didn’t want to be seen as having any fingerprints on it.
For search purposes, the name of the document was “Defense Planning Guidance,” and was issued in late `91 or early `92.
Mary McCurnin @ 219
Of course, that can’t be all bad:
TRex @ 223
TRex. The government wouldn’t lie to us.
‘One Of Them’
;>)
teddy, if you are still here, here is something to include in your run:
Schwarzenegger backs Bush plan for Iraq
from the LATimes
TRex @ 223
An earthquake was measured by the US Geological Survey east of the Kurils, and a Tsunami Warning was issued for real. Here is a PDF of expected wave heights for Hawaii later this morning, in about 5 hours.
Mary McCurnin @ 219
At somewhere between 8.2 and 8.4, it’s a pretty big quake. The one that led to the tsunami that devastated southeast Asia was a 9.1.
Patrick 4/4 @ 231
Oh, boy. Two hours of feeling bad about my body. Can’t WAIT for that one.
TRex @
223
Yes. I just heard from a friend in Hawaii who was still at work (at the state capital) and had to evacuate because of the tsunami warning.
The Northridge quake was an 8.4 and devastated a large chunk of SoCal. This is a major earthquake event, I will be amazed if a tsunami doesn’t form.
Montag @ 230 – thanks for the reminder on backstory info. still scary though. I somehow don’t see that the neocons are going to give all this up in January 2009. (Bush wll probably repeal the 22nd or 25th?) the one where he can stay in office.
I hope Hawaii has enough sense to refuse any disaster assistance from Bubble-Boy
Having nightmares over nuclear annilation is not fun. I was th “N’ Man” and we were hear to talk about fuusssion. Spent the 80’s pushing back the clock any active way I could. Now I thought that clock had tic toc ed past midnight recently. 7 minutes, thats a lifetime! Must have been taken over by the wingers.
Jay @ 241
They cant anymore, remember they just passed that defense authorization that had the provision tucked into it that gives him the right to nationalize National Guard and Reserve troops over the objections of governors? He can just declare martial law in Hawaii. Or even nationwide really, this could be a real fucking interesting weekend.
Witney @ 240
Y’know, I don’t think Bush is interested in preznidentin’ any more. He’ll be happy to get back to the golf course and giving speeches paid for by Sun Myung Moon and sitting on the board of Carlyle and picking his nose and telling fart jokes.
The real question from now on: is there a candidate who’s crazy enough and obsessive enough about the presidency to make the deals necessary to keep the neo-cons in power?
One more reason to worry about McCain.
BREAKING Tsunami update: FEMA has announced that should any areas of the US be effected by the possible tsunami, they will mobilize rescue and damage assessment teams on February 22nd. So as not to repeat the failures of the Katrina disaster, they have already purchased 21,000 mobile homes and made sure they were stuck in the mud in a field in Minnesota.
Witney @ 187
I heard talk of Valerie’s outfit stopping a bunch of guys who were bringing some WMD into Iraq. Story went they were our guys, and the stuff was a plant to be found with much hoohand and embedded reporters. Now if this were the case wouldn’t Dick and Rummy be mad?
And Lieberman will be sure to promise an investigation into that failure.. just so he can renege on said promise a month later.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16…../newsweek/
twolf1 @ 245
Sorry, but I think it’s a little too talk-downish. And no invite to comment. hmm. The shorter first one was better, IMO.
PEOPLE OF IRAN. FDL does NOT want to make your lives a living hell.
I remember Bush addressing the people of Iraq 2 days before the shock and awe. “Do not destroy oil wells…”
The Nefarious Leslie @ 178
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 239
The Northridge Earthquake was a 6.7, not an 8.4
the great alaska earthquake was a 9.4… scary stuff
Titanyum @ 249
Oh thats right, thanks for the correction. I’m thinking one of the major quakes of recent vintage was an 8.4. Was it the Athens quake a couple years ago? Or was it the Mexico City quake a while back?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I…..e-Tire.jpg
twolf1 @ 250
Maybe this is the one I’m thinking of.
All the tsunami talk dwarfs the simultaneous flood and ice storm warnings in my neck of the woods.
ET – Are you all in a safe area?
ps. I know I’m way too optimistic, but I still think that the death-spiral WE have created in Iraq could bring the Iranian government to be a friend to the US. Gee, maybe we could just say “Hi.” Not GI George, though. fuckwit.
Let’s just include the Lieberman staff quote on his new Katrina policy, so that we’re completely clear on where he stands on this important issue:
1/12/07: Leslie Phillips, Lieberman’s Homeland sec committee chair: “The senator now intends to focus his attention on the future security of the American people and other matters and does not expect to revisit the White House’s role in Katrina.”
12/4/06: last known Lieberman promise that there will be Katrina hearings (sorry, no quote)
Eureka Springs, AR @ 254
I’ve been getting the leading edge of that same storm system all day but the warm air is sitting over Indiana as usual. Its gonna be transitioning to ice/snow later today to just snow Sun/Mon.
“31 deaths. Many injured. Large section of land under city dock slid into Inlet triggering wave. Wave reached more than 2 blocks inland. Fires burned at waterfront for two weeks. 68 of 70 boats at dock destroyed. Town relocated later. $12.5M to $15M in damage.
………….
$10M damage. 58 buildings completely detroyed, 320 damaged, 694 homeless. Buildings swept in 1000 ft. Log booms and boats in inlet carried onshore. North bank of Somass R. suffered greatest damage.”
http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/web…..damage.htm
It dropped about forty degrees at sunset and just fifty miles north of me (in MO) they are losing power due to ice. It’s supposed to do this through Monday! Have my candles, firewood and books at the ready..)
Rice: Bush authorized raids on Iranians in Iraq
The following list gives estimated times of arrival for
locations along the North American Pacific coast from a
tsunami generated at the given source location. The
list is ordered by arrival time starting with the earliest.
Since tsunami speed is directly related to
water depth, tsunami ETAs can be computed independent of
tsunami amplitude. THE LISTING OF A TSUNAMI ARRIVAL TIME
BELOW DOES NOT INDICATE A WAVE IS IMMINENT. The listed arrival
time is the initial wave arrival. Tsunamis can be dangerous
for many hours after arrival, and the initial wave is not
necessarily the largest.
linky to list
Suzanne,
ET went silent on us. Is he near the coast?
SusanD @ 180
way to go!
Earthquake Damage
ES, if I remember correctly, he is far enough inland that he should be ok… trying to remember the name of that town. was it palmer?
Info from the USGS on the quake :
Maps etc here
“Lack of awareness of the basic unity of organism and environment is a serious and dangerous hallucination.” – Alan Watts
g’night firepups… MM @ 248, I hear you but have to say that there is absolutely NO intention to talk down to anyone – just saying hello, and tired of myopic administration idiots who control both policy and discourse is all.
twolf1 @ 264
I’m going to sing The Doom Song now.
TRex @ 268
I’m going to sing the bed song now then. Night all.
on the subject of apocalyptic natural disasters and our rather grim climate-changed future, here’s two good papers for the technically inclined.. the upshot (as usual these days): we’re screwed and it’s our fault.
Emanuel, Kerry (2006)
Atlantic Hurricane Trends Linked
to Climate Change, EOS: Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 6/3/06, 233-244
ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanu…..l_2006.pdf
Emanuel, Kerry (2006)
Hurricanes: Tempests in a Greenhouse, Physics Today, August, 2006.
ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanu…..y_2006.pdf
Suzanne @
265
Palmer sounds correct…about 50 miles inland from Anchorage?
Suzanne >
According to the USGS et al any tsunami should have already arrived in most of Japan and won`t arrive in Alaska for several more hours
“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” – Helen Keller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy9kwQ4ZwFE
My Doom Song.
RBG, I think we are right. he said between palmer and a town whose name begins with W – according to the wcatwc, any wave would not hit cordova (next big fjordie thing over) until 0208 AKST
Suzanne @ 265
I don’t recall… katymine would remember. Maybe she will pop in.
Oh yes, one more thing, scientists now believe that climate change can cause earthquakes, tsunamis and vulcanism as well as increased deadly storms
Blub @ 270
Kentucky Woman @ 273
I’m about to make your ears pop. This is how small a world it is. The kid in the video for that song is named Noah Ray. He’s 32 now and is the lead singer of my brother’s band Music Hates You.
It’s a small world after all…it’s a small world after all…
NWS info on tsunami in Japan as of 1054 PM PST FRI JAN 12 2007 (06:54 UTC Sat Jan 13th)
doesn`t seem to be causing much so far
“…human security can be defined better as ‘knowing risks’ rather than ‘eliminating risks’.” – Hans van Ginkel
It’s a small world after all…it’s a small world after all…
acccckkkkk! ear worm, ear worm, dayamitalltohell TRex, that one is one of the worst!
TRex @ 277
Get out of my head! I was thinking what was up with that kid now…wondering what he was up to. Sent me on a quest for the old days. Ended up here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..mp;search=
and here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofLGxs7c8xM
Suzanne @ 279
Anytime I get a persistent earworm, I just sing “Blackbird” by the Beatles two or three times. It’s the universal palate cleanser of mental music.
You will thank me for this later.
daCascadian @ 278
Can be deceptive. One of the characteristics of tsunamis is that a lot of the wave energy can be below the surface, and only translates to big waves as the wave energy reaches shallow areas.
It’s also hard to say if the quake energy is omnidirectional. I would guess that there are as many instances of it being unidirectional as omnidirectional.
Hmmmm. You know you’re closer to people from R.E.M. right now than you realize, KW.
Some folks from “the company” are regular readers here.
I had a feeling about that, TRex. Those guys changed my world…still rock it today.
My 2 year old sits still and cock’s her head to “Pilgramage”
Pilgrimage…sorry, preview is my friend.
You know, that experience ended up being really hard on him. All the kids in his school were really, really jealous and they ostracized him and treated him like shit. Typical.
TRex @ 283
Congrats to those company folks for this year’s induction into the RnR Hall of Fame!
Kentucky Woman @ 285
My favorite is “Cuyahoga”. It makes me cry.
Suzanne @
234
thanks. he’s back to the old Bush-loving warmongering Arnold. why am i not surprised?
I kind of wanted to pull a Madge and tell you, “You’re soaking in it right now.”
I’m only surprised that he waited until after the holidays to revert, Teddy.
By the way, Radio Free Europe warped this 12 year old’s mind in a good way. Thanks for enlightening my musical mind at a young age.
Don’t worry, guys, I don’t think the rock stars bother to read all the way down here to comment number 300. But should I run into anybody, I will give them all your best.
Damn, Patrick Rex’s band rocks hard! Sweet! I’ll order a disc when I get some cashish in the bank from this site I’m working on.
TRex @ 290
I am suddenly very, very shy.
O.K. I lied…I am always shy.
Can I say through R.E.M. I find peace?
montag >
Yea, it depends, in part, on the characteristics of the ocean floor locally and the specific geography of the site of interest
I was going to be an oceanographer once…
“If you don’t deal with reality, reality will deal with you” – C.J. Campbell
Hi all….
Isn’t funny that the wingnuts who were re-elected were the ones who moved really FAR left AND now are scooting back to there normal dirty nest.
Just a few years ago…. it was DINOS who moved farther and farther right…. funny in a very sad way…..
TRex @ 289
For me the first few albums are like one great song. I broke in my first pair of klipsch la scallas with those guys.
Just staying up until after midnight PST so that I can post to my own group blog and have it appear on Saturday (my day). And to be EPUed on FDL, as usual. This time, well deserved. Probably most times, actually.
Loved your posts the last few days, TRex. Not to separate those from the previous days, which I also loved. Even as I resent you for the swag, which you deserve. Except that swag, by its nature, ought not to be deserved. Which means that I should have got a lot of it.
Blog on, brother. You’re the best.
katymine – your ears must be burning or itching..) Do you recall the name of ET’s home town? We are on a tsunami watch.
ET lives in Palmer AK
my memory was right. thanks for the verification, katymine. that is about 50 miles inland of Anchorage.
Good memory pupsters. Well he should be alright.
I need some advice….. on our grassroots getting progressives to run for State Dem Chair and other offices …. we are being sabotaged by the Gov, she wants to continue to run the party, putting in her hand picked stooges..
CatelynK @ 299
You, my dear, are too kind.
Frankly, I don’t know how I manage to continually produce such fabulous material. I am an ongoing source of amazement to myself
*COUGH!*
Er, I’m just here doin’ my job, ma’am. It ain’t glamorous, but it’s an honest living.
Oh, come on, guys, that was a JOKE! HA HA!! Come on! Where’s everybody going? It’s only 3am! Don’t go! Let me get the blender. I’ll make mojitos!
TRex @ 307
I wonder what the Farsi is for mojito…. :)
TRex @ 306
Darling, in honor of the old days, I had to go break out the herb (my husband will be sooo jealous)!
Kentucky Woman @ 308
Hey neighbor, wanna sharesy-daresy with your Hoosier neighbor pal?
Kentucky Woman @ 308
Gardening at night…gardening at night…gardening at night…
And speaking of which.
Good night everybody. I don’t think I could take a mojito on top of all the oreos, anyway.
twolf1 @ 208
Hmmm. Sounds like someone’s trying to disguise a metric tidal wave as an english tidal wave.
Sure Fini..I’m only an hour and 15 down 65….
Just don’t wake the baby!
:D
ATTENTION NSA: OUR READERS ARE TALKING ABOUT SHARING BASIL, NOTHING MORE. NOTHING TO SEE HERE. THESE AREN’T THE DROIDS YOU’RE LOOKING FOR. MOVE ALONG.
707!
TRex, are you cooking again?
katymine @ 315
No, I ordered pizza tonight. And now, I’m going to bed. Really. Good night.
Good news! The Tsunami watch for Alaska and the BC coast have been canceled. The quake made a teeny tiny wave, but nothing to worry about. Whew.
I’m inland a ways, but close enough to the coast that these things worry me.
Nite TRex… after all… It is Pizza Friday at our house…
TheOtherWA, is it cold and snowy where you are at?
I heard that Portland had snow on the ground and expect temps down to 13 degrees tonight
Kentucky Woman @ 312
LOL allright!!! Too bad I don’t drive, you’d have a visitor later today. Seriously though, I occasionally find myself in Louisville for various reasons. Next time I’m coming down I’ll let you know, might be cool to grab coffee sometime.
TheOtherWA @ 317
It was initially projected to be a one meter (3.3 foot) wave. How dangerous is that likely to be? Sounds like it could damage some boats and other things right along the shore, but other than that??
TheOtherWA @ 318
good news and thank you for the update. g’nite firepups, firecats, and rabid lambs.
Pesto anyone?
TRex I was out on the porch.. missed your heavy pause. Anyway sleep well amigo.
It’s cold and a little snowy here. It was very sunny today so some of it melted, but there’s still just enough to keep most of the grass hidden. The problem is, whatever melted is now freezing. It’s supposed to drop into the teens tonight. Brrrr.
A tsunami of 3 feet could damage docks if it hits hard. There was a 6 footer in California last year that did quite a bit of damage to boats in a marina and the docks, but there was no surge on land.
katymine @ 319
Don’t know about TheOtherWA, but where I am (South Sound area), we have several inches of snow on the ground, and it’s been below freezing for the last couple of days. We’re not used to this around here, of course, so it’s keeping folks at home unless they really need to be somewhere.
Pesto? Yum. And what do you know, I have red wine! Can I pour anyone a glass?
Yes please TheOtherWA.
Phoenix is also going to have a cold snap, freeze warning in the valley tonight and this weekend. It rained today… you should see these idiots…. it hasn’t rained in months…. But it is kind of understandable… the average is 9 in/yr.
Cujo, I’m a lot closer to Portland than Seattle. My usual drives don’t take me into any areas with steep hills, so as long as everyone goes a little slower than usual, it should all be ok. Should be.
Give Walcott and Philip Weiss a pat on the back.
They refuse to mistake a smear for something other than what it is.
TRex @ 310
good nite, ‘pod. the tsunami, if there is one (which is uncertain) is due to arrive here at 5:30am. link to times of (possible) tsunami arrival
OK doke folks, gnight, time to hit the rack.
montag @ 329
Guess I’m not paying enough attention. Has this “rabbinical flakeout” (to quote Wolcott) been getting a lot of press?
CNN did something on the “mass resignations” the other day, but I kept right on channel surfing. You’d think the Situation Room might have MORE IMPORTANT things to talk about this week, but noooooooo!
Good night, all, this FirePup is pooped. Stay warm and safe.
TheOtherWA @ 333
I surfed by CNN a few times today and it was business as usual with that team. Covering Carters harassment would have been a major step up.
I love this ending of Wolcotts post
zing
Cujo359 @ 333
Yesterday and today, mostly. There were fourteen defections from the governing board of the Carter Center yesterday, presumably encouraged by some Reform rabbis and helped along by the ADL, with the basis of the complaint that Carter could no longer be seen as an impartial broker because of what’s he’s said in interviews prompted by the release of his latest book, and in the book itself.
I hope Carter has the sense to tell them not to let the door hit ‘em in the ass on the way out.
Ahmadinejad is a fool corrupted by errant ideology for thinking the Holocaust never happened. (Shit, anyone can find the archival film done by the British–I’ve got a copy on tape.) But, the fact that the Holocaust happened doesn’t justify yet another wrong, and that’s another part of Carter’s message. Weiss is right–there’s a movement to find some truth–and the right-wingers in Israel and in this country don’t want it found.
montag @ 336
What a crock. Sometimes, being a go-between means telling people things they don’t want to hear. Right now, I’d be far more worried about the Palestinians accepting us as honest brokers than the Israelis.
The letter they wrote complained about Carter’s book being inaccurate, yet the Israel/Palestine situation it describes sounds like a cruel fantasy.
Sadly, he has too much class.
The soldiers of the four major powers all testified about discovering the camps (well, I’m not entirely sure the French did, but I seem to remember). There is archival footage of Patton and Eisenhower at a camp, and lots of footage of the camps themselves. Nowadays I’m sure that could be faked, but this stuff has been around since the 50s, if not earlier.
Anyway, anyone who condemns a book just because it fuels the fantasies of Holocaust deniers is a fool. Conspiracy theorists always warp whatever they perceive to make it fit their fantasies. That’s why you can’t reason with them.
And Israelis justifying the present situation by saying there will never be another Holocaust lack a sense of irony, I think.
Rice doubles-down on Boxer’s war comments.
There’s no word on any Alaska broadcast media about the Kurile quake tsunami, which is moving eastward right now along the SW Alaska coast. The gentle southward arc of the central Aleutian Islands and Alaska Penninsula will shield most of the north Gulf of Alaska coast, but the Aleutians, S. Lawrence Island (in the Bering Sea), and the lower Alaska Penninsula have already been hit, including the Islands around Sand Point, and about five Alaska communities of several hundred people. Western Kodiak Island will probably get slammed any minute.
Communications along the Alaska coast are very high quality for reacting to something like the Kurile quake in three or more hours.
And our dog has disappeared. The latter is what I’ve been working on this evening. Everyone yell “Strider, go home!”
TeddySanFran @ 338
More like does a double-or-nothing–just like Dubya’s war plans. (Never was a double-down–any gambler can tell you that.)
Ed*ard Teller @ 339
He probably senses what’s coming and is heading for the high ground….
montag, I reacted to your last comment about the Carter/Rabbinical thing. Apparently, I used a magic word, and it’s stuck in moderation.
Goodnight, all.
Cujo359 @ 342
Funny how that happens. :)
The tsunami warning and watch has been cancelled for AK/BC.
“Strider, go home!”
Glad you are ok, ET.
g’nite all
Good morning, pups. In the NYT today we have Orlando Patterson on the other failed war, the one on drugs, and Maureen Dowd telling us why she’s all cool with the Brand New Way To Screw Everything Up in Iran.
http://mgpaquin.blogspot.com/
I got up a bit early this morning, so there’s EVERYTHING… Coffee, tea, hot chocolate for those of you where it’s cold, and
FreedomFrench toast. Have a peaceful day.Morning Marion. I guess the night crew just went to bed.
Mornin’ pups.
Hi, Marion & ccmask -
Seems like there’s become a longer span of time between the nite & morning crews going off & coming on duty. Any thoughts as to why?
retirin’ in five @ 348
Morning, retirin’ -
Been there about five now & you’re gonna luv it!
Waccamaw @ 350
The five years part is more of a hope than a firm date at this point, but you gotta visualize it first, and then make it happen. Not easy in the BushCo International economy.
Was reading fast and I read TheOtherWA said the Firepups pooped. I thought that is a new metaphor for … something. Then I reread – and laughed. Reading fast has it troubles.
And thanks for posting those snippets of Wolcott for defending Carter. They will now allow any different views when it comes to the country of Israel. It is as if to disagree with Israel, one chooses to stand with Hitler.
Which is so far beyond rationale, that one can’t even see rationale’s coastline. I hope Carter continues his truth telling. Carter can replace those that resigned with people who have a more ‘fair and balanced’ world view.
And hooyah for Jim Webb. Front page of Kos has comment wbout his comments after Lindsey Graham did his bush loving shtick. I hope he comes to Chicago – I want to shake that man’s hand.
As I reported last night, a Florida Highway Patrol officer was killed in Highlands County Florida last night.
Swat teams and their dogs spent the night on foot scouring the orange groves. Helicopters and patrol cars canvassed the neighborhoods all over Highlands County. Fellow officers came to the rescue from Polk and Orange counties to aid in the search.
The server at the window in McDonald’s in Lake Placid just told me that the suspect or suspect’s have been found. A correction officer in the car ahead of me had just told her. It is not official.
The officer’s name was Nick Sottile, 48 and he was on duty at a traffic stop at the time of his death. He leaves behind a wife and daughter. Our little town is just devastated for Nick.
Am I the only one with Italics? Marion may be the culprit.
Good Morning Firepups!
It’s mild and rainy here in central Jersey.
Marion in Savannah, thanks for the French toast! I’ve brought some fresh bagels, plenty of cream cheese, and lox. Help yourselves!
Is anyone else from the ‘Lake planning to go to the big march for peace in DC at the end of January? United for Peace and Justice is the organizer. Mr. NJP goes to two peace groups, both of which are organizing busses from central Jersey. We decided we wanted to march [although we’re traveling separately from the group. I hope some Firepups will be able to come, too!
I always try to end my morning posts with “Work for peace, every day.” It’s an exhortation for myself to be mindful at work and in my life to do everything I can to make this a better world. The Bush-Cheney cabal terrifies me. The attack on the Iranian office in Erbal in the Kurdish region of Iraq certainly looks as if it was meant to be the Gulf of Tonkin incident to provoke a war with Iran. Mr. NJP theorizes that Cheney knows the administration can’t get public support for escalating the war–but if a provoked Iran attacks American forces in the region, there’ll be a “rally ’round the flag” effect. What say you folks?
Work for peace, every day.
ccmask, I don’t have italics… Have you tried F5?
montag @
336
I’m sure Carter knew that he was grabbing the third rail of American politics: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.c…..-continue/
That did it…thanks Marion. I’ll have a little cinnamon on that freedom toast if you please.
Well, I’m off to the salt mines, working for the private client I have as my second job. Leisure, we don’t need no stinkin’ leisure… See you later.
Mornin’ Firedogs,
the italics went away on my screen, must’ve been all that french toast
thunder and lightning in Central Tex – intermittent connection problems- forecast warns of something called ‘ice pellets’ tomorrow night.
Hope all the Oklahoma firepups are safe and have everything they need to stay off those roads for the next day or two
njprogressive – against my better judgement, am holding out palpable hope that any attempts at a Remember The Tonkin ! will be pre empted by saner minds – blerrgh, it means we have to count on the likes of Joe Biden -
GrandmaJ @ 352
Every once in a great, too-long while, the good guys actually get a lick in *g*. Webb’s comments made my morning. (Didn’t he also take a swipe at St. mcCain?)
—————————
ccmask -
Let’s hope they found the “real” suspect(s)…….as opposed to the debacle in Somalia.
Ran into the italics earlier & didn’t post for that reason. F5 DOESN’T work on Macs! ……..And now seems to be showing up again when I hit Preview. Am going to send this anyway & hope someone who knows more about it can figure out why.
Waccamaw @ 361
If you’re using Safari on your Mac, you can just hit the refresh button. Works the same as F5 does for the PC folks.
pull up a chair
“Strider– go home!” Be safe, our Alaskan friends and all those living on the Pacific!
Jimmy Carter is a man of peace and has my full support.
Jim Webb is surely making this progressive very, very proud and grateful.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @
143
Close, but your comparison leaves out the fear, the knot in the gut… students were shot at Kent State, customers in banks were shot, bombs went off on campuses across the nation, machine guns began to appear near Federal Buildings, demonstrators bloodied as they were thrown into police wagons. The old times had an element of fear and potential domestic violence that these times do not yet have.
If anyone is still around, my co-blogger, Xsociate, put up a quick photoshopped doomsday clock. It’s worth the click.
Bush is Captain Queeg.
Joe Liberman is SuckUpJoe.
Never trust someone who slicks down his hair and parts it like it’s 1965 (Lindsey Graham). Are they all sick or what
The father of a friend was a photographer with the US Army in Europe. He saw the camps. And took pictures of them. I don’t know what kind of dreams he had, but I know he had problems afterward.
Mary McCurnin @
15
This is the job of our elected officials. It is past time for impeachment. I have contacted my senators, but my rep is hopeless.
HotFlash @ 158
Hotflash, I read your comment and it really stuck. I just hate to always be putting “me, too!” posts in the commentary here. I’ll say this, my friend Strategerie (also comments here) was without power for DAYS after that horrible snowstorm, and I was really glad that we’d already exchanged phone and mailing addresses. We did communicate offline during that time and I updated other people.
I find that I have two lives and two sets of friends now – my political activist crowd, and the friends of work/daycare mommies. There is growing overlap between the two, but my virtual friends are the political, and could be completely lost to me in a day. Your post made me think about that. We could all be disconnected with little or no effort.
This is completely epu’d, but I just want to say this. If you are a U.S. citizen, and you’d say “zero” in your regular speech, just say “zero” here. We might be ashamed of our administration, but the words we use, that we were taught to use, are ok. Just because it’s European, doesn’t make it better. Just because it’s American, doesn’t make it stupider. Just use the words you know, and you won’t embarrass yourself.
I think this whole silly “zed” thing is an affectation. The nicest people do it, but please stop. If we don’t talk like that, let’s not write like that. Let’s have the dignity of being ourselves.
JoyB,
I understand and empathize with much of what you are saying. Their was a discussion at the time zed was declared by many pups to be another choice for use at the beginning of a thread. It’s silly, it’s clickish and I like it when folks in a group make up their own vocabulary along the way. (for fun, not war or political evasion)
The zero in a thread is seen by only one person. It disappears as soon as it’s filled in with a comment. I can’t think of any other situation where that occurs. Why not play with such an odd occurance?
I don’t have a dog in the hunt, but, see both sides. Glad you chimed in as always.
Scene: Kennebunkport,ME. A family barbeque.
A single gun shot rings out…close up on a smoking gun dropping effortlessly from a limp, aged hand. Camera pulls back to reveal Bush Sr., frozen, staring blankly as if in a state of shock. He mutters to no one in particular:
“I had to do it. I had created a monster. He had to be stopped. God forgive me for unleashing this evil on the world.”
Slowly colapses into the arms of rushing agents. Fade to black…
Thanks Eureka Springs.
My only quibble is just that zed=the letter z. I LOVE our traditions here, the ZERO! (I’ve gotten them and celebrated that to everyone) And especially “FITZ!”
I’m not talking about traditions, I’m talking about the tendency I see of smart, brainy U.S. Americans to adopt Britishisms or whatever and disown their own native terms. I saw it back in college, I’m guilty of it. But people laugh at us, because we inevitably screw it up (as in shouting the last letter of the alphabet when you’re the first post).
I enjoyed what somebody wrote about getting between the dog and the lamppost, though. I’ll let “zed” go, but I’ve seen a LOT of these euro terms from clearly American (U.S., not Canadian) people, and I kinda wish we’d just stop it?
My social worker partner used to run a mental health clinic in a scary part of L.A. One day while she was in her office, she heard screaming and the sound of objects being thrown around in the group room, where an outpatient therapy group was being held. She ran out of her office and down the hallway to the group room, and found a bunch of frightened interns, staff, and other patients cowered against a wall, watching another patient having a meltdown. He was throwing things, screaming and threatening everyone. It was quite a scary scene. Anyway, given her training and the fact that she knew what she was doing, she walked up to the guy, pointed her finger at him and said “STOP RIGHT NOW!”
And the guy immediately stopped.
The point is, somebody had to tell him to stop. Somebody had to set the boundary. You might argue that unconsciously the guy was begging for somebody to contain him. My partner did, and things ended peacefully.
Bush has never had a container in his life. I guess we’ll see how far he’s allowed to escalate.
Ok, I just had a horrifying thought: in getting my own 0 first posts, have I ever shouted “zed!” I wouldn’t put it past me…