Morning, BT.

A Grandfather’s Lesson and a Liberal Worldview

My grandfather retired to where he had already been: a beautiful old house on a hill in Stony Brook, New York, an hour and a half from NY City on Long Island’s north shore and so close to a quaint beach that I could smell salt water from his front porch. That house was the only place he ever wanted to be. His children would urge him to travel, to read, to write, to broaden his world with the freedom of retirement. But he always asked, “Why would I ever leave this house? If I’d leave, I’d just spend all my time wanting to come back.”

And that house was where the whole world collapsed into my grandfather’s. His entire existence could be measured most days in feet and steps. As our universe expands into space or unspace, his universe contracted and constricted; everything he knew was to be forgotten, and everything he made was to decay under the relentless persistence of time. His consciousness and his being were given to subtractions, not additions …

Article:
A Grandfather’s Lesson and a Liberal Worldview

Morning Joke is an advertisement for Christie.

Mornin’, BT, pups

Hey, Panetta, have you noticed that the US and its coerced “allies” have the only military forces being deployed in the world today? I guess when your ideology calls for permanent war talk of reductions in the War Department budget can get a little scary, eh?

Half a million or more troops to chase a few hundred fanatics is just business as usual for warmongers.

Occupy…group planned in Austin for tomorrow. Pretty good local NPR coverage.

hank williams was one of the best songwriters who ever lived and a fine singer to boot

hank williams, jr. is a talentless redneck imbecile

thank god that horrible “song” got yanked from mnf

The son and DIL went to the organizing meeting last week. Makes an old hippie proud. (sniff)

Good morning pups. Thanks for the post BT.

I’ve never paid attention to him in the past, but he seemed like a charicature wrapped in a satire inside an enema.

Or something.

Junior isn’t the only dud in the pop country biz.

hank williams, jr. is a talentless redneck imbecile

Have to defend Hank Jr. He is not talentless. LOL

The Rs are all fighting for the support of “redneck imbeciles.”

oops, caricature was an error, enema was intentional lol I am half awake!

Isn’t the war department a hollowed out shell already ?

If they can’t win a war in ten years maybe they’re worthless with The Peter Principle in full bloom.

$ 450 billion in cuts over ten years is chump change in a trillion dollar a year rip off.

Hey, SD, have you clicked on the “My Gulf” ads?

So, Cain is being punished for speaking the truth. Maybe he should be the alternative candidate.

Kris is a delight. He has really become involved in the Occupy discussions and actions. No wonder you are proud. It must be so much fun to be at your house when the whole family is there.

Good for them…hope it gets a lot of attention.

They had an occupy in St. Louis on the 1st. but I was out of town. Wish I were here but when I checked the website for info they said they were still planning it.

The first meeting of Occupy Chattanooga is Friday evening. I’ll check with WUTC to see if they plan on covering it.

We are really a house divided over this issue. It got a little heated last night.

Oh LOL. You win the morning, OmAli!

No, I’ve got AdBlocker installed so I don’t see them. Added it earlier when I was watching Phoebe the hummingbird. Her nesting season starts again in a couple weeks so I never uninstalled it.

I don’t have it installed at work. I’ll have to look for the ad there.

Are you ready for some Nazis?

ESPN’s statement indicates that they pulled his sonic pollution from “tonight’s telecast.” Does that mean he’s still in, beginning whenever the next such event airs? If so, that’s obviously unacceptable. The only way to really sting a peckerwood like him is to cut off his water permanently. So hey ESPN? How about it?

Morning BT & Pups of Fire.

Hey ms! I was hoping someone understood what I was babbling about :)

Ding.

If anyone thinks they will cut the military I have some swamp property to sell you. They will figure some way of reclassifying something as “military”. This super congress is a step towards the big “F”. IMHO

On Edit: Morning all not enough coffee yet.

I hope “Occupy” doesn’t morph into a campaign to re-elect Obama.

Over a particular issue? The coverage talks about the criticism that there is no agenda, however, it’s obvious this is the early stage. One can emerge. Also alot of talk about how bright and organized the group appears to be.

KO’s been giving some real airtime to Occupy Wall Street. So props to him for doing so.

x2

If Williams is to be crucified for comparing Obama to Hitler, they should come for me first. I’ve said a lot worse about Obama and WAAAAY worse about Boehner. And meant it.

I think the assholes are probably as happy as they’ve ever been, except for the ones who’ve lost friends or critical workers.

Boxturtle (Meaning the job creators and the children)

Heh, I don’t see much of a chance of that happening. Notice how the pols have avoided the Occupy scene like the plague?

“It would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu.” Ok, ESPN pulled the plug on
Hank Williams, Jr for comparing Obama to Hitler. Good for them. Funny reading the comments at the link, all those wingers claiming they will boycott ESPN and not watch any football there anymore. Right. But more interesting, to me anyhow, is that John Boehner becomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What’s that say about the paranoid right-wing world view?

I really wanted that fate for Dennis Miller when he and his buddy laughed at the woman whose face was ripped off by the chimp. They got a real kick about her appearance & what she’s been through. Real class, see? Made me sick.

GPTV had a great program about hummingbirds last week. They are simply amazing. Miraculous. They are as close to impossible as it gets.

Is there a webcam of Phoebe? Or is she in your yard?

We have had two this summer, but I wonder if they have migrated. I need to read about them but I haven’t even been able to identify them in my bird book.

Is there a character more despicable than Dennis Miller? (Rhetorical question)

Great clip of Bill Hicks explaining US Foreign policy in 1:29 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfL4S5nI3Kw

Kind of puts the lie to the “Defense.”

Not over any of the issues, we are really on the same page about most everything, but he is so against me getting involved in any of the protests or marches, physically. There are two issues at play, he is very protective, always has been, but he is also seriously concerned about fallout career-wise.

I am threading my way carefully. Very unlike me.

Oh, yeah, I am so stealing that!

So, Cain is being punished for speaking the truth.

He’s a politician. He should know better. Besides, there are much more material issues we can use to beat upon Perry then this.

Boxturtle (I’d start with the “Texas Miracle” and work from there)

Great question…I had not known him until he appeared on my car radio. Yuk

Makes sense, doesn’t it? Thanks

I don’t think it will. Keith has been covering this quite extensively and from his guests that have been down with the protesters say it’s a genuine grass roots movement. The young people know something is wrong in this country and those who don’t know are finding out. Jeff Madrick was teaching people what wall street and the government are doing. Most of the kids don’t have jobs and just got out of college with high debts. Sorry didn’t mean to rant on.

That is inexcusable.

I volunteer at our campus performing arts center, and we just had Dennis Miller here last week. I had never heard of him (and didn’t volunteer to usher that night). Sounds like I didn’t miss anything.

Hope you and SD are right. But I am somewhat cynical about this “movement.”

I recorded that and I am going to watch that with my daughter. In St. Louis it is on public t.v. I have been trying to watch nature programming for a while because politics can really get to you after a while.

That and read good books. *g*

Not really, no, unless you’re a fan of mean-spirited right wing “humor.”

Phoebe is an Allen’s hummer, non migratory, who lives at a home near John Wayne Airport in Orange County, CA. Her webcam is amazing. Somebody turned me onto it earlier this year. Took me about 5 minutes to get hooked. Learned a lot about hummers in the last 6 months. Any female that nests in the courtyard is named Phoebe and there have been a few. Watched from nest building to fledging a couple times.

Here’s a pic of her last two fledges, in July. Heather on the left, Joplin on the right. Joplin named in honor of the victims of the tornado and Heather after the deceased daughter of one of the viewers.

I’m really excited about catching her first clutch this season.

One thing about being divorced and living alone: no house divided in my house! But I do understand the career fallout concerns. I retired from Notre Dame a bit over a year ago, and during my seven years there, I kept a low profile on my atheist, pro-choice, very liberal views. Or at least kept them out of the workplace. I did, however, bravely say on many occasions that I hate football, which is practically a sacrilege itself.

Agreed….Do you know how he was received?

“Jane Hamsher October 3rd, 2011 at 11:07 am «

It’s really creepy how the institutional “progressive” Democratic Party-aligned organizations are now moving swiftly to try and co-op the energy of the protests.

As Kevin Gotszola said, if they wanted to be supportive by telling people to go to the protests, that would be one thing. But having your own, at a separate time, so they can control the messaging and make sure it’s all pro-Obama?

Really shady. And creepy.”

http://my.firedoglake.com/musiccitymollie/2011/10/03/van-jones-say-what/

I was waiting for this. Did we really think they wouldn’t try to subvert the movement?

You openly said you hate football at Notre Dame? I thought that was anexcommunication offense…oh, never mind.

I think you will both enjoy it. It was on public tv here, too, although I think it might have been ‘Nature’.

We have two public tv stations being right on the border between TN and GA, but GPTV is far superior to the TN station. We have a program called ‘Georgia Outdoors’ that is a masterpiece. I can never believe that the next episode will be as good as the previous, but it always proves me wrong. The host and producer, Sharon Collins, is brilliant.

I don’t think Obama is on their minds right now and without a job I doubt they will voting for O. They seem really intelligent. Of course SD and I are right. *G*

SD and I and other Firepups were also watching the Decorah (Iowa) bald eagles last spring. They had a UStream going, and we watched them hatch and grow and finally fledge. That will begin again in January or February, and it is fascinating. They put a transmitter on one of the fledglings and are tracking her movements. She’s in Wisconsin now.

We also had Jeb Bush here to talk about education. What a laugh. But actually the campus is not terribly conservative politically.

The Dem’s are desperate nothing they do surprises me. They are toast in 2012 and they prob. know it.

Thank you for the link, SD. I will definitely follow the progress. I thought our birds were perhaps Rufous, but they aren’t as colourful as the photos. I wondered if maybe they were females, without the bright display. What I really need is a better bird book. Maybe a visit to our used book store is in order this afternoon.

Hard to excommunicate an atheist!! LOL. But as an employee I was able to purchase football tickets at a discount, and never went to a game. As a cost-cutting measure they’re discontinuing the discounts for employees after this year. They’ve bent over backward in this economy to preserve jobs and cut elsewhere, and so far they’ve pretty much succeeded.

You have guts to venture into football at Notre Dame! But your other views were far more threatening. Retirement does offer more freedom, in many ways. But a lot of real challenges, too.

The campus may not be (it sure isn’t here at the University of Iowa) but remember that it’s all being run by MBAs…

No, I don’t know. I didn’t talk to anyone afterward who attended. It wasn’t a sold out show, as far as I know (but then, the venue seats 900).

It’s on PBS channel 9 in St. Louis. They also had a program about ANWR in Alaska which was simply breathtaking. I try to simplify my t.v. viewing and trying to get my daughter to watch less Disney t.v. What a mind control dumb down station that is.

Funny how birds instinctively know not to shit in the nest. Two-leggeds have yet to learn that behaviour.

There’s a complete righteousness to it that most of us can get behind. But, there are reports out of libertarian sites (no, I’m not a libertarian) about Wall Street totally trying to play this to their advantage since it is becoming way too powerful not to subvert.

The libertarians are saying “and, Occupy the Fed.” Hell, yeah, I have no problem with taking down the banking cartel that controls this country.

Or priests.

Eagles are magnificent there is a place along a road in Grafton Illinois where you can see Eagles high up on the cliffs. People come from everywhere to see them. I wish my health would allow me to do more of that stuff.

Yeah, one of the funniest bits of watching the eagles was the poop shoots. They’d back up toward the edge of the nest, wiggle a bit, and let fly! Amazing, and apparently just instinctive behavior.

Only thing we have here are ruby throated. I’ve been trying to attract them but methinks it’s too hot but for the occasional visitor. Gonna double my efforts now that the weather’s cooling down and they’re migrating south.

Get The Hummingbird Book by Donald and Lillian Stokes. Old book but has great photos.

Georgia Outdoors did an episode on the White Nose Syndrome recently. Like Colony Collapse Disorder in bees, it is wiping out huge numbers of bats, and there is still not much known about it. It is totally uncontrolled at this point as far as I know.

I am sure as time goes on many other groups will try and latch on. But the group now runs on “consensus” so I am thinking it might be hard to hijack this original group.

Well just mark your calendar for next February. You can watch at ustream.tv/decoraheagles to your hearts content, and they had a live chat going (lots of repetitive questions asked and answered). I think it’s off air now, but will start up again when the eagles return (they mate for life and use the same nest every year).

From what I understand honey bees are disappearing as well. Climate change don’t ya know.

Cool I will try and watch it. Thanks.

On edit: I have bookmarked the site.

At first I thought that was great too, but after reading this, I’m not so sure.

http://tarpley.net/2011/09/29/emergency-program-for-anti-wall-street-protestors/

Shakespeare were no dummy, he understood us and politics, and his plots were rife with intrigue and btw, “conspiracy” (something George W. Bush warned us against believing in).

I planted several perennial salvia bushes this spring, and the hummers and bumble bees (we have had no honey bees this year) go crazy over them.

They aren’t the typical blue salvia with the spike-like growth, these are more trumpet shaped, and a deep rose-pink. I need to get back to the nursery and have them identify them for me so I can plant more. I bought them because they were beautiful, so it was total luck that they were such a good food source for the little ones.

Wow. The Ustream video is still live. No eagles to see, just empty nest for now. And the chat is the alternative “social” chat so unmoderated and nothing going on there.

And with that, I’m going to quit being OT and go get some breakfast. Have a good day, all!

Colony collapse is primarily among migrant bees hauled from one location to another to pollenate. eCAHN has bees and has been following this extensively. Permanent colonies seem to be doing well. There’s a hive of wild bees in my locale and they’re thriving. I’m just jealous they picked a tree not in my yard after 4 years.

(( bye, ms!))

A neighbor had a wild swarm take up residence at his house and was going to call an exterminator!! We talked him into finding a bee keeper to move them to another location. I wasn’t here when it happened, and was really disappointed because I wanted to see how it was done. At least they weren’t killed.

They capture the queen and the rest of the hive follows. Getting them out of the walls of a house is rare, though. They normally have to kill that hive.

Have you seen this ? Don’t look at the title before you watch it!

I guess we will see. At least they are awakening the youth of this country. I think they are the key and it is my hope that they succeed. I think Chris Hedges is right though “civil disobedience” is the only way to change things.

I checked it out as well. pretty cool setup.

A couple of years ago there were a hive of bees n one of my trees. When I first looked up and saw them I said WTF? When I looked closer they were just bees suspended from a branch and they formed a hive sort of. We called a bee keeper and he said they would leave in a few days and just like that they were gone. Shoulda taken a picture of it.

Have a great day everyone. Stay safe and as SD says “never give up” I like that saying.

Was a swarm. Why didn’t the bee keeper capture them & put them in a box?

Ya, I am definitely no fan of Wall St. and a lot of the young know they have no future, and a lot of them are not for Obama, and are wise to the way of operatives, but there will be operatives, count on it.

The mass duping of the country in ’08 should serve as warning that these oligarchs know how we think. They have to in order to maintain their power.

I know Michael Bloomberg, and other oligarchical interests were predicting at least as early as the summer, and probably before since they knew what was coming down the pike at the people, high probability of mass insurrection.

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Afghanistan: 1,800

US KIA Irak: 4,477

Iraki, Afghan and Pakistani casualties: estimates vary to over 1.5M

US MBS 2011: 34,224 and counting

Rock Me Amadeus

No war but class war

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things

Namaste

Never. Give. Up.

Take care, popeye and SD.

It was at the top of the tree and too high for him I guess. My wife made the call and at the time I didn’t think too much of his recommendations.

M. Bloomberg said the protest was about people who work on wall street and they were making 40-50K a year and that people in the rest of the country had trouble meeting their bills. 40-50K working on wall street are you f***ing kidding me? What an out of touch POS.

Bye OmAli have a great day.

What would it be like to go back in time and attend a Venetian masquerade

Got it.

My bee keeper has a great story. Went to collect a swarm. Scaffolding, ladders, all sort of complicated stuff. But couldn’t get at it that day. Irene or Lee intervened, so the day after he went back. Storm had blown branch off tree, and swarm with queen marching around in high dudgeon was on the ground. He collected them & all lived happily ever after. He showed me the video of the swarm marching in lock step into the box. Very funny.

Smelly, dangerous and pestilent, probably! But what great costumes and masks.

Ya, he’s NYC’s very own Benito Mussolini.

Here he is in September, expecting what we’re seeing now:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038354/Mayor-Bloomberg-warns-riots-anarchy-jobs-arent-created-soon.html

They will try to use this to their own benefit.

When I was really young I read ‘The Source’ by James Michener. I haven’t thought about it in years, but your comment made me remember the chapter about the man who robbed the wild bees of their honey…………

I’m off, too. Have a wonderful day, everyone.

Safe travels and safe home,

ohmmmm

My bee keeper came yesterday, the first visit in a month or longer. I thought there would be no honey for hoomans this year, as there has been so much rain & so little sun. They need all they have to make it thru the winter, and when it rains, they eat what’s in the hives bc they can’t get out to collect more nectar.

Turns out one of my hives may have enough extra to harvest a bit. Chris didn’t have time to complete the rearrangement of the hive last night. It was chilly and late and girlzzzzzz get annoyed at someone mucking about in their house under those circumstances, so he’ll come back & do it next week.

I was very happy to know that both hives have enough honey & bees to get thru the winter and are healthy, i.e., no varroa mites or other pests.

Nice treat, if there is enough for them to spare, but even better that they are healthy. I remember your photos of all the flooding, and I guess it is a wonder that the bees have managed so well in spite of the bad weather.

I envy you your bees. We encourage them here as much as we can, and keep pesticides away from them. We have many wild hives.

A local beekeeper told me that the beekeeping community believes Colony Collapse Disorder resulted from contaminated supplies of the high-fructose corn syrup that many keepers supplemented their bees’ diet with. The syrup retained some kind of pesticide from the corn crops they were made from. Don’t know if it’s true, but if it is it might at least mean that the disorder will abate. The pesticides that the bees encounter everywhere they go remain a problem, though.

Never did like him or his music, hard to believe he’s Hank Willams son. I’ll stick with Merle and Willy.