Go Ahead and Leap

With somewhere around 7 Billion people on this planet, the arithmetic would seem to say that only 4 million of them have a birthday in the Gregorian calendar's today.

If today, Feb. 29, is your birthday you're special.

Why we have leap year and leap day is because things just don't work out evenly in the way our solar system works and the way we keep calendars. You could also say it's the Moon's fault for creating gravitational tides and interfering with the Earth's rotation speed.

Planetary synchronization is a fascinating thing, although I doubt is many folks wonder all that much about why the earth's moon shows the same face all the time. Earth and Venus are also synchronized, with Venus always having the same face toward Earth when in closest conjunction.

Weird, huh?

Not as weird as all the myths and legends told to explain it all. Here's the ending of one that I like.

The good-minded brother taught the people the use of the plants and animals, ceremonies of thanksgiving and to live in harmony and peace. We have come to refer to him as Sonkwaiatison, "The Creator." Before departing from the Earth, he struck a deal with the people. We are to protect his gifts of Creation and be respectful of all living things, and were to simply be thankful for all that he has provided, as he has given us all that we need to live a happy life. In return for showing thanks, he would strive to keep the cycles of life continuing for the benefit of the people.

The complete story may be read here.

There are many stories of humans attempting to resolve the duality of day and night and other contradictions of the Natural world that we don't understand. We try to cram the entire universe in Yertle the Turtle's pond and claim we are King of all we can see, but it just doesn't work out. The Universe and its mysteries are bigger than our collective intellect and simply won't fit into our simplistic attempts at making Time behave according to our clock and calendar.

Suffice it to say that Leap Year and Leap Day are attempts to correct our mistakes in our calendar.

It may be that we have Presidential elections during Leap Year for exactly the same reason.

...It is a time for correcting mistakes.

Peace,

Steve

Obama Twice as Bad as Karl Rove smear of McCain!

The Obama Christmas card is obvously a red herring, intended to mislead the American Electorate. The truth has come out, though!

Unlike McCain...Obama has fathered TWO black babies!

And Damn, They're beautiful!

Hey??? A Christ-mas card?

That would mean Obama is a...

Obama's Head Gear Causing a stir

A photo has surfaced of Barack Obama wearing some unusual headgear and it has wingnuts AND the Clinton campaign all in a tizzy. This may have something to do with the approach of the Texas Primary and the fact that the latest polls show Obama well in the lead.

Our team of researchers here at WhitesCreek Global Headquarters have obtained the picture that has Hillary's Texas operatives so upset:

The Clinton campaign is also upset about photos from Hillary's past that have recently surfaced showing her with some very suspicious characters, such as this one:

Peace,

Steve

Essential Personal Character

John McCain's infidelities are well documented and need little discussion here. The only reason I mention them is to point out that by including the sex angle in a story that should be about McCain's unending love affair with corporate lobbyists, the NY Times gave wingnuts a talking point that they could feign outrage at and thereby obscure McCain's real peccadillo:

John McCain is a Corporate Ho!

The real reason he white man raps about "Bomb, bomb, Iran" and staying in Iraq for "25, 50, or a 100 years" is that he is concubine to the Military Industrial Complex. Few have mentioned that the military budget for next year includes $700 Billion in Military spending...

The most money in real dollars since World War Two! (Damn good thing we're winning!)

McCain will bankrupt America in order to hold true to his real constituency...Halliburton... Kellog, Brown, and Root...Bechtel...General Electric...

So as Righties foam at the mouth and trash the NY Times about bringing sex into a Presidential campaign, let's forget about the fact that there was less evidence at this point in the first Clinton campaign than there is now about John McCain. Let's also forget about the fact that McCain left Paula, the wife who remained faithful to him for the five years he was incarcerated as a POW, and married one of his mistresses, Cindy, the rich one...the current Mrs. John McCain. Let's forget about how strained Cindy looks today on the campaign trail and quit wondering if Cindy McCain is stealing drugs again, and forget about John McCain's penchant for pinched blonde women many years younger than himself.

The real problem is that John McCain lacks the essential personal character to do what it will take to turn this country around.

John McCain will make a horrible President.

America cannot afford another Bush.

Peace,

Steve

What She Said...

I'm turning the WhitesCreek Journal Pick a President duties for today over to Susan D.

Will Obama win Texas?

If so, Susan hopes he appoints Hillary to the Supreme Court and I hope it's John Edwards as Attorney General ...Until the second opening comes up.

Peace,

Steve

An Incredible Secret Service Lapse in Obama's Security

This is the most disturbing news I've seen yet:

DALLAS -- Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena.

The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and
laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they
believed it was a lapse in security. Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order -- apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service --

What in the Hell were they thinking? Someone's head should be on the Block for this. With the obsessive level of security provided Bush (although a good bit of it is aimed at keeping him from seeing his own citizen's criticism of his governance) It would seem that a lapse of this magnitude would be greated with outrage, since Obama is one of only three people in America who could be elected to take his place.

McCain and the Law

The Straight Talk Express will be in violation of Campaign Finance Laws that McCain voted for, if he spends any more money between now and the Republican Convention. These laws carry penalties of up to five years in prison. It's complicated but I'll try to give you a short version of what is so screwed up about McCain and his money problems.

McCain opted to have you and I pay for his presidential Primary campaign. He took our money...And spent every last dime he was allowed to. He ran out of money five months before he was supposed to, and now he wants to write home for more. This is not unusual in the world of Money Management by Conservatives, as indicated by the current state of the National Checkbook, in which Republicans, having control of the Presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, borrowed and spent more money than all other Presidents in US history combined. John McCain wants to continue that tradition and hopes to makeover the American fiscal image into something resembling Uganda's.

Anyway...McCain spent the money we gave him and wants more. he told the FEC that he was opting out of Public Financing and they said, "Ummm, no." You can't opt out. It's part of the deal. Now the FEC can LET you out if you ask nice, but there's a problem with that. There are 6 positions on the Federal Election Commission, it takes four to make a quorum and there are only 2 positions currently filled. The reason for that has to do with one of the nominees who is an absolute scumbag whom Democrats refuse to consider. Rather than back off, G. W. Bush is stonewalling and the confirmations are stuck. McCain is stuck. It appears that he will now purposefully violate Federal Election Law.

Good Man, that McCain.

Peace,

Steve

Protect America...But Only if we get paid

President Bush is whining that Democrats are stopping him from getting the Terrorists because they won't pass his Spying Immunity Law to bail out your telephone company. It's a lie:

"It's true that some of the authorities would carry over to the period they were established for one year. That would put us into the August, September time frame. However, that's not the real issue. The issue is liability protection for the private sector. We can't do this mission without their help."

That is the Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell

So the real issue, according to Bush's Intelligence Director, is not their ability to spy on you...It is all about protecting your telecom company from your lawsuit, because they broke the law when they ...

Spied on YOU for the Bush Administration.

I think that it is worth noting that not all Telco's complied with Bush's request. Quest Communications, for one, pointed out that the request was unconstitutional and refused. AT&T and Verizon were happy to comply and only stopped when they quit getting paid.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

I cheated. I counted birds in my front yard too.

I'm not the greatest at identifying look alikes, so I didn't put down the damfinos or the various ducks that scream by. As I finished this list this morning I got a huge present. More on that later.

Here you go:

Sand Hill Crane (very few this year)

Canada goose

Great blue heron
Wood duck

Turkey vulture
Black Vulture
white-breasted nuthatch
red breasted nuthatch

Red-tailed hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Broad wing Hawk
Downy woodpecker

American crow

Mourning Dove
Sap sucker

Pileated woodpecker

Red-bellied woodpecker

Cardinal

Goldfinch
American Turkey
Bald Eagle
Junco
Fly catcher

MIA's:
Purple finch
Grouse
Hairy Woodpecker
Green Heron


Ok...Well as I finished this at 8:04 am Feb, 18, several hundred Sandhill Cranes flew by. I've never seen that many in the gorge at once and stared and listened to them, almost completely forgetting to grab my camera. The noise was amazing. They came by just a bit above eye level in vees of what I thought were 20-30 birds each... I finally remembered the camera as the very last flight was in front of me, and since the one shot I took has over 50 birds in it, I had greatly underestimated the number of birds.

They were headed up the creek, which is North West. Going up to the summer home to eat fresh food and make babies.

I'll be on the river for a few days. You'll have to maintain the outrage without me, but I'll be back soon...maybe with pictures to make you jealous.

Peace,

Steve

Bastards!

Sorry to be indelicate, but that's what the Tennessee legislature intends to label children, unless the alleged father pays for a DNA test to prove paternity.

The Tennessee Legislature has outdone itself with asininity!

The public welfare requires that all children be tested for paternity before the father's name can be entered on the birth certificate?

Via Crone

(Senator Tate) SB3717HB2964 (Rep. Hardaway) has been placed on
the House subcommittee calendar Public Health and Family Assistance of Health
and Human Resources for Wednesday Feb. 20, 2008.

Basically, this bill provides that each child born in the state of
Tennessee will be tested for paternity before the father’s name can be placed on
the birth certificate. The state will take up the cost of paternity testing when
parent’s are unable to afford the test. Oh, and married couples are not
excluded, making the overt presumption that women are “unfaithful.”

On the evening of February 20, 2008 there will be a total eclipse of the Moon. Earlier that day, there may have been a total eclipse of all reason in the Tennessee Legislature. What idiot thought this one up?

The Sunday Reader

TennViews.com has the roundup

Clinton V Obama?

I've already cast my vote in TN's Presidential primary. My first choice pulled out the day before I early voted, so I was disappointed but I had no problem pulling the trigger for my second pick.

I'm one of those rare voters who thinks about what will happen if this candidate or that candidate gets elected. I look at what has gone wrong recently and who supported or opposed all the bad things that have happened to my country. No candidate is perfect but I can easily point to the A and B grades of the two Dems who are left.

Here's a quick and incomplete rundown on the way I see it.

The Constitution: Neither Clinton nor Obama have done a good job protecting the highest law of the land, but Hillary went along with some of the worst abuses. D minus for Obama...F for Hillary. She failed to stop the worst Supreme Court nominations ever...or really even out up much of a fight.

The Iraq War: Not only did Hillary "not make a mistake in voting to give the President War powers" she still doesn't own up to it. Barak opposed it from the start, but has not done enough to gather the opposition. B for Obama...D minus for Clinton.

The Economy: F's all around! Where's the passion and fight? Where are the filibusters? Where are the Impeachments?

Recognizing the threat a consolidated Media poses to Constitutional Government: This is the number one problem with America. Putting the Chairman of the Republican Party at the head of his own TV network, funded by Rupert Murdoch, who now owns the Satellite TV providers, where you'll notice that BBC and CBC News are no longer available, and then allowing him to hold a fund raiser in your honor...Tells me that Hillary Clinton hasn't the vision or gumption to do what has to be done. Obama ain't perfect unless you grade on the curve and then there's no letter high enough to show the difference. No letter, just a big fat double Zero for Clinton...B+ for Obama.

Experience and leadership:

Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton has been a Senator for one term longer than Obama, but what else has she done? She was president of the Young Republicans in College, a title she shares with Karl Rove. Hillary was the first Student to deliver the commencement address at graduation for which she received a seven minute standing ovation. She was a Goldwater girl. That would be Barry Goldwater, Republican candidate for President. She had a change of heart and worked in the Democratic presidential campaign of Eugene McCarthy. After receiving her J.D. of Law, She was a very successful lawyer, reaching the top 100 most influential list. She served on the Board of Directors of Walmart. Her financial investments became controversial even though they performed about as well as George Bush's businesses, and... Her Senate voting record is about 80% progressive. She has raised a beautiful daughter and maintained her marriage to a really loveable scoundrel...no small accomplishment.

Barry Hussein Obama has been a Senator for less than one term. He had a middle class upbringing, and lived abroad from ages 6 to 10. He speaks Indonesian. Obama played varsity basketball in highschool. He attended Columbia University for his B.A. and received his Doctoral in Law at Harvard. Obama became President of the Harvard Law Review, the first black person to hold that position in it's 104 year history. He was a lecturer of Constitutional Law at Columbia University. Obama served in the Illinois State legislature and won his Senate seat with 70% of the vote. He has a strong record of progressive legislation both in his State and in the US senate. His voting record is over 90% progressive.

I encourage you to read the Wikipedia entries for both people. They are very impressive Americans, both worthy of the office they seek. I give them a tie on experience.

On Leadership it's Obama, by several lengths. America will follow this man and his personal history indicates that it will be in a direction that we need to go. He's also reported to be a very good poker player.

More later.

Peace,

Steve

Yes, He's from Texas...

Jim Hightower will campaign for Obama in Texas.

With Molly Ivins gone, Hightower is the 500 pound gorilla of Texas Progressives...And damned funny.

With Us...Or Against Us?

Lincoln Davis joined Dennis Kucinich and voted against extending the Bush administration's temporary surveillance law, oddly called the Protect America Act. Since it allows wire tapping and electronic surveillance and the invasion of your privacy by recording your private phone calls, it protects the Bush administration and no one else on this planet, let alone America.

President Bush broke the law. He asked your telephone company to break the law and most of them did. Verizon and AT&T did. 9-11 was an excuse but the phone surveillance started BEFORE 9-11. It wasn't about stopping terrorists...It was about a criminal administration ripping apart the Constitution and breaking the law...And about the Corporations who loved them.

This is where Lincoln and Dennis come in. The existing FISA law, before the "Protect America Act" was added to it, was extremely powerful. It allowed retroactive Court Orders so that agents don't have to wait for a judge...They can go right ahead and tap your phone, but they have to get to a Judge within three days or stop tapping your phone. All they had to do was keep a record of their actions.

Right now, they don't have to. They can tap any phone in America that has made a call to an international number and tell no one. Think about that! It doesn't matter if they have a legitimate reason or not and there's no record to be subpoenaed. Ask yourself why a political operative would want to make sure there was no record of their actions? No Judge....No oversight...No recourse?

It is happening to us.

Have you made a call to customer service? Any customer service? About your television, computer, washing machine, or your Verizon or AT&T telephone service? All of these companies have off shore call centers.

Congratulations! You've made the list. We all have. This is a travesty and an orgy of Constitutional crime.

My question is why Lincoln Davis, who is I support, has voted to let George W. Bush's ability to tap my phone (and Lincoln's phone, too) expire? Has he joined Dennis Kucinich helping the Terrer'sts win?

I don't think so. I think there is a power play going on to force capitulation, and forgive unconstitutional and criminal acts.

If Lincoln votes to give retroactive immunity to Corporations who broke the law, we'll know the reason.

We'll also know who Lincoln represents.

We will soon see whether my friend Lincoln Davis understands why the founders of this great nation wrote, " I do solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and protect it from ALL enemies, Foreign and Domestic."

America will never be taken down by a foreign enemy. The threat to American freedom is within our borders, where a stupid fence offers no protection whatsoever. The only protection from the Bush Administration and the Corporations who broke the law on his behalf...Is Vigilance.

Senators Alexander and Corker have let Tennessee down by their votes. But who expects Republicans to hold their own to the law?

The real question is...

Where will Lincoln Davis Stand?

Peace,

Steve

TN Scenic Vistas Protection Act...Call Somebody

This is a biggie. Call somebody! It's easy and all you have to do is dial the number we give you or email them if you're scared to dial a phone. This is posted from TCWP:

Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act.
SB 3822 HB 3348

The Scenic Vistas Protection Act, in committee in both legislative chambers, MUST be passed by these groups. The bill, which will rid our state of the specter of reshaped mountains and permanently degraded water from cross-ridge mining, has attracted the attention (and lobbying influence) of the mining industry.

STAND UP FOR OUR MOUNTAINS! Call or e-mail the committee members today. Below is contact information and details about the nature of the bill. Even if you called before, call again. Ask your friends to call. This unique approach to a thorny issue can work. Let your elected officials know that you favor passage of the bill. Use the numbers cited above—Senate Bill 3822, House Bill 3348.

The bill is coming up in the House Environment Subcommittee TOMORROW, Wednesday, Feb. 13. We need to generate as many messages as possible in support of this bill.

Committee members, areas they represent, and e-mail addresses:
Rep. Buck (DeKalb, Smith and Macon counties) rep.frank.buck@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Tidwell (Houston, Humphreys, Perry and parts of Hickman and Maury counties) rep.john.tidwell@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Baird (Campbell and Union counties) rep.william.baird@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Gilmore (parts of Davidson County) rep.brenda.gilmore@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Borchert (Henry, Benton and Stewart counties) rep.willie.borchert@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Floyd (Parts of Hamilton county) rep.richard.floyd@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Fraley (Franklin, Moore and part of Lincoln) rep.george.fraley@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Hawk (Unicoi and part of Greene) rep.david.hawk@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Kernell (part of Shelby County) rep.mike.kernell@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. McCord ( parts of Blount and Sevier counties) rep.joe.mccord@legislature.state.tn.us
Rep. Niceley (part of Jefferson and Knox counties) rep.frank.niceley@legislature.state.tn.us


In last week’s Senate Environment Committee meeting, LEAF, the TN Wildlife Federation, and the National Parks Conservation Association made presentations in support of the bill. The vote was delayed for three weeks, at which time the coal industry will present their side of the story.Five Senators must vote for the bill to move it out of committee. Three Senators are solidly behind the bill: Finney (the sponsor), Jackson, and Roller. They need our thanks, and the others need our urging.E-mail addresses of Senate Environment Committee members:Sen.tommy.kilby@legislature.state.tn.us
Sen.steve.southerland@legislature.state.tn.us
Sen.bill.ketron@legislature.state.tn.us
Sen.roy.herron@legislature.state.tn.us
Sen.raymond.finney@legislature.state.tn.us
Sen.doug.jackson@legislature.state.tn.us
Sen.dewayne.bunch@legislature.state.tn.us
sen.michael.williams@legislature.state.tn.us
sen.steve.roller@legislature.state.tn.us

Understanding the
Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act.
SB 3822 HB 3348

Summary: This bill intends to address three specific problems related to surface coal mining.

Problem One: The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) used to regulate coal mining and related water permits on the state and federal level is over 20 years old. It does not use modern scientific methods nor contemplate current mining methods such as mountain top removal or cross ridge mining. Consequently, all state and federal permitting decisions for surface coal mining are being made without basic and necessary information. The Governor and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) have requested that OSM conduct an Environmental Impact Study and have been repeatedly refused.
Solution One: Part (a) of the bill provides that TDEC will not issue or renew any water permits for surface coal mining until there is a new EIS. Conducting an EIS is the responsibility of the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM). This will create an industry incentive to foster an EIS rather than block one.

Problem Two: OSM has a regulation that prohibits surface coal mining activities within 100 feet of either side of a body of water, known as the Stream Buffer Zone. This buffer is designed to minimize the effects of surface coal mining on water quality. The state enforces this same buffer, but it is a matter of policy only, not regulation. OSM is in the process of amending the stream buffer zone to make it optional. This will create industry pressure on the state stream buffer zone policy and could result in surface coal mining close to and through streams, creating an unnecessary and significant degradation of the waters of the State of Tennessee.
Solution Two: Part (b)(1) of the bill makes the Tennessee policy of a 100 foot stream buffer zone state law to protect our water quality.

Problem Three: There are currently several surface coal mining sites in Tennessee practicing mountain top removal coal mining (MTR), sometimes called cross ridge mining. This practice, rampant in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, removes as much as 1000 feet of a mountain to get to the seam of coal inside. It destroys the hydrology of the water shed, blights the view shed, causes wells to go bad, increases flooding, causes disruption and displacement of communities due to blasting noise and dust, decreases property values, forgoes development potential, and in general diminishes the heritage and pride of the mountain communities. In Kentucky and West Virginia, MTR has irreversibly damaged the land and water quality without enriching those states or the mountain communities. We should learn from their mistakes, not repeat them.
Solution Three: Part (b)(2) prohibits TDEC water permits for surface coal mining that would alter or disturb a ridge line above 2000 feet sea level.



Sandra K. Goss
4308 Thornwood Drive
Knoxville, TN 37921
865.522-3809
www.tcwp.

Thanks, Hill..We Love Ya

The Republicans appear to have decided that Barak Obama will be the Democratic nominee and have re targeted to him. I'm not sure it's working. In his victory speech after yesterday's republican primary atfer he trounced Preacher Huckabee, McCain tried to make fun of Obama's tag line, "I'm fired up and ready to go!"

McCain ended his speech with, "I'm tired out and ready to go...to bed." I'm not sure that's a winner, John.

John McCain was wounded, imprisoned and tortured in the service of America but American troops don't think John McCain ought to be President.

American Troops have given more money to the Presidential campaign of Barak Obama than John McCain.

Exit polls at Presidential primary voting locations near military bases show that more than half of Republican Military personnel voted against McCain.

Fort Benning Army Base is located in Muscogee County in Georgia. Muscogee voting returns :

John McCain, 4985 votes Barack Obama, 16947 votes

The troops hate this war and what it is doing to them. Obama was against it from the start and promises to get us out... McCain makes jokes about staying there 100 years.

Turning now to ourcontinuing American tragedy... The dismemberment of the Constitution of the United States of America...I'm pissed at everyone in the Senate who voted for the retroactive immunity for my telephone company. Verizon broke the law and illegally spied on your my calls for President Bush. Bush had publicly stated that the events of 9-11 had made it necessary, only...the illegal spying started ...

BEFORE 9-11.

In the vote yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton never showed up even though she was in Washington, D.C. (She still getting a pay check?)

Senator Obama voted against passage, but once the motion for cloture passed, he left. At that point his vote didn't matter. The Telcoms were going to be retroactively forgiven their tresspasses against you and your Constitution.

John McCain voted for retroactive immunity and in support of law breaking by the Bush Administration. The Bill now goes to the House.

Thousands of lawsuits that sought to protect your right to make your phone calls in private are now gone.

Peace,

Steve

Trust me?

Funny about that...Republicans won't even count their OWN votes?

The Washington State Republican Party Boss, Luke Esser, stopped counting the primary votes with 13% left to be counted, and declared John McCain the winner. It would have stopped there except for Preacher Huckabee's lawyers making a big fuss.

OK, we'll count them...But it won't change anything, the Republican bosses seem to be saying:

Esser said this afternoon that the Republican Party was going to try to get as "close as we can to 100 percent" in the vote count, and may have more numbers by later today. But Esser doesn't believe counting more votes will change the outcome.

What's the matter, Preacher Huckabee? Don't you trust Republicans?

Huckabee told the people of the great state of Arkansas there was nothing to worry about when he destroyed the computers from his State Governor's office. "Nothing on them to worry about," he said, "Trust me!"

Huckabee had his office computer hard drives smashed with sledge hammers, in a blatant destruction of state property, while at the same time, he was moving some really nifty stuff out of the Governor's mansion to his private dwelling. They made him give it back but nothing was done about the destruction of the computers which were state property.

I have consistently held the opinion that accurately counting our votes is the most important step we could take in eliminating the radical elemett that has taken over the GOP. Failure to do so until it was too late, put George W. Bush in office in 2000 and kept him there in 2004.

It is a manifest travesty that a single voting machine exists anywhere in America with no way to test the accuracy of it's vote tally. No vote should ever be taken in this country without a hard copy backup. I make a 99 cent purchase at McDonalds and get a paper record of the transaction. I vote for the President of the United States of America... and I DON'T?

"Trust me," say the authorities? I don't trust anyone who doesn't think they can be caught.

Apparently Preacher Huckabee doesn't trust Republicans either...he should know.

Peace,

Steve

Denial

Why does the New York Times place Olivia Judson's science essay's in the Opinion section?

They deal with Evolution and the Science surrounding it.

With at least one serious Republican Presidential candidate saying he doesn't accept evolution, I think it's fairly important that students get exposed to the science involved. Science is NOT opinion. It is a method of weeding through opinion in the search for verifiable, reproducible, peer reviewed, fact.

This is a wonderful essay, but don't miss the comments. Intelligent discourse is a beautiful use of word.

As for the GOP candidate who doesn't accept science, I watched him on Meet the Press today. I came away thinking that he is like many other Baptist Preachers I've known, in that he is willing to parse words and essentially say whatever it takes to get you passing the collection plate. A few quotes are in order from the "true conservative" in this race:

"You cannot infringe on a person's fundamental right to have clean air."

"A person has a fundamental right to do damage to themselves but not a fundamental right to do damage to others."

Very reasonable statements until you try to square them with his villianization of the EPA and rabid opposition to legalizing marijuana.

Preacher Huckabee is a fraud.

Peace,

Steve

Saturday Lazies

Walter Cronkite wants to be most remembered as: The Answer Here


Brilliant:

The whole place rises as one, roaring and chanting, calling for a repeal to the Constitution so this luckless bastard, so desperate to get the hell out of a job he never wanted to begin with and only took out of spite; and Bush stands there, holding a dripping knife – the only tool he’s ever used – just another misbegotten Mark Antony, waiting for the cheers of the crowd to die…

A Report on President Bush's Speech at CPAC

Ron Paul gave up late last night, with one last dig at just about everybody:

...I have plans to continue fighting for our ideas in politics and education that I will share with you when I can, for I will need you at my side. In the meantime, onward and upward! The neocons, the warmongers, the socialists, the advocates of inflation will be hearing much from you and me.

Sincerely,

Ron

It seems that nobody just quits anymore...They "suspend", whatever that means, after spending a bit over $30 Million getting shouted down in the debates every time he stated some inconvenient fact. I think in this case it means that Ron Paul better get back to his Congressional District before he gets defeated in Congress too.

John McCain has emerged as the front runner in the Republican campaign to keep the entire Bush administration out of jail. Pardons for everybody, especially Cindy. (I don't want to beat this drum too hard, but how whacked out do you have to be on illegal prescription drugs to adopt a child without telling your husband?)

"All the candidates are out there stumping like it's November. Do you know why campaigns call it stumping? Anybody know? You know where it comes from? It's
interesting. It's called stumping because when you ask them, 'When are we getting out of Iraq,' they're stumped. 'How about health care?' They're stumped. 'The economy?' Stumped." --Jay Leno

Friday Bird Blogging

My old friend and competitor in the canoe business, Darrell Leidigh, has passed away.

An original person in all things, Darrell was an incessant tinkerer, creator, and observer. No one could say it with as much expression as Darrell could when it came to expressing his opinion. His three words, "That Damned Bush!" equalled several pages from other pundits.

Some of us had the pleasure of staying with Darrell and his wife Bettye at their home on Crystal Lake in St. Mary's, Florida, where he introduced us to his other children, the Sandhill Cranes that lived in his "yard".

In 2000 Darrell and Bettye purchased 40 acres of land on Crystal Lake in Lake Mary to protect it from development. They donated the property to the City of Lake Mary to become part of its' natural lands program with deed
restrictions preventing it from ever being developed. The land is now known as the Crystal Lake Preserve. Darrell was especially fond of Florida sandhill cranes and whooping cranes and traveled the world in search of other crane species. Of the 15 species of cranes in the world he was able to see 13 in their native habitat. He missed his goal of seeing them all by 2. In 2004 he demonstrated his great interest in cranes by helping with the design and construction of the Felburn-Leidigh Chick Rearing facility at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo , Wi .

Darrell was a member of National Audubon, Seminole Audubon, Friends of the Wekiva, Nature Conservancy, Wilderness Society, National Wildlife Federation, Operation Migration, Sierra Club, International Crane Foundation and president of the Crystal Lake Preserve, Inc.

Thanks for all the moments, Darrell.

American Disease

I keep seeing conservative "spokesmen" on TV, like Ann Coulter, spout absolutely inane lies with a straight face and stern voice. I wondered where this virulent infection came from.

Coulter was pouring our her usual invective against the less than pure "conservatism" (which I think means "Not absolutely insane") of John McCain, saying she would rather have Hillary as President because "Hillary hasn't condemned the Swift Boat Veterans." Absolutely false.

Coulter has been caught repeatedly lying and yet continues to be given air time on network TV. Show me a "liberal" spokesperson with a similar record who still gets air time? Yeah, I know..."Show me a Liberal spokesperson who gets airtime"...Liberals in general tend to have good records for truth and factual accuracy, though we have our exceptions. Ann Coulter is a walking talking Swift Boat ad in a short skirt and deserves condemnation all by herself. She is prima fascia evidence for the inherent immorality of Conservatism, not for her blatant sexual promiscuity, but for her intentional fabrications designed to pervert the American Democratic process. Her biggest problem is that, disingenuous as John McCain is, even John McCain recognizes the inherent immorality of "True" Conservatism.

So wondering where this American Disease came from, I did what I usually do in cases like this...I Googled!

So it turns out that the KKK was instrumental in forming the bedrock core of "Movement Conservatism" of which Ronnie Reagan was only a precursor leading to the ascendancy of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. Their goal was the editing of the New Testament and the Ten Commandments, and the installation of an aristocratic government consisting of themselves, rather than democratically elected officials.

Forget that Jesus defined the essence of Liberalism. Forget that one of the commandments was "Thy shalt not bear false witness against your fellow man." The basic corruption of protestant religion into a corrupt form of authoritarianism known as "Fundamentalism" was to become inherent in Conservatism. In Knoxville, TN in the 1920's, over 71% of applications to become Klan members were Baptists. Another 24% were, my own religious heritage, Methodists. This is an astounding fact, given that this was in an area of the South that did not support the Confederacy. Racism was merely one tool in the arsenal of hatred. In addition to Blacks, Conservatives targeted Jews, Catholics, and Mexicans.

Isn't it amusing to now see Jews Bill Krystal, Paul Wolfiwitz, and Paul Bremer at the head of the ultra Movement Conservative organization, the Project for the New American Century, primarily responsible for the Iraq war and the destruction of the Constitution of the United States of America?

Isn't it amusing to see an avowed atheist, Karl Rove, installed as the Machiavellian guru of this movement, which thumps the Old Testament at every opportunity?

Isn't it amusing to see Catholics of every stripe voting in the majority for the very movement which sought their extermination from the American continent in years past?

And isn't it amusing to see Movement Conservatives, who have rabidly condemned immorality in the form of divorce, music, dance halls, pimps, prostitutes, (Homosexuality is actually a new addition to things to be hated....Hmmmm??) women working outside the home, birth control, abortion, gambling, high heels, and short skirts, hanging on Ann Coulter's every word?

Idiots!

Steve

Fun Reading

The bigger idiot?

Are her constituents that stupid? What the heck is a "Foreign Citizen?

"I do not believe American taxpayer funds should be sent to foreign citizens who do not pay taxes," Brown-Waite said.
... [Florida GOP Congresswoman Ginny] Brown-Waite said the economic-stimulus package pending in Congress shouldn't give $600-per-person checks to residents of Puerto Rico and Guam.

Shouldn't someone tell her that citizens of Puerto Rico and Guam are citizens of the United States of America? Do they have civics and social studies in Florida?

A Plastic Continent

In a past life I hung around with zookeepers and animal folks of various sorts. One of the axioms of interacting with animals is that you can't house train creatures that live in the trees. Sure that parrot on the shoulder looks cute but check out the back of that Pirate's shoulder and you'll understand what I mean.

Hiking in Costa Rica I smelled something that reminded me of the woolly monkey I tried to keep once a long time ago. Looking up into the jungle canopy I saw this:

I was reminded of that during the heavy rains of the past few days. I went to look at a nearby whitewater creek and saw plastic bottles float by.

Are humans incapable of being trained to deal with their garbage? Do they feel like they can crap in the water and it just goes away, no problem? Do they realize that when they throw trash down on the side of the road that it will wash into our waters during the first good rain?

Do they care?

Eventually, the plastic garbage we don't deal with washes into our streams and into our rivers, and into our oceans where it could join the massive bowl of plastic soup that has become larger than the United States and is now a treacherous ecosystem all its own.

Fascinating reading from the journal of a research ship:

"The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic," he added. The "soup" is actually two linked areas, either side of the islands of Hawaii, known as the Western and Eastern Pacific Garbage Patches. About one-fifth of the junk – which includes everything from footballs and kayaks to Lego blocks and carrier bags – is thrown off ships or oil platforms. The rest comes from land.

Follow the Voyage

In the meantime...Try to Earth Break a human near you.

Peace,

Steve

Watchin' the Money Flow

Amazing things are happening in the Presidential primary races.

In the last 24 hours we have learned that Hillary Clinton has loaned he campaign 5 Million Bucks. That is an amazing thing all by itself, but it indicates a larger problem for the Clinton campaign.

At the same time we learn that Obama has raised over 3 Million Bucks in the last 24 hours.

The combination of those two bits of information boggle my mind. The sequence of primary events over the next month heavily favors Obama. I saw a prediction today that Hillary will bow out of the race on March 5...Monday, I laughed at that...Today, I see the possibility.

On the other side, It looks to me like Democrats can re-target to McCain. It's over, except for some death paroxysms of a couple of corpses. The most amazing thing to me on the Republican side is the continuing Preacher Huckabee campaign. He has served his usefulness in shanking Romney so why is he still there? Will he be McCain's Veep as a reward?

Note to CNN: Get rid of Glen Beck ASAP. he's killing the entire HNN network all by himself. Just because the entire United States of America elected a black-out drunk as President, does not mean you should have given a black-out drunk air time. When Beck hung up on Mike Huckabee today, he should have been yanked, shown the door, and the contents of his desk sent to him in a croaker sack...via the back of a Donkey.

Peace

"Invincibility is irreversibly established..."

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Beatles' advisor on Transcendental Meditation is dead.

So are two of the Beatles. In a stark example of how unfair is the universe, all of the Monkees are still alive.

Hey, just kidding!

Anyway, TM was big until the Beatles had a falling out with the Maharishi. He claimed it was because he caught them using drugs at his Ashram in India...They claimed it was because the good spiritual advisor tried to hit on one of the girls that accompanied the Beatles.

TM was found to have validity in some respects, once the hocus pocus was filtered. Rather than pay a Yogi to determine an acceptable mantra for each follower, researchers found that simple relaxation techniques, involving mentally repeating the word "one" with each exhaled breath, accomplished identical results.

The rest is theater.

Peace,

Steve

Proudly Lowering the Level of Discourse

The nice smilng man in the suit is Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. He won his second term by a landslide, in part by winning a huge number of Republican votes. The guy in the red shirt holding a derogatory sign BEHIND the governor's back is a Republican state representative. His name is Stacy Campfield.

The Republican party thought the picture on the left was funny. They think the picture on the right is a liberal plot, they are "outraged" and demand an apology for fanning the flames of racisim by the Memphis newspaper that printed the doctored photo.

I don't get it...

Bredesen is certainly not a tax and spend anything, and Stacey's act of Free Speech was certainly rude but well tolerated and frankly laughed at by Democrats.

Republicans are now Outraged?...By a similar act of Free Speech that can be very well backed up by accounts of Stacey's histrionics and juvenile behavior. The picture was taken at a barbecue for Republican Congressman Jimmy Duncan. They had the good sense to kick Stacey out.

Rather than being outraged, perhaps the Tennessee Republican Party might want to follow that example, rather than lowering their level of discourse to Stacey's level.

Tennessee is not served by cheap hamfisted propaganda.

Raise the Bar...Raise the Pay

Let's see...Extortion, money laundering, bribery, firearms charges, and cocaine trafficking...Sound like a hardened criminal? Nah...It's just a Tennessee Sheriff from Bob Corker's town of Chattanooga.

Roane County does seem to have a good sheriff, for now, even though we have a Judge doing time and a killing at the Courthouse, to sully our reputation. Our local law enforcement officers do lose their jobs from time to time, like say when they get busted for DUI for the second time, although the charges themselves don't seem to stick and they may just get hired somehwere else. Other charges against local law enforcement seem to vaporize after a while, unless the officer happened to be messing around with someone's significant other. That complicates things for the mess-er and then having...say...a stolen trailer in the back yard gets him in trouble.

It probably comes as a shock to you folks that I have an opinion on all this:

I think we have too many cops!

What? I can hear you saying...Too many? What about the crime rate? Well around here, some bad cops are contributing to the crime rate and we need to get rid of those and spend more money in training and salaries on the rest of our officers.

How many of you regularly see two or three or even four enforcement vehicles surrounding some poor smuck who got pulled over for a traffic violation? It took four of them to give my kid a ticket for a burned out headlight, and I suspect most of you folks have similar stories, even though you won't go public with then for fear of retaliation. It's OK. I'm here for you. I'll wear the target.

So here is the deal. I figure it only takes one officer to make a traffic stop and there's no reason we need three of them patrolling a four mile stretch of Highway 27, or whatever. Cut numbers and use the money to increase training, oversight, benefits and pay for our enforcement officers.

With the low pay we have now, the officers we are most likely to encounter are enthusiastic, zealous, trained at minimum levels, inexperienced and raw. As soon as they have enough training to get a better paying job somewhere else, the ones that can, move on. I don't blame them. Around here, the hours are bad, the pay is low, and they get articles written about them just like this one. Our men and women in Law enforcement deserve better.

I say, "Raise the bar...Raise the Pay"

Saturday Funnies

John McCain has taken out a loan on his life insurance policy to fund his campaign. Reports have the loan at over 3 Million dollars and rising. He's got a 3 Million dollar life insurance policy? Those aren't secret service guys guarding him...They're probably from Etna.

Mitt Romney loaned his campaign $35 Million. Looks like he'll have to cancel one of his vacations this year.

John Edwards has asked that his name remain on the New Hampshire Primary ballot. What'sup with that?...
All I've got to say about that is, "Don't Tease me, Bro!"

Ann Coulter says that if McCain gets the nomination, she will campaign for Hillary. Ok, that's weird.

A Mississippi State Congressman want's to outlaw fat people from being served in restaurants. Yeah, I did say Missisippi.

The Surge is working, suicide rates among American Troops is at record levels.

Moveon.org has endorsed Obama. This was decided by a vote of membership. Moveon.org has 3.5 million members.

In an interesting move, Vermont has brought up the issue of the National Guard. Authority for President Bush to take over the Guard exists only in a National Emergency, in this case the Iraqi threat of WMD's. That threat never existed so the President's authorization has certainly expired.

"As America looks desperately ahead to the next administration, the current one, apparently, has not left yet. For instance, last week Congress passed the National Defense Authorization bill for 2008, which controls the funding for our national defense, including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, who knows, maybe a few surprise countries. ... Anyway, this is Congress' right, they're allowed to collect taxes, run the post office, get their own gym, and, you know, they get to raise and support armies. It's in the Constitution -- the funding and stuff. Well, funny story, the president added four, I guess you call them re-interpretations to the bill Congress passed. I believe they're called signing statements. For instance, the passed and signed law says you can't use taxpayer money to build permanent military bases in Iraq, and the president is saying, 'Uh, yeah, no, I think I can.' And the law they passed strengthens protections for whistleblowers. Which, I guess the president is saying he can un-blow. And the president rejected a couple of other provisions concerning Congress' ability to get intelligence assessments or investigate waste mismanagement and the reason that he gave was, uh, let me see if I can find -- He gave no reason" --Jon Stewart

I'm sitting in a meeting...Here:

"Faith is playing a big part in this year's election. You have
Huckabee, the evangelical guy. See, these fellas get a lot of people concerned
about the separation of church and state. Do you know how that came about?
Anybody know? See, the separation of church and state was made very clear by our
founding fathers. See, what they did is they looked at the Ten Commandments.
'Thou shall not steal. Thou shall not bear false witness. Thou shall not commit
adultery.' Then they looked at Congress and realized these two could never come
together, we have to separate them"

--Jay Leno