Well, come on in!

a visitor from space...

HRH at work? and the view from the bedroom...

How about An End- Of- Year Catch-up of Items I've Been Saving On my Desktop for God knows how long That Require Your Immediate Attention So I Can Drag Them To The Trash one by one having done due diligence for God and country? (Please say yes.)

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but a good thorough housecleaning (see clean house, a Christmas miracle, above) is just the thing this time of year. As you are here, you, kind reader, must hold the dustpan while I sweep. Hopefully you'll find something of interest that is worth your time. Then we can all dump the trash, load up the bong and laze about indulging in fantasies about the beaches we wish we were sprawled on.

(You know I'm kidding, right?)

Here's the harbor near me after the storm.

Mais attendez! Regardez cet objet d'art!

Our crystalline Christmas fruit centerpiece by the T.

A masterpiece, as always.

OK. Here's a message you won't want to miss by none other than David Stockman, President Reagan's Director of the Office of Management of the Budget. (The OMB is the only economic office in Government on which one can solidly rely for honest reporting, no matter who's "in charge" of congress or the White House. True, their reports often get buried by congresscritters who don't want to hear the news, but at least these OMB folks do their JOB.) He has something to say about the current "deal" between OBlimey and the Rethugs on continuing tax cuts for the Richistan crowd. To quote him:

"IF there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing."

Way to tell it like it is, David. This is what a Republican used to look like. Wait, wait!! Pull over!! Look, kids! Not endangered! They're extinct now! He's the only one left!! And don't let those two "moderates" from Maine fool you! They voted with Bush every single time. Checkenshits in moderates' clothing.

Is Eric Holder, US Attorney General, any better? Is he, despite his straight as a board posture, a cowering chickenshit when it comes to really going after the banks that brought the nation low, only to profit from the nation's tragedy and continue to enjoy lax rules, record profits, and turn a blind eye oversight (or is that overlook)? Andrew Ross Sorkin  thinks so. Nothing has been done. Token gestures, and it's three years since the first big bank went down (virtually none to follow, while 400 local banks, few of whom were guilty of anything truly nefarious compared to the big guys, failed.)

Sad News for 'Arty' Luddites

For old style 35 mm photographers it's a sad day and a harbinger of things no one's noticed yet and things to come. The last Kodachrome film processing plant in the world closed today in Kansas, of all places. Read this and weep for the permanent loss of intense, real life color on film as digital photography emerges to rule forever as king of the virtual "darkroom". Will National Geographic be as stunning?What will the diehards do? Ask the photographers who all rushed to have their last minute rolls developed.

The Nation magazine has published an interesting List: The Most Progressive Honor Roll of 2010. Worth taking a look at so as to know Who's who when the 2012 circus rolls around.

Wikileaks, Bad? Governments Who Hound Him, Good?

Before you condemn Wikileaks' Mr. Assange as a "terrorist" who should have kept his laptop shut, you may want to consider the considerable list of things he published for our benefit (assembled by Glenn Greenwald recently) that reveal things ordinary citizens should know about. Like Oblimey's cave to the Powers that Be (thought he was one?) to kill Spain's and Germany's attempts to bring a case against the Bush administration for Crimes against humanity, etc. The press itself disses Wiki's service to humankind and its efforts to disarm the corrupt power brokers who manipulate information in order to further their unconscionable, selfish agendas. Read this quick list (click on the "continue reading" option) before you decide how much censorship of government shenanigans you think is appropriate. A woman I met in France recently, who no doubt considered herself intelligent and humane, insisted Mr. Assange was a criminal; that "we don't need to know all that stuff." Yeah, until we do, Madame. And De Nile is not just a river in Egypt.

There's just so much going on!... I mean, if you have any doubt that the government of the US is badly crippled, and deliberately so thanks to the Reaganite wave of Government- is- the- Problem mentality that infected the Republican Party and the corporate owned media like mad cow disease over the last 30 years, just settle back with a nice cup of tea (you might want to spike that) and this shocking article in the last issue of Vanity Fair, "Washington, We Have a Problem." As used as I am to psychlogically disabling revelations from our nations' capitol, this one really put my lights out.... or on. whatever... Do check it out.

Mecca Moderne= Disney Jidda

So it looks like the old city of Mecca is the latest victim of a US style architectural mauling (as in "malling"), complete with a life size copy of Big Ben's clock tower and high rise Dubai style luxe apartments- a "Vegas" modernization the likes of which will trash historic parts of the city and allow the muslim hoi polloi to enshrine and enjoy their privileged status to the hilt, especially during the hajj. To wit:

Like the luxury boxes that encircle most sports stadiums, the apartments will allow the wealthy to peer directly down at the main event from the comfort of their suites without having to mix with the ordinary rabble below.

"How nice for them", one feels compelled to remark. Yet there are those Saudis who are not happy with this new separation of the haves and have nots in Islam's holiest city, Islam being (like Catholicism) a religion that, at least in theory, once prided itself on taking care of its own. The article continues:

“We don’t want to bring New York to Mecca,” [ Oh! The irony!] Mr. Angawi said. “The hajj was always supposed to be a time when everyone is the same. There are no classes, no nationalities. It is the one place where we find balance. You are supposed to leave worldly things behind you.”

The government, however, seems unmoved by such sentiments. When I mentioned Mr. Angawi’s observations at the end of a long conversation with Prince Sultan, the minister of tourism and antiquities, he simply frowned.

“When I am in Mecca and go around the kaaba, I don’t look up.”

He said this with a straight face, the Minister of Antiquities!, (wouldn't his job be preservation of the old city??), before closing his eyes and covering his ears, chanting "lalalala I can't hear you!". Clearly a man of the people. Wonder if he's heard of the Medicis, their posh palaces hugging the local cathedral, chummy, not to say 'close', with the Pope and all. Or the Louis line in France. If Islam is headed in this class based direction, not sure there's much more anyone needs to do to encourage its demise. Catholicism had a head start historically, and look where the church is today. Believers dropping like flies post Vatican II and fallout from what I like to call "The Diddling". Disney folk music, dumbing down the mass for the 'masses'. Pshaw!

“When the government fears the people, it is called democracy. When the people fear the government, it is called tyranny.”

Thomas Jefferson

Science Tidbits

I. Myth: Global warming doesn't exist cuz the winter is colder now.

Are you just plain tired of all the mindless wackos who insist that, because winters are getting more extreme, snowier and colder, global warming is a myth? Are you even more tired of not knowing how to respond to their idiocy? Well, here's yer answer, from none other than a scientist, the director of seasonal forecasting at some environmental firm. He says it's the snow in Siberia's to blame! Who knew? It's really, really interesting and explains the apparent dichotomy to the average moron's satisfaction. Of course, you have to get one if em to listen first. Email it to everyone you know, especially progressives who need talking points because they're too dazed and confused by the last election to speak intelligently for their team.

II. Don't play fast and loose with science terms.

According to the NY Times, for a snowstorm to be considered a blizzard, it must have sustained winds of at least 35 mph for three hours and visibility must be less than a quarter of a mile. Who knew? I thought we could just call any ol storm a blizzard if you couldn't see ten feet in front of you on a two hour drive home from Portland...

And speaking of the last blizzard -- don't you just love the way that slob Gov. Chris "The Crisco Kid" Christie of NJ maneuvered to get his porcine presence on the last plane to Disney just as the snowstorm hit his state and paralyzed the airlines? Whadda guy! A man who knows his job and does [everything he can to avoid] it. I can just see him, settling into his first class (oversized) seat, gazing out his little jet window down at the Turnpike commuters wending their way through the state he despises, and thinkin: "Suckers!" Oh, and by the way, the man who is supposed to be in charge when the governor is absent appeared to be on vacay as well. OOOps.

And smug he may well be. Something fishy in Joisy what with the group of his "advisers" raising money behind the scenes to push his emasculate- the- state agenda. Why does any public official need outside money to push his 'agenda' once he's elected? Shouldn't his agenda be the people's agenda? Only if it isn't do you need to skirt rules governing outside money. Something smells nasty here.

"Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants."Benjamin Franklin

"nothing in its nature to produce happiness.." Now there's a thinker for ya.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the Country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed.” –Abraham Lincoln

Wonder what Abe would say now?

Now just look at that... a nice clean desktop. Uh... what's that icon over there? Oh, yeah, the novel. hmmm....

Guess I know what's next. I pray it's better than this lengthy drivel.