Ex-Senator John Edwards back on the griddle, starring in a sex tape

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor



You'd think the recent disgrace of Governor Mark Sanford and Senator John Ensign's sex scandals might take some of the heat off John Edwards. At the moment, it seems to have ratcheted up the scrutiny, since the Edwards case goes much deeper--involving paternity, a dying wife, and possible payoffs.

Andrew Young, one of ex-Senator John Edwards's closest aides, is writing a book in which he says Edwards told him he “would be taken care of for life” if he would say that he fathered the baby of Edwards’s girlfriend, Rielle Hunter. The aide (who is not the former ambassador), sold the book to St. Martin’s Press last week. In his proposal, Young says Edwards begged him to confess to fathering the baby.


Hunter and Edwards on the campaign trail

“You know how much I love you," Edwards told Young. "You know I’d walk off a cliff for you, and I know you’d walk off a cliff for me. ” Parts of this story were leaked by someone at the publisher to both the NY Times and the NY Daily News last weekend.


Rielle and baby

In the meantime, feds are looking at whether to prosecute John Edwards if it turns out campaign funds were funneled as hush money to Rielle Hunter or Andrew Young. In 2007, you may recall, Young's attorney said his client was the father just before the Iowa caucus season.

The biggest bombshell appeared in a New York Times article today: Young’s proposal states he was writing the book because he had become disillusioned with the Senator's recklessness after finding a sex tape starring John Edwards and Rielle Hunter. It should be a good one--how many sex tapes are actually filmed by a cinematographer?! How long can it be before the tape appears on the Internet, if it's not out there already? As for Edwards's relationship with his wife--as she said, "it's complicated."
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Digital art: Michael Jackson

click to enlarge

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This will not turn out well for us - the first flesh-eating robots

New Scientist has a fascinating piece this week about flesh eating robots. Somehow it seems like this won't turn out well for us. . .read the article here.

James Auger worked with long time collaborator and fellow designer Jimmy Loizeau to build five domestic robots. Each can sense its environment, has mechanical moving parts, and can perform basic services for its human hosts, such as telling the time or lighting a room. But the robots also have a taste for flesh. They can gain energy by chomping on flies and mice, an idea inspired by researchers at Bristol Robotics Lab, UK, who built a fly-powered robot and have also suggested that marine robots could feed on plankton.

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Chiet Seattle's speech, like it or not

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor
And sometime Seattle/Pac. NW stringer

Some of Chief Seattle's speeches and quotes are controversial--not due to their content (but that too), but because scholars and others (mainly conservatives, and gun nuts[1], ) believe the Chief's speeches were enhanced in the 60's by environmentalists, and others for their own nefarious purposes. [2] Certainly no one thought much of them before the 60's, when the words suddenly chimed with the times.

Chief Seattle's Reply

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? That idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and
experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memory of the red man.

The white man's dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us.

The perfumed flowers are our sisters, the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man - all belong to the same family.

So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children. So we will consider
your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us.

This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors.

If we sell you land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that the ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells us events and memories in the life of my people. The water's murmur is the voice of my father's father. The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our cannoes, feed our children. If we sell our land, you must learn, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers, and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.

We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father's grave behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care. His father's grave and his children's birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert. I do not know. Our ways are different than yours.

The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps because the red man is a savage and does not understand. There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to hear the unfurling leaves in spring, or the rustle of an insects wings. But perhaps it is because I am a savage and do not understand.

The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night ? I am red man and do not understand.

The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond, and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a mid-day rain, or scented by the pinon pine.

The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath - the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breaths. Like a man dying for many days is numb to the stench.

But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh.

And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadows flowers. So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I'll make one condition, the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. I am a savage and I do not understand any other way.

I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and I do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.

What is man without the beasts ? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

You must teach the children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of your grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children what we have taught our children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

This we know, the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know, which the white man may discover one day - our God is the same God. You may think you know that you own Him as you wish to own our land, but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. This earth is precious to him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator.

The whites too shall pass, perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket ? Gone. Where is the eagle ? Gone. The end of living and beginning of survival.

-- Chief Sealth (Seattle)





[1] I go back and forth on the phrase gun nuts. My tendency is to include everyone who owns any weapon more powerful than a squirt gun or whipped cream dispenser.

[2] From the Wikipedia: Even the date and location of the speech has been disputed, but the most common version is that on March 11, 1854, Sealth gave a speech at a large outdoor gathering in Seattle. The meeting had been called by Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens to discuss the surrender or sale of native land to white settlers. Doc Maynard introduced Stevens, who then briefly explained his mission, which was already well understood by all present.
Seattle then rose to speak. He rested his hand upon the head of the much smaller Stevens, and declaimed with great dignity for an extended period. No one alive today knows what he said; he spoke in the Lushootseed language, and someone translated his words into Chinook jargon, and a third person translated that into English.
Some years later, Dr. Henry A. Smith wrote down an English version of the speech, based on Smith's notes. It was a flowery text in which Sealth purportedly thanked the white people for their generosity, demanded that any treaty guarantee access to Native burial grounds, and made a contrast between the God of the white people and that of his own. Smith noted that he had recorded "...but a fragment of his [Sealth's] speech". Recent scholarship questions the authenticity of Smith's supposed translation.
In 1891, Frederick James Grant's History of Seattle, Washington reprinted Smith's version. In 1929, Clarence B. Bagley's History of King County, Washington reprinted Grant's version with some additions. In 1931, John M. Rich reprinted the Bagley version in Chief Seattle's Unanswered Challenge. In the 1960s, articles by William Arrowsmith and the growth of environmentalism revived interest in Sealth's speech. Ted Perry introduced anachronistic material, such as shooting buffalo from trains, into a new version for a movie called Home, produced for the Southern Baptist Convention's Christian Radio and Television Commission.The movie sunk without a trace, but this newest and most fictional version is the most widely known. Albert Furtwangler analyzes the evolution of Sealth's speech in Answering Chief Seattle (1997).

The speech attributed to Sealth, as re-written by others, has been widely cited as "powerful, bittersweet plea for respect of Native American rights and environmental values", but there is little evidence that he actually spoke it. A similar controversy surrounds a purported 1855 letter from Sealth to President Franklin Pierce, which has never been located and, based on internal evidence, is considered by some historians as "an unhistorical artifact of someone's fertile literary imagination".
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Poem: The islands from eight miles high

Beneath a cerulean blue chiseled frieze,
The islands recede into the sea
Or settle to the sea floor

Like an archipelago of Atlantises.
Islands come and go,
Bobbing up and bobbing down

Like corks lost in the ocean,
Drifting the seven seas
Threading through seven continents

And millions of other islands and straits.
They sail along, cresting the waves
Beneath gathering clouds

And flocks of birds
Circumnavigating the globe,
Shuttling from landfall to landfall.
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The Needle - a poem by Ken Kesey he claimed was Robert Service's

Cover of the last supplement to the Whole Earth Catalog - click to enlarge

Ken Kesey contributed this poem (among his other curious contributions) to The Last Whole Earth Catalog and supplement.

I read The Needle when it was first published, attributed to Robert Service. It was undoubtedly written by Ken Kesey (maybe in conjunction with Ken Babbs).


Ken Kesey, back then


The Needle
by "Robert Service" but probably by Ken Kesey

First, brothers and sisters and spirits of our sphere,
I wish to make one thing perfectly clear;
During these last ten turnings of a year
I have been
Jacked-up, jerked-off, brought down, strung-out,
And I've
Holed up, come on, cooled off and hung out,
And I've
Rushed and flashed and flushed and twitched
And I've
Sniveled and snorted and bellowed and bitched
And I've
Been spaced out atoms in the heartless void
And a slightly-plotted tightly-knotted paranoid,
I've watched friends grin goodby as I spiraled down the drain?
I've had doctors shake their fingers at the fungus on my brain;
And I have called, friends and doctors, oh I have roared out my soul
From the compass busting bottom of the false magnetic pole,
But it was a place beyond friends or medicine's reach--
A senseless 3-D cry from a binary breach--
And the heartless void can listen but doesn't seem to care
And my call was never answered until the needle turned to prayer.
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The Michael Jackson story (and many others) summed up by Stereotypist

No one explains who did this in the first place, but you can find it here: http://stereotypist.livejournal.com/131545.html
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Poem: Peacekeeper

By Jack Brummet

1
The hawk on a high wall
Is hardened in wickedness

2
A roiling thunderstorm clears the air
Like Wyatt Earp's peacekeeper

3
A bad beginning can be overcome,
But a good end lasts forever
---o0o---

[2008, revised 2009. This originally appeared in the little magazine Shorts]

According to TMZ, Michael Jackson has died following a heart attack

Breaking: Michael Jackson in critical condtion following heart attack?

Michael Jackson in critical condition? http://bit.ly/15PFWv

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Both Mark Sanford and John Ensign called for Bill Clinton's impeachment following the Lewinsky revelations

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor



Governor Sanford weeps at a press conference yesterday. He also claimed he spent five days crying in a Buenos Aires hotel room after ending his affair.


John Ensign and his playmate (an employee and wife of a friend)

In the days of the Lewinksy-Clinton scandal, both Mark Sanford and John Ensign called on Bill Clinton to resign the Presidency after his affair. So far, they don't appear to be following the same advice. . .aside from resigning from a few positions and committees.

Elliott Spitzer talked about family values. John Edwards talked about the sanctity of his marriage. Both Sanford and Ensign have said plenty of sanctimonious things in their careers. We won't call them former careers quite yet. At least Sanford followed the fifty mile run and took it out of the country. Ensign's affair was with a family friend.


Neither of the two currently in the doghouse have indicated they might Do The Right Thing. Oh, and hey, Mark Sanford. . .did you really spend five days in your hotel room in Argentina crying? Were you crying over having to break it off with the hot Argentine babe, or about having to go home to your wife. And the voters?
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Poem: Sailing To Naxos, or, The Vortex

By Jack Brummet

Sailing the poly-blue Aegean
On a hot day in a steamy haze,
Our ship makes a wide looping turn
A few kilometers off
The white house-dappled shore
Of Naxos, parked in the sea
Like a gem in a finding,
The houses and villas
Strung along the shore
And two layers above
Like a three strand pearl necklace
On the stout and broad neck of a Cyclops,
Waiting to leap from the sea,
And use our ship to beat the sea
Into a churning and foaming
Soup of whirlpools and funnels
That suck everything in sight
Into a sapphire blue vortex,
The water cooling each meter,
As it swirls down and cascades
Into Neptune's drain and picks up speed
As it descends into the dark
And lonely bottom of the sea.
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Digital Art: Frunobulax from Zeta Reticula

click to enlarge

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Up in smoke: Republican Gov, Mark Sanford's Presidential Dreams and another nail in the coffin of "Republican Family Values"

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That
National Affairs (and we do mean affairs) Editor


The beleaguered governor and the Ex-President

That wacky Republican, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, 'fessed up Wednesday to an affair. Not only an affair, but an affair with a foreigner. He also just resigned his position as chair of the Republican Governor's Association. All this follows a strange week in which he dropped off the map, and his staff was lying about his whereabouts. During this period, when he could not be located, he was actually south of the border, playing hide the salami with his "girlfriend."

A local newspaper, The State, obtained and reprinted one of his emails to "Maria":

"You have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself ... in the faded glow of the night’s light ... despite the best efforts of my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection to your soul.”

Sanford and his no doubt soon to be filing for divorce wife

“I have been unfaithful to my wife. I developed a relationship with what started out as a dear, dear friend from Argentina,” Sanford said in a rambling and often emotional news conference at the state capital in Columbia.

“I’m a bottom line kind of guy I’m just gonna lay it out. It’s gonna hurt and I’m going to let the chips fall where they may,” said Sanford, who, until today, has often been mentioned as a 2012 presidential hopeful.

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Sex for (not with) chips?

An Oklahoma City woman has been fined $1,142 after pleading no contest to prostitution charges.

She was accused of accepting a box of chips for sex. The 36 year old, Lahoma Sue Smith, was busted in southeast Oklahoma City after cops found her in flagrante in a car with a man.

The john told police officers that he knew there were prostitutes in the neighborhood.

The man didn't have any money, Lahoma Sue Smith told officers, so she agreed to accept a $30 case of chips in barter. The man was not charged and, unfortunately, they did not release his name.
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Poem: Limits

Poem: Limits
by Jack Brummet


We like to believe
We could endure anything for five minutes

But that theory, cooked up
In your hermetic study or bedroom,

Comes apart at the seams instantly
When you imagine being on fire

Or having crows feast
Upon your eyes.
---o0o---

Music video: The Young Fresh Fellows play The Kinks' Picture Book

The Young Fresh Fellows have been on my mind after seeing their most excellent show, and buying the just released CD--here is a bent video of their Kink's Picture Book cover. Note: the segment on the steep stairs was shot near my house...it's the stair portion of the walk to the beach at Golden Gardens.



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The best special effects. Ever.

The end of this short TV commercial is instructional--a tour de force by a special effects dynamo. Note: that whatever knucklehead posted this video assumed it was fior a mattress store! Is this a great country, or what?


Worst Special Effects Ever - Watch more Funny Commercials
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Atul Gawande - a thoughtful article on health care that BHO has made required reading in the White House

Atul Gawande has written an insightful and thoughtful article on health care, that since its publication, is purportedly required reading in The White House. Check it out here in the New Yorker.

"Providing health care is like building a house. The task requires experts, expensive equipment and materials, and a huge amount of coördination. Imagine that, instead of paying a contractor to pull a team together and keep them on track, you paid an electrician for every outlet he recommends, a plumber for every faucet, and a carpenter for every cabinet. Would you be surprised if you got a house with a thousand outlets, faucets, and cabinets, at three times the cost you expected, and the whole thing fell apart a couple of years later? Getting the country’s best electrician on the job (he trained at Harvard, somebody tells you) isn’t going to solve this problem. Nor will changing the person who writes him the check."

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Video of the Young Fresh Fellows' Tractor Tavern Show

Here is a reasonably lucid ('phone?) video of the Young Fresh Fellows from the show I saw Friday night. They play "Taco Wagon" and a great cover of The Kinks' "Picture Book."


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District 9 Poster

I am looking forward to the District 9 movie. Crossing my fingers...


click to enlarge
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digital art: Zombie double portrait

click to enlarge

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Happy Father's Day to all my fellow progenitors...

Hey Liz! Someone mistakenly called Elizabeth Becton, my Congressman, Jim McDermott's, assistant by the wrong name. There was hell to pay.

[Don't call me Liz Becton]

This sad and pathetic exchange took place between my Congressman Jim McDermott's chief aide, and another functionary. If Liz worked for me, she would no longer be employed. I'm pretty sure that we, the people/taxpayers/voters are not exactly getting much bang for our buck from Elizabeth Becton. The back-and-forth went on for 19 e-mails, with the assistant apologizing six times because she had inexplicably “offended” the obviously deranged and megalomaniacal Becton. . . I'm not being feceitous here--hey...I minored in psych, which on this blog's budget, puts me in the top tier of world authorities on psychology and behavioral science.

Liz Becton is literally off her rocker, and should be immediately be transported to the rubber room at the nearest laughing academy.

From: XXX
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 11:38 AM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: JPMC Meeting Request


Elizabeth,

Attached is a meeting request for JP Morgan Chase who will be in DC June 3rd-4th and would like to request a brief meeting with the Congressman.

Let me know if you need any additional information.

Thank you!

Best,
XXX

________________________________

From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:05 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Liz,

just checking in on whether the Congressman is available next week. [REDACTED] can confirm a meeting time for you - she is available at [REDACTED].

Thank you!

Best,
XXX


________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:07 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request
Importance: High


Who is Liz?

Elizabeth Becton
Executive Assistant/Office Manager
Office of Congressman Jim McDermott
XXXX Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
XXX phone
XXX fax
________________________________


From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:07 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I thought you went by Liz - apologies if that is incorrect. Best, XXX



________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:08 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request



I do not go by Liz. Where did you get your information?
________________________________


Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:10 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I'm so sorry if I offended you! I thought you had gone by Liz at Potlatch, this was my mistake. Best, XXX

________________________________
From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:11 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


NEVER. I hate that name.


________________________________

From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:13 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I'm so sorry if I offended you! I must have mis-heard. My mistake! Best, XX

________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:20 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request
Importance: High

XXX:

If I wanted you to call me by any other name, I would have offered that to you. I think it's rude when people don't even ask permission and take all sorts of liberties with your name. This is a real sore spot with me. My name has a lot of "nicknames" which I don't use. I use either my first name or my last name because I row with a lot of other women who share the same first name. Now, please do not ever call me by a nickname again.

As for your meeting request, who is the point of contact for this meeting? If it's not you, then I need to know who because it's very time-consuming to deal with a lot of people for one meeting.

Thanks,

________________________________

From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:23 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth, I'm so sorry I offended you! My mistake!

XXX can confirm a meeting time for you - she is available at XXX XXXX.

Thank you!

Best, XXX


________________________________
[UNRELATED EMAILS REDACTED]


From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:33 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Of course! Again, I am sincerely sorry for offending you. I must have mis-heard and it was in no way my intention to make you upset. I always enjoy working with you and seeing you at the WSS events J

Best,
XXX


________________________________


From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:37 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Sounds like you got played by someone who KNOWS I hate that name and that it's a fast way to TICK me off. Who told you that I go by that name? They are not your friend...


________________________________



From: XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:38 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth,

Again, I am sincerely sorry for offending you. I don't want to cause trouble as I clearly must have mis-heard the person at Potlatch. It was in no way my intention to make you upset.

Best,
XXX

________________________________

From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:41 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request
Importance: High


I REALLY want to know who told you to call me that.



________________________________

From:XXX
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:44 PM
To: Becton, Elizabeth
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request


Hi Elizabeth,
Again, I am sincerely sorry for offending you. I don't recall who I overheard. It was in no way my intention to make you upset.
Best,
XXX

________________________________
From: Becton, Elizabeth
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 6:04 PM
To: XXX
Subject: RE: JPMC Meeting Request

Let me put it this way, they don't know me and perhaps they were PRETENDING to know me better than they do and pretended that I go by Liz. They did YOU a disservice.

In the future, you should be VERY careful about such things. People like to brag about their connections in DC. It's a past time for some. It's also dangerous to eaves drop, as you have just found out.

Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this? Like I said, it's a hot button for me.

And please don't call the office and not leave a message. My colleague told me you called while I was away at the Ladies' room. I do sometimes leave my desk.

The return of The Young Fresh Fellows

The Young Fresh Fellows roared back to life Friday night in my neighborhood--at Ballard's Tractor Tavern. Scott McCaughey[1] was in fine form, wearing his usual sunglasses and a big fur hat. He was just as hilarious as ever, and has written a new song album of funny, tight, rocking tunes. The show focused on their new album released that day--I Think This Is. They did play their great tune "Amy Grant" as an encore, and performed an excellent cover of "Hang On Sloopy." I have only listened to "I think This Is" once so far, but it is excellent, and about as good as anything YFF have ever released. A track listing only hints at the genius contained in this new album:

The Guilty Ones
Lamp Industries
Suck Machine Crater
Let The Good Times Crawl
Never Turning Back Again
New Day I Hate
Go Blue Angels Go
Used To Think All Things Would Happen
YOUR Mexican Restaurant
Shake Your Magazines
After Suicide
If You Believe In Cleveland
Ballad of the Bootleg

Everyone was in fine form, especially Kurt Bloch, the longtime band member and former lead guitar in Seattle's Fastbacks. It was great to see them again, and I hope we get the chance again soon. I suspect we'll get to see Scott's other band (with Peter Buck, Ken Stringfellow, Wilco, and various other rotating members) soon--they also have a new album coming out shortly. I just heard their cover of Little Black Egg--wow.

Photo by Dean Ericksen from The Tractor show - click to enlarge

[1] Scott's Wikpedia listing:

As a singer and songwriter, Scott McCaughey is the leader of the Seattle-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5.
He is also bassist for Robyn Hitchcock's most recent touring band, The Venus 3, along with Bill Rieflin and Peter Buck.

In 2008, McCaughey formed the side band The Baseball Project with Buck, Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon. Their first album, Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails, celebrates many aspects of baseball culture, and includes a song in tribute to Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix.

Since 1994, he has worked with R.E.M. both on stage and in the studio. While originally brought on as a second guitarist for the Monster tour, McCaughey has remained with R.E.M. in various capacities since then, contributing to the band's studio albums New Adventures In Hi-Fi, Up, Reveal, Around The Sun and Accelerate. Additionally, he has received credits for his work on the R.E.M. Live album as well as their 2003 greatest hits collection, In Time. When working with R.E.M., McCaughey plays guitar, bass, keyboards, and adds backing vocals.

---o0o---

Poem: Ephemeral Communication

Ephemeral Communication
by Jack Brummet

Native American smoke signals
May be the most transitory
And ephemeral communication of all,

Next to the voice
—A Jiminy Cricket whisper
In your ear—

That transmogrifies instantly
Into memory,
While a smoke signal

Takes its own sweet time,
Rises in a langorous backstroke
And drifts slowly and inexorably

Toward Heaven,
Achieving evanescence
Somewhere in the troposphere.
---o0o---

[revised June, 2009 - originally published on the poemsNOWpoems web site]

Teri Smith TYLER, Plaintiff, v. James CARTER, William Clinton, Ross Perot, American Cyanamid, et al -- one wacky lawsuit...dismissed

A federal court decision, in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1993. It's always interesting when these clearly deranged lawsuits wend their way through the courts. You think about the dozens and dozens of people who worked on the case at law firms, in the courts, and how much money it cost us to allow Teri Tyler to attempt to exorcise her demons.

Teri Smith TYLER, Plaintiff,
v.
James CARTER, William Clinton, Ross Perot, American Cyanamid, Iron Mountain Security Corporation, Defense Intelligence Agencty, IBM, David Rockerfeller [sic], Rockerfeller [sic] Fund, BCCI, NASA, Defendants.

Plaintiff Teri Smith Tyler, appearing pro se, filed a
complaint in December 1992 alleging a bizarre conspiracy involving
the defendants to enslave and oppress certain segments of our
society. Plaintiff contends she is a cyborg, and that she
received most of the information which forms the basis for her
complaint, through ``proteus,'' which I read to be come silent,
telepathic form of communication. ... She asserts that the
defendants are involved in the ``Iron Mountain Plan,'' which
provides for the reinstitutionalization of slavery and
``bloodsports'' (which she identifies as death-hunting and
witchhunting), and the oppression of political dissidents, herself
included. Plaintiff's complaint alleged a number of personal
indignities visited upon her by defendants: ``strafing of my
dormitory room by planes and helicopters, the electronic bugging
of my student rooms and apartments, deliberate noise harassment,
blasting of loud rock music with lyrics designed for witch-hunts
(music about social pariahs) ... students following me around to
prevent me from studying, whispering campaigns and social
ostrification ...'' ... Plaintiff also makes the following allegations
against the defendants. Former President Jimmy Carter
was the secret head of the Ku Klux Klan; Bill Clinton is the
biological son of Jimmy Carter; President Clinton and Ross Perot
have made fortunes in the death-hunting industry, and are
responsible for the murder of at least 10 million black women in
concentration camps, their bodies sold for meat and their skin
turned into leather products. The defendants are also responsible
for breeding farms, which turn out 2,000 black girls a year, who
are then sold for recreational murder or as human pets.
Additionally, the defendants utilize weather control and
earthquake technology to threaten other countries that object to
the Iron Mountain Plan.

Plaintiff asks the Court to grant her the following relief:

$5.6 billion in compensatory and punitive damages;

A physical accounting of all black women born since
1940, including their present, whereabouts, and for those who have
died, an investigation into how they died;

The purchase of land in Africa for the emigration of
abused black women;

The bringing to justice of those responsible for the
American holocaust;

An investigation into the foster care system, and a
physical accounting of all black children placed into foster care;

An end to slavery in the United States;

The end of the cyborg program run by NASA, the Defense
Intelligence Agency, American Cyanamid and IBM;

An end to the organ donor program

While plaintiff was trying to effect proper service of the
summons and complaint on the defendants, she made a number of
appeals to the Court for interim relief in the form of Orders to
Show Cause. On January 20, 1993, she asked the Court to enjoin
the inauguration of President Clinton. The Court denied her
request as moot. In August, 1993, she moved to enjoin the
installation of Louis Freeh as Director of the FBI on the ground
that Clinton appointed Freeh only so Freeh could cover up evidence
of Clinton's wrongdoing. That motion was denied, as it lacked a
sufficient evidentiary basis.

Presently before the Court is an Order to Show Cause why the
Court should not enjoin the trial in the World Trade Center
bombing case, now proceeding in this Court before Judge Duffy.
Plaintiff alleges that President Clinton ordered the bombing of
the World Trade Center in order to justify war with Iraq. In
support of her application, plaintiff describes certain ``proteus''
communications she had with other individuals. Plaintiff alleges
that the United States invaded Panama and arrested General Noriega
because Noriega objected to United States soldiers raiding Indian
tribes in Central America for child sex slaves to torture in
American cocaine based thrill-killing rackets. Plaintiff contends
she wrote to Noriega asking him to join in her lawsuit, but that
United States soldiers holding Noriega beat him when he asked for
his mail.

Plaintiff asserts that in 1988, Rajiv Gandshi spoke to her
through ``proteus'' and informed her that he was being held prisoner
and sexually abused by a man whom he had caught stealing from the
funds generated by the Bhopal disaster settlement. According to
plaintiff, Yasser Arafat tried to confirm Ghandi's tale of abuse
on behalf of the plaintiff, to no avail.

Plaintiff additionally contends that Gulf War against Iraq
was undertaken so that American could restock its sexual slavery
camps, which had been depleted. 40,000 Iraqi soldiers captured by
the United States, selected for their physical attractiveness,
have been brought to this country where they were ``being beaten,
forced to run gauntlets and homosexually gang-raped by American
soldiers.'' Plaintiff claims to have confronted Secretary of
Defense Cheney with evidence of this allegation. Cheney, through
``proteus,'' purportedly told the plaintiff, ``Well, we were so sick
and tiered [sic] of killing black girls. We just had to put some
variety back into our death-hunting industry. And they [Persians]
are incredibly beautiful. The beauty of the face heightens the
pleasure of the kill. I know of no higher pleasure than the
gang-rape of exceedingly beautiful people.''

_______________________


Additionally, the plaintiff alleges that the Serbian government, the ``Nazi Bund,'' the Bank of Commerce and Credit International (``BCCI'') are also involved in the conspiracy.

Attached to plaintiff's papers, and apparently offered to support her claim, are a number of exhibits. Most prominent among the exhibits is a book by Robert Ellis Smith entitled ``Privacy: How To Protect What's Left Of It'' (1979), and a four page illustrated pamphlet advertising pornographic movies starring young men. Plaintiff has circled a number of photos of naked men who appear to be of Mediterranean or Latin American descent, which I interpret as her evidence that Iraqi and Central American men are enslaved in pornographic ``rackets'' ...

The Court's Memorandum and Order goes on to explain why the Court is ordering the case dismissed ``sua sponte'' (meaning of the Court's own volition, without prompting by the defendants): because the plaintiff is barking mad and must not be allowed to waste public time and resources in this way.
---o0o---

The Girl Without Hands...one of the great, and lesser known Grimm's Fairy Tales

The Girl With No Hands
by The Brothers Grimm

A certain miller had little by little fallen into poverty, and had nothing left but his mill and a large apple-tree behind it. Once when he had gone into the forest to fetch wood, an old man stepped up to him whom he had never seen before, and said, why do you plague yourself with cutting wood, I will make you rich, if you will promise me what is standing behind your mill. What can that be but my apple-tree, thought the miller, and said, yes, and gave a written promise to the stranger. He, however, laughed mockingly and said, when three years have passed, I will come and carry away what belongs to me, and then he went. When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him and said, tell me, miller, from whence comes this sudden wealth into our house. All at once every box and chest was filled, no one brought it in, and I know not how it happened. He answered, it comes from a stranger who met me in the forest, and promised me great treasure. I' in return, have promised him what stands behind the mill - we can very well give him the big apple-tree for it. Ah, husband, said the terrified wife, that must have been the devil. He did not mean the apple-tree, but our daughter, who was standing behind the mill sweeping the yard.

The miller's daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and lived through the three years in the fear of God and without sin. When therefore the time was over, and the day came when the evil one was to fetch her, she washed herself clean, and made a circle round herself with chalk. The devil appeared quite early, but he could not come near to her. Angrily, he said to the miller, take all water away from her, that she may no longer be able to wash herself, for otherwise I have no power over her. The miller was afraid, and did so. The next morning the devil came again, but she had wept on her hands, and they were quite clean. Again he could not get near her, and furiously said to the miller, cut her hands off, or else I have no power over her. The miller was shocked and answered, how could I cut off my own child's hands. Then the evil one threatened him and said, if you do not do it you are mine, and I will take you yourself.

The father became alarmed, and promised to obey him. So he went to the girl and said, my child, if I do not cut off both your hands, the devil will carry me away, and in my terror I have promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me the harm I do you. She replied, dear father, do with me what you will, I am your child. Thereupon she laid down both her hands, and let them be cut off. The devil came for the third time, but she had wept so long and so much on the stumps, that after all they were quite clean. Then he had to give in, and had lost all right over her.

The miller said to her, I have by means of you received such great wealth that I will keep you most handsomely as long as you live. But she replied, here I cannot stay, I will go forth, compassionate people will give me as much as I require.

Thereupon she caused her maimed arms to be bound to her back, and by sunrise she set out on her way, and walked the whole day until night fell. Then she came to a royal garden, and by the shimmering of the moon she saw that trees covered with beautiful fruits grew in it, but she could not enter, for it was surrounded by water. And as she had walked the whole day and not eaten one mouthful, and hunger tormented her, she thought, ah, if I were but inside, that I might eat of the fruit, else must I die of hunger. Then she knelt down, called on God the Lord, and prayed. And suddenly an angel came towards her, who made a dam in the water, so that the moat became dry and she could walk through it. And now she went into the garden and the angel went with her. She saw a tree covered with beautiful pears, but they were all counted. Then she went to them, and to still her hunger, ate one with her mouth from the tree, but no more. The gardener was watching, but as the angel was standing by, he was afraid and thought the maiden was a spirit, and was silent, neither did he dare to cry out, or to speak to the spirit. When she had eaten the pear, she was satisfied, and went and concealed herself among the bushes. The king to whom the garden belonged, came down to it next morning, and counted, and saw that one of the pears was missing, and asked the gardener what had become of it, as it was not lying beneath the tree, but was gone. Then answered the gardener, last night, a spirit came in, who had no hands, and ate off one of the pears with its mouth. The king said, how did the spirit get over the water, and where did it go after it had eaten the pear. The gardener answered, someone came in a snow-white garment from heaven who made a dam, and kept back the water, that the spirit might walk through the moat. And as it must have been an angel, I was afraid, and asked no questions, and did not cry out. When the spirit had eaten the pear, it went back again. The king said, if it be as you say, I will watch with you to-night.

When it grew dark the king came into the garden and brought a priest with him, who was to speak to the spirit. All three seated themselves beneath the tree and watched. At midnight the maiden came creeping out of the thicket, went to the tree, and again ate one pear off it with her mouth, and beside her stood the angel in white garments. Then the priest went out to them and said, "Do you come from heaven or from earth? Are you a spirit, or a human being?" She replied, "I am no spirit, but an unhappy mortal deserted by all but God." The king said, "If you are forsaken by all the world, yet will I not forsake you." He took her with him into his royal palace, and as she was so beautiful and good, he loved her with all his heart, had silver hands made for her, and took her to wife.

After a year the king had to go on a journey, so he commended his young queen to the care of his mother and said, if she is brought to child-bed take care of her, nurse her well, and tell me of it at once in a letter. Then she gave birth to a fine boy. So the old mother made haste to write and announce the joyful news to him. But the messenger rested by a brook on the way, and as he was fatigued by the great distance, he fell asleep. Then came the devil, who was always seeking to injure the good queen, and exchanged the letter for another, in which was written that the queen had brought a monster into the world. When the king read the letter he was shocked and much troubled, but he wrote in answer that they were to take great care of the queen and nurse her well until his arrival.

The messenger went back with the letter, but rested at the same place and again fell asleep. Then came the devil once more, and put a different letter in his pocket, in which it was written that they were to put the queen and her child to death. The old mother was terribly shocked when she received the letter, and could not believe it. She wrote back again to the king, but received no other answer, because each time the devil substituted a false letter, and in the last letter it was also written that she was to preserve the queen's tongue and eyes as a token that she had obeyed.

But the old mother wept to think such innocent blood was to be shed, and had a hind brought by night and cut out her tongue and eyes, and kept them. Then said she to the queen, "I cannot have you killed as the king commands, but here you may stay no longer. Go forth into the wide world with your child, and never come here again." The poor woman tied her child on her back, and went away with eyes full of tears. She came into a great wild forest, and then she fell on her knees and prayed to God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to her and led her to a little house on which was a sign with the words, here all dwell free. A snow-white maiden came out of the little house and said, welcome, lady queen, and conducted her inside. Then she unbound the little boy from her back, and held him to her breast that he might feed, and laid him in a beautifully-made little bed. Then said the poor woman, "From whence do you know that I was a queen?"

The white maiden answered, "I am an angel sent by God, to watch over you and your child." The queen stayed seven years in the little house, and was well cared for, and by God's grace, because of her piety, her hands which had been cut off, grew once more.

At last the king came home again from his journey, and his first wish was to see his wife and the child. Then his aged mother began to weep and said, "You wicked man, why did you write to me that I was to take those two innocent lives," and she showed him the two letters which the evil one had forged, and then continued, "I did as you bade me, and she showed the tokens, the tongue and eyes." Then the king began to weep for his poor wife and his little son so much more bitterly than she was doing, that the aged mother had compassion on him and said, "be at peace, she still lives, I secretly caused a hind to be killed, and took these tokens from it, but I bound the child to your wife's back and bade her go forth into the wide world, and made her promise never to come back here again, because you were so angry with her." Then spoke the king, "I will go as far as the sky is blue, and will neither eat nor drink until I have found again my dear wife and my child, if in the meantime they have not been killed, or died of hunger."

Thereupon the king traveled about for seven long years, and sought her in every cleft of the rocks and in every cave, but he found her not, and thought she had died of want. During the whole time he neither ate nor drank, but God supported him. At length he came into a great forest, and found therein the little house whose sign was, here all dwell free. Then forth came the white maiden, took him by the hand, led him in, and said, "Welcome, lord king," and asked him from whence he came. He answered, "Soon shall I have traveled about for the space of seven years, and I seek my wife and her child, but cannot find them." The angel offered him meat and drink, but he did not take anything, and only wished to rest a little. Then he lay down to sleep, and laid a handkerchief over his face.

Thereupon the angel went into the chamber where the queen sat with her son, whom she usually called Sorrowful, and said to her, go out with your child, your husband has come. So
she went to the place where he lay, and the handkerchief fell from his face. Then said she, "Sorrowful, pick up your father's handkerchief, and cover his face again." The child picked it up, and put it over his face again. The king in his sleep heard what passed, and had pleasure in letting the handkerchief fall once more. But the child grew impatient, and said, "Dear mother, how can I cover my father's face when I have no father in this world. I have learnt to say the prayer - Our Father, which art in heaven - you have told me that my father was in heaven, and was the good God, and how can I know a wild man like this. He is not my father." When the king heard that, he got up, and asked who they were. Then said she, "I am your wife, and that is your son, Sorrowful". And he saw her living hands, and said, "My wife had silver hands." She answered, "The good God has caused my natural hands to grow again," and the angel went into the inner room, and brought the silver hands, and showed them to him. Hereupon he knew for a certainty that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed them, and was glad, and said, "A heavy stone has fallen from off my heart." Then the angel of God ate with them once again, and after that they went home to the king's aged mother. There were great rejoicings everywhere, and the king and queen were married again, and lived contentedly to their happy end.

Music video: Seattle's Telekinesis! perform Awkward Kisser (with Awkward Kisser lyrics)

A pretty funny video...and there's something to be said for that. The music, by one of my favorite local bands, Telekinesis!, who released their first album this spring, is great.



Awkward Kisser

You once said I was an awkward kisser
And I said it was a lie
We booked a flight to another country
Tell my friends I said goodbye hiii ow-whoa
We walked for miles with no end in sight
Hand in hand we will grow old ow-whoa
Singing songs of our summers' past
I will never let this go, no no no

Chorus
And when I woke up,
You were by my side
And when I woke up,
You were by my side

Cherry blossoms and a cherry soda
Picnics in the country side
I said I love you, do you think I'm crazy?
Yes, you said, but I don't mind hiii ow-whoa
And we sat around for several hours
As the sun began to fall, no o-whoaa
And I looked you straight in the eyes
And nothing really mattered,
Nothing really mattered at all

And when I woke up
You were by my side
---o0o---

More courtroom antics: Disorder in the court

This is a follow-up to our earlier piece "Witnesses tangle with lawyers, from "Disorder in the American Courts" I recently bumped into a few more courtroom transcriptions. Here are the best of them...

Q. What is your brother-in-law's name?
A. Borofkin.
Q. What's his first name?
A. I can't remember.
Q. He's been your brother-in-law for years, and you can't remember his first name?
A. No. I tell you I'm too excited. (Rising from the witness chair and pointing to Mr. Borofkin.) Nathan, for God's sake, tell them your first name!
__________________________________

Q. Did you ever stay all night with this man in New York?
A. I refuse to answer that question.
Q. Did you ever stay all night with this man in Chicago?
A. I refuse to answer that question.
Q. Did you ever stay all night with this man in Miami?
A. No.
__________________________________

Q. Doctor, did you say he was shot in the woods?
A. No, I said he was shot in the lumbar region.
__________________________________

Q. What is your name?
A. Ernestine McDowell.
Q. And what is your marital status?
A. Fair.
__________________________________

Q. Are you married?
A. No, I'm divorced.
Q. And what did your husband do before you divorced him?
A. A lot of things I didn't know about.
__________________________________

Q. And who is this person you are speaking of?
A. My ex-widow said it.
__________________________________

Q. Mrs. Smith, do you believe that you are emotionally unstable?
A. I should be.
Q. How many times have you committed suicide?
A. Four times.
__________________________________

Q. Were you acquainted with the deceased?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Before or after he died?
__________________________________

Q. Officer, what led you to believe the defendant was under the influence?
A. Because he was argumentary and he couldn't pronounciate his words.
__________________________________

Q. What happened then?
A. He told me, he says, "I have to kill you because you can identify me."
Q. Did he kill you?
A. No.
__________________________________

THE COURT: Now, as we begin, I must ask you to banish all present information and prejudice from your minds, if you have any.
__________________________________

Q. Did he pick the dog up by the ears?
A. No.
Q. What was he doing with the dog's ears?
A. Picking them up in the air.
Q. Where was the dog at this time?
A. Attached to the ears.
__________________________________

Q. When he went, had you gone and had she, if she wanted to and were able, for the time being excluding all the restraints on her not to go, gone also, would he have brought you, meaning you and she, with him to the station?
MR. BROOKS: Objection. That question should be taken out and shot.
__________________________________

Q: What is your relationship with the plaintiff?
A: She is my daughter.
Q: Was she your daughter on February 13, 1979?
__________________________________

Q: Now, you have investigated other murders, have you not, where there was a victim?
__________________________________

Q: Did you tell your lawyer that your husband had offered you indignities?
A: He didn't offer me nothing; he just said I could have the furniture.
__________________________________

Q: So, after the anesthesia, when you came out of it, what did you observe with respect to your scalp?
A: I didn't see my scalp the whole time I was in the hospital.
Q: It was covered?
A: Yes, bandaged.
Q: Then, later on.. what did you see?
A: I had a skin graft. My whole buttocks and leg were removed and put on top of my head.
__________________________________

Q: Could you see him from where you were standing?
A: I could see his head.
Q: And where was his head?
A: Just above his shoulders.
__________________________________

Q: What can you tell us about the truthfulness and veracity of this defendant?
A: Oh, she will tell the truth. She said she'd kill that sonofabitch--and she did!
__________________________________

Q: Do you drink when you're on duty?
A: I don't drink when I'm on duty, unless I come on duty drunk.
__________________________________

Q: ...any suggestions as to what prevented this from being a murder trial instead of an attempted murder trial?
A: The victim lived.
__________________________________

Q: The truth of the matter is that you were not an unbiased, objective witness, isn't it. You too were shot in the fracas?
A: No, sir. I was shot midway between the fracas and the naval.
__________________________________

Q: What is the meaning of sperm being present?
A: It indicates intercourse.
Q: Male sperm?
A. That is the only kind I know.
__________________________________

Q: Was that the same nose you broke as a child?
A: I have only one, you know.
---o0o---

Can anyone explain why so many people are coming here looking for Jeri Kehn Thompson photos?

There are dozens of photos of Jeri Kehn here, from the 2008 election. Yeah, we admit it became a bit of an obsession. But why, for the last month, are 300-500 people a day coming to All This Is That to look for them? We're utterly stumped. We know we're high on the Google Kehn search results--but that only brought in a couple dozen of people a day...until recently.



When traffic suddenly went up, we figured she'd died, or filed for divorce, or had been somehow plunged back into the headlines. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

If you can, let us know why--and how--you stopped by to see the Jeri Kehn photos. It's a puzzler for us. And, hey, while you're hear, check out the archives, and become a regular, or subscribe to our RSS feeds. . .


By by the way, this posting lists all of the Jeri Kehn photos published here.

Jack Brummet, Editor in Chief
Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
---o0o---

Photos: Cats at rest

None of these photos are attributed any photographers, on the sites where I found them. If they're yours, let us know!
---o0o---

Poem: The Fire Rises Up

The dragon stays below the surface
Because the time to act is not now

Water pours down from heaven
And fire rises up

From the center of the earth
Earth sucks in lightning

To electrify itself
Like Frankenstein's monster
---o0o---

Painting: Schizophrenic Robot

click to enlarge

---o0o---

Pablo Fanque: Netanyahu’s Palestinian State A Sham

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Don’t be taken in by Netanyahu’s Palestinian State.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed a Palestinian state on Sunday, reversing himself in response to, and under heat from, U.S. President Barack Obama.

Unfortunately, Netanyahu heavily qualified his endorsement by attaching more than one deal breaker. "A demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state." Palestine can become a real state in the shadow of Israel. But they don’t get to have an army.

Only a week after Obama's address to the Muslim world, Netanyahu said, in short, that Palestinian refugees could no longer return to Israel.

"Netanyahu's speech closed the door to permanent status negotiations," senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said. “He qualified it. He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, said refugees would not be negotiated and that settlements would remain."

This makes sense as long as Israel also agrees to decommission their army. Why would the Palestinians--as wacky as you might think they are--ever agree to these terms?

We even let the Germans and Japanese have an army (when they should still be in the doghouse)! It will be interesting to see how BHO responds to the Prime Minister kicking sand in his face…
---o0o---

Poem: surviving

Surviving
by Jack Brummet

Salvation lies
In remaining unblinded

To the treachery
Massing around you:

The enemy without,
Calculating your fall

And the traitor within,
Beating in your chest.
---o0o---