Wednesday, April 05, 2006

The Delay Is Over

Beseiged former Majority Leader Tom DeLay threw in the towel today, a month after promising to give his Republican rivals "an old-fashioned Texas whoopin'."

In a statement announcing his resignation to constituents, DeLay said, “I have no fear whatsoever about any investigation into me or my personal or professional activities.”

The new house Republican leader John Boehner said “He has served our nation with integrity and honor, and I’m honored to call him my colleague and friend.” He said integrity.
---o0o---

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Thirty-eight years ago today, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated



Thirty eight years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot while he was standing on the balcony of his room at the Motel Lorraine in Memphis.

MLK came to Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and was going to dinner when a bullet entered his jaw and severed his spinal cord. He was dead on arrival at the hospital. He was 39 years old.


Shortly before his murder, Martin Luther King came to focus on economic inequality in America. He began planning an interracial "Poor People's March" on Washington and in March 1968 had traveled to Memphis in support of the exploited sanitation workers. A workers' rotest march led by King in late March ended in the death of a black teenager. King promised to come back in early April to lead another demonstration.

The day before he died, he gave his last sermon, the amazing and moving mountaintop speech:



















"We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."

One day later, Dr. King was assassinated, allegedly by James Earl Ray.
---o0o---

Alien Lore 68 - UFO/Alien Reporting Form from UFORC

This is the official Alien/UFO report form from the National UFO Resource Center, a Seattle group. There are several other national groups that collect and research UFO/Alien reports, including CUFON in Seattle, and MUFON .







UFORC.COM
*OFFICIAL A.C.E. REPORT FORM*


IDENTIFICATION

Name___________________
Gender (M/F) ____________
Age____________________
Street Number ___________
City, State, Zip Code _______

Country ________________
Home Phone _____________
Work Phone _____________
E-Mail Address ___________


DESCRIPTION OF EVENT
Event Location (City/State/Country) ___
Date of Event ____________________
Time of Event ____________________
Duration of Event _________________
Weather Conditions ________________
Has this event been reported by you to any other agency (Y/N)? (If Yes, please name)
Previous ACE____________________
Additional witnesses______________


DESCRIPTION OF ALIENS

Number of Entities __________
Shape____________________
Eye color _________________
Height ___________________
Sound? __________________
Weight __________________
Color ___________________
Behavior ________________
Additional Details/Markings _______________________________
Was the alien: passive friendly hostile other ____________________
Did you see a UFO? YES NO
Time loss/memory loss? YES NO
Photo(s)/Film/Video/Sketch available? YES NO


UFO PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: (Check appropriate boxes)

Light form only ____________________
Vehicle/Device ____________________
Animal reaction ____________________
Physical traces ____________________
Atmospheric traces _________________
Psychological event _________________
Bodily or Anatomical event ____________
Electromagnetic event _______________
Landing/Touchdown of UFO __________
Prior UFO sightings ________________


UFO FLIGHT CHARACTERISTICS: (Check appropriate boxes)

Passed overhead ____________________
Within 200 feet of ground ______________
Within 200 feet of witnesses ____________
Under cloud ceiling ___________________
Change in motion ____________________
Continuous flight ____________________
Stationary target ____________________

Other facts you may wish to include:


Please suggest the best time a UFORC investigator may contact you for follow-up:

Monday, April 03, 2006

A parable of Inauguration Day, 2009: Sven's Dog

Torval and Sven were sitting in a Ballard tavern.

Tor asks: "Sven? Why is your dog licking his ass? Does He have worms or something?"

Sven turns to him and says: "No. . .he's O.K. He ate some lutefisk and he's trying to get the taste out of his mouth."

---o0o---

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Poem: The Walt Taborski Dream


click paintings to enlarge


Walt Taborski starred
In a recurring dream
When I was eight years old.

I dreamed I was dreaming
And kept hearing
A tap tap tap.

I thought the tapping
Was the dream
And woke up.

The tapping started again.
I didn't know if I was awake
Or awake in the dream.

I dreamed I was dreaming
I slid out of bed
And edged along the hallway

Toward the tapping
On the kitchen window
Facing the big blowsy roses

In the backyard.
When I got to the kitchen,
His face was in the window.
























Framed by the roses
And darkness
Was the unearthly face

Of Walt Taborski,
Peering in, moving his head
Side to side

In his steel-grey fedora,
Stiff wool overcoat,
And coke-bottle glasses.

His eyes bore down on me.
I coudn't scream
And I couldn't move.

I couldn't look at those eyes,
But with those eyes,
I had no choice;

I could only stare
At the Peeping Tom
Petrified anything I did

Would cause him to burst in.
I inched away
Nearly motionless

As if slow
Would buffalo him,
And he wouldn't actually see me

Drift from his focal point
Imperceptibly backing up
To the perceived safety

Of my room.
At the end of the hall,
I could cut and run.

The sheets in my bed were cold
When I climbed back in.
In the morning,

And every time I dreamed the dream,
I never knew
If it was him

Or me dreaming
Him in the window,
And I never told anyone

About Walt Taborski looking
In the window
Until tonight.
---o0o---

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Alien Lore No. 67 - A list of UFO bodies in the possession of the United States Government



This is the commonly accepted--among UFOlogists--list of alien/grey bodies in possession of the U.S. government. You'd think with that many stiffs sitting around in federal coolers, we'd have figured out a little more about The Greys by now. . .


1939-46 Spitzenbergen, NORWAY unknown number of bodies
4 July 1947 Roswell, NM 4 Bodies
13 Feb 1948 Aztec, NM 12 Bodies
7 July 1948 MEXICO So.of LAREDO TX 1 Body
1949 Roswell, NM 1 ET Living
1952 Spitzenbergen, NORWAY 2 Bodies




14 Aug 1952 Ely, NV 16 Bodies
10 Sep 1950 Albuquerque, NM 3 Bodies
18 Apr 1953 S.W. AZ No Bodies
20 May 1953 Kingman, AZ 1 Body
19 June 1953 Laredo, TX 4 Bodies

10 July 1953 Johofnisburg S.AFRICA 5 Bodies
13 Oct 1953 Dutton MT 4 Bodies
5 May 1955 Brighton, ENGLAND 4 Bodies
18 July 1957 Carlsbad, NM 4 Bodies
1961 Timmensdorfer, GERMANY 12 Bodies
12 June 1962 Holloman AFB NM 2 Bodies
10 Nov 1964 Ft.Riley, KS 9 Bodies
27 Oct 1966 N.W AZ 1 Body
1966-1968 5 CRASHES IN/KY/OH AREA 3 bodies Disk Intact
18 July 1972 MORROCO SAHARA DESERT 3 Bodies
10 July 1973 ARIZONA NW AZ 5 Bodies
25 Aug 1974 CHIHUAHUA MEXICO unknown number of bodies - Disk Intact




12 May 1976 AUSTRALIAN DESERT 4 Bodies
22 June 1977 NW AZ 5 Bodies
5 Apr 1977 SW OH 11 Bodies
17 Aug 1977 TOBASCO MEXICO 2 Bodies
May 1978 BOLIVIA No Bodies




Nov 1988 AFGHANISTAN 7 Bodies
May 1989 S AFRICA 2 ET Living
June 1989 Wright-Patterson AFB from S AFRICA UFO & 2 ET transported in 2 Galaxy Transports
July 1989 SIBERIA 9 ET Living
2 Sept 1990 Megas Platanos GREECE unknown number of bodies
Nov 1992 Long Island, NY unknown number of bodies

---o0o---

Friday, March 31, 2006

Justice Scalia: "Read between the lines"

Peter Smith, a freelance photographer, has been fired from his gig with a Boston Catholic newspaper because he released a picture of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia making a controversial gesture (that Scalia says is a Sicilian hand gesture, but many of us know as the middle finger in disguise--"read between the lines!"

Peter Smith freelanced for The Pilot newspaper for ten years and lost the job yesterday after the Boston Herald ran his photo on its front page.
---o0o---

Thursday, March 30, 2006

We've been Farked. . .


click to enlarge

Y'all come back now. Heah?
---o0o---

White House sources reveal V.P. Cheney under suicide watch and a White House in chaos

All This Is That has learned from senior administration officials that Vice-President Cheney is under treatment and has been placed on a clandestine suicide watch following new revelations about his office's complicity in the Valerie Plame spy case.

As The Raw Story reported, "sources close to Rove and others familiar with the inquiry, say Bush's senior adviser tipped off Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to information that led to the recent "discovery" of 250 pages of missing email" from Cheney's office. Cheney was seen sobbing by several high level staffers before being sedated by Dr. Edwin Argent. The incident capped months of increasingly unstable behavior by the Vice-President as his political fortunes continue to erode. Aides to the Vice-President have become increasingly alarmed by both his behavior, and statements that "it's all over, we're not getting out of this one." The Vice-President's mental health reportedly took a sharp turn for the worse following last month's incident where Mr. Cheney "accidentally" shot hunting companion Harry Whittington.

A Dr. Edwin Argent has become the de facto West Wing psychiatrist in recent months, reportedly treating 12 senior officials for a variety of illnesses, including obsessive compulsive disorder, severe depression, sleeplessness, and episodes of schizophrenia, with one official frequently hearing voices.

"Honestly, " one senior staffer told us, "the inmates are running the asylum. Dr. Ed's hands are full. People are talking about suicide, disappearing to Latin America, and one cabinet member even indicated he'd briefly considered taking the life of the Vice-President and Donald Rumsfeld. At the moment, our country is being run by a handful of dangerous fruitcakes. " The aide continued, "the worst part is that it seems to be getting to Dr. Argent as well. He is no longer the rectitudinous and reassured Doctor who calmly entered the White House in December. He's slipping. It's too much for one man. But if they bring in reinforcements, word is sure to leak."


Dr. Edwin Argent in 2002

One White House aide said that if word of Dr. Argent's treatment got out, it could shatter financial markets, trigger a grass roots rebellion against the G.O.P., and possibly, even encourage terrorists to strike again. "But I don't see how they can keep it bottled up much longer. When they prop Rumsfeld up in front of the cameras, he is pumped full of thorazine. Vallium and Xanax are handed out, no questions asked. The heavier stuff's not hard to find. The shrink is booked 'round the clock. They don't even bring Cheney out anymore. He's a basket case."

Another top official said "The President is not as emotional or fragile as his top aides. Thank God. I think he got it out of him a while ago. But he is worried and desperately concerned about the Vice-President. "He just about pushed Andy Card out the door this week, following what had become extremely bizarre behavior, including playing with Legos and sitting naked at his desk for hours at a time." The President reportedly feels abandoned, fragile, vulnerable, and alone."

Dr. Edwin Argent, a highly-respected psychiatrist, has in recent years worked exclusively with well-heeled and famous clients. Less than a year ago, the Justice Department quashed an investigation into numerous drug violations against Argent. In December, 2005, he was secretly moved into the West Wing, where he set up a discreet clinic.
---o0o---

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Poem: Changes Six/Conflict



Caution halfway
Brings good fortune
Prepare to turn back

Charging dead ahead
Is calamatious when you can't see
The end of the line

Salvation lies
In remaining unblinded
To the treachery around you

The enemy without
Calculating your fall
And the traitor within

Beating in your chest
Do you stand and battle
Or flee across the great water

Conflict within
Saps the heart
Of the will

To staunch the peril without
Be the one to give in
Surrender to love and mercy

Know when to stand
And when to run
Amen.
---o0o---

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

My favorite quote from Bulworth (the movie...)




Bullworth: All we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep f***in' everybody 'til they're all the same color.
---o0o---

The Capitol Hill Murders/Repeal The Second Amendment

The talk in Seattle for the last few days has focused on the murders at a party in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Melissa Moore, 14; Suzanne Thorne, 15; Jeremy Martin, 26, Jason Travers, 32; Justin Schwartz, 22; and Christopher Williamson, 21. According to the Seattle Police, the killer, Kyle Huff, told people at the party "there's plenty for everyone."

Huff was described by partygoers as moody, but courteous. No one recalls any angry or harsh words from Huff during the party, Seattle Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer told reporters. A police officer in the neighborhood heard the shots and was there almost immediately. When the cop confronted Huff, the shooter shot himself and died.

"There was nothing to suggest the monster he became," Clark Kimerer said. Everyone who knew Huff seems to be shocked, and no one had any clue, least of all his twin brother/roommate.

It's shocking, depressing, and numbing. This one hit close to home, but every time something like this happens, wherever it happens, I begin thinking we should just end the whole gun thing for good.

I keep thinking we'll come back to our senses. Sometimes I'm sure we've finally achieved The Last Straw. Up front on this, I have had a lot of fun shooting guns. The last time I actually held one, though, was New Year's Eve 1982, when Luke Celt handed me his 12 gauge shotgun at midnight, and told me to aim straight-up, 180 degrees, and fire. It was cool. I loved going out to the gravel pit to fire friend's rifles. And shooting .22s in the Boy Scouts, at Camps Omache and Brinkley.

I only remember shooting a BB gun with my Dad...nothing stronger. He was far more a fisherman than a rifleman. I do remember eating a fair amount of venision as a child, but I don't know if my dad bagged it or not. I think he did get roped into hunting now and then, but the BB gun was the only firearm in the house.

Like a bad dream, the National Rifle Association returns periodically (and especially at times like this), to remind us that "guns don't kill; people do." After assassinations, after Columbine, after the shootings at three Denny's last week, after every single senseless, insane killing, and as they inevitably will after the Seattle killings this weekend, the NRA will dissemble, rationalize, backpedal and flat out lie. Unrepentant despite the thousands of lesser known gun outrages in America, the NRA will actually try to tell us that shootings like this are why we need to have guns. And that a well-armed party would have nipped it in the bud.

The second amendment probably outlived its usefulness sometime around 1901. Let's get rid of it. Yeah, "guns don't kill people, people kill people." Until we figure out the people part, let's declare a state of emergency, and fast-track the repeal of the second amendment to the constitution.



In an earlier post I wrote on gun control, a lot of the comments focused on the strange idea that guns might have prevented a tragedy like this:

____________________________________
Both sick biscuits were sick on hearing the trash these people produce. Both got close enough to have killed the person with a knife or baseball bat... The gun is irrelevant.

Ralph (not a member of the NRA) - but one who fears liberals more than guns.
____________________________________
I'm pretty sure you have never listened to Damageplan, and, OK, I'll respect your right to think the Beatles produced trash. Yeah, you're not in the NRA.
You're saying that these guys could have done the same damage with a knife or baseball bat? Possibly. I'm not sure the guy could have killed five people with a knife. Isn't that being a little disingenuous? At least Abbott would have possibly had a fighting chance. He might have run. Or ducked.

"The gun is irrelevant." For a guy who has called me "stupid" elsewhere, you don't seem all that swift yourself. But you write OK for a mouth-breather.

By Jack Brummet, at
December 09, 2004 6:26 PM
____________________________________
I was very saddened by this news - having been a fan of Dime - but I tell ya - it never crossed my mind or a SECOND that guns were to be blamed - I'm not in the NRA but can see where if more people packed guns this kind of thing would be a lot less likely to happen. - An armed society is a polite society.


I'm sure you don't see it that way - it's interesting to read an opposing view though - you write well.

Have a great weekend.

By Monkey, at December 09, 2004 9:54 PM
____________________________________
There are people who claim the "music" (sorry, but I find most of the current noise not really music, but I also recognize that is an opinion, not one I would force on others) played by today's bands causes violence. Should, therefore, that so-called "music" be banned? There are smarter people who say "guns cause crime just as flies cause garbage." In truth, owning a gun is the same human right as owning, say, a DVD. A free human being has the right to OWN anything he has honestly acquired, whether it's a gun or a recording (even one most of us find distasteful) or a Bible or a plant. If one insists on laws controlling behavior, then the only rational and moral law is one against acts that initiate force or fraud; that is, one can properly advocate laws against killing or stealing or driving under the influence ... but NOT against ownership of anything honestly acquired.

By Michael Morrison, at December 09, 2004 10:15 PM
____________________________________
Hi Monkey - The previous commentator pointed out a baseball bat could have done as much damage. But to kill four people would have required much more energy, and time, than standing and pulling the trigger. So, in a way, I agree with you AND the NRA..."guns don't kill, people kill." But people kill with guns. Israel has a handgun murder rate one sixth of ours, even though they are heavily armed. Switzerland, where virtually everyone owns a gun has about one third the murders we do. Most murders are crimes of passion, and the people who carry them out are not deterred by the consequences (like the killer last night, or a terrorist in Israel). I'd just like to hamstring them a little. /jack

By Jack Brummet, at December 09, 2004 10:21 PM
____________________________________
Jack:
True, true - it'd be some work to kill 4 people with a bat - but it could be done. Interesting facts you point out about Israel & Switzerland - it's amazing how a country can be so well behaved with so many guns - I have no answer to that - it's a mystery I guess. I guess we Americans are just a little more crazy or something - but I'd not have it any other way - crazy or not, I love our country even if we waste each other ever now and again. But I still feel SAFER knowing that so many of my fellow Americans are packing - because I still feel there's more GOOD people in the world than bad - and I want good people to have and carry guns freely - if nothing else so they can waste away idiots like the guy last night, or the clown that comes into McDonald's blowing away innocent people. I will always feel safer with guns all around me - even though that sounds warped probably to you and others I feel they're a GOOD tool in the right hands. (Like in the hands of the cop at that concert who probably saved a lot of lives). Off to beddy-by-land. Good night.

By Monkey, at December 09, 2004 10:50 PM
____________________________________
Well, I guess we agree to disagree. For me it is about proportion. . .

People with bats or knives don't do a lot of collateral damage. Someone with a semi-automatic weapon and a pocketful of clips could kill dozens of people. This guy killed at least four before he even reloaded.

I didn't look it up, but I know there are statistics about how many crimes are actually thwarted by people carrying guns. The last I heard, I believe was that far far more people are killed than saved by guns.

By Jack Brummet, at December 10, 2004 10:01 AM
____________________________________
Guns make us safer Jack, the same way having nuclear missiles kept the Russians away and you'll probably never believe that. You talked about the low rates of killings in Switzerland and Israel, and you were right.

By Anonymous, at December 10, 2004 1:42 PM

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---o0o---