Alien Lore No. 120 - Jack Brummet observing an alien autopsy at Area 51

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click here for more Alien Lore links on All This Is That.

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Happy New Year: We start 2008 out at the Yellow National Security Threal Level

It's not DefCon 5, but here is what the TSA expects you to do during a Yellow National Security Threal Level

- Develop a family emergency plan. Share it with family and friends, and practice the plan.
- Visit www.Ready.gov for help creating a plan.
- Create an “Emergency Supply Kit” for your household.
- Be informed. Visit www.Ready.gov or obtain a copy of “Preparing Makes Sense, Get Ready Now” by calling 1-800-BE-READY.
- Know how to shelter-in-place and how to turn off utilities (power, gas, and water) to your home. Examine volunteer opportunities in your community, such as Citizen Corps, Volunteers in Police Service, Neighborhood Watch or others, and donate your time.
- Consider completing an American Red Cross first aid or CPR course , or Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course .
- Review stored disaster supplies and replace items that are outdated. Be alert to suspicious activity and report it to proper authorities.
- Ensure disaster supply kit is stocked and ready.
- Check telephone numbers in family emergency plan and update as necessary.
- Develop alternate routes to/from work or school and practice them.
- Continue to be alert for suspicious activity and report it to authorities.
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Video (and lyrics): The Kinks' Apeman

Here is a video of one of my, say, top 20 Kinks songs (and the Kinks have to be in my top ten or 20 list of bands).

Apeman

I think I'm sophisticated
cause I'm living my life like a good homosapien
But all around me everybodys multiplying
Till they're walking 'round like flies man
So I'm no better than the animals sitting in their cages
In the zoo man
Cause compared to the flowers and the birds and the trees
I am an ape man
I think I'm so educated and Im so civilized
Cause I'm a strict vegetarian
But with the over-population and inflation and starvation
And the crazy politicians
I don't feel safe in this world no more
I don't want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an ape man
I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man
I'm an ape man I'm a king kong man I'm ape ape man
I'm an ape man
Cause compared to the sun that sits in the sky
Compared to the clouds as they roll by
Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies
I am an ape man
In man's evolution he has created the cities and
The motor traffic rumble, but give me half a chance
And I'd be taking off my clothes and living in the jungle
Cause the only time that I feel at ease
Is swinging up and down in a coconut tree
Oh what a life of luxury to be like an ape man
I'm an ape, I'm an ape ape man, I'm an ape man
I'm a king kong man, I'm a voo-doo man
I'm an ape man
I look out my window, but I can't see the sky
Cause the air pollution is fogging up my eyes
I want to get out of this city alive
And make like an ape man
Come and love me, be my ape man girl
And we will be so happy in my ape man world
I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man, I'm an ape man
I'm a king kong man, I'm a voo-doo man
I'm an ape man
I'll be your tarzan, youll be my jane
Ill keep you warm and youll keep me sane
And well sit in the trees and eat bananas all day
Just like an ape man
I'm an ape man, I'm an ape ape man, I'm an ape man
I'm a king kong man, I'm a voo-doo man
I'm an ape man.
I don't feel safe in this world no more
I don't want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore
And make like an ape man.

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Video: Ruth Underwood is interviewed about her work with Frank Zappa (includes video clips of Ruth at the mallets)

Here is a YouTube video from a very moving interview with the great marimbist Ruth Underwood, along with clips of her playing and the great story of how Frank Zappa convinced her to "go electric. " Also includes a brief clip of Dweezil Zappa and Napoleon Murphy Brock:



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Nice poster: the Hillary money machine by Linda Eddy

A nice poster by Linda Eddy of the possible democratic front-runner.

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The closer we get, the more spooked I become: The Democratic race for President could be over in a few weeks and we failed to nominate Joe Biden

The closer this contest comes to resolution—and it may be coming very soon— the more I regret that Sen. Joe Biden has not surged ahead. I wish we'd all realized sooner that he is the President we actually want. What a decent, thinking, sensitive, and funny man Joe Biden is and has been throughout his long career in Washington! He's almost always on the right side, he knows how to play hardball, and it's impossible not to like the guy. And he is up against congressional lightweights like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards—whose total congressional experience added up together doesn't even equal half of Biden's time. But, as correspondent Kev said, we know he doesn't have much of a chance...barring some tragedy or, say, a love child fostered between Hillary and Barack, Biden is pretty much dead in the water, with occasionally, hopeful, polling blips.

Unless things change dramatically, I will march off to my local caucus with the race decided. There will be pressure to go with the winner, but I'll vote for Biden and hope to convince enough other delegates to at least get one delegate from this state on his side.

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The return of Jenkem: a song by Tay Zonday: Chocolate Reign (a/k/a Choklit Reighn)

In this YouTube™ video, Tay Zonday performs his song Chocolate Rain/Choklit Reighn, a song about Jenkem. Jenkem is perhaps best described as an end-user delivery system for a psychotropic substance confected from human waste matter. We wrote about this earlier. . .here, and here, if you'd want to know more. On the whole, I think I'd prefer bourbon.



The Lyrics:

Some stay dry and others feel the pain
Chocolate Rain
A baby born will die before the sin
Chocolate Rain
The school books say it can't be here again
Chocolate Rain
The prisons make you wonder where it went
Chocolate Rain
Build a tent and say the world is dry
Chocolate Rain
Zoom the camera out and see the lie
Chocolate Rain
Forecast to be falling yesterday
Chocolate Rain
Only in the past is what they say
Chocolate Rain
Raised your neighborhood insurance rates
Chocolate Rain
Makes us happy 'livin in a gate
Chocolate Rain
Made me cross the street the other day
Chocolate Rain Made you turn your head the other way
(Chorus) Chocolate Rain History quickly crashing through your veins
Chocolate Rain
Using you to fall back down again [Repeat]
Chocolate Rain
Seldom mentioned on the radio
Chocolate Rain
It's the fear your leaders call control
Chocolate Rain
Worse than swearing worse than calling names Chocolate Rain Say it publicly and you're insane
Chocolate Rain
No one wants to hear about it now Chocolate Rain Wish real hard it goes away somehow
Chocolate Rain
Makes the best of friends begin to fight Chocolate Rain But did they know each other in the light?
Chocolate Rain
Every February washed away
Chocolate Rain Stays behind as colors celebrate
Chocolate Rain
The same crime has a higher price to pay chocolate Rain The judge and jury swear it's not the face
(Chorus)
Chocolate Rain
Dirty secrets of economy Chocolate Rain Turns that body into GDP
Chocolate Rain
The bell curve blames the baby's DNA
Chocolate Rain
But test scores are how much the parents make
Chocolate Rain '
Flippin cars in France the other night
Chocolate Rain
Cleans the sewers out beneath Mumbai
Chocolate Rain
'Cross the world and back it's all the same
Chocolate Rain
Angels cry and shake their heads in shame
Chocolate Rain
Lifts the ark of paradise in sin
Chocolate Rain
Which part do you think you're 'livin in?
Chocolate Rain
More than 'marchin more than passing law
Chocolate Rain
Remake how we got to where we are
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Video: Jesus celebrates his 2,007th birthday

I never got around to posting this YouTube video on Christmas Day, but here it is, a little late (like my Christmas cards):


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John Edwards takes a final swipe at Sen. Barack Obama, who he says may be living in never-never land

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Yesterday morning at a forum for undecided voters in Independence, Iowa—and there must be plenty of undecideds, the way the polls swing back and forth—Ex-Senator John Edwards repeated his criticism of Barack Obama, saying that any candidate who thinks he or she can invite corporate America to the table and achieve real results for Americans "is living in never-never land."

In a wide-ranging interview with ABC News Friday afternoon, the former North Carolina senator labeled as "ridiculous" the comments made by the Obama campaign linking Ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination to Sen. Hillary Clinton's vote to authorize the use of force against Iraq. On the other hand, he did embrace Sen. Barack Obama's politics over Clinton's, and said that an anti-Obama flier from a pro-Clinton union was "misleading" and "deceptive."

I like Obama, but I like him best for Vice-President paired with (in descending order) Joe Biden, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, or Bill Richardson. On the other hand, he's not a bad senator, missing plenty of votes this election season notwithstanding...
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The angels are weeping. . .

The angels are weeping today, for Benazir Bhutto, her family, and Pakistan itself, and for the six members of the Anderson family of Carnation, Washington (near Seattle), who were gunned down on Christmas Eve by their daughter/sister/aunt and her boyfriend

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Accused killer "sorry they're gone''

"They were my family, too, you know?" Joe McEnroe told a Seattle Times reporter in a jailhouse interview. He may face death for the Carnation slayings.

And the angels weep for Benazir Bhutto, who was not perfect, but who had become a sort of JFK-figure of hope/beacon of light to the mess that is Pakistan.

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Benazir Bhutto: Two Paintings

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Benazir Bhutto Assassinated in Pakistan

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally. The killer then blew himself up; at least he got that part right.

Like Benazir or not (and she admittedly has a whiff of corruption too), this is not good. Pakistan sits smack dab in the middle of the powder keg; situated between Afghanistan, Iran, India and China, Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in the world, and stability there is central to world peace.

The prime ministerial elections are just around the corner, and the next government is crucial —especially with current president General Pervez Musharraf [US buddy and George Bush ally]accused of blocking two former PMs—Bhutto and rival Nawaz Sharif—from running with the use of controversial legislation. If you are Nawaz Sharif, this has to be a sleepless night.

A photo 30 seconds before Benazir Bhutto

was gunned down

Bhutto's death stoked chaos and a wave of "civil unrest" across Pakitstan. President Musharif, vowed to obtain justice. Of course he did...not long after he popped the cork on a bottle of Dom Perignon— However, we all know he was no fan of Benazir. Obviously no one wants rioting in an already volatile country that happens to be a member of the nuclear-capable club. They are a critical U.S. ally in the war on terror. President Musharraf has functioned as a George Bush lapdog, and it was clear Benazir would not be on the boat. Do I think President George W. Bush was involved in the assassination? Absolutely not. Do I think he took the same tact as Phil Leotardo's capos on The Sopranos? Maybe. Do I think George Bush said to Musharraf "You do what you gotta do?" Maybe.

Benazir Bhutto became the first female prime minister in the Muslim world when she was elected in 1988 at the age of 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996 amid charges of corruption and mismanagement. She said the charges were politically motivated...but in 1999 she chose, right or wrong, to stay in exile rather than go home and face the music.

Bhutto, 54, will be buried alongside the grave of her father, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was removed from power in a 1977 junta and executed.
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