This is an acrylic and ink on silk. . .the foundation is an old banner from Communist China that I found at a surplus store. I painted this a few years ago...
On top of the still melting snow, we've been hit with massive--even for here--rainfall and by 22 rivers flooding in Western Washington. In our immediate vicinity, the Tolt, Cowlitz, Nooksack, Skagit, Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Cedar, Nisqually, Puyallup, Carbon, and Skookumchuck rivers, as well as dozens of creeks are flooding. They've closed Interstate 5 to the south and north, as well as the Stevens, Snoqualmie (I-90), Bluett, and White Passes over the Cascade Mountains. Western Washington is an island at the moment, cut off from the rest of the west coast, anything east of the mountains, and Canada.
It could be worse of course; those 22 flooding rivers are only a fraction of the waterways in the Puget Sound/Western Washington Region (and we do have some cool river and creek names..I don't even think Jumpoff Joe Creek is listed!):
Fraser River (BC) Chilliwack River Nooksack River Samish River Skagit River Baker River Sauk River Suiattle River White Chuck River Cascade River Stillaguamish River Boulder River Snohomish River Pilchuck River Skykomish River Sultan River Wallace River Beckler River Rapid River Snoqualmie River Tolt River Raging River Pratt River Taylor River Pipers Creek (within walking distance of Jack's House) Lake Washington Ship Canal/Lake Washington (within walking distance of Jack's House) Taylor Creek Thornton Creek Sammamish River Kelsey Creek Coal Creek Cedar River Rex River Juanita Creek Duwamish River Black River Cedar River Green River (which runs a block from where I grew up) White River (feeds into the Green River) Fauntleroy Creek Puyallup River Stuck River Clearwater River Greenwater River (childhood fishing spot) Carbon River Mowich River Chambers Creek Clover Creek Nisqually River Mashel River Deschutes River Skokomish River Hamma Hamma River Duckabush River Dosewallips River Big Quilcene River Strait of Juan de Fuca Dungeness River Gray Wolf River Elwha River Lillian River Lost River Haynes River Pysht River Hoko River Sekiu River Lyre River Sooes River Ozette River Big River Quillayute River Dickey River Bogachiel River Calawah River Sitkum River Sol Duc River Hoh River Queets River Clearwater River Solleks River Salmon River Sams River Raft River Quinault River Moclips River Copalis River Humptulips River Hoquiam River Chehalis River Wishkah River Wynoochee River Satsop River (scene of a great rock festival I attended) Canyon River Black River (now subsumed into the Whote and Green rivers) Skookumchuck River Newaukum River Johns River Willapa River North River Fall River Palix River Canon River North Nemah River Middle Nemah River South Nemah River Naselle River Columbia River Grays River Elochoman River Cowlitz River (the river where my Uncle Guy of the fabled wooden leg ran a one-car ferry) Coweeman River Toutle River North Fork Toutle River Tilton River Cispus River Ohanapecosh River Kalama River Lewis River Muddy River Lake River Washougal River Lacamas Creek Wind River Little White Salmon River White Salmon River Klickitat River Little Klickitat River Walla Walla River Touchet River Snake River Palouse River Cow Creek Union Flat Creek Rock Creek Tucannon River Asotin Creek Grande Ronde River Yakima River Toppenish Creek Naches River Tieton River Bumping River American River Little Naches River Teanaway River Cle Elum River Cooper River Waptus River Kachess River Crab Creek Wenatchee River Chiwawa River Napeequa River Little Wenatchee River Entiat River Mad River Chelan River Stehekin River Methow River Twisp River Chewuch River Lost River Okanogan River Similkameen River Nespelem River Little Nespelem River Sanpoil River Spokane River Little Spokane River Hangman Creek Colville River Little Pend Oreille River Kettle River Pend Oreille River American River Baker River Big Quilcene River Bogachiel River Bumping River (childhood fishing spot) Calawah River Carbon River (childhood fishing spot) Cedar River (childhood fishing spot) Chehalis River Chelan River Chewuch River Chiwawa River Cispus River Cle Elum River Clearwater River (Queets River) Clearwater River (White River) Clover Creek Coal Creek Columbia River Colville River Cowlitz River Crab Creek Deschutes River Dosewallips River Duckabush River Dungeness River Duwamish River Elwha River Entiat River Fauntleroy Creek Gray Wolf River Grays River Hamma Hamma River Hoh River Hoko River Humptulips River Indian Creek (Elwha River) Juanita Creek Kachess River Kelsey Creek Kettle River Klickitat River Lacamas Creek Lewis River Little Pend Oreille River Little Spokane River Little White Salmon Mad River Mashel River Methow River Muddy River Naches River (childhood fishing spot) Naselle River Newaukum River Nisqually River Nooksack River North River Okanogan River Palouse River Pend Oreille River Pilchuck River Puyallup River Queets River Quillayute River Quinault River Raging River Rex River Samish River Sammamish River Sauk River Sol Duc River Skagit River Skokomish River Skookumchuck River Skykomish River Snake River Snohomish River Snoqualmie River Spokane River Stehekin River Stillaguamish River Stuck River Sultan River Taylor Creek Teanaway River Thornton Creek Tieton River Tilton River Tolt River Touchet River Toutle River Tucannon River Twisp River Walla Walla River Washougal River Wenatchee River White River White Salmon River Willapa River Wishkah River Wynoochee River Yakima River ---o0o---
This is really Pablo Fanque's Turf, but anyone who doubts Leon Pinetta seriously underestimates both Leon and B.H.O. Yeah, Obama's handlers/operatives may have tried to slipstream this CIA nomination by the two ranking Democrats, but after an initially cranky outburst, even Di-Fi appears to be on board. And they're not wrong. Pinetta is also one of the good guys, and let's face it, the only reason Obama did an end run around Feinestein was that she had been playing footsy with the Bush Administration on the torture issue. There have been a few enablers among the Democrats, and the time is coming when they may need to account for that. Kind of like when Carlo had to account to Michael Corelone on his son's baptism day. /jack
This is a nice uptempo performance of an uptempo song by the Beach Boys. This YouTube video is from the Knebworth Festival, and had to happen sometime prior to 1983, since Dennis Wilson appears in the video, still alive and well. The great vocalist Carl Wilson gives a true blue-eyed soul performance here. The lyrics are weak, but they are well-propelled by the tune.
Darlin' (Brian Wilson/Mike Love)
Ohh darlin' My darlin' you're so fine Ohhhh-hhh-hhh
Don't know if words can say But darlin' I'll find a way To let you know what you meant to me Guess it was meant to be I hold you in my heart As life's most precious part
Oh darlin' I dream about you often my pretty darlin' (Darlin' you're so fine) I love the way you soften my life with your love Your precious love uh huh oh
I was living like half a man Then I couldn't love but now I can You pick me up when I'm feeling sad More soul than I ever had Gonna love you every single night Cause I think you're too outta sight
Oh darlin' I dream you often my pretty darlin' (Darlin' you're so fine) I love the way soften my life with your love Your precious love uh huh huh
Woah oh oh oh
Every night darlin' Gonna love you every single night, yes I will Cause I think you're too doggone outta sight
Oh darlin' I dream you often my pretty darlin' (Darlin' you're so fine) I love the way soften my life with your love Your precious love uh huh huh Oh
Love Minus Zero/No Limits one of Bob's great love songs, is performed at the excellent Concert for Bangladesh (and film)...not a bad backup band: George Harrison, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, and Ringo on drums.
Love Minus Zero/No Limit by Bob Dylan
My love she speaks like silence, Without ideals or violence, She doesn't have to say she's faithful, Yet she's true, like ice, like fire. People carry roses, Make promises by the hours, My love she laughs like the flowers, Valentines can't buy her.
In the dime stores and bus stations, People talk of situations, Read books, repeat quotations, Draw conclusions on the wall. Some speak of the future, My love she speaks softly, She knows there's no success like failure And that failure's no success at all.
The cloak and dagger dangles, Madams light the candles. In ceremonies of the horsemen, Even the pawn must hold a grudge. Statues made of match sticks, Crumble into one another, My love winks, she does not bother, She knows too much to argue or to judge.
The bridge at midnight trembles, The country doctor rambles, Bankers' nieces seek perfection, Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring. The wind howls like a hammer, The night blows cold and rainy, My love she's like some raven At my window with a broken wing.
A half naked skier was left dangling upside down last week, after a bizarre chairlift accident Friday morning at Vail's Blue Sky Basin. The man partially fell through a gap in the chair's seat, his right ski got jammed in the chairlift, and he was upended. This photo was snapped by a fellow skier. They got him down 15 minutes later, safe and sound, except for his dignity.
A raccoon ambled through our yard this weekend. You don't often see raccoons in the daylight; This may have even been a first. I see them most nights, lumbering in and out of the shadows as they mosey around the neighborhood.
My wife said, "He's probably sick. Or hurt."
"I don't know," I said to Keelin, "Maybe he's just thinking outside the box."
When Del went outside to investigate closer, the raccoon scrambled over to, and climbed up, an Aspen tree in our backyard. There was a time in my ancestor's pasts, when a treed raccoon would have meant one thing: dinner.
Photography by Del Brummet. Click all photos to enlarge.
By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor, All This Is That News Network
Obama may still have his hands clean, but now, a second pay to play stink has settled around his new administration. The beloved New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson announced yesterday that he was withdrawing his nomination to be President-elect Barack Obama's Commerce Secretary. He said (approximately), "thanks, but no thanks. . .I think this grand jury investigation into some of my political donors who won a sweet $$$ state contract will hamstring the administration."
The company in question, CDR Financial Products [does that sound like another Ponzi scheme, or what?] was paid a total of $1.48 million in 2004 and 2005 for its work on a transportation program. CDR and its CEO, David Rubin, have contributed at least $110,000 to three political committees formed by Richardson, according to an Associated Press review of campaign finance records. Looking at this crassly, one and a half million dollars is not a bad return on a $100,000 "investment."
Richardson's bugging out is the first real disruption of Obama's Cabinet juggernaut, and the second "pay-to-play" investigation that has landed on Obama's team. The first was the messy case of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich attempting to sell Obama's vacated seat.
A federal grand jury is at this moment investigating how a California company that contributed to Richardson's Presidential bid won a transportation contract worth more than $1 million.
Richardson--in a statement issued by the Obama transition office--said the investigation could take weeks or months. And, as they do every time, he expressed confidence the probe will show he and his administration acted properly.
"The ongoing investigation also would have forced an untenable delay in the confirmation process," Richardson's statement said. "Given the gravity of the economic situation the nation is facing, I could not in good conscience ask the president-elect and his administration to delay for one day the important work that needs to be done." Cough cough.
Governor Richardson did say that he would remain in place as governor. At least until the investigation turns up something really hairy.
Unfortunately, Bill Richardson is one of the good guys. He is an excellent governor. He did great work internationally in the Clinton administration, and in my booklet, was fully qualified to have become President (probably more qualified than the guy who never quite became his boss), and, certainly, Secretary of Commerce. He probably should have been the nominee for Secretary of State. But he got caught with his testicles in the vice. Or maybe he hasn't; it doesn't matter, really--just the whiff of impropriety is enough to sink a fledgling cabinet member. It's the old Caesar's Wife dictum playing itself out once again.
Naturally, Soon-To-Be-President Obama accepted his resignation "with deep regret" and said "Bill Richardson is an outstanding public servant and would have brought to the job of Commerce Secretary and our economic team great insights accumulated through an extraordinary career in federal and state office. It is a measure of his willingness to put the nation first that he has removed himself as a candidate for the Cabinet to avoid any delay in filling this important economic post at this critical time. Although we must move quickly to fill the void left by Governor Richardson's decision, I look forward to his future service to our country and in my administration."
And you know what really sucks?Bill wouldn't have even needed to shave his beard!
