ATIT Reheated (from 2005) George W. Bush's scandalous speech in Israel

By Pablo Fanque, Foreign Relations Ed.

[Listening to President Obama's "historic" speech in Israel today, which has received much acclaim  we remember back to a far less well-received speech by his predecessor]

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), has joined the flood of Democratic complaints about President Bush’s speech in Israel:

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”— Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee

Speaking at the Knesset, The President said “some people” believe the United States “should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Barack Obama joined in, accusing President Bush of "a false political attack" Thursday after Bush warned against appeasing terrorists.

Speaker of the House Pelosi tore into the President, saying Thursday that Bush's remarks were "beneath the dignity of the office of the president and unworthy of our representation" at the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary.

Even Senator Hillary Clinton took the time to lambaste POTUS: "President Bush’s comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous on the face of it, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy. This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address and certainly to use an important moment like the 60th anniversary celebration of Israel to make a political point seems terribly misplaced. Unfortunately, this is what we’ve come to expect from President Bush."

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e.e. cummings poem [in Just-] spring

By e.e. cummings

[in Just-]

in Just-

spring          when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles          far          and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far          and             wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

         the

                  goat-footed

balloonMan          whistles

far

and

wee

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Spring has sprung (but not quite in Seattle) - William Carlos Williams' poem Spring And All

by William Carlos Williams

I

By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast-a cold wind.  Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen

patches of standing water
the scattering of tall trees

All along the road the reddish
purplish, forked, upstanding, twiggy
stuff of bushes and small trees
with dead, brown leaves under them
leafless vines-

Lifeless in appearance, sluggish
dazed spring approaches-

They enter the new world naked,
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter.  All about them
the cold, familiar wind-

Now the grass, tomorrow
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf
One by one objects are defined-
It quickens:  clarity, outline of leaf


But now the stark dignity of
entrance-Still, the profound change
has come upon them:  rooted, they
grip down and begin to awaken

                ---o0o---

Republicans for gun control

By Mona Goldwater, Societal Mores Ed.

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Faces No. 380 - Plaid Pantry Night Clerk

By Jack Brummet

[Nib and needle on India Ink scratchboard; second image is the scratchboard scanned and digitally reveresed]

Charlie Parker plays "Air Conditioning"

By Jack Brummet, Jazz Ed.

Air Conditioning is one of my very favorite Charlie Parker songs. I first heard it on a Dizzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker LP, "Groovin' High," and it's been a top tune ever since. . .

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Poem: With Or Without Words

By Jack Brummet 

 1-
If I don't write it down
It's gone like a pickpocket
Easing back into the crowd

 2-
If I don’t write it down
The world will carry on
Merrily on its own

Unaware of the loss
The world revolves
With or without the words

 3-
If I don’t write it down
The words race away
Like a hit and run driver 
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Drawing: Faces No. 379 - Associate Professor

By Jack Brummet 

[pen and ink analog drawing, digitized and effed with in photoshop]

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Faces No. 378 - Bridget, the shell-shocked server at O'Flannery's

By Jack Brummet 

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Drawing: Faces No. 377

By Jack Brummet 

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The Grateful Dead's amazing Wall of Sound system, ca. 1973

By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.

I saw the Grateful Dead play in front of their wall of sound in Vancouver, B.C. in 1973.  It was amazing.  And quickly abandoned because it was so expensive to set up and transport (they had to have two sets leapfrogging each other on the tour).

It just sounded phenomenal.   Apparently one reason bands play so loud is that loud music overrides some of the delays and muddiness in sound.  Because the wall was so clear, they didn't need volume.  And the many speakers covered any hall or stadium with a gigantic wave of clear sound. They didn't need to turn it up to 11.

"The Grateful Dead sound system is really 11 independent systems or channels as shown in the table  below.  The source of sound are located behind and above the performers so they hear what the audience hears.  Only one source location for each channel is used to cover the entire hall and the music is clearer both on stage and in the audience.  The stereo effect is very satisfying and natural to persons all over the hall.  Intermodulation distortion between instruments is of course non-existent." - from http://www.dozin.com/wallofsound/#

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Drawing: Faces No. 376 - Arthur

By Jack Brummet 

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