The worst album covers ever -- the motherlode

I have seen maybe 10% of these over the years in various worst of, or weird compilations. But this is the motherlode of awful album covers. The same site also has book and comic covers, and various other cover collections (the coolest maybe being the gallery of Abbey Road clone covers). http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/worst-album-covers

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Alien Lore No. 155 (in a collector's series) - A petition to the government to investigate UFO indidents

In 2007, an international group of scientists, aviators, politicians and generals, majors, colonels, military personnel, and even a governor, met, researched, and later held a press conference at the National Press Club as they released a petition asking the United States government to get real, and quit covering up--or at least quit avoiding seriously investigating at all--unexplained UFO incididents. Really, all they want to do is promote international cooperation among governments and the military in investigating UFOs. They're not saying there are aliens, or that we have been visited by aliens. They ask only that we investigate. There were a lot of respectable people on this panel--all of who saw something really weird that was never seriously researched or explained.

International Declaration to the United States Government
Facilitated by the Coalition for Freedom of Information
November 12, 2007

Preamble:

We, the signatories below, with backgrounds and careers in government, aviation, or the military, hereby present this declaration as a result of our common experience and purpose. While on active duty, each of us has either been a witness to an incident involving an unidentified flying object or has conducted an official investigation into UFO cases relevant to aviation safety, national security, or for the benefit of science.

We use the term “unidentified flying objects” (UFOs) simply to mean any airborne phenomena that cannot be identified or explained, a definition first used by the U.S. Air Force in the 1950’s. We make no claim as to the nature or origin of these objects.

While most UFO sightings can be explained as misidentifications of known objects or natural phenomena, those governments that have studied them, including some with which these signatories have been on staff, have consistently found that a small percentage of sightings defy conventional explanation. Reports of these incidents often involve credible witnesses such as police officers, military personnel, pilots and air traffic controllers, and include solid, official documentation.

Therefore:

We believe that for reasons of both national security and flight safety, every country should make an effort to identify any object in its airspace. Especially after the attacks of 9/11 it is no longer satisfactory to ignore radar returns for which no transponder data are available and/or which cannot be associated with performances of existing aircraft and helicopters. While civil aviation radars and air traffic controllers mainly rely on secondary radar, military air defense radars should be configured such as to detect and track any object in the air, even when static or operating at very slow or very high speeds.

In this regard, we refer to the incident that occurred at O’Hare International Airport in November, 2006 when a metallic disc was observed hovering over the United Airlines terminal for several minutes. Since it was not detected on radar, the Federal Aviation Administration declined to investigate. The FAA also did not accept the many corroborating reports from United Airlines pilots and other personnel at face value, dismissing the sighting as “weather.” We suggest that prejudice against the term 'UFO' and against reports of unknowns could lead officials to dismiss sightings that involve unconventional aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles engaged in espionage or terrorist activity, especially when radar returns are not available.

However, important sightings have also been ignored when radar is not a factor. Even though hundreds of citizens witnessed a massive triangular object traveling over Arizona in 1997, the U.S. government ignored inquiries from state officials about the incident, and never offered the public any explanation about this invasion of US airspace by a strange, unknown flying machine. We believe this kind of disengagement represents both a missed opportunity and a potential risk.

We maintain that a restive, concerned public has the right to be informed of the facts about UFO incidents that are well-documented and involve multiple witnesses. In addition, science lacks potentially important knowledge that may be gained by the study of these events involving objects demonstrating speeds, maneuvers or other characteristics that challenge our current scientific paradigm.

Call-to-Action:

We, the undersigned, ask the United States to join in cooperation with those governments which, recognizing the reality of unidentified flying objects and related aviation safety concerns, have already set up their own investigative agencies. Following in the footsteps of its now defunct Project Blue Book, we propose that the United States Air Force reopen its research effort, or that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration initiate such a research effort, to address the international concerns stated herein, provide needed reassurance and increase scientific understanding.

We call on the United States of America to engage with us and with currently active officials around the world to address this problem in an ongoing dialogue, beginning with the gathering of some of the signatories below in Washington, DC on this 12th of November, 2007.

Signed,

Vasily Alexeyev - Major General, Russian Air Force, Space Communications Center in Russia
Ricardo Bermudez S. - General, Brigada Aérea (Ret.); Former President of the CEFAA, Chile
Ray Bowyer - Captain, Aurigny Air Services, Channel Islands, UK
Wilfried De Brouwer - Major General, Deputy Chief of Staff Operations and Planning (Ret.)
Belgian Air Force
John Callahan - Division Chief of Accidents, Evaluations and Investigations, FAA (Ret.)
Don C. Donderi, Ph.D. - McGill University; Contract Researcher, Dept. of National Defence, Canada
Julio Cesar Chamorro Flores - Comandante Peruvian Air Force (Ret.); Founder of the OIFAA, 2001
Rodrigo Bravo Garrido - Officer Chilean Army, Military Pilot, Associate with CEFAA
Richard F. Haines, Ph.D. - Sr. NASA Research Scientist (Ret.)
Charles I. Halt - Col. USAF (Ret.), Former Director, Inspections Directorate, DOD I.G.
Parviz Jafari – General, Iranian Air Force (Ret)
Denis Letty - Major General, French Air Force (Ret.); Chairman of COMETA
Oscar Santa Maria - Commander and Fighter Pilot of the Peruvian Air Force (Ret).
Anthony Choy Montes - Lawyer, researcher with the OIFAA, Peruvian Air Force, 2001-2003
James Penniston – TSgt, US Air Force (Ret.)
Nick Pope - Ministry of Defence, UK, 1985-2006
Jean-Claude Ribes - Astronomer, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France, 1963-1998
Yves Sillard - Chair of the Steering Committee, GEIPAN in France
Fife Symington III - Governor of Arizona, 1991-1997

Contact: Leslie Kean www.freedomofinfo.org

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Sarah Palin for President

click to enlarge

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Transcript of Sarah Palin's resignation speech & refrigerator magnet wisdom

By Jack Brummet
All This Is That Arts Editor

I am not going to argue about any of the paternity or sex scandals that Pablo Fanque outlined in his article here this morning. I AM going to talk a little about her speech (a transcript of which is printed below). Thanks to the Alaska Governor's office for providing the transcript of her July 3rd speech.

Let's face it, she looked and very much sounded jangled and crazed.

“It would be apathetic to just hunker down and ‘go with the flow.’ Nah, only dead fish ‘go with the flow.’ - Saran Palin, yesterday

The rambling announcement actually appeared scripted, which makes it even more stunning. The bottom line she reached via a twisted logic path was this: The only way the Palin Administration can “continue without interruption” and achieve her goals. is for her to step down immediately, with a year and a half left in her term. All in all, it was the most incoherent speech I have ever heard a politician make. It comes at the tail end of a week when several other Republicans on the hot seat made equally bizarre speeches about their own personal troubles.



As Gail Collins wrote in the New York Times last night:

"On Friday, Palin said that finishing out her term would be just too easy. “Many just accept that lame-duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck and ‘milk it.’ I’m not putting Alaska through that,” she said. Apparently, she’s going to put the rest of us through it instead." - Gail Collins, NY Times

Transcript of Sarah Palin's resignation speech [courtesy, the Governor's press office]:

Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly TO you, the people I serve, as your Governor.
People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.

I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln's cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked "North to the Future". But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this "Seward's Folly". Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but RIGHT path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.


People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska.

Alaska's mission - to contribute to America. We're strategic IN the world as the air crossroads OF the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this - Alaska would be part of America's great destiny.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, AND oil and gas. It's energy! God gave us energy.

So to serve the state is a humbling responsibility, because I know in my soul that Alaska is of such import, for America's security, in our very volatile world. And you know me by now, I promised even four years ago to show MY Independence... no more conventional "politics as usual".

And we are doing well! My administration's accomplishments speak for themselves. We work tirelessly for Alaskans.

We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world... to HELP people... and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.

Here's some of the things we've done:

We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line FOR Alaskans on Point Thomson - and finally for the first time in decades - they're drilling for oil and gas.

We have AGIA, the gasoline project - a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) - also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. THIS is energy Independence.

And ACES - another bipartisan effort - is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas "clear and equitable formula" is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes NEW exploration and development and JOBS that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.

We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.

We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.

We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands - where it should be.

We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.

We broke ground on the new prison.

And we made common sense Conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.

And the Lt. Governor and I said "no" to our pay raises. So much success in this first term - and with this success I am proud to take credit... for hiring the right people! Our goal was to achieve a gasline project, more fair oil and gas valuation, and ethics reform in four years. We did it in two. It's because of the people... good public servants surrounding the Governor's office, with servants' hearts and astounding work ethic... THEY are Alaska's success!

We are doing well! I wish you'd hear MORE from the media of your state's progress and how we tackle Outside interests - daily - SPECIAL interests that would stymie our state. Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an "all-knowing attitude" - I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular. Some of those dollars would harm Alaska and harm America - I resisted those dollars because of the obscene national debt we're forcing our children to pay, because of today's Big Government spending; it's immoral and doesn't even make economic sense!

Another accomplishment - our Law Department protected states' rights - TWO huge U.S. Supreme Court reversals came down against that liberal Ninth Circuit, deciding in OUR state's favor over the last two weeks. We're protectors of our Constitution - federalists protect states' rights as mandated in 10th amendment.

But you don't hear much of the good stuff in the press anymore, do you?

Some say things changed for me on August 29th last year - the day John McCain tapped me to be his running-mate - I say others changed.

Let me speak to that for a minute.

Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations - such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters' questions.

Every one - all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We've won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to "opposition research" - that's money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers - or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the "politics of personal destruction" ... Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn't cost them a dime so they're not going to stop draining public resources - spending other peoples' money in their game.

It's pretty insane - my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more "politics as usual," but THIS isn't what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.

If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!

And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!

Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and "go with the flow".

Nah, only dead fish "go with the flow".

No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time... to BUILD UP.

And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy Independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE... I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them.

I WILL support others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the RIGHT reasons, and I don't care what party they're in or no party at all. Inside Alaska - or Outside Alaska.

But I won't do it from the Governor's desk.

I've never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this - to make a difference... to HELP people. So I choose, for my State and my family, more "freedom" to progress, all the way around... so that Alaska may progress... I will not seek re-election as Governor.

And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn't run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks... travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade - as so many politicians do. And then I thought - that's what's wrong - many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and "milk it". I'm not putting Alaska through that - I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! ? That's not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old "politics as usual." I promised that four years ago - and I meant it.

It's not what is best for Alaska.

I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable.

With this announcement that I am not seeking re-election... I've determined it's best to transfer the authority of governor to Lieutenant Governor Parnell; and I am willing to do so, so that this administration - with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future - can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.

My choice is to take a stand and effect change - not hit our heads against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars, go down the drain in this new environment. Rather, we know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities - and so we will, for Alaskans and for Americans.

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me - sports... basketball. I use it because you're naïve if you don't see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket... and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I'm doing that - keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities - smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it's time to pass the ball - for victory.

I have given my reasons candidly and truthfully... and my last day won't be for another few weeks so the transition will be very smooth. In fact, we will look to swear Sean in - in Fairbanks at the conclusion of our Governor's picnics.

I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision - but it's no more "politics as usual".

Some Alaskans don't mind wasting public dollars and state time. I do. I cannot stand here as your Governor and allow millions upon millions of our dollars go to waste just so I can hold the title of Governor. And my children won't allow it either. ? Some will question the timing. ? Let's just say, this decision has been in the works for awhile...

In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life - my children (where the count was unanimous... well, in response to asking: "Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?" It was four "yes's" and one "hell yeah!" The "hell yeah" sealed it - and someday I'll talk about the details of that... I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently.) Um, by the way, sure wish folks could ever, ever understand that we ALL could learn so much from someone like Trig - I know he needs me, but I need him even more... what a child can offer to set priorities RIGHT - that time is precious... the world needs more "Trigs", not fewer.

My decision was also fortified during this most recent trip to Kosovo and Landstuhl, to visit our wounded soldiers overseas, those who sacrifice themselves in war for OUR freedom and security... we can ALL learn from our selfless Troops... they're bold, they don't give up, they take a stand and know that LIFE is short so they choose to NOT waste time. They choose to be productive and to serve something greater than SELF... and to build up their families, their states, our country. These Troops and their important missions - those are truly the worthy causes in this world and should be the public priority with time and resources and NOT this local / superficial wasteful political bloodsport.

May we ALL learn from them!

*((Gotta put First Things First))*

First things first: as Governor, I love my job and I love Alaska. It hurts to make this choice but I am doing what's best for Alaska. I've explained why... though I think of the saying on my parents' refrigerator that says "Don't explain: your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe you anyway."

But I have given my reasons... no more "politics as usual" and I am taking my fight for what's right - for Alaska - in a new direction.

Now, despite this, I don't want any Alaskan dissuaded from entering politics after seeing this REAL "climate change" that began in August... no, we NEED hardworking, average Americans fighting for what's right! And I will support you because we need YOU and YOU can effect change, and I can too on the outside.

We need those who will respect our Constitution where government's supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over... but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it's time so the team can win! And that is what I'm doing!

Remember Alaska... America is now, more than ever, looking North to the Future. It'll be good. So God bless you, and from me and my family - to ALL Alaska - you have my heart.

And we will be in the capable hands of our Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell. And Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume the role of Lieutenant Governor. And it is my promise to you that I will always be standing by, ready to assist. We have a good, positive agenda for Alaska.

In the words of General MacArthur said, "We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction."
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Palin resignation bombshell: "Not really sure" if the father is Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Shortly after Governor Sarah Palin's hastily called, and sparsely attended, press conference at her home in Wasilla, Alaska yesterday, I was contacted by a friend in her administration. Take that with however many grains of salt you wish. . .I actually do have friends in her administration. None of those friends has ever leaked a word, or fed me anything of substance since the day her name began circulating on short lists of Sen. John McCain's VP choices. Until this afternoon.

Following Governor Sarah Palin's resignation announcement earlier today, a CNN anchor wondered: "Is Sarah Palin pregnant?" The talking head inadvertently stumbled onto the story, but failed to dig deep enough to uncover the underlying bombshell.

If you believe my source (I do), Governor Palin joins the ranks of Republicans involved in sex scandals in recent weeks. If troubles, like celebrity deaths, come in threes, Sarah Palin is about to join Governor Mark Sanford, and Senator John Ensign in the doghouse.

"At the April Republican Leadership Conference in Oklahoma City, the Governor was at loose ends. She had just been savaged by the press, and McCain campaign staffers were leaking nasty tidbits about her to friends in the press. She was there to network, to forget, and to party. On at least two nights, she was drinking heavily with supporters and other prominent Republican officials. As it turns out, she became pregnant at the conference. The problem is, she's not sure whether the father is Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. Complicating things even further, another reporter saw Democrat convert Senator Arlen Specter leaving her hotel suite, with shoes in hand, at three in the morning."

To quote the Governor from her press conference yesterday, there is little doubt that she is "advancing in another direction."
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Sarah Palin resigns as governor: "We're not retreating; we're advancing in another direction."

Music Slideo: The Beatles' I'll Be Back (with lyrics)

This is one of my favorite Beatles songs. I as reminded of that last night when Three Girls And Their Buddy covered it at their show in Seattle.

This is an outtake from the Beatles Anthology--one of 16 takes.




I'll Be Back
By John Lennon and Paul McCartney

You know, if you break my heart I'll go
But I'll be back again
'cause I told you once before goodbye
But I came back again

I love you so, oh
I'm the one who wants you
Yes I'm the one who wants you
oh, ho, oh, ho, oh

You could find better things to do
Than to break my heart again
This time I will try to show that I'm
Not trying to pretend

I thought that you would realize
That if I run away from you
that you would want me to
But I got a big surprise
Oh, ho, oh, ho, oh

I want to go, oh
But I hate to leave you
You know I hate to leave
Oh, ho, Oh, ho

You, if you break my heart I'll go
But I'll be back again
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Concert: Three Girls And Their Buddy at Woodland Park Zoo - Emmy Lou Harris, Shawn Calvin, Patty Griffin, and Buddy Miller

It's kind of strange going to a show in your own neighborhood--and a show that starts at 6:00, at that. Most shows I go to you're still waiting for the first band three hours later.

Last night's show by “Three Girls and Their Buddy” was a powerful but mellow night of melody and harmony by four roots stars. They are all accomplished singer-songwriters who play in each other's bands, sing each other's songs, and produce and play on each other's albums. They all mostly have new albums with new songs, and played some of those along with old tunes, and some wonderful covers of various artists (including The Beatles, and Gram Parsons, Emmy Lou's boyfriend in the 60s). My favorite tunes were from Buddy Miller’s recent record with Julie Miller, "Written in Chalk,” in particular the song "Gasoline and Matches." But every single one hit it out of the park more than once, and variously supported each other on guitar, bass, hand percussion and harmony.

For a little over two hours they took turns singing lead and telling a few stories. Buddy's were probably the best, and he put in a few digs against Tacoma, where he lived for a couple of years...and spent much of the rest of the night apologizing. Sort of.

They all sounded good, and it was an inspiring show. It was wonderful to see Buddy Miller back and joking. Earlier in the year, he had a heart attack after one of their shows and was forced to drop off the tour.

Patty Griffin said "I'm 45 years old and I've written two love songs in my life," before singing "Heavenly Day," from her album, "Children Running Through." Emmy Lou Harris, now a 62 year old grandmother, admitted that her mother still insists she wear a bike helmet.

It was like being at a friends house, listening to four people play.

Here is an amateur video from a performance in Colorado two weeks ago:

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Michael Jackson moonwalk video clips

This is an awesome compilation of Michael Jackson moonwalk video clips--this is prime MJ moonwalking...and a clip of his leaning phase...

Poem: The facts of life, 3

You don't shop
For a cop.
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Poem and painting: Bernie Madoff, on ice for 150 years

Like many Ponzi schemes, Bernard Madoff's plan was to get back on top and go legit, but he had to return to the cookie jar over and over and over again to keep the foundering enterprise afloat one more month, and when he got ahead of it, he'd ease back into the crowd like a victorious and undetected pickpocket, but it ended more like a drunken hit and run driver racing away from the bloody scene until he piles into a wall that seems to jump out from nowhere and, bad luck for him--he survives the wall.
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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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