R Blog

Bill Maher on The Decider

I'm a fan of Bill Maher's HBO show and find I mostly agree with his Libertarian/Progressive point of view. His New Rules at the end of "Real Time With Bill Maher" is alway sharp and on point. However, his short stand up bit at the beginning of the show is often kind of lame. Crooks and Liars linked to eight Youtube videos of what appears to be a very recent stand up concert performance that Maher did in Boston. According to the credits he wrote all the material in which, among other things, he lampoons The Decider. Good stuff if you enjoy political incorrectness.  Click here for part 1 of 8 parts.

Mad As Hell

Say what you want about David Kelly, the TV emprasario who brought Ally McBeal and a host of other shows. The guy writes some pretty good summations for David Spader on Boston Legal. This closing argument highlights a lot of what's wrong with our country today in the fear-based political environment created by the current crew in charge. I personally reached critical mass with the Libby commutation. Wondering what I could do I decided that, at a minimum I could write several emails a week to politicians and media types. You could do it too. Google your senator or reps name, find the email form, fill it out and send your message. I try to keep them short and sweet. Murray's  office responds to each by email. I presume that Larsen and Cantwell must use snail mail as have had no response from them. I've read recently that 25 letters on a subject gets a Congresspersons attention. Samples from the last two weeks:

Dear Senator Murray,

I'm certain because you are in the Senate leadership you won't be fooled by S. 1545. This is a Republican distraction from the real issue.  Let's get out of Iraq quickly. Even the NY Times is on board.
I read that Senator Reid plans to get tough this week. I'm all for it. Make the Republican Senators vote on something of substance. Force them to filibuster to demonstrate that they are the obstructionists.

Dear Senator Cantwell,

Please take action to support Net Neutrality. It's important that we have complete freedom to view any web site or blog.

Dear Congressman Larsen,

I hope you will support and encourage house leadership to hold in contempt any person who does not comply with a subpoena.

Dear Mr. Conyers,

It's time to step up and hold anyone who does not respond to a subpoena in contempt of Congress.
I have encouraged our Congressman Rick Larsen to support contempt citations.

Dear Congressman Larsen,

I agree with John Nichols of The Nation and Bruce Fein of The Washington Times that it's time for an impeachment proceding. I hope you were able to see their discussion on the Moyers show.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/14/bill-moyers-roundtable-on-impeachment-of-bush-cheney/

Dear Senator Murray,

I notice that you have not as yet signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill to restore habeas corpus. It's important that all Democrats, especially those in leadership, take a stand to bring back this crucial constitutional protection.

Dear Senator Reid,

Make them filibuster everything!

Dear Mr. Capus(President of NBC News)

NBC should take some disciplinary action against your correspondent Jim Miklaszewski for taking speaking fees from an interest group and trashing candidates. This isn't journalism. It is advocacy, and not a proper role for an NBC news employee.
In addition, NBC should restate its policy against this kind of behavior and make clear to all your reporters that such behavior is unacceptable.

Scything Part Two

I’m starting to understand why the scythe has a sort of cult status among it’s aficionados. After a few hours of scything I’m not surprised that there is more than one scythe festival held in Britain each year.  This one has a good slide show. The third annual  West Country Scythe Festival and Competition was a big success with over 1000 people in attendance. Prizes were given for fastest cut, closest cut, for women, for kids and for over seventies.
So why is the scythe held in high regard by this small but enthusiastic group?
First: it’s a very effective tool. Amazing really how it slices through tall thick grass and cuts it off as close to the ground as you can maneuver the blade. I’m no longer worried about the lawn mower breaking down.
Second: it’s good exercise. You do get a sort of dance move going as you get into the rhythm of the movement. You’re working. It’s not effortless. But it’s not work like digging or picking or even wielding a chopping maul or scratching dirt with a hoe. Twisting at the waist done with enough frequency will surely affect the waistline. It’s more like aerobics. Fun.
Third: it’s quiet. Although the blade makes a wonderful swishing sound as it knifes through the grass and a kind of ping when you cut something a bit thicker.
Fourth: you get breaks. All the experts recommend that you hone the blade every five minutes. This means stopping, tuning the tool upside down, grabbing a big handful of grass to wipe the blade and stroking each side of the blade with a natural stone. The stone is carried in a small water filled scabbard that hooks to your belt or pocket.
Fifth: It’s safe. No possibility of burns. No smelly fuel. No exhaust to inhale. I scythed barefoot on my first try. Because the blade is at the end of a longish staff (snath) you would have to work hard to cut your foot or leg. One must be a bit careful when honing.
Finally, it’s addictive in a good way. I find myself looking for excuses to grab the scythe and head outside. Haven’t tried it at dawn yet but in the evenings I find a hour of scything is very relaxing and energizing.  Maybe in a few years I’ll be ready to go for that over seventy prize at the West Country Scything Festival or at least a prize for traveling the farthest to get there. I’ve already ordered scythe number two—a brush blade, shorter and thicker for trimming closer to trees and shrubs. It’s easier to control.
Got this one from  these guys.

Lavender

It will soon be time for the Lavender Festival on the island. The hummingbirds are buzzing around like bees. Onions are trying to jump out of the ground. The thick rows of lavender roll like waves in the evening breeze. Veggies are ready to pick at the organic farm where you leave your cash in box under a rock. If you don’t have cash, leave an IOU and pay later. There’s peas, fingerling potatoes, chard, kale and varieties of lettuce you can’t find in the store because it doesn’t travel well. Red oak and green oak I think they’re called. We can walk to get raspberries and trek home through the woods where there are wild raspberries, blackcaps and thimble berries. The salmon berries are gone. We ate them already. The Himalayan and Evergreen blackberries are in full bloom. Their mean looking canes reach out across the path trying to snag. I outsmart them by carrying a pair of pruning clippers in my pocket and train them back as we go along. Grass in the fields is often four feet high. There’s a black walnut tree with a brass plaque that says it’s old, planted by a homesteader. Lots of snow this winter and a rainy spring have made for a lush island.

Scythe

I just read two short books compiled in one volume on the subject  of a hand tool, a tool whose use is pretty much lost to modern man. Recently, however, I spent some pretty big bucks on a Shindaiwa Brush Cutter, a noisy, powerful, smelly machine that, with the proper blade attached, can cut down small diameter trees. It can also do a number on grassy fields, black berry bushes or be used as an edger/ trimmer. But believing that oil will not always be available for the Shindaiwa B 450 I decided to invest two hundred dollars in a high quality tool that will do many of the same things as the brush cutter or lawn mower. The tool is a scythe. I haven’t used it yet. I’ve assembled it and glued the parts and rubbed it with tung oil. It hangs in the garage waiting for the right moment. According to  The Scythe Book the moment is dawn, while the dew is still on the plants. I will go to the field and reap large swaths of tall grass in a motion as effortless as tai chi. Every five minutes or so I will stop and hone the blade using a natural stone that I carry in a metal holster on my belt. After several hours of use I will peen the blade back into shape using a jig that came with the tool which I ordered from Scythe Supply.
This   farm touts the scythe as “An ecological substitute for lawn mowers and string trimmers. No gas, no noise, no exhaust fumes.” Tolstoy in Anna Kerenina waxes poetic on scything. Scything actually has somewhat of a cult following as you can see from reviewing this web site.
Since I’m in the market for a new cult I might join. Check out their video. It’s very impressive.
I like the idea of being up at dawn swinging my blade from right to left in a sort of dance, listening to the swish, swish, swish of the keen blade dropping tall stems into windrows that I can haul to my compost pile. If I get good enough and have the right collection of hafts and blades, if I can learn to hone and peen then perhaps a day might come where the old Shindaiwa sits rusting in the barn next to the helmet, face mask, ear protectors, extra blades and the cans of fuels and lubricants. (And, if it’s good enough for Willie Nelson, it’s good enough for me). I will report on my progress.

Using Porn As A Vietnam Primer

There’s been lots of comparing of Iraq to Vietnam. Many don’t know the history of the Vietnam War. So, it’s hard to evaluate comparisons to current events. History is inaccessible to many people. But the folks at “alwaysquestion.info” have produced a video primer on Vietnam that might keep your attention. They dubbed an old 70’s porn film (the non-raunchy bits) and came up with this for you to watch.

Do I Medicare?

Am I really old enough to be on Medicare? That’s 65, right? Good God!
I got this mailing from the Social Security Administration. (I opted to begin collecting SS payments at 62 on the advice of my friend Dave, who knows these things. The Social Security payment is pretty easy to forget about because it’s direct deposited and it’s kind of fun because it’s money coming in. It’s adding up in a bank account). Medicare on the other hand is about illness: cancer, Parkinson’s, heart disease, incontinence, weakness, memory loss, splotchy skin, flacidity, acid reflux, walkers, wheelchairs and some new form of TB.
This mailing was all about what I had to do to get medical care in my old age. The brochure was pretty good. It was printed in large, easy-to-read letters. The bullet points were even bigger. It was like I was hard of hearing and someone was shouting at me:
DECISION 1. DECIDE IF YOU WANT TO KEEP MEDICARE PART B. Okay. I hear you.
Generally speaking, I don’t want any medical care unless I am bleeding or broken. Specifically, I don’t want to take any pharmaceuticals like, for example, Lipitor which would lower my cholesterol. I don’t even want to know what my cholesterol level is. But, in our system, one is in sort of a trap. We have to sign up. When we sign up we have to pick a family physician. And, Medicare makes us get a  physical exam during the first six months after enrollment which means that someone is going to stick their finger up my butt.  Lots of old people like to go to the doctor. Maybe they just want someone to talk to or someone to touch them.
I don’t want that. I don’t want to know what they think is wrong with me. I am going to stick with snake oil and prayer healing as long as I can. Although I’ve got this mole...

A Beach Adventure

There are lots of different kinds of beaches in Puget Sound: sand, pebble, stone, sandstone, rocky, muddy. Some seem quite barren. But our beach teems with life from the cliff spash zone where you can see different kinds of algae and lichen to the upper tide pools where we’ve spotted the various seaweeds, worms, jellyfish, chitons, hermit crabs, small green anemones, sculpins, periwinkles, barnacles, shrimp, muscles and limpets. Below the lower tide line or under rocks are red crabs, eel like gunnels, tube worms, star fish, cling fish, sea anemone, red sea cucumber, decorator crab, thatched barnacles and brittle stars. One can even find an occasional octopus. The beach is patrolled by eagles and kingfishers, seagulls and blue herons. This month features exceptionally low tides at midday which offers wonderful opportunities for exploration and photography. My favorite is the limpet because they make such a great metaphor

Riverbend Leaving Bagdad

One of Iraq’s  most articulate bloggers has decided to leave.

Money quote: “There are moments when the injustice of having to leave your country, simply because an imbecile got it into his head to invade it, is overwhelming. It is unfair that in order to survive and live normally, we have to leave our home and what remains of family and friends… And to what?”

Riverbend, a young woman, has provided amazing insights into the feelings of a citizen of Iraq over the past four years.

Moveon.org’s VideoVets Project

Moveon.org, labeled a far left organization by certain elements in the media, has come up with another interesting program to put pressure on the Bush Administration and hold Democratic feet to the fire on the issue of bringing troops home from Bagdad. The videos made by veterans, active duty personnel and family members are compelling and articulate and can be seen here:

“They can no longer be trusted with the lives of our service members,” says Sgt. Peter Granato

“War on Terror is like The War on Drugs. It’s perpetual; it’s ongoing,” says Chief Warrant Officer Jordan Long.

"If there are traitors they’re the ones who continue to put our kids in harm’s way,” says Milt Longbottom, grandfather of a Marine in Iraq.

“I just don’t want to see any more American kids going over there losing life and limb for what ultimately seems like a fruitless pursuit,” says Lance Corporal Brian Van Riper.

The Bush administration is, above all things, shameless. As recently as today the President’s Press Secretary Dana Perino suggested that American’s who criticize the president’s policies lack character.

Any yet the fight for “freedom” is the fight for the right to criticize the government. Americans are apparently getting smarter as Bush’s approval ratings are now at 33%. As Atrios is fond of saying, “Americans hate President Bush and they hate this war.” Only the beltway media takes Mr. Bush seriously. He should have been laughed out of town by now. The Bush administration is not to be taken seriously. The headlines should be about “An Unpopular President.” Instead organizations like Moveon have to keep chipping away, building a consensus, stiffening the spine of Democrats. So take a look at the videos. They are worth watching.

Full disclosure:  George Soros provides no support for this blog.