••can ye pass the acid test?••

ye who enter here be afraid, but do what ye must -- to defeat your fear ye must defy it.

& defeat it ye must, for only then can we begin to realize liberty & justice for all.

time bomb tick tock? nervous tic talk? war on war?

or just a blog crying in the wilderness, trying to make sense of it all, terror-fried by hate radio and FOX, the number of whose name is 666??? (coincidence?)

Thursday, April 30, 2009

just what i needed to cheer me up....

come to think of it, i do!

New GOP ad: Do you feel safer?
House GOP uses burning Pentagon, handshake in video


how low can you sink? the gop oughta drop the pachyderm and start using swine as their mascot. or maybe just scum....

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

US sees spike in Afghanistan, Pakistan attacks


Taliban threatens wave of attacks against US surge


Fresh Air from WHYY, April 29, 2009 · In his book, Torture Team, British attorney Philippe Sands makes a case that high-ranking members of the Bush administration were responsible for instituting harsh interrogation tactics against detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Sands' book played a role in the Spanish court's recent decision to investigate the role six Bush Administration officials played in creating the legal framework for harsh tactics. The officials under investigation are: former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; David Addington, chief of staff and the principal legal adviser to Vice-President Dick Cheney; John Yoo, a former Justice Department lawyer; Douglas Feith, former Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy; and lawyers Jim Haynes and Jay Bybee.

Sands is an international lawyer at the firm Matrix Chambers, and a professor and director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at University College London.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

what hypocrisy

Not long after Specter met privately with Republican senators to explain his decision, the party's leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell, said the switch posed a "threat to the country." The issue, he said, "really relates to ... whether or not in the United States of America our people want the majority party to have whatever it wants, without restraint, without a check or balance."
does anyone recall mcconnell saying it threatened the country when richard shelby or ben nighthorse campbell became republicans in the wake of the 1994 gop takeover of both houses of congress?

neither do i.

Friday, April 17, 2009

sorry, papa

VATICAN CITY – Critics of the Catholic Church's social teachings are trying to intimidate Pope Benedict XVI into silence, the Vatican charged Friday in responding to attacks on the pontiff's remarks about AIDS and condom use.

In a strongly worded statement, the Vatican defended the pope's view that condoms aren't the answer to Africa's AIDS epidemic and could make it worse. On his way to Africa last month, he said the best strategy is the church's effort to promote sexual responsibility through abstinence and monogamy.
no! the church's proper role might be to "promote sexual responsibility through abstinence and monogamy," but it's not the best strategy to prevent AIDS!
PIRATE JENNY

By Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill
(From THREE PENNY OPERA -1928)

You people can watch while I'm scrubbing
these floors
And I'm scrubbin' the floors while you're gawking
Maybe once ya tip me and it makes ya feel swell
In this crummy Southern town
In this crummy old hotel
But you'll never guess to who you're talkin'.
No. You couldn't ever guess to who you're talkin'.

Then one night there's a scream in the night
And you'll wonder who could that have been
And you see me kinda grinnin' while I'm scrubbin'
And you say, "What's she got to grin?"
I'll tell you.

There's a ship
The Black Freighter
with a skull on its masthead
will be coming in

You gentlemen can say, "Hey gal, finish them floors!
Get upstairs! What's wrong with you! Earn your keep
here!
You toss me your tips
and look out to the ships
But I'm counting your heads
as I'm making the beds
Cause there's nobody gone to sleep here, honey
Nobody
Nobody!

Then one night there's a scream in the night
And you say, "Who's that kicking up a row?"
And ya see me kinda starin' out the winda
And you say, "What's she got to stare at now?"
I'll tell ya.

There's a ship
The Black Freighter
turns around in the harbor
shootin' guns from her bow

Now
You gentlemen can wipe off that smile off your face
Cause every building in town is a flat one
This whole frickin' place will be down to the ground
Only this cheap hotel standing up safe and sound
And you yell, "Why do they spare that one?"
Yes.
That's what you say.
"Why do they spare that one?"

All the night through, through the noise and to-do
You wonder who is that person that lives up there?
And you see me stepping out in the morning
Looking nice with a ribbon in my hair

And the ship
The Black Freighter
runs a flag up its masthead
and a cheer rings the air

By noontime the dock
is a-swarmin' with men
comin' out from the ghostly freighter
They move in the shadows
where no one can see
And they're chainin' up people
and they're bringin' em to me
askin' me,
"Kill them NOW, or LATER?"
Askin' ME!
"Kill them now, or later?"

Noon by the clock
and so still by the dock
You can hear a foghorn miles away
And in that quiet of death
I'll say, "Right now.
Right now!"

Then they'll pile up the bodies
And I'll say,
"That'll learn ya!"

And the ship
The Black Freighter
disappears out to sea
And
on
it
is
me






MOON OVER ALABAMA

By Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht
(From THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY - 1930)

Show us the way to the next whiskey bar
Don't ask why
For we must find the next whiskey bar
Or if we don't find the next whiskey bar
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you - I tell you - I tell you we must die

Oh Moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey ... you know why

Oh Moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have whiskey ... you know why

Show us the way to the next dollar
Don't ask why
For we must find the next little dollar
Or if we don't find the next little dollar
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you
I tell you
I tell you we must die

Oh Moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have dollar or you know why

Oh Moon of Alabama
We now must say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
And must have dollar or you know why

Oh show us the way to the next little girl
Oh don't ask why
For we must find the next little girl
Or if we don't find the next little girl
I tell you we must die
I tell you we must die
I tell you - I tell you
I tell you we must die

Oh moon of Alabama
It's time to say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
We must have little girl or you know why

Oh moon of Alabama
It's time to say goodbye
We've lost our good old mama
We must have little girl or you know why





LOST IN THE STARS
By Maxwell Anderson & Kurt Weill

Before Lord God made the sea and the land,
He held all the stars in the palm of his hand.
And they ran through his fingers like grains of sand,
And one little star fell alone.
Then the Lord God hunted through the wide night air
For the little dark star on the wind down there.
And he stated and promised he'd take special care
So it wouldn't get lost again.
Now a man don't mind if the stars grow dim
And the clouds blow over and darken him,
So long as the Lord God's watching over them,
Keeping track of how it all goes on.
But I've been walking all the night and the day,
Till my eyes get weary and my head turns gray.
And sometimes it seems maybe God's gone away,
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Little stars, big stars, blowing through the night,
And we're lost out here in the stars.
Little stars, big stars, blowing through the night,
And we're lost out here in the stars.




link

Monday, April 13, 2009

attention npr!

today's All Things Considered contains the following error:
There are no public examples of the US ever handing over a pirate to the Kenyans for trial in the past....
almost 3 years ago we reported a case in which the US 5th fleet did just that.

unfortunately, we got scooped.