Einstein is My Co-Pilot: Previously Unknown Letter Reveals His Views on Religion.

... I'm thrilled (and grateful) to say that I've finally reached a point in my ongoing evolution/enlightenment where I do not seek out nor need approval or confirmation from outside sources that I am OK or that what I believe is OK.

That being said...

I'm equally thrilled to have just found out that my own personal views on organized religion mirror those of Albert Einstein.

My early religious experience was similar to his. And, like Einstein, I began to question - at an early age - the biblical stories that I was being taught and which everyone around me seemed to swallow - hook, line and sinker - without question. At the time, I lived in 'The Bible Belt' and, on weekends, it was hard to find anything entertaining on TV amid all of the televangelists and 'healers' (who were passionate - and, to me, utterly ridiculous - about scamming the poor and gullible for money) and other from-the-pulpit church programs (Thank Gd for PBS!... Hee Hee.). I attended services at Jewish synagogues and Baptist churches. Even then, in my young mind, I couldn't understand why so many otherwise rational people believed these stories to be... well, 'the Gospel Truth', so to speak. Not only was the Bible full of contradictions... How could the same God that made the Commandment "Thou shalt not kill." be the same God that - at various times - told people to go into another land and kill every living thing there or the same God that killed countless numbers of people Himself all over the ancient world?

More recently, I've done a great deal of self-directed research into the development of conventional religions... and what I discovered only steeled my view of religion as irrational, uninformed and blind acceptance of what can only be described as - if you look from a neutral position deeper into its history - superstition.

I discovered that, during Christianity's early years, it was a very small group of powerful and educated white men who took it upon themselves to decide what and who's early accounts/stories would become part of the canon as well as what stories were considered 'heresy' and their authors/followers 'heretics'. The latter was to be sought out and destroyed and the proponents/followers of the heresies were to be killed.

Thankfully, more people are realizing that most of the traditions/holidays/stories that so many hold dear in conventional monotheistic, patriarchal religions have their origin in earlier and much older, pagan or pantheistic belief systems... This is because the early 'Convert or Die' Crew had figured out that it would be easier to indoctrinate conquered peoples into their New and Improved, Goddess-Free, Father-God Religion if it contained a numerous familiar aspects from their own, now-banned beliefs.

And, I'm not even going to go into conventional religion's history of utterly misogynistic views towards and treatment of women (perhaps it's fear/envy-based? I guess the early church fathers couldn't comprehend how it it could be that women alone, not men - had the God-like ability to bring Life into the World... and boy, were they mad about it.) or the centuries of Witch Burnings - whereby the church immediately confiscated all possessions of the as-good-as-condemned at the moment of accusation. There are modern-day examples of this misogyny... Although women won the right to vote last century and there's currently a viable female candidate for President of the U.S.... Women are still forbidden from attaining the position of Rabbi - in Judaism; of Priest - in Catholicism... and, in some interpretations of Islamic law, rather than insisting that men be respectful of women and to take responsiblity for their own behavior ... the women are ordered to cocoon themselves... I mean, my Gd!... in some communities... women and girls are routinely executed (given the misnomer 'honor-killing') for being raped!

Good People of Planet Earth... There is No God or Allah or All-Knowing/All-Powerful Creator in All That Is who would condone such cruel, vicious and abhorrent treatment of anyone, let alone innocent victims of violent crimes... But, ignorant, evil, little men who are afraid of losing their unjustified influence and control over women might tell themselves and each other that God/Allah/The Creator did.

I also agree with Einstein that no one group can seriously hold claim as 'The Chosen People'... at least not based solely upon their collective religious beliefs.
Honestly, if there are any "Chosen People", they are the people - both women and men - who consciously choose to do Good... Those who naturally and consistently do The Right Thing because it is The Right Thing To Do whenever the opportunity or need arises... and They do so with no thought about receiving any credit or reward... even if it necessitates them going a little out of their way or taking more time than they planned.

... But, I digress...

The existence of the letter was a surprise to most. It came from a private collection and is scheduled to be auctioned in London this week. Einstein had written the letter to the philosopher Eric Gutkind on January 3, 1954, after Gutkind had sent a copy of his book, Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt.


Albert Einstein, pictured in 1953. Photograph: Ruth Orkin/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Einstein is My Co-Pilot.
Peace.
L.

From: www.guardian.co.uk/.

"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.

A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.

Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions".

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, he states: "The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel's second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God's favoured people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

The letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair on Thursday and is expected to fetch up to £8,000. The handwritten piece, in German, is not listed in the source material of the most authoritative academic text on the subject, Max Jammer's book Einstein and Religion.

One of the country's leading experts on the scientist, John Brooke of Oxford University, admitted he had not heard of it.

Einstein is best known for his theories of relativity and for the famous E=mc2 equation that describes the equivalence of mass and energy, but his thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.

His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This prompted what he later called, his "religious paradise of youth", during which he observed religious rules such as not eating pork. This did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of many biblical stories.

"The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression," he later wrote.

In his later years he referred to a "cosmic religious feeling" that permeated and sustained his scientific work. In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to "experience the universe as a single cosmic whole". He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that "He [God] does not throw dice" when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.

His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy stereotyping on the subject.

"Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him," said Brooke. "It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions ... but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion."

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. "The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility."

Prescription for Addiction: Tens of $Milllions in Advertising, Test Results Approved By Spin Doctors and 2 Lobbyists Per Congressperson.

"Spare any Change?"...

Utter those three, innocuous, little words - here in San Francisco, anyway - and you risk getting written up by the local beat cops for what is called "Aggressive Panhandling".

"Buds?"...
Of course, offering to sell people street drugs might get you three hots and a cot with a view of the cell facing yours.

But, if you happen to be aggressively selling pharmaceutical drugs...

Well, then there's quite a different outcome...

If you're an American pharmaceutical company, you need never fear being sent to prison for spending millions of dollars enticing citizens of all ages - via an endless barrage of flashy tv commercials and magazine ads - to take drugs that they not only do not need... but to pay exorbitant prices for and to take drugs that may not work... or, if they do have effects... some turn out to be much worse than the initial issue that they are taking the drug for.

Did you know that it's only in America and New Zealand that drug companies are allowed to do DTC advertising ("Direct-To-Consumer").

I used to get annoyed at the endless barrage of car commercials...
But, they were for cars... and I skateboard, the S.F. Bay Area has an extensive public transit system and tooting your horn about your cars getting a whopping 30mpg is not impressive nor toot-worthy... it's tragic and disappointing.

I haven't done a scientific survey...
But, I'm pretty sure that those glossy, smiling, happy, warm-fuzzy, drug-dealing, big Pharma ads are aiming to outnumber car ads 2-to-1.

Listening to the dialogue being uttered in them, I want to scream. I find them sneaky and misleading. What is actually said in the ads and what it sounds like they are saying are very different things. It also bothers me that they give out a grocery list of symptoms, so that you are now well-informed and can go report these symptoms to your doctor and possibly get a Rx written whether or not you really have them. Then, there's the laundry list of possible side-effects, which is as long as the rest of the commercial, but is squeezed into and speed-read in less than four seconds.

There's one that is utterly mind-boggling to me and, apparently, not many others since it's still on the air. It's for a product called "Humira", I believe. Something marketed as being used to affect symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. Anyway, one of the many possible and horrible side-effects associated with this medication is lymphoma...

That's LYMPHOMA, people... Cancer of the Lymph Glands!... A "possible Side-Effect"?
I don't know about you... but I'd rather deal with sore joints and take Advil or get Acupuncture... than deal with CANCER.

I often have said... and still stand behind my statement that, "The FDA is NOT Your Friend." And, sadly, Congress is, thus far, too well-lobbied to take action to make measureable changes in how Big Pharma does its drug-testing and dealing.

Thankfully, there are Real People who are looking out for your health and mine... and they aren't dressed in white lab coats and wearing stethoscopes...
Former NY Times journalist Melody Petersen has written a thoughtful, well-researched and very timely book on the subject: Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Sarah Chrichton Books).

I recommend it. Some of what she reveals might make you angry, but, at least you'll be better informed... and that alone is empowering.

Peace.
And Here's to Your Informed, Good Health.
L.

(From: www.huffingtonpost.com/.)
Our Daily Meds: Navigating the Polypharmacy
Derek Beres
Posted April 17, 2008 | 12:21 AM (EST)



In the 1970s, Professor J. Scott Armstrong put forth a conundrum to close to 2,000 business school students and executive trainees. Intrigued by the corporatizing of the pharmaceutical industry, he created a scenario (based on an actual 1969 incident) in which a company has a new drug with a projected $20 million profit. The catch: For each million the company nets, there is one death from side effects. The first twenty million meant twenty deaths, and so on thereafter.

Students and trainees were given five options, ranging from immediately pulling the drug from shelves--regulators stated cheaper, more effective pills without such grave side effects exist--to downplaying risks and promoting the drug heavily, creating a media-driven whitewash in which consumers could not discern problems, and therefore readily open their pockets.

The results? Zero took the first option; 79% chose the latter. As former NY Times journalist Melody Petersen writes in her new book, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Sarah Chrichton Books), "For these students and trainees, who were playing the roles of the executives they would soon become, profits took precedence over patients."

As one can imagine by the book's subtitle, the above is not an isolated case study. In fact, it shows how the drive to maximize profits at any expense is built into the educational system by which students become executives. Petersen spends the majority of her book citing such examples, moving from hard facts and statistical data to personal interviews with people who have fallen victim to the marketing of pharmaceutical companies or, worse, have lost loved ones during the same process.

The varied and often disguised layers of pharmaceutical marketing and maneuvering begin at the outset, when Petersen reminds us that Americans spent $250 billion in 2005 on prescription drugs -- twice as much as we paid for higher education or new cars. This total is also greater than the population of "Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina combined." Sadly, this is due in part because our federal government is the only office in the developed world that does not control prescription drug prices. It leaves that to the companies themselves, a process that belittles the integrity of the medical profession--which is supposed to be about healing--by sticking to the idea that "the few the options, the higher the price; the greater the desperation, the greater the suffering, the higher the price."

Even more depressing are corporate payouts to doctors, the men and women who are supposed to represent the pinnacle of the healthcare profession. Petersen cites numerous examples of doctors receiving payola for prescribing certain drugs, like Dr. B.J. Wilder, who received a $401,350 check from Warner-Lambert to send himself and 125 medical residents to a luxury resort in Florida, or Dr. Ilo Leppik, who received a stipend of $303,600 to publish his book on epilepsy. Both were awarded those sums for the support they gave to Neurontin -- a drug that Pfizer (which came to own Warner-Lambert) had to pay $430 million in court fees for illegally marketing. An estimated 90% of prescriptions of the drug were for uses that the drug was not approved to treat, including attention deficit disorder and sexual dysfunction. Originally developed to combat epilepsy (and even then, not very well), it became a hit for the company for a variety of other "illnesses" which it did nothing for.

Again, this is not an isolated case by any means. Buying off doctors to promote prescriptions -- a practice which takes numerous forms, including "scientific" reports written by marketing companies and signed off by supposedly respected professionals, as well as partnering with them to help create diseases that don't necessarily exist--affects the majority of the industry. As Petersen often reminds us, paying off DJs to play music was regulated thanks to governmental intervention. When dealing with substances that can, and are, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans (the healthcare industry is the third biggest killer in the country, behind heart failure and cancer), however, the government and FDA remain mute.

I found myself getting angry at each page I turned. Yet it was an empowering rage, one based in knowledge. The book is like lifting the veil of ignorance that hangs over a country inundated with bright, colorful advertisements with perky stuffed animals and light violet skies promising us peace, equanimity and fun. The reality is anything but. In 2003, an executive from GlaxoSmithKline said that more than 90% of drugs "only work in 30 or 50 percent of the people," and their own tests found that certain drugs were only 25% effective. To maximize profits, though, they've encouraged the creation of a polypharmacy, where a person is on multiple prescriptions.

Often people are given one drug to battle one problem, and then another to counter the side effects of the first pill, and so on. This is bad enough when pushed on seniors, who rely on their doctors to help them enjoy their later years in as good of health as possible (and who, by the way, Petersen points out, are rarely if ever tested clinically when companies are trying out new drugs; these tests are almost always on young and healthy men and women). When our children became the focus of such marketing--between 2000-2004, prescriptions for sleeping pills in children age 10-19 increased 85% -- it is inexcusable.

Tragically, a drug often works no better than a sugar pill, yet the pharmaceutical industry is driving -- let's make that dominating -- our economy. Petersen projects that by 2015 one in every five dollars we earn will be feed back into healthcare. This might be justifiable if it meant that our health was getting better. To the contrary, we're actually declining in health as a nation, as our life expectancy rates have fallen far from the top of the list of "developed" worlds. How developed a nation can be when a small percentage of business executives is knowingly and purposefully promoting drugs that are killing fellow humans remains a question that Petersen does not, and cannot, answer. Thankfully, with this elucidating book, we can take that question into our own hands, and decide for ourselves how hooked on their tether we remain.

Which Came First: The Mountain Lion or the Subdivision?

Oh No... Not Again...

...In the ad nauseum replayed words (...more or less) of Reverend Wright:
"No... Not 'God Bless 'Them'... 'God Dam* Them!...'".

Well...

Chalk another violent and unnecessary death of a Priceless and Incredibly Beautiful Wild Creature of Nature to those Stupid, Self-Centered, Brutal, Egomaniacal, Clueless, Self-Destructive... (...Nix that)... Globally-Destructive HOMO-SAPIENS!

(I'm a little annoyed.)

Why?

****BREAKING NEWS****

A big local News Event around here (San Francisco Bay Area) is the appearance of a mountain lion in a Hayward, CA residential area.

It's the second appearance of one of the big cats showing up amidst houses and fenced yards in two weeks.

The first wild wonder didn't fare too well.

It found itself cornered by the local police and.... Well, what else do the police do when facing a situation that's not in their handbook... it was shot to death in a barrage of handgun bullets.

My first thought was... "Where the hell were the Fish and Game people with their tranquilizer guns?"

Sadly - I've since found out - Fish and Game wouldn't have blinked.

With this new appearance-
The announcement heard on all the local news stations goes something like this:

"Another mountain lion was spotted in a Bay Area neighborhood yesterday. Fish and Game experts have been called in to set traps for the animal and residents have been told to stay in their homes, not to approach the cat if they see it and to call 911 if they do."

I have a few issues with these statements.

First:
What they don't tell you (and what I found when I looked at the video on the screen) is this...

The aforementioned "neighborhood" isn't a well-established, concrete jungle where the only 'wildlife' people "spot" are scavenging pigeons and the occasional rodent (usually around fast-food restaurant dumpsters)... No.

This is, apparently, a sparsely-populated outcropping of urban sprawl that's only just begun creeping into the rolling, green, tree-dotted hills that have been home to mountain lions and all kinds of wildlife for Hundreds of Years.

A Thump On The Head to whomever wrote that news script being recited.

If you looked at the video that the film crew shot...
You'd see that the TRUTH of the situation is NOT that the mountain lion (a 2-3yr. old 90-lb. male youngster) has wandered into our 'civilized' society... No.

The TRUTH is that the so-called 'civilized' society has wandered into the mountain lion's territory and is now crying "Wolf!"... or "Mountain Lion!"

And... What about Fish and Game?

Don't wait for them to come to the rescue of the poor creature.

They're gunning for it, too. Two baby goats are missing/assumed killed and the mountain lion is being blamed. For that reason, Fish and Game are planning on trapping it and then "euthanizing the animal". Fish and Game have been quoted as saying that, "Trapping and releasing the animal is not feasible."

"...Not Feasible?!"...

What the hell?

It only weighs 90-lbs.... I could move it!

The humans are the ones who are tresspassing in it's territory. This means that it can't be too far from home and they wouldn't have to go too far.

Which is EXACTLY why it showed up there...
And probably why they don't consider it "feasible" to release it back into the wild. People will be continue to tresspass further into the hills and continue to be shocked to find wildlife... So, why bother relocating it... It'll just end up in trouble again.

People keep moving into and claiming what were formerly wild-only areas and then act shocked and awed when the long-time residents come by to check them out.

Not only that, if they are raising small livestock in open, unprotected areas with no herding dogs to protect them...

Well, duh!... It's a Mountain Lion! You've moved your clan into where the big cat's relatives have been living, mating and hunting small, furry animals for generations!

Now... Who's the TRESSPASSER?

These Human-Wild conflicts are the perfect preface to a Serious Global Crisis that's been irking me for a long time.

Human Beings are quick to decide when, in their eyes, a population of a particular wild species has gotten too big and needs to be reduced. They then will either kill off a certain number of those animals themselves or let hunters do it.

They've missed one. The One Super-Sized Population that Human Beings urgently need to look at is their own. They need to recognize and admit that it's teetering on ridiculous... if not self-and-globally destructive and take decisive steps to begin controlling it.

Ignoring the immediate and urgent Global Threat is begging for big trouble.

People have started and will start wars for the planet's resources - especially the finite ones.

Shortages of Food; Clean, drinkable water; Healthy soil able to grow crops; Endless demands for Energy; Air that's safe to Breathe... We're only seeing the faintest of hints at what problems might develop... and the top contributor to these problems is uncontrolled human population growth.

Case in Point:
For example: When I see those obnoxious commercials from Christian Children's Fund... you know the ones... They are filmed in a poverty-stricken slum in Brazil. The kids are skinny and barefoot and digging through landfill... The old, white man on the screen is asking for you to help support one of the countless children in the same horrible predicament... Incredibly, at one point, he starts to refer to the potential child you send financial support to as, "... your child."... I hate that. It's manipulative and a lie.

I want to see Christian Children's Fund using some of it's resources to really help poor families and provide Family-Planning Information and Birth Control options to people who need it and/or don't have access to/can't afford it.

Here's my contribution: They can call it The Christian Condom Fund!

Oh, in another related item...

If you have to tell someone that they shouldn't approach a Mountain Lion, Grizzly Bear or any other Wild and Dangerous Animal... Humanity Does Not Need Them!

I'm not kidding. Whether or not it sounds harsh, it's the TRUTH.

Mother Nature, God or Who/Whatever Created All That Is... Included in Her/His/Their Creation a little Fact of Life called: "Survival of the Fittest". This is why carnivorous predators choose to hunt the weak members of a herd... A Bonus: It makes the gene pool of the herd Healthier and Stronger. A Win-Win situation!

Well-meaning and/or lawsuit-fearing human beings have totally screwed this part of the Divine Plan up.

I feel the same about safety labeling on things...

Like plastic bags...

If someone doesn't have enough common sense/survival instinct to know that a plastic bag is not a toy... We don't need them and we don't need their common sense-lacking genetic contribution in the gene pool.

(Please note: I am talking about adults, not children.)

Thanks... I've needed to get that off my chest for a long, long time.

Peace.
L.

CERN Collider Collision May Create Black Hole That Destroys Us... Or not...

"Hola!" (...In honor of my Madre, who is learning Espanol.)

I stumbled upon the following article... The title alone is enough to make one want to... well, uh... never mind.

Let's just agree that it's excessive and, in all honesty, belongs on the cover of one of those grocery checkout rags with their stories of hybrid dog-boys and perpetual celebrity deathbeds... not The Boston Globe.

I believe that the author of the article chose to use that title because it lays out in the open a very real fear that a fair number of people have regarding an upcoming scientific experiment that involves smashing two protons together at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, near Geneva, Switzerland.

Those people who are feeling various degrees of fear and dread about the event are concerned because - in smashing the protons and releasing their bits and pieces - due to Einstein's E=mc{+2} - one could theorize that a large amount of mass in a little space could result a black hole.

That would be bad... and not just for Switzerland and France.

The author offers several logical-sounding reasons in an effort to debunk the belief that the experiment might result in the creation of black holes, saying such thoughts are completely 'irrational'.

... These rebuttals include the 'argument' that... well, basically that there's no reason to fear the creation of black holes because... (drum roll, please) Black Holes still only exist in theory... They aren't REAL.

... Whoa, wait a minute... he's right! No one has ever brought one into the classroom in a brown paper bag for 'Show-and-Tell'...

You've got be kidding me!

If Black Holes don't exist (and I'm not insisting that they do)... well, then, NASA and numerous other people with access to the most powerful telescopes known to humankind have been wasting a lot of time mapping them and announcing each new one discovered.

The author's first couple of arguments might have been somewhat re-assuring to a few people... even to me.

But, when he offered up the 'Silly people...Black Holes are only theoretical' argument as a reason that we should not worry that some whack-a-doo scientists - who obviously have yet to learn that: "Just because you can do something... doesn't mean that you should!" (Like the transgenic-obsessed idiots who make small furry animals that glow in the dark.) - ... that was when I started to both laugh and really worry.

May those CERN (Mad) Scientists decide not to tempt The Fates in such a foolish endeavor... (Hey, if "it happens everyday, all around us..." as the author claims... Why re-create it in a large collider?)
... Or, may they fail fabulously... for all of our sakes.

* If those of us who are concerned about things like this are labeled 'irrational'... so be it...
I'd rather be called irrational, err on the side of caution and Live... than be conceited, 'rational' and possibly cause the obliteration of everything.

Peace.
L.

P.S.- Then again, I might just be tired... Buenos Noches!


From: The Boston Globe

Ask Dr. Knowledge

Will New Collider Create Black Holes That Destroy Us All?
(insert heavy sarcasm)

April 21, 2008


The Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator collider being built at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, or CERN, straddling the French-Swiss border near Geneva. It should be completed and ready to start producing data sometime this summer. In it, scientists will be able to smash protons travelling at more than 99.99 percent of the speed of light with protons traveling in the opposite direction at the same speed.

Protons are actually pretty complicated objects, made of little bits and pieces, and in a collision of two protons it can happen that two of the little pieces find themselves very close together. Those pieces carry a lot of energy, and due to Einstein's E=mc{+2} one might imagine that a lot of mass in a little space could lead to a black hole.

The odds of this actually happening are pretty much zero for several reasons. First of all, the theorists who worry about such things happening make assumptions that the energy needed to make a black hole is vastly less than what we would expect in the real world as we know it. This possibility only arises in theories with what are called "large extra dimensions," and there is no evidence at all that these describe reality.

A second reason: Black holes, strictly speaking, are theoretical constructs. Nobody has ever seen a black hole. Things that are black hole candidates are objects which are known to be small and to have very high masses, but if one is very honest, there are a lot of problems with the black hole concept, and we don't yet know for sure that they really exist. One particularly vexing problem is that time is predicted to slow down as one approaches a heavy object, so that bits of matter falling into a heavy collapsing object actually take an infinite amount of time to fall in from the point of view of an observer outside.

A third reason is that while we physicists are all excited about the collisions to take place at CERN soon, such collisions take place all the time on Earth, the moon, and everywhere else due to ultrahigh energy cosmic rays. In other words, the experiments people worry about at CERN have been going on now and then at random all over the place for billions of years, and things seem to be fine!

Dr. Knowledge is written by physicists Stephen Reucroft and John Swain, both of Northeastern University. E-mail questions to drknowledge@globe.com or write Dr. Knowledge, c/o The Boston Globe, PO Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819.

This Might Hurt A Little: Supreme Court OK's Lethal Injection In KY Case

(From: www.nytimes.com)
Supreme Court Allows Lethal Injection for Execution

By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: April 17, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Kentucky's method of execution by lethal injection, rejecting the claim that officials there administered a common sequence of three drugs in a manner that posed an unconstitutional risk that a condemned inmate would suffer acute yet undetectable pain.

*****
Today's news that the Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's method of executing those on death row is big news here in California. There has been an unofficial hold on state executions for about a year now, as states waited for the High Court's decision on the practice of execution by lethal injection. (The method used by 35 of the 36 states that allow for the death penalty.)
The challenge wasn't so much to the consititutionality of lethal injection as it was to the details of the injection's administration. The appeal was brought on by two men on Kentucky's death row, each of whom were convicted of double murders.

My feelings about capital punishment have changed over the years. In my first year of college, in a Reasoning and Critical Thinking class, I chose to write a paper in support of capital punishment. But, I didn't know then what I know now. Since writing that paper, I've researched and studied the arguments for and against it at length. I understand - as best I can - wanting blood to be spilled for blood that was spilled. We all have heard the horrific and gruesome details of countless violent crimes committed against innocent men, women and children. Believe me, when I hear about a woman or child being raped and murdered and dismembered, I fantasize about how I would like the guilty piece of shite to be dispatched. It's easy to understand the feelings of the victim's loved ones to feel that the only justice would come from the death of the guilty... and that seeing them executed is still letting them off easy.

But, I also now know that the penalty of death is the sentence handed down more often to people of color than to white defendants, for similar crimes.

And, with the development of DNA evidence being able to be examined and compared, there have been a great number of cases where someone on death row has been found to have been wrongly convicted, and the actual perpetrator identified.

So, my present feeling is that, unless we truly know, without a shadow of doubt, that the person facing execution is undeniably the person who committed the crime(s), then I believe we should refrain from executing them.

Then, there's the common sense statement that - if you keep your emotions in check - makes complete sense: "You cannot teach people that killing is wrong by killing them."

That said...
I can't help but be somewhat annoyed and incredulous at the gall of convicted murderers (with DNA evidence) who, like a recent death row inmate at San Quentin, complained (through their ambulance-chasing mouthpiece lawyer) that just because they might experience some degree of pain during their execution... that we should not execute them (the "cruel and inhuman punishment" cry).

My response is simple:
There are numerous occasions when you or I or anyone has been at the dentist or being seen by a doctor...
and have been informed by the dentist, doctor or nurse that, simply put: "This might hurt a little."
And, it did hurt... sometimes a little and sometimes a lot... but, hey, we get over it and go on with our lives.
In the case of death row inmates, in the 'death chamber', about to be executed...
What the Hell? Those carrying out the death sentence should just inform the convicted that "This might hurt a little."... and get on with it. The person is being executed... for heinous crimes. Execution isn't a medical procedure that they are going to wake up from in a few minutes and then yell, "Damn! That hurt a lot!". They will be gone.
And it will have been a lot less painful than some of the methods of execution that I've imagined for them.

Peace.
L.

(From: www.mercurynews.com)

Executions in California Could Resume With Supreme Court Ruling

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO—Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday's U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow lethal injections for death row inmates affirms California's capital punishment procedure and would allow executions to resume.

They have been on hold for two years because of legal challenges in federal and state court.

"I will continue to defend the death penalty and the will of the people, and I am confident that California's lethal injection protocol will be upheld," the governor said in a statement.

The Supreme Court voted 7-2 Wednesday to reject a challenge to the execution procedure in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates.

California is among the roughly three dozen states that uses a similar procedure. Executions have been delayed in California because of similar arguments claiming the drugs might not always work as intended, leaving inmates to die a painful death.

California has the nation's largest death row, with 669 convicts awaiting execution, including 15 women and 654 men.

In February 2006, California corrections officials halted the execution of convicted rapist and murderer Michael Morales hours before he was to be put to death.

Attorneys for Morales had challenged the three-drug sequence California used for its lethal-injection procedure one month before his scheduled execution.

They wrote that if the drugs were not administered properly it could leave Morales "paralyzed but
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conscious and suffering death from ... burning veins and heart failure."

In response, U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel recommended that the state monitor the execution with two anesthesiologists. One would be in the execution chamber and another nearby to make sure Morales was unconscious before the two remaining drugs were injected.

Morales' execution was delayed for a day and ultimately canceled after the anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns.

"There has been a de facto moratorium," said Seth Unger, a spokesman with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling opens the door for us to proceed with the Morales case in California."

The next step is a hearing in Fogel's courtroom in San Jose, scheduled for June 12. At that time, the judge could set a schedule for reviewing the state's proposed execution procedure.

In December 2006, he ruled that California's procedure was so badly designed and carried out that it was likely to cause pain and suffering.

Since then, the state has taken a number of steps to address the concerns, including building a better-lighted death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.

Corrections official submitted a new execution plan, but it was invalidated last fall by a Marin County Superior Court judge.

Attorney Brad Phillips sued the state in Marin County, home to San Quentin, on behalf of two condemned inmates. Judge Lynn O'Malley Taylor agreed with Phillips that state prison officials had failed to gather public comment and take other required steps in forming their new execution plan.

The state is appealing the Marin County ruling. In the meantime, Unger expects the lethal-injection case before the federal court in San Jose to proceed.

David Senior, one of Morales' attorneys, said he expects the federal judge to delay a decision until California state courts resolve the pending administrative challenge.

"California may ultimately choose a procedure which is completely different from the state of Kentucky's," he said.

No judge in California has scheduled an execution since the one was halted for Morales, who was sentenced in 1983 for the rape and murder two years before of 17-year-old Terri Winchell in a Lodi vineyard.

"There are four people who have basically exhausted all their appeals ... and for whom we could set dates once the Morales litigation is resolved," said Gareth Lacy, spokesman for the state Attorney General's Office.

State attorneys reviewing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Kentucky case preliminarily believe it also will end challenges to California's procedure, Lacy said.

The Moon as Moron's Mausoleum... An Obscenely Bad Idea.

This is Our Moon.


This is A Mausoleum.

Any Questions?

This item is from both the "Someone Should Make A Law" File and the "Epitome of Idiocy" File...

I recently learned that there are a growing number of companies (for profit ones, of course) who will be offering customers/schmucks who cough up $10,000 the "Offer of a Lifetime"...

Well... the "Offer of Your Deadtime" might be more accurate.

For that chunk of (chump) change - any/everyone who would sign up for this is a 'chump', in my humble opinion - companies with names that sound like pharmaceutical sleeping pills, like "Celestis", will (or so they claim) send a gram of your beloved/hated one's cremated remains - inside a metallic tube - to be blasted into space on a rocket and then crashed/landed on the surface of our Moon.

Let me repeat this, in case you missed it...

These crap-for-brains companies want to launch unknown numbers of rockets into space... wasting a helluva lot of (toxic) rocket fuel and adding to the already disgusting amount of man-made space junk that is currently orbiting and - sometimes - falling back down to Earth... just so they can make money off of morons/marks who are blessed with way too much green stuff and lacking in functional
gray matter.

Before they do this... I have a few questions:

1) How many rockets/landers will they be launching/crashing?
10...100... 1000... or as many as the surface of the Moon can be covered with?

2) Will there be a discount for senior citizens?... For student's?
What about for working-class people without money to burn?

3) In lieu of a mish-mash of the deceased's dust... Do I have the option of blasting a particular body part of the deceased to the moon?

4) Is anyone over-seeing these programs?
How about regulation? How do they plan to assure the safety of those of us 'left behind'?

And, lastly...

5) Who the F*@% Gave Any Person or Company Permission To Use The Moon as a MAUSOLEUM?

Jeez, people!

This is The Moon! Our One and Only Satellite! It has no twin. And there are no other celestial bodies even remotely close enough to us that we can actually reach and stand upon... not that we should do that too often, either.

Are we going to let some greedy, Moon-Mauling SOB's trash our beloved La Luna and plaster the lovely lady's surface with what is - in all honesty - LUNAR LANDFILL?

OMFG!... I Hope Not...

If they do this... I may just decide to go vigilante after all.

Peace.
L.

(From: www.abcnews.go.com/.)

Company Offers Moon as Final Resting Place

Mar 27, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Reuters)

The moon could become a final resting place for some of mankind thanks to a commercial service that hopes to send human ashes to the lunar surface on robotic landers, the company said on Thursday.

A California company can turn the final frontier into your final resting place.

Celestis, Inc., a company that pioneered the sending of cremated remains into suborbital space on rockets, said it would start a service to the surface of the moon that could begin as early as next year.

(Actually, their alleged plan is to blast only one gram of the person's cremated remains to our once pristine and sole satellite... One gram of cremated remains is less than 1% of the average person's remains, which usually weigh 3 to 5 lbs.)

The cost starts at $10,000 for a small quantity of ashes from one person.

Celestis president Charles Chafer said his company reached an agreement with Odyssey Moon Ltd. and Astrobotic Technology Inc., to attach capsules containing cremated remains onto robotic lunar landers.

Odyssey Moon and Astrobotic are among private enterprises seeking to land a robotic craft on the moon and conduct scientific experiments. The cremation capsules would remain on the moon with the lunar landers when the missions were complete.

Chafer said he expected about 1,000 capsules containing ashes to be launched on the first lunar mission, expected in late 2009 or early 2010, and about 5,000 on future flights.

"The moon is a special place," Chafer said, adding a half dozen people had already signed up for the service.

"For many people, it would be a romantic notion to look up into the sky and see the moon and know that your mom or dad or loved one is up there memorialized."

In the past 11 years, Celestis Inc., a unit of Houston-based Space Services Incorporated, has sent the ashes of hundreds of people from 14 nations into space, including U.S. astronaut Gordon Cooper and "Star Trek" actor James Doohan, who played chief engineer Scotty in the popular TV series.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Editing by Frances Kerry)

Help Save The Haight Ashbury Food Program!

I live in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury District.

I LOVE my neighborhood.

It has a long and colorful history... Some might say "Psychedelic".

One of the things I've cherished about its history is the solid record of the immense compassion and social activism of the Haight-Asbury's residents.

From Dr. Smith, who founded the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic in the 1960's; to the Haight Ashbury Food Program, founded in the 1980's; to the Haight Ashbury Youth Outreach Team... my little microcosm could teach the rest of the world a great deal about Tolerance, Compassion and Integrity...

Well, it could do that up until rather recently.

A few years ago... Stupid and unjust internal politics and a $ Million Dollar embezzlement by the CFO at the Free Clinic's home office have led to many long-term health providers leaving (They are Truly Incredible People... I know this because I worked with them for a year) and to the organization having to sell off some of its properties... at a loss.
Not only that... Thanks to their shenanigans... The "Free Clinic" has been put into the position of having to ask clients - who are there because they have no health insurance and no money - to help offset the cost of their visit.
They've also had to shut down some of the desperately needed services they provided to San Franciscans in need.
The Free Clinic itself has been such a Godsend to so many people for decades...
It's really very sad to see how so few out of touch people in upper management have done such a f'd up job of things as to put the Clinic in the hard spot it's in.

Mind you, Dr. Smith had nothing to do with these problems.
I feel very bad for him. He's had to watch his selfless gift to San Francisco get beaten up and driven into the ground.

NOW...
There's the Haight Ashbury Food Program.
It was founded in the early 1980's.
They've not only provided homeless and housed people who couldn't afford good food with hot meals that tasted great, along with salads and... even dog food for their dogs (These were Incredible People, too!)...
They had a program where they would teach people how to cook and to run a kitchen, thereby providing them with the skills to possibly find work and no longer be homeless!
They had a varied menu and they served the meals every weekday from 11am to 1pm from inside a church on Waller Street.
There's this Great Lady named Judy who's worked there for many years.
She is a woman of endless kindness, compassion and motivation to help those in need.
She's still there... But the Program is in Dire Straits... and I do mean Dire.

Ahh, the Good Ol' Days!
(Sniff...sniff...)

Suddenly and without any warning, I heard this week that the Program is in Trouble with a Capital "T".
They are no longer serving sit down meals to the many homeless and hungry people who've come to depend upon this resource for a genuinely healthy meal and some friendly faces.
A reliable source - who knows the disheartening details - tells me that they have been handing out bag lunches instead... and doing so only three days out of the week, instead of five.

That's not all, folks!

I was shocked to also learn that HAFP had shut down the Chef's Training Program weeks ago... although the HAFP website - as of 04/09/08 - doesn't acknowledge this glaring omission.

My source informs me that these destructive and despicable changes have occured only after some NIMBY Infiltrator named Michael got himself elected as Executive Director of the twenty-five year old Program (just over one year ago.).

My source tells me that Michael has been flying around the country, going to meetings and lectures... portraying himself as Super-Duper Non-Profit Executive Guy... whilst the Haight-Ashbury Food Program he's Corrupt Captain of has been cruelly (and criminally?) neglected and secretly Strangled To Death.

Our mensch Michael gets paid $60-something,000 dollars a year for his 'service' to the community.
(What %@*&-ing service?!... Destroying the Food Program?! You gotta be Kidding!)

I also hear from my source that Michael says the Program is out of money... But, when compassionate community members/residents and community-minded local businesses stepped up and offered to finance the Program (More Incredible People who've likely been members of our Community longer than Michael)... He Turned Them Down!!

Apparently, Michael wants to shut down the Program this Friday (04/11/08)... he apparently has claimed that he intends to move it to another (unknown) location and to re-open it at another time...
(Like WHERE, Michael? Seriously. If he's allowed to close it down... re-opening is Not Likely to Happen.)

There have also been claims made that the Wonderful Hamilton Church that has been home to the Program for years and years wants the Program out and off of it's property...
When inquiries were made as to the veracity of these claims...They are refuted by the Church.
(Basically... It was a LIE.)

Then, there's Dear Saint Judy...
My source says Judy was told that, if she played nice and kept quiet until Friday...
She'd recieve a month's severance pay...
(Grrrr!)
I think Judy's been with the Program for a decade or two...

Regardless...
Judy deserves much better... The Enlightened Souls who founded the Program deserve much better... My Neighborhood deserves much better... and the many men, women and children (... and dogs) who have and do rely on 'the soup kitchen' for sustenance in a very harsh world Really Deserve Much Better!

How Dare some damn gentrifying Yuppies or Intolerant Boobs move into OUR NEIGHBORHOOD -
A Neighborhood that has long sought to help ease the suffering of those less fortunate, instead of treating them like shit on their shoes -
and then decide they can't stand the sight of homeless people (and don't you dare complain that they 'smell'... since it was some long-time homeless hater's facist widow that got the only shower service available to them in our neighborhood shut down.)...
And they've realized that complaining to the police doesn't seem to work 'cause wasting officers' time making homeless people keep moving doesn't get rid of them...
So, they decided, "Eureka! I'll just join the Boards of various neighborhood service organizations and drive them into the ground from the inside!"

Talk about "Evil-Doers" and "Enemy Combatants"!

I Hate those people.

If you don't like Our Colorful Neighborhood with it's housed and un-housed residents...
DON'T MOVE HERE!

Peace.
L.

P.S.:
PLEASE HELP Stop The (Permanent) DEMOLITION Of THE HAIGHT ASHBURY FOOD PROGRAM By Some Utterly-Heartless and Morally-Bankrupt, NIMBY NINCOMPOOPS!

Please Call/Write/Cajole//Twist the Arms of/Apply Pressure To:

Mayor Gavin Newsom:

City Hall, Room 200
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA 94102

Telephone: (415) 554-6141
Fax: (415) 554-6160
Email: gavin.newsom@sfgov.org

Michael Scribner (the "Michael")
Executive Director
michael@thefoodprogram.org

The President of HAFP: Jennifer Sramek:
jenn@ideaseed.com
or (415)370-3292

Also...
Take A Stand Against Intolerance and NIMBYism and Grab As Many People As You Can And Come to the Hamilton Church (In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. At Waller Street and Belvedere.) on FRIDAY (Tomorrow!) at 11 am to PROTEST This Despicable Attempt to Destroy Forever Another Life-Saving Community Resource that Feeds Hundreds of People in Need!

Thank YOU So Much!
Peace.
L.<

This Just In: Free Tibet Climbers on Golden Gate Bridge

11 am Monday, April 7, 2008.

This Just In...

Coming to You Live from San Francisco...



In an utterly AWESOME act of Civil Disobediance...

Three members of Students For A Free Tibet have scaled some suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled two banners.

This act follows several others in and around the Olympic Torch Relay as it approaches its only stop in the US - here in San Francisco - protesting and bringing attention to China's decades-long Occupation of Tibet (which includes a particularly slow method of genocide via saturation: By relocating large numbers of Chinese citizens into Tibet.).

Many others are also working to bring to the world's attention China's refusal to use its considerable influence to stop the slaughter in the Darfur region and its long record of Human Rights abuses

The Banners read:

"ONE WORLD ONE DREAM FREE TIBET" - In Giant White Letters

and

"FREE TIBET 08" - In Giant Black Letters.

They also have the colorful and beautiful Tibetan Flag.

Hannah, Laurel and Dwayne are currently still tethered to the vertical suspension cables about 500 ft. above the road, which is about 500 ft. above the SF Bay.

This should make the international news!

Goddess Bless Them!

And our Blessed Right of Free Speech and Expression.

Gd knows... if they did this in China... they’d probably have been shot down and all film footage of the event destroyed.

A spokesperson for Students for A Free Tibet has said that the activists on the bridge are experienced climbers.

Northbound Bridge traffic was halted in the far right lane, just beneath the climbers.

At one point, some Bridge workers in a bucket of some sort were raised on some cables to the first banner. They continued to slowly approach one of the climbers who then quickly climbed even higher.

Dear Golden Gate Bridge Authority:
When you have a situation like this... with experienced climbers tethered to the Bridge cables... Please Do Not endanger them, yourselves or those below by trying to yank them off... Just wait for them to come down... they will eventually... It’s not like their going to take flight and escape being taken into custody...
Although... It would be Cool if they did!

This must be quite an embarrassment to the California Highway Patrol and the Golden Gate Bridge Authority... As it was pointed out by a local newswoman, "How did they manage to get this far in this post-9/11 environment of supposedly increased security?"

The local authorities don’t really have a good answer... at the moment.

According to a CHP spokeswoman, the CHP apparently only realized what was going on when they responded to reports of local news helicopters buzzing the bridge.

Dear CHP and GGBridge Authorities:
I understand this sensational public protest must be highly embarrassing to you... Please do not beat the protesters/climbers up once they climb down.
Thank You.

The spokeswoman said that the CHP patrols the bridge and will probably increase their patrols...

I’d suggest that they look up once in a while... something I’ve noticed that not many people ever do.

Peace.
L.

Destroyer of Sodom, Gomorrah ID'd. Hint, Hint: It Wasn't God.

... So much for the "...Angry God of Abraham raining Fire and Brimstone down on the citizens (not "sinners") of Sodom and Gomorrah..." story.

Those poor people were as evil and sinful as those innocents incinerated by the pyroclastic flow from Mount Vesuvius that leveled Herculaneum and nuked Pompeii.

Yeah!... Another Biblical Story Bites The Dust... (No pun intended.)

Peace.
L.

(From: timesonline.co.uk)
March 31, 2008



Clay Tablet Identifies Asteroid That Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah

Lewis Smith, Science Reporter

A clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years has been identified as a witness’s account of the asteroid suspected of being behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Researchers who cracked the cuneiform symbols on the Planisphere tablet believe that it recorded an asteroid thought to have been more than half a mile across.

The tablet, found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library in the royal place at Nineveh in the mid-19th century, is thought to be a 700BC copy of notes made by a Sumerian astronomer watching the night sky.

He referred to the asteroid as "white stone bowl approaching" and recorded it as it "vigorously swept along".

Using computers to recreate the night sky thousands of years ago, scientists have pinpointed his sighting to shortly before dawn on June 29 in the year 3123BC.

About half the symbols on the tablet have survived and half of those refer to the asteroid. The other symbols record the positions of clouds and constellations. In the past 150 years scientists have made five unsuccessful attempts to translate the tablet.

Mark Hempsell, one of the researchers from Bristol University who cracked the tablet’s code, said: "It’s a wonderful piece of observation, an absolutely perfect piece of science."

He said the size and route of the asteroid meant that it was likely to have crashed into the Austrian Alps at Köfels. As it travelled close to the ground it would have left a trail of destruction from supersonic shock waves and then slammed into the Earth with a cataclysmic impact.

Debris consisting of up to two thirds of the asteroid would have been hurled back along its route and a flash reaching temperatures of 400C (752F) would have been created, killing anyone in its path. About one million sq km (386,000 sq miles) would have been devastated and the impact would have been equivalent to more than 1,000 tonnes of TNT exploding.

Dr Hempsall said that at least 20 ancient myths record devastation of the type and on the scale of the asteroid’s impact, including the Old Testament tale of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Ancient Greek myth of how Phaeton, son of Helios, fell into the River Eridanus after losing control of his father’s sun chariot.

The findings of Dr Hempsall and Alan Bond, of Reaction Engines Ltd, are published in a book, A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels’ Impact Event.

The researchers say that the asteroid’s impact would explain why at Köfels there is evidence of an ancient landslide 5km wide and 500m thick.

US War Dead Due to Bush/Cheney/et al: 4000 and Counting...

If there was any shred of unreasonable doubt left in the back of your mind that Vice President Dick (and I do mean "Dick") Cheney is a vile, repugnant and unrepentant Troll...

Here’s a recent interview with him:

(From: abcnews.go.com)


VP Dick "Terrible Troll" Cheney.

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney was asked what effect the grim milestone of at least 4,000 U.S. deaths in the five-year Iraq war might have on the nation.

Noting the burden placed on military families, the vice president said the biggest burden is carried by President George W. Bush, who made the decision to commit US troops to war, and reminded the public that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty.

(Watch Martha Raddatz’s interview with Vice President Dick Cheney tonight on ABC’s World News at 6:30pmET)

"I want to start with the milestone today of 4,000 dead in Iraq. Americans. And just what effect do you think it has on the country?" asked ABC News’ White House correspondent, Martha Raddatz, who traveled with the vice president on a nine-day overseas trip to Iraq and other countries in the Middle East.

"It obviously brings home I think for a lot of people the cost that’s involved in the global war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan," Cheney said in the interview, conducted in Turkey. "It places a special burden obviously on the families, and we recognize, I think — it’s a reminder of the extent to which we are blessed with families who’ve sacrificed as they have."

Cheney: ’The All-Volunteer Force’

"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He’s the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm’s way for the rest of us."

Raddatz noted that some soldiers, Air Force members, and Marines have been on multiple deployments and have been sent back to Iraq because of the stop-loss policy — an involuntary extension of a service member’s enlistment contract. The Army alone says 58,000 US soldiers have been redeployed to war because of the stop-loss policy.

"When you talk about an all-volunteer force, some of these soldiers, airmen, Marines have been on two, three, four, some of them more than that, deployments," Raddatz said. "Do you think when they volunteered they had any idea that there would be so many deployments or stop-loss? Some of those who want to get out can’t because of stop-loss?"

"A lot of men and women sign up because sometimes they will see developments," Cheney said. "For example, 9/11 stimulated a lot of folks to volunteer for the military because they wanted to be involved in defending the country."

Referring to his talks with US service members in Iraq, the vice president said the men and women he speaks to are committed to the war.

"The thing that comes through loud and clear is how much they are committed to the cause, to doing what needs to be done to defend the nation," Cheney said.

When asked about the toll multiple deployments have taken on U.S. military members, Cheney fired back with a question.

"Of course it is, Martha," Cheney said. "So what would be the solution to that? I mean how would you deal with that?"

Possible Troop Drawdown

Today the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, recommended to Bush a "pause" in the drawdown of U.S. forces after the last surge combat brigade leaves in July. The pause is expected to be four to eight weeks, after which another decision will made on resuming the drawdown.

There are currently more U.S. military members in Iraq than when the United States led the invasion of the country in March 2003.

Petraeus has spoken on the record about his desire for a pause, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has publicly endorsed the idea. If the security situation is stable, Petraeus will likely signal that the drawdown can continue in the fall.

When asked about the possibility of resuming a U.S. military drawdown from Iraq in the fall, Cheney said what’s important is that the U.S. succeeds in Iraq.

"That isn’t the way I think about it," Cheney said, referring to the possibility of a drawdown. "It’s important to achieve victory in Iraq. It’s important to win, to succeed in the objective that we’ve established."

"It may be that we can make judgements about reductions down the road and the President will make those when the time arrives, but I don’t think he’s likely to try and say now what the force ought to be at the end of the year," Cheney said. "Conditions on the ground will determine that."

Cheney Slams Democratic Candidates

Cheney dismissed the suggestion that a drawdown would be an important message to the Iraqi government that the United States wasn’t staying indefinitely in the country.

"The idea that we can walk away from Iraq is, I think, terribly damaging on its face, and to say that, ’well that’s the only way we can get the Iraqis to take on responsibility,’ I don’t believe that’s the case," he said.

Without addressing the Democratic candidates specifically, the vice president said those who want to pull out of Iraq are "seriously misguided." He said the presidential candidates would be risking an attack on the homeland if US forces withdrew, arguing that terrorists would find safe havens in other countries.

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both have said they’d withdraw US forces from Iraq if elected president. Sen. John McCain has advocated a continued U.S. presence in Iraq until security and political situations improve.

When asked if he was talking about any candidate in particular, Cheney said, "I am talking about any candidate for high office who believes the solution for our problem in that part of the world is to walk away from the commitments that we’ve made in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere."

Tens of thousands of our brave men and women have also suffered serious wounds, both visible and invisible to their bodies their minds and their hearts," Clinton said Monday in Philadelphia. "As president, I intend to honor their extraordinary service and the sacrifice of them and their families by ending this war and bringing them home as quickly and responsibly as possible."

In a released statement, Obama said: "It is past time to end this war that should never have been waged by bringing our troops home, and finally pushing Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future."

The 4,000 U.S. killed in Iraq figure includes seven civilians who worked for the military services while serving in Iraq.

Last week Cheney made headlines when asked about recent polls that show about two-thirds of Americans say the fight in Iraq is not worth it.

"So?" Cheney replied during that interview. "You don’t care what the American people think?" Raddatz asked the vice president at the time.

"You can’t be blown off course by polls," Cheney said during that interview.

Today, Cheney defended that answer.

"Look, there are alot of people out there, Martha, that don’t agree with me about a lot of things, but if I wanted to be loved, I’d ought to be a TV correspondent, not a politician," he said.

... Ahem....
Dick... is it?
No, you’re job isn’t to be loved... Besides, that’s never going to happen...

Your job... and GWB’s job is to do what the majority of the people YOU SERVE want you to do... And to be HONEST with them so that they are correctly informed and thereby equipped to make INFORMED DECISIONS... You Dumb, Smug Asshole!
L.

TSA Electric Shock Bracelets... Fly the FRIENDLY Skies?

You gotta hear this...

It’s a recent proposal made to the TSA (Transportation Safety Agency) regarding a new air safety measure:
It involves "...situating a remotely activatable electric shock device on each of the passengers..."

That’s right, My Fellow Americans...

I don’t know if the cost is included in the price of your ticket...

I guess, when they ask you what kind of meal you want... they’ll also ask you what size ECT Bracelet you wear.

If you don’t know... I’m sure that they’ll have measuring tapes at hand at the Check-In...

All kidding aside...
Well, at least some of it...
It goes without saying that this isn’t just a Bad Idea... It’s a STUPID Idea...

"... Don’t Taze Me, Man!"

If anyone has been paying attention... In spite of the fact that the company that manufactures Tazer Guns heavily promoted their purchase and use to Police Departments and declared them a safe alternative to guns and "Non-Lethal" weapons...
I believe at least a few hundred people have suddenly died shortly after being "tazered" by the Police.

They must not be considering the fact that many people have diagnosed heart conditions and and many others likely have undiagnosed heart conditions... Among countless other potential health-related contraindications...

Then... there’s the hacker target potential
... and the fact that other devices... like a garage door opener might set one of these bracelets off... Or any number of things...

Luckily, for myself and those (if any) like me... I drain batteries... quickly.

But, for anyone else... Unless you’re into this sort of thing...

Like I said... It’s a STUPID Idea.

"Fly the FRIENDLY Skies"?... Yeah, Right.

(From: boingboing.net)

Air Safety Proposal: Electric Shock Bracelets - Controlled By Flight Attendants


Perhaps Cartier could come up with a First Class Model?

Posted by Cory Doctorow, March 20, 2008 5:14 PM | permalink
Lamperd, a "firearm training system" company, has patented a bracelet that delivers debilitating shocks when remotely triggered.
Their killer app for this is aviation safety: They’re proposing that the TSA could force everyone who flies to wear one of these and then flight-attendants could zap us into a stupor if we turn out to be Al Quaeda.

"A method of providing air travel security for passengers traveling via an aircraft comprises situating a remotely activatable electric shock device on each of the passengers in position to deliver a disabling electrical shock when activated; and arming the electric shock devices for subsequent selective activation by a selectively operable remote control disposed within the aircraft. The remotely activatable electric shock devices each have activation circuitry responsive to the activating signal transmitted from the selectively operable remote control means. The activated electric shock device is operable to deliver the disabling electrical shock to that passenger."

Best part? They’re Canadian! Oh, my countrymen, you have a wicked sense of humo(u)r.

Passport Breaches: Condi Does The "I Didn't Know" Dance... Again

So...

It’s only now being disclosed that on (at least) three different occasions... (that’s what they’re owning up to... right now.)

Some Bush Administration dingleberries at the State Department - illegitimately and illegally - stuck their proboscis into Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s Passport history file.

... And Condi Rice claims that she was only recently told about it?

Not a big surprise there...

The Bush Administration has not only used the "I did not know that/I was unaware of/I do not recall"... more than Ronald Reagan or any other previous Administration... they’ve raised it to new heights (... or is it, "... taken it to unexplored depths?") of rampant and repetitive ridiculousness.

Also, Hillary Clinton is saying that good ol’ Secretary of State Condi told her that Senator Clinton’s passport history had also been pulled up without permission... in 2007.

Question is: When did Condi tell Hillary this?

Was it only after the news of the unofficial breach of Obama’s file began breaking all over the news shows?

Hmmm...

Not only that...

Now... the putzes that be are also claiming that Senator John McCain’s passport file had been perused...

Yeah, Right! Like I believe that!

John McCain’s passport history?... Who Cares?!

Not the Clinton nor the Obama Campaigns!

But, I’m sure that the McCain Campaign and the Repug Party would LOVE to look for dirt or anything that could be twisted to resemble dirt on whomever becomes the Democratic Candidate for President.

It’s totally up their alley and probably in their ("How To Play Dirty") Playbook.

Suddenly - after the Obama story broke and people were hollering for an federal investigation - It is suggested that it wasn’t a Bush Admin., Ass*ole-approved act.

Gee...

How nice and fair and balanced of the State Department and it’s uninformed/unaware Secretary of State to try to come up with a way to make the breach of Obama’s personal and private passport history - on at least three separate occasions - a little less of a politically-motivated CRIME by the Bush AdmiNi(t-Wit)stration.

These disclosures - of unofficial passport inquiries - hearkens back to 1992, when (whod’ve guessed?) a Republican appointee at State lost rank due to digging up Bill Clinton’s passport history. Why?... Ol’ Bill was running against Daddy Bush at the time.

Apparently... a genetic disposition towards inappropriate and unwarranted Spying has developed in the Bush family...

It probably germinated when G.H.W. Bush was at the helm of the CIA.

Peace.
L.

(From:www.ajc.com.)

Rice Apologizes To Obama For Passport Breach

By DESMOND BUTLER
Associated Press
Published on: 03/21/08

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday apologized to Sen. Barack Obama for a security breach in which three State Department contractors inappropriately reviewed the Democratic presidential candidate’s passport file.

The episode raised questions as to whether the actions of the three contractors, two of whom have been fired, were politically motivated.

"I told him that I was sorry, and I told him that I myself would be very disturbed," Rice told reporters.

"None of us wants to have a circumstance where any American’s passport files are looked at in an unauthorized way," she said.

Rice, who spoke with Obama by phone, said she was particularly disappointed that senior officials at the State Department were not immediately notified.

"It was not to my knowledge, and we also want to take every step to make sure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again," she said.

The State Department’s inspector general is investigating the passport breach, which occurred on three separate occasions — Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and as recently as last week, on March 14. On Friday, the department announced that the Justice Department would be monitoring the probe in case it needs to get involved.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday that the State Department would make results of the investigation available to congressional oversight committees and to Obama’s office.

Bill Burton, a spokesman for Obama’s presidential campaign, has called the incident "an outrageous breach of security and privacy."

Two of the employees were fired for the security breach and the third was disciplined but is still working, the department said Thursday. It would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined or the names of the two companies for which they worked.

It is not clear whether the employees saw anything other than the basic personal data such as name, citizenship, age, Social Security number and place of birth, which is required when a person fills out a passport application.

Aside from the file, the information could allow Obama’s critics to dig deeper into his private life. While the file includes his date and place of birth, address at time of application and the countries he’s traveled to, the most important detail would be his Social Security number, which can be used to pull credit reports and other personal information.

"This is a serious matter that merits a complete investigation, and we demand to know who looked at Senator Obama’s passport file, for what purpose and why it took so long for them to reveal this security breach," Burton said on Thursday.

McCormack said the breaches occurred were detected by internal State Department computer checks. The department’s top management officer, Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy, said certain records, including those of high-profile people, are "flagged" with a computer tag that tips off supervisors when someone tries to view the records without a proper reason.

The firings and unspecified discipline of the third employee already had occurred when senior State Department officials learned of the breaches. Kennedy called that a failing.

"I will fully acknowledge this information should have been passed up the line," Kennedy told reporters in a conference call Thursday night. "It was dealt with at the office level."

In answer to a question, Kennedy said the department doesn’t look into political affiliation in doing background checks on passport workers. "Now that this has arisen, this becomes a germane question, and that will be something for the appropriate investigation to look into," he said.

The department informed Obama’s Senate office of the breach on Thursday. Kennedy said that at the office’s request, he will provide a personal briefing for the senator’s staff on Friday. No one from the State Department spoke to Obama personally on Thursday, the officials said.

Obama was born in Hawaii and lived in Indonesia for several years as a child before returning to the United States. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has traveled to the Middle East; the former Soviet states with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; and Africa, where in 2006 he and his wife, Michelle, publicly took HIV tests in Kenya to encourage people there to do the same.

Obama’s father was born in Kenya, and the senator still has relatives there.

The disclosure of inappropriate passport inquiries recalled an incident in 1992, when a Republican political appointee at the State Department was demoted over a search of presidential candidate Bill Clinton’s passport records. At the time he was challenging President George H.W. Bush.

The State Department’s inspector general said the official had helped arrange the search in an attempt to find politically damaging information about Clinton, who had been rumored to have considered renouncing his citizenship to avoid the Vietnam War draft.

The State Department said the official, Steven Berry, had shown "serious lapses in judgment."

After a three-year, $2.2 million probe, a federal independent counsel exonerated officials in the incident, saying that while some of the actions investigated were "stupid, dumb and partisan," they were not criminal. The independent counsel also said that Berry and others who were disciplined for their involvement were treated unfairly.

Doug Hattaway, a spokesman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady who is challenging Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, said of the current breach: "It’s outrageous and the Bush administration has to get to the bottom of it."

Kennedy and McCormack said it was too soon to say whether a crime was committed. The searches may violate the federal Privacy Act, and Kennedy said he is consulting State Department lawyers.

The State Department inspector general’s power is limited because two of the employees are no longer working for the department. McCormack said it was premature to consider whether the FBI or Justice Department should be involved.

McCormack said Rice was informed of the breaches on Thursday.

The Washington Times first reported on the breaches.

Break a Mirror... 7 YearsBreak or Toss Out a CFL... Mercury Poisoning?

I’ve always hated fluorescent lights...

... And, apparently, the feeling is mutual...

The evil, blinking buggers give me wicked migraines.

The widespread push over the last few years for EVERYONE to stop using incandescent (non-migraine inducing) bulbs... and switch to the New, Spiffy and Swirly Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) has been an ordeal.

I Don’t Care that they’re "...Longer Lasting!"... and, for me at least, They Don’t "...Use Less Energy!"... (It takes A Lot of Energy out of a person to dry heave for several hours.)

Now... I stumble upon this little item... Well, it isn’t so "little."

You likely were as unaware as I was that the Squiggly Darling of the (apparently uninformed) chorus that’s been touting this Poster Bulb in their "Go Greener!" advertising contains a highly toxic substance that can cause kidney and brain damage.

The Creepy, Little Coils that will often keep me from ever setting foot in those businesses that bought into the alternate-light hype and that glow with their unnatural and painful pulse contain MERCURY, a NEUROTOXIN.

Remember good ol’ incandescents?...

If you broke one of those... the worst thing that could happen is you might cut yourself picking up the shards... No Big Deal.

And Disposal of Incandescents? Easy... they went in the regular trash.

But those snake-like CFLs?...

Please Take Note of This:

There are Actually a Set of Safety Guidelines for Cleaning Up A Broken CFL (Compact Fluorescent.).

No, I’m not kidding, I’ve included them at the end of the article below.

Not only that...

You should NEVER THROW COMPACT FLUORESCENT LIGHT BULBS IN THE TRASH.

Like I said... They Contain MERCURY... Just a little in each one...

But, it’s enough to thoroughly contaminate our groundwater if you consider the number of CFLs sold in America (9 MILLION in California alone in 2007!)... and the fact that there’s been no PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT to let the Public Know that they shouldn’t throw them out with the trash.

I don’t know if the package even tells you about the Mercury or Safe Clean-Up or Safe Disposal...

Like I said... I hate the little, terrible twists... I’ve never even picked one up...

Which is a good thing considering... If I’d have dropped and broken one... i probably would’ve just picked up the pieces like we all used to do with incandescents...

And that, my friends, is a Big "No. No."

Brought to You By: "G.E.... We bring Good Things To Life!"...

Gee... Migraines AND Mercury Poisoning?... Thanks!

I’ll just stick with the Mercury Neurotoxin-Free Incandescents.

Peace.
L.

Shining a Light on Hazards of Fluorescent Bulbs
Energy-efficient coils booming, but disposal of Mercury poses problems

By Alex Johnson
Reporter
MSNBC
updated 4:10 p.m. PT, Wed., March. 19, 2008

Compact fluorescent light bulbs, long touted by environmentalists as a more efficient and longer-lasting alternative to the incandescent bulbs that have lighted homes for more than a century, are running into resistance from waste industry officials and some environmental scientists, who warn that the bulbs’ poisonous innards pose a bigger threat to health and the environment than previously thought.

Fluorescents — the squiggly, coiled bulbs that generate light by heating gases in a glass tube — are generally considered to use more than 50 percent less energy and to last several times longer than incandescent bulbs.

When fluorescent bulbs first hit store shelves several years ago, consumers complained about the loud noise they made, their harsh light, their bluish color, their clunky shape and the long time it took for them to warm up.

Since then, the bulbs — known as CFLs — have been revamped, and strict government guidelines have alleviated most of those problems. But while the bulbs are extremely energy-efficient, one problem hasn’t gone away: All CFLs contain mercury, a neurotoxin that can cause kidney and brain damage.

The amount is tiny — about 5 milligrams, or barely enough to cover the tip of a pen — but that is enough to contaminate 6,000 gallons of water beyond safe drinking levels, Stanford University environmental safety researchers found. Even the latest lamps promoted as "low-mercury" can contaminate more than 1,000 gallons of water beyond safe levels.

There is no disputing that overall, fluorescent bulbs save energy and reduce pollution in general. An average incandescent bulb lasts about 800 to 1,500 hours; a spiral fluorescent bulb can last as long as 10,000 hours. In just more than a year — since the beginning of 2007 — 9 million fluorescent bulbs have been purchased in California, preventing the release of 1.5 billion pounds of carbon dioxide compared with traditional bulbs, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"Using them actually reduces overall emissions to the environment, even though they contain minuscule amounts of mercury in themselves," said Mark Kohorst, senior manager for environment, health and safety for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.

Public, agencies ill-informed of risks
As long as the mercury is contained in the bulb, CFLs are perfectly safe. But eventually, any bulbs — even CFLs — break or burn out, and most consumers simply throw them out in the trash, said Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health sciences at Johns Hopkins University and editor of the journal Environmental Research.

"This is an enormous amount of mercury that’s going to enter the waste stream at present with no preparation for it," she said.

Manufacturers and the EPA say broken CFLs should be handled carefully and recycled to limit dangerous vapors and the spread of mercury dust. But guidelines for how to do that can be difficult to find, as Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, discovered.

"It was just a wiggly bulb that I reached up to change," Bridges said. "When the bulb hit the floor, it shattered."

When Bridges began calling around to local government agencies to find out what to do, "I was shocked to see how uninformed literally everyone I spoke to was," she said. "Even our own poison control operator didn’t know what to tell me."

The state eventually referred her to a private cleanup firm, which quoted a $2,000 estimate to contain the mercury. After Bridges complained publicly about her predicament, state officials changed their recommendation: Simply throw it in the trash, they said.

Limited options for safe recycling
The disposal problem doesn’t end there. Ideally, broken bulbs and their remains should be recycled at a facility approved to handle fluorescent lamps, but such facilities are not common.

California is one of only seven states — Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin are the others — that ban disposing of fluorescent bulbs as general waste. And yet, qualified recycling facilities are limited to about one per county. In other states, collection of CFLs is conducted only at certain times of the year — twice annually in the District of Columbia, for example, and only once a year in most of Georgia.

In fact, qualified places to recycle CFLs are so few that the largest recycler of of fluorescent bulbs in America is Ikea, the furniture chain.

"I think there’s going to be hundreds of millions of [CFLs] in landfills all over the country," said Leonard Worth, head of Fluorecycle Inc. of Ingleside, Ill., a certified facility.

Once in a landfill, bulbs are likely to shatter even if they’re packaged properly, said the Solid Waste Association of North America. From there, mercury can leach into soil and groundwater and its vapors can spread through the air, potentially exposing workers to toxic levels of the poison.

Industry working on safer bulbs
Kohorst, of the electrical manufacturers group, acknowledged that disposal was a complex problem. But he said fluorescent bulbs were so energy-efficient that it was worth the time and money needed to make them completely safe.

"These are a great product, and they’re going to continue solving our energy problems, and gradually we’re going to find a solution to their disposal, as well," Kohorst said.

In the meantime, manufacturers of incandescent bulbs are not going down without a fight.

General Electric Corp., the world’s largest maker of traditional bulbs, said that by 2010, it hoped to have on the market a new high-efficiency incandescent bulb that will be four times as efficient as today’s 125-year-old technology. It said that such bulbs would closely rival fluorescent bulbs for efficiency, with no mercury.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft Corp. and NBC Universal, which is a division of General Electric.)

However, if the disposal problem is to be solved, speed would appear to be called for. Consumers bought more than 300 million CFLs last year, according to industry figures, but they may be simply trading one problem (low energy-efficiency) for another (hazardous materials by the millions of pounds going right into the earth).

"One lamp, so what? Ten lamps, so what? A million lamps, well that’s something," said Worth of Fluorecycle.

"A hundred million lamps? Now, that’s a whole different ballgame."

NBC affiliates KNTV of San Francisco; KPVI of Pocatello, Idaho; WBAL of Baltimore; WLBZ of Bangor, Maine; WMAQ of Chicago; WRC of Washington; and WTLV of Jacksonville, Fla., contributed to this report.

HOW TO (SAFELY) CLEAN UP A BROKEN FLUORESCENT LIGHT BULB:

*Before cleanup: Vent the room*

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
2. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

*Cleanup steps for hard surfaces*

3. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
4. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
5. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.
6. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

*Cleanup steps for carpeting or rug*

3. Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
4. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
5. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
6. Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

*Disposal of cleanup materials*

7. Immediately place all cleanup materials outside the building in a trash container or outdoor protected area for the next normal trash.
8. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing cleanup materials.
9. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a recycling center.

*Future cleaning of carpeting or rug*

10. For at least the next few times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming.
11. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

Forget Waldo... Where in the World Has Dick Cheney Been?

I’ll admit it...
I’ve never been good at the whole linear, one-way, march of death, time thing...

Sometimes it goes forward...
...And sometimes it starts off going forward... but then, before you know it, it’s leaped backwards and you get to work 15 minutes early...
...Even though you were running at least 25 minutes late (Who says prayer doesn’t work?).

I don’t know about your experience of personal reality...
But, to me... in mine, it seems like everything’s been quiet for months... A good 6-10 months...
(if you don’t count the back-and-forth political camPai(g)n poking or the (as GWB put it:) "challenging" (snicker) economic tumult.)

Now...
...Suddenly...
...Out of No Where...
...They begin to arrive...
...Multiple reports of a Sighting... of... HIM!

You listen - somewhat in shock - to the horrible chorus repeated by all the news anchors...
Their words pepper you...their meaning stings...

...It’s like... Well... a shotgun blast to the face...

Heeeeeeee’s Baaaaack!

In spite of the fact that he’s (allegedly) thousands of miles away... the mere mention of his human name makes your stomach queasy... Your heart starts pounding in your chest and thumping in your ears...

... "No!", you silently scream, in anguish. It can’t be! Not... Him!

It had been so long... No one had seen him... Not one news show or front page headline had mentioned his name...for so long that...

... You thought... Well... Hoped against Hope... No... Wished, yeah, Wished (that’s it!) that he was ... well... Gone!

Didn’t We All? (OK, except maybe for the wife...)

Who am I talking about?

Well, the One and Only Terrible Troll himself... The Ho of Halliburton...

Mr. Dick (and I do mean "Dick") Cheney, of course!

Is it me? Or has this carbon-based carbuncle been M.I.A for the last six to ten months?

In my little Reality, Dick had pretty much stopped existing (... OK, stop snickering, you know what I meant.)

It’s kinda been like it was right after the Sept.11th attacks... You know... The media was reporting every detail of GWB’s whereabouts at all times... But you couldn’t get a bead on Cheney to save your life.

Maybe he’s been holed up in another bunker?

Hey, Dick... Did the ol’ Ticker stop ticking?

You know what... Maybe Dick did die... and Halliburton (or a subsidiary) has spent the better part of the last year cloning him...

Until the other day when...

..."Abracadabra!"... or "Rumplestiltskin!"... or even... "He’s Alive!"...

...And now...

In a sorrowful surprise to us all...

Dick has risen up from the grave and found himself in...

...Iraq... (Hmm... maybe he never left?)...

... He’s slapping backs and saying things to the effect of: "Look at all this Progress we’ve made!" and "Everything’s coming up bases... Uh, I mean roses!"

***A Personal Aside Here: L’Chaim!... Now, What about the Hurricane-and-Flood decimated Gulf Coast, Mr. Vice President... Why don’t you make some Formaldehyde-free Progress THERE?***
(Thanks, I just couldn’t help myself.)

"Success", you say? "It was worth it.", you say?

Of course you would sneer that...

"The goal for the invasion was permanent occupation of Iraq as America’s "police station" in the middle east. By that standard the 14 permanent bases are doing just fine, thanks. (Reference: Project for the New American Century)" (Fromsalon.com)

Hey, Dick! Why don’t you crawl/slither/drip back into that hole you’ve been hiding/being reconstituted in... and don’t come back until... well, at least Halloween or January 2nd.

Peace.
L.