© Tony Auth - 04.30.2006

"Here's how it works. The president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration? You know, fiction!"
- Stephen Colbert

Read the whole Colbert mock "tribute" to President Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, of which has been written:
"At times hilarious, at times painfully uncomfortable, Colbert's brazen send-up of President Bush -- delivered with Bush sitting a mere 10 feet away -- ranks as one of the ballsiest comic stunts ever pulled in Washington."

Watch it on C-SPAN (RealMedia)

I Scream,
You Scream,
We All Scream,
For Ice Cream.

Ah, yes, the first signs that summer is just around the corner, I heard the the ice cream truck playing it's little tune cruising the neighborhoods today. It always reminds me of Eddie Murphys ice cream routine from back in his red leather days.

That little tune brings up a question, I wonder how many drivers they go through in a season? I just know that jingle repeating itself over and over and over would drive me crazy in no time.

© RJ Matson - Date Unknown

I am just wondering about the doors on the hulls. Would they not be below water level? They may want to bring in Noah as a consultant for these little arks before they follow RJ's rough scetch.

Thanks to Geni for passing this along.

From Reuters:

Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, President George W. Bush's nominee for CIA director and architect of his domestic spying program, appears to favor changes in federal law that would allow judicial oversight of the program, a Democratic lawmaker and his staff said on Wednesday.

Sen. Richard Durbin, the Illinois Democrat, said Hayden told him in a private meeting he was concerned when he set up the highly secretive program that approaching Congress could reveal tactics, techniques and procedures used by U.S. intelligence to track al Qaeda suspects.

Read On

© Ben Sargent - 05.12.2006

If makes me feel all fuzzy and warm to know that big brother is keeping such a close eye on me.

In the most recent NYTimes article on the developing NSA domestic phone eavesdropping program, officials say that no home addresses are included in the data mining. Come on folks, if they have a phone number they sure as hell have an address for that phone. Granted, there are those out there using disposable cell phones, but with the open door provided by AT&T, Verizon and Bell South I seriously doubt there is not much info the NSA isn't getting.

Here is asuggestion, let's change the NSA from National Security Agency to Now Spying on Americans. I think it fits their profile better.

Oh, by the way if you are interested in your civil liberties and are wondering what Dick Cheney and Gen.Hayden, who President Bush has nominated to head the CIA, think of them, read this NYTimes article.

Commentary on Mother Jones: Consider yourself an honorary graduate of the Internet University of hard knocks, mixed metaphors, and strange analogies

OK, it is really the text of the 2006 commencement address for the Department of English at the University of California at Berkeley by Rebecca Solnit, but it is well worth the time to read.

~ Update ~

This address has been added to the library of LarsonsWorld. Read it here.

© Jeff Danziger - 05.19.2006

It took a few moments for me to put it together, but I finally did. Do you remember the picture of Dukakis in the tank with the helmet on?

© Dana Summers - 05.19.2006

© Jack Ohman - 05.20.2006

I do know a few people who are considering changing their phone services based on what has been coming out in the media as of late, . The ironic part of this is, here in Denver, QWEST has fought the handing over or records, but at the same time the CIA and NSA are planning on moving operations to this area from D.C. Go figure.

AT&T / NSA and the spy rooms:
Whistle-Blower outs NSA Spy Room
Judge denies AT&T request for closed hearing
The Ultimate Net Monitoring Tool
What the NSA Secret Surveillance Mess Means to Google

© Drew Sheneman - 05.18.2006

© Mike Luckovich - 05.19.2006

I guess they are going to hit us over the head with the rock if we object to what they are doing with the paper and scissors.

I have added a few of interesting pieces to the Library:

Thomas D. Schauf: The Federal Reserve - Uncostitutional Money Regulation

Brent Scowcroft: Don't Attack Saddam - it would undermine our antiterror efforts

Joseph C. Wilson 4th: What I Didn't Find in Africa

Thanks to my man who has serious conspiracy issues for initially passing along the first two. The poor guy, this whole phone thing has him hiding under multiple layers of aluminum foil.  

The confusion has finally ended.

After much trial and error I have finally figured out how to get the font size the same across different browsers. I usually use Firefox and I have always wondered why the font size was smaller when viewing it as apposed to IE or Opera. Finally the cunuderum is over, it's all in the way you specify the size. I have been coding with CSS and have specifying the size using small, x-small ect. Well if you use pixels instead, such as 12px, magically the font size appears the same across the board.

Sweet!

Spent part of the afternoon yesterday tossing my new recycled Fat Tire Flyer disc at the local park. It's a nice Wham-O 175 gram frisbee made with 60% post consumer recycled polyethylene. And for just $6.50 it's an awesome deal.

Do the news media think they own the world and we have to move to accommodate them? Based on my morning bike commute today, that is definitely they case. While going by station 1 on West Colfax all the local tv stations where there reporting on the sad death of a 30 year veteran. The problem develops when a camera crew (Fox 31) sets up in the sidewalk/bike-path along Colfax. This leaves the only way to get around them is to go onto Colfax and deal with the westbound traffic. This is whether you are walking or riding a bike as the other local stations had set up in part of the firehouse yard, out of the way of pedestrians and bike commuters. Yes, Fox 31 could have set up in the yard, there was room for them, they just chose to be numskulls

Fox 31 News receives a Worst Person In The World award today. 

Took these pictures yesterday evening.

To probe deep into your roots:
The ignorance and confusion are you yourself.
The preconceptions which are yourself
Are envoys and agents sent by yourself.

"Drinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibet's Beloved Saint, Milarepa"

© Chip Bok - 05.22.2006

I am still amazed at all the uproar over the book and movie. People need to remember it is a work of fiction.

Supporters of wholesale government surveillance are fond of saying that only the guilty should be worried about spying. Let's put that spurious argument out to pasture once and for all
Wired Commentary by Bruce Schneier.

Wired News has published "set of documents from the EFF's primary witness in the case, former AT&T employee and whistle-blower Mark Klein"

"The AT&T documents appear to be excerpted from material that was later filed in the lawsuit under seal. But we can't be entirely sure, because the protective order prevents us from comparing the two sets of documents."

Why We Published the AT&T Docs - The public's right to see the documents provided by whistle-blower Mark Klein trumps the telecommunications giant's secrecy claims. By Evan Hansen, Wired News' editor in chief.

Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut - Former AT&T technician Mark Klein's firsthand account tells how he discovered a secret room routing American internet traffic straight to the NSA -- along with all the documents he says prove his case.

Every day, eat:
14 ounces of fruits and vegetables
2 1/2 ounces almonds
5 ounces of wine
1 clove of garlic
3 1/2 ounces of dark chocolate (less if you're counting calories)

4 times a week, eat:
4 ounces of fish

via USAWeekend

© David Horsey - 05.22.2006

© Gary Varvel - 05.23.2006

In my own experience, the period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life. ...Through a difficult period, you can learn, you can develop inner strength, determination, and courage to face the problem. Who gives you this chance? Your enemy.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I have added Al Gore's SNL "Presidential Address" from the May 14th, 2006 show to the Video Gallery of LarsonsWorld.

Well at least until I get a note about copyright infringement on it.

© Chip Bok - 05.25.2006

~~~~~~

An interesting update on the Jefferson search affair via Reuters 05.28

An FBI raid on the Capitol Hill office of a congressman under investigation in a bribery scandal did not violate the constitutional separation of powers, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Sunday.

While listening to the Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" I wandering the internet and came across this quote from David Byrne about the song "Psycho Killer"

When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad. Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies.

Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman ballad - now that is some imagination!

Breaking the Global-Warming Gridlock by Daniel Sarewitz and Roger Pielke Jr.

Both sides on the issue of greenhouse gases frame their arguments in terms of science, but each new scientific finding only raises new questions—dooming the debate to be a pointless spiral. It's time, the authors argue, for a radically new approach: if we took practical steps to reduce our vulnerability to today's weather, we would go a long way toward solving the problem of tomorrow's climate.

Published in Altaltic Monthly in July of 2000, this article is still a very good and educational read.

An interesting read on how industry groups diverted public attention away from serious waste reduction.

The Origins of Anti-Litter Campaigns

© Scott Stantis - 05.28.2006

The FCC chairman has written a letter to Rep. Edward Markey refusing to investigate possible violations of the Communtications Act citing the Bush Administration's likely claim of "states secrets privilege."

More info:
Rep. Edward Markey
Red Herring
The FCC responce (pdf)

In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.

-Genjo Koan

© Cam Cardow - Ottawa Citizen - 05.26.2006

The quote above was written in 1914 and is the fourth stanza of "For The Fallen" by Laurence Binyon.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

~~~~~~

From KnowledgeNews:

Today, America's Memorial Day tends to be more beach-and-barbecue than reflection-and-remembrance. But Memorial Day still exists to commemorate the sacrifice of the more than 1.1 million American service members who have died in battle - and to remember why they gave up their lives.

No one has ever done that better than Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. Even before Americans began decorating Civil War graves to give Memorial Day its start, Lincoln's short speech pointed the way to the greatest memorial of all.

On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln visited Gettysburg to help dedicate a new national cemetery. The president was not the event's main speaker. That honor belonged to Edward Everett, a Massachusetts statesman and perhaps the best-known orator of the time. As was customary, Everett delivered a lengthy oration, speaking for two hours straight. Lincoln spoke for just two minutes

The day after the ceremony, Edward Everett wrote to Lincoln, "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes." Today, the central idea of the occasion remains the same. As Lincoln points out, we honor the sacrifice of soldiers for freedom and self-government best by carrying forward the work of democracy. We dedicate memorials by dedicating ourselves.

- Steve Sampson

The Gettysburg Address:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

- Abraham Lincoln

I have been wandering around the internet recently reading up on climate change. I have found the following websites of interesting:

• You Control Climate Change - The EU new website for the individuals of the EU
• Climate Ark - a portal for climate change and global warming
• U.S. Global Change Research Program
• Climate Change on UNEP.net

This search was spark by recent news items including these:

• 2 Industry Leaders Bet on Coal but Split on Cleaner Approach - NYTimes
• Warming Atmosphere Expands Tropics - Scientific America
• New Forecast: Hot and Hotter - Science Magazine
• Temperature Rising - U.S. News and World Report

What ever the Comrade wants.

© David Horsey - 05.25.2006

It's one of two answers for the GOP

© David Horsey - 05.26.2006

© Tony Auth - 05.31.2006