driving in my Civic Hybrid

So, I get out to Palm Springs, averaging about 75 MPG, and my cousin tells me that people driving Hummers are getting subsidized gas. General Motors just announced that if you live in California and buy a Hummer H2 or H3 or another beast such as a Tahoe, Suburban or Yukon, it will give you a card that lets you cap your gasoline at $1.99 a gallon until the end of 2007.

This is sickening. Another case of big oil supporters getting and using way more than their fair share.

Road trip

My cousin's 60th birthday is this weekend. Huge gathering near Palm Springs -- she told me 24 cousins, and 24 therapists, which is hilarious, given our family insanities. But this is a special birthday, because she was treated for colon cancer about a year ago. That cancer was found by accident -- she'd gone to the doctor for another, routine exam -- was refered to another doctor, found a blockage, and turned out to be a stage 3 colon cancer; one lymphnode away from stage 4. It was scary.

Along the way, I will deploy some of my anti-war soldiers -- 29 Palms, or Joshua Tree -- tagged with "Bring us home from Iraq" -- just put them out there for people to see.

I'm in slow motion this morning. Can't quite get a move on. Work was stressful this week, and I'm at a funny place. Many of my friends are retiring. Through blogging I am remembering that my real path has always been fine art, and I'm in the middle of a resentment: Why do I have to work at an office job when I have a Masters of Fine Art? It sounds like such a whinge as I write it, but my innards are having a temper tantrum. And I like my job, go figure. It allows me to travel the world at a level I'd not be able to afford otherwise.

Still, I need to find time and space to paint. To write. I'm taking an Improv class which is great fun, but it is a means to another end. Not sure what that means yet, I just know that I am on a path and I don't know where it is leading me.

So on a longish drive today, I will have some good time to stop and take photographs, and to deploy plastic soldiers, and think. Same thing on Sunday, a meander home.

more grandbaby blogging

I could just eat her up.

DIY Impeachment

"This American government—what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?" Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience."

I saw this link on Generik's blog. This is a site dedicated to a Do It Yourself Impeachement process. If you gohere you will find a downloadable PDF form to fill out and send in to your Representative.

"I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest." - Martin Luther King, Jr, Autobiography, Chapter 2.

Civil disobedience has a long history, and I contend that the time is urgently upon us to take that route again. We need focused protest, and we need to bring about the impeachment of this President and Vice-President for abuses too numerous to mention here.

I wasn't going to give Ann Coulter's book the time of day

But this is too much. O'Reilly: Coulter has "valid point" about 9-11 widows
Summary: Bill O'Reilly downplayed Ann Coulter's recent attacks on the widows of the victims of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, baselessly alleging that "some far-left pundits have said far worse things." O'Reilly added that "it looks like there's a double standard" in the treatment of conservatives and liberals by the "mainstream media." Ann Coulter's statements about the widows of the victims of 9/11 is beyond cruel. O'Reilly is as sick as she is.

I have yet to meet an American citizen who was not personally affected by the murders of 9/11. Personally affected. We either knew someone who was killed, or we know someone who lost a friend or relative. A good friend of mine was on AA11, a woman who worked for Qantas Airlines en route from Boston to Los Angeles for a sales meeting. My friends in Los Angeles had a good friend in the first tower. These people, good people, are all united in death and those deaths are now being trivialized by the likes of Coulter and O'Reilly.

The right wing can't have it both ways: They cannot use 9/11 as the rallying cry to support an illegal war in Iraq and then minimize the deaths with callous "get over yourselves". Evil has a new name: Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly.

Friday grandbaby blogging

My favorite holiday today

Today was National Chocolate Ice Cream Day. But you can still celebrate -- this is one holiday that's always in style.

Chocolate Ice Cream

Yields: About One Quart

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup heavy cream
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
Bring milk to a simmer. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at medium-high speed until very thick and pale yellow, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add half the milk to egg-yolk mixture and whisk until blended. Stir into remaining milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat a spoon.

Remove from heat and immediately stir in cream. Pass mixture through a strainer into a medium mixing bowl set in an ice bath. Whisk in melted chocolate and let chill, then freeze in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Store in a plastic container in the freezer.

California Primary results

Mixed. Angelides beat Westly, so Phil Angelides will run against the Governator, time to mobilized for Phil Angelides. Jerry Brown beat Rocky Delgadilo for the nomination for Attorney General. The sad news: Marcy Winograd lost her bid to defeat Jane Harman. However, Marcy and her campaign made Jane accountable. It flushed out Jane's pro-war votes, it made her actually campaign for the first time.

Marcy Winograd got into the race late. Because of this, she didn't have the organization she needed, and I think that's what cost her. She'll be back, and she'll be visible from now on.

But as Newton Minnow predicted, television continues to anesthetize people, as shown by low voter turnout. When he began his tenure as chairman of the FCC, Minnow delivered a speech in May, 1961 which is as pertinent today as 45 years ago. (I've tried to link the full text, but it doesn't work. Sorry. It's called Television and the Public Interest, and worth finding.)

Most well known comment from that speech: When television is good, nothing--not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers--nothing is better.

But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you--and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.

You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials -- many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it.

Also in that speech: Some say the public interest is merely what interests the public. I disagree. So does your distinguished president, Governor Collins. In a recent speech he said,

Broadcasting to serve the public interest, must have a soul and a conscience, a burning desire to excel, as well as to sell; the urge to build the character, citizenship and intellectual stature of people, as well as to expand the gross national product. ...By no means do I imply that broadcasters disregard the public interest. ...But a much better job can be done, and should be done.

I'm amazed that so many people pick up the phone to call in their votes for American Idol as if their lives depended on it; yet when something actually matters, and affects them, they stay at home. I know I should not be amazed, especially when I go back to Minnow's speech -- but we are beyond numb at this point; and the media is complicit with government in keeping us this way.

We are our own tragedy in the making.

This is SO reassuring

I don't know how I MISSED this: Condi Rice was among the millions who watched the American Idol finale — and her man won.

That just makes me feel so safe. I mean, who cares about Haditha, or econonmic growth, or even pulling out of Iraq? Amazing.

Election Day

Just a reminder to everyone in California: today is election day and it is essential to vote. We can start a process to take back our country.

On another note, I had voice messages from Ed Begley Jr, Magic Johnson, Steve Westley, Jane Harman, and somebody else -- I forget -- telling me to vote for -- I deleted the messages -- all yesterday. Sorry Steve & Jane, I'm spoken for. But my god, I thought I was some kind of D list celeb for a second... Not really.

Vote. Marcy Winograd has a very good chance at unseating Repulicrat Jane (or is that Democrin?) Harman. Phil Angelides is capable of defeating AH-nold in November. Vote, before that right is taken away from us by Herr Bush.

Haditha: Blame the administration for this travesty

25 years

Twenty-five years ago today, AIDS got a name. I simply want to say that we all have a responsibility to find a cure, and a vaccine. We all need to help end what has become the 4th leading cause of death worldwide after infectious diseases, lung & heart disease, and cancer.

Here's a link AIDS Combat Zone if you want to keep informed.

Welcome a new blogger

A friend of mine just put up her blog -- don't know what her direction will be, but maybe stop by Rose Hut and say howdy.

She has a great rose garden, and she's a terrific photographer, and a good friend.

June Tomato Report

My two container tomato plants are both Brandywine variety -- and doing quite nicely. This is the first report from me for the Great Tomato Contest, sponsored by Dr. Charles, and there is incredible competition from some incredible gardeners. Frankly, I'm going to be thrilled if I actually get tomatoes off the vine -- while I love the tomatoes from the Farmers Market, they aren't quite the same as from your own garden.

But I do have buds!

It's never too late

Started my improv class yesterday at LA ComedySportz. Two and one half hours of blistering fun. Improv is about being completely committed and in the present; in that sense it is something of a spiritual experience.

I've wanted to do this since I was in High School, where I took every drama class offered. Painting, and theater -- those were all I wanted to pursue. My parents were dead set against me doing anything on stage; they allowed me to pursue an art minor while studying something more "acceptable" in college. I dropped out after 2 years, moved to Israel, got married, moved back to the states, and raised a family. After years, I went back to school -- to The School, majoring in studio arts, went on to get an MFA from UIC and had a growing career as a painter. Divorce ensued, then a long road to finding my way, until now at 57 years of age, I am finally taking a class I've wanted to take for forty years.

It is never too late to follow a dream. I had so much fun in my first class -- it was a safe place to learn. There are three levels, my intention is to take all levels, and perform a few times a year with the senior level (as in class level, not age level) -- it stretches me.

How many of us pursue a dream defered? What are they?

Election Reform

Three articles in today's LA Times sort of sum it all up. The first,Bush's India Plans At Risk, sparked a ray of hope in me. It appears that the growing opposition in both House and Senate will tank this insane plan, which "the White House considers one of the most important pillars of President Bush's foreign policy legacy." There is strong opposition internationally, and growing opposition within India. My hope was that within the States, our lawmakers are starting to rein in this rogue administration.

The second and third articles brought me to reality. The result of a 3-day United Nations Conference, 14 Nations Will Adopt Airline Tax to Pay for AIDS Drugs to make them more accessible. The US opposes the tax, siding with 'unlikely allies such as Syria, Yemen and Pakistan in opposing "empowerment for girls" in birth control and marital relations, and it fought to water down financial targets despite its own substantial contributions.'

And last, Gay Marriage Amendment Getting a Presidential Push. "But even before administration officials announced the event, some invitees denounced it as a sham." Most social conservatives say it is too little, too late, from the administration, however, the timing is clearly intended to galvanize the religious right prior to the mid-term elections. But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) says it best: "Our country faces great challenges: record high gas prices, skyrocketing healthcare costs and an intractable war in Iraq. Yet instead of addressing these issues, Sen. Frist has chosen to put the politics of division ahead of real progress by pushing for a debate on a divisive amendment that will write discrimination into the Constitution."

That, my friends, is the goal of this illegal administration: to write discrimination into the Constitution. To make discrimination law.

The actions of the last six years have been a clear erosion of civil liberites: TWO elections stolen; our phones are monitored without warning; we are living in a constant state of terror; and our government is on a mission to colonize the Middle East in order to control both oil and nuclear weapons. The 2000 election was a bloodless coup; Albert Gore won that election, yet Bush wound up in the White House.

Anyone who does not see the parallels to Nazi Germany is not paying attention.

In Germany, many Jews who had assimilated chose to ignore the warning signs: they stayed. They said "this can't happen to us, we're German." I'm not saying that liberals and the left should leave America. I am saying we have an obligation to take our country back from this would-be dictatorship. Steven D is absolutely right -- THERE CAN BE NO ELECTION REFORM UNLESS THE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHY REFORM IS NEEDED, and without election reform, nothing is going to change.

Peace.

Friday grandbaby blogging

Inspired by Friday Cat Blogs, and not having a cat, I have to admit to being one of "those" grandparents who have to show everyone their grandchild. Her chubby legs are a complete joy.

Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

Robert Kennedy, Jr's. lengthy article about the 2004 election is online at Rolling Stone. It is a must read. The online article has a number of "web only" citations; it is backed up with facts. And the first fact is this:

Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House. BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. (my emphasis).

The number of registered voters who were disenfranchised in Ohio alone is staggering, but Kennedy's article describes massive irregularities that the MSM ignored. Anomolies are one thing, but we experienced widespread fraud that benefited Bush and harmed Kerry.

What will prevent this administration from declaring an end to elections? Don't tell me our Constitution -- this administration has displayed blatant disregard for our Constitution; our laws mean nothing. Our phone records are monitered. Racial profiling is at a high level. How far will we slide down the slippery slope toward dictatorship?

Just say "no" takes on an altogether different weight when stacked up against these abuses of power.

First Thursday and GOTV

First Thursday in San Pedro is a monthly street fair, where art galleries and artist studios, and local businesses remain open til about 8:30 PM. Tonight, Winograd for Congress campaign will have a table set up at the fair -- I will be there working the table. With six days left before the election, San Pedro is an essential target -- lot of identifiable support here. Come on down!

Exploring other blogs

The more I do this, the more interesting it becomes to me. There are blogs I visit faithfully for politics and rants. There are blogs I visit faithfully because they provide a peaceful, serene oasis in the day. And there are blogs that focus on art; on food; you name it, it's out there.

Some people periodically recommend blogs. Others, like me, have a list on their sidebar. I explore their lists -- some lead to dead ends and others are just delightful.

What is the most delightful surprise you've encountered when exploring other blogs?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Okay, update. Alicia has a post about Marcy Winograd over at Last Left Before Hooterville. I mention this because a) Marcy needs our support, and b)Alicia has been my blogging mentor. Thanks, A!

Artist Retreats

In 1990 I had a month-long residency at The Vermont Studio Center. This came at a peculiar juncture in my life, about two years sober, and separating from my husband of 22 years. My work was large-scale, fairly confrontational portraiture based on old photos from the 1940s and 1950s. I used oil stick paints which accomplished two things -- heavily layered, painterly surfaces created out of the activity of drawing.

I will admit it: I love a painterly image. I love the texture of oil paint. I love the smell. I also love the way drawing feels. There is something so physical about drawing on a large scale that I love.

Over at Au fil du temps/As Time Goes By", Suzanne had a post about a book, Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn, which addresses the evolution of architecture in New England. After ordering the book, I thought heavily about that month in residency. My work since then has been quite sporadic, but I am suddenly in a place where my need to paint has taken root. It's like I'm awakening from a long hibernation. Painting, and photography, are beginning to rule my life again, and a feeling of anticipation is growing.

What triggers change in you? What are your dreams and what are your compromises?

How was your Weekend? Cross posted at My Left Wing

I spent the weekend participating in the Army Men Project with Kvatch's Kommandos. The deployment of plastic soldiers bearing tags saying "Bring Us Home From Iraq" among other statements is a small, intimate protest that invites people to pick the soldiers up. It is the least strident protest I've ever participated in, and it is elegant in its whimsical nature and use of an iconic toy.

And I spent the weekend with good friends, one of whom is a Viet Nam combat veteran, who is so articulate in his crticism of this administration. An intersting comment he made last night: he said that while the Iraq war is at a similar point to Viet Nam when Johnson turned the mess over to Nixon, the major difference is the body counts. Iraq has about the same number of troops deployed as we had in Viet Nam, but the deaths are not at the same numbers, and most of the deaths are not combat related -- they are murders caused by cowardly actions. He said that until the death toll in Iraq reaches the numbers of Viet Nam, public opinion will not change very much -- that we are essentially preaching to the converted when we talk amongst ourselves.

We also talked about the corruption of this government. We agree on so many levels except one: I believe we can be a voice for change and he believes we are at the end of the line. He's a cynic, I'm skeptical.

But I say this: we must never give up, never give up, never give up.

Ellie Bean

My daughter called a little while ago to say hello. She was holding Ellie, who was happily chattering away, telling herself baby jokes and roaring with laughter. Ellie grabbed the phone, so I started to play "How big is Ellie? SO big." After a while, she gave the phone back to her mama. And then my daughter started to laugh -- Ellie was throwing her hands up in the air, her gesture for SO big. So then Ellie started to laugh. What a joy! She is the love of my life.

Cucumber/Yogurt Soup

One medium cucumber (from local farmers market)
Two cups home made yogurt
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 teaspoons vinegar (I use basalmic)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon fresh dill

Put it all in a blender, liquify, serve chilled. Makes two servings. Yum. Today's lunch between outings.

I try to avoid the mid-day sun, especially on days like today which are clear and warm. Was out early morning with some Kommando forays, and will go out again later for some meditative walks. The soup is staying home, but the key lime pie is ready to go to the barbeque.

Memorial Day

My son-in-law never knew his father. His father was MIA in Viet Nam, never found, eventually pronounced dead. His father's name is on the Viet Nam Wall in Washington DC. Before my daughter and son-in-law ever met, I visited the wall, and actually saw this man's name, and it struck me at the time, one more young man. The wall is a powerful statement to those of us who lived through that long national nightmare: a simple pair of long granite slabs with the names of our fallen soldiers etched into it, like a giant grave marker. We go to pay our respects to the dead, to the young men robbed of their lives because of an insane, illegal war.

There is only one way to honor the dead, and the LIVING veterans of Viet Nam, and that is to get our soldiers out of Iraq, to end this nightmare. Pay a visit to the Kommandos and post a memorial day action.

Good friends

Last night went to a barbeque at the home of two of my friends. The men cooked, and the best part -- the men cleaned up after dinner was over. This is of some significance for women and men of a certain age -- our experience was that women did all the cooking, cleaning and the men sat around shooting the shit about whatever manly men talked about. My friend's 21 year old nephew is visiting them for the weekend; he's just as nice a young man as you can imagine. He's great looking, too. He did most of the cleanup duties. We all offered to help, in fact, all the women thought we'd be sharing the duties -- if the men cooked, then we'd clean up. But this wasn't the case at all. We were waited on, and it was really quite sweet.

Four of us are not in relationships (I include the nephew and one of the men); one woman is in a long-distance relationship; and the couple whose house we were at have been together for quite some time. For me, divorced nearly 15 years and quite adept at getting involved with the wrong man, it was great to see a functional couple at work.

We talked, we told stories, we told jokes. We laughed. It was such a pleasant evening that bears mentioning because sometimes I think that conversation is a dying art form. We teased the nephew a lot, because he's great looking, and we're a bunch of dirty old women -- that was fun.

Laughter among friends has great restorative power. It makes me feel safe. I mean laughter at a deep level, belly laughs, laughs that take my breath away. It makes me feel connected.

We started talking about creating a food co-op for us -- I remembered the one I belonged to 30 years ago when my kids were babies. There were about 30 families in it and we took turns shopping for everyone once a week. Did that for about a year or two. We talked about creating our own "retirement" community although I know I will never be able to retire -- and we talked a lot about Viet Nam -- one of the men was a Nam Vet who gets compensation from the government because, as he puts it, it's the government's way of saying they were wrong to send these soldiers. That Viet Nam was wrong.

And that was our evening. How is your holiday weekend shaping up?

Gaviota Strawberries

First came upon them at the Santa Monica Farmers Market when I moved here. They are the most amazing berries -- sweet, delicate, juicy as can be. Usually I only buy a basket because they are so expensive, but today I bought a three pack, because I needed a lift. I don't parcel them out, either. They're too good. They can also be found at the Torrance Farmers Market, which is where I usually go.

Another variety I like is Seascape. They're firmer, not quite as sweet, and just have a delightful taste. They are particularly good with brown sugar and sour cream.

Growing up, I never liked strawberries or tomatoes. Grocery store fruit has no flavor, and that's what I grew up on. Right before I moved to Israel I was told that I would be eating a lot of tomatoes -- and first night on the Kibbutz, at the dinner tables, were nothing but tomatoes, cucumbers, cottage cheese, bread, and onions. I sat waiting for a hot meal, and someone told me this was it. I broke down and tasted a tomato, and have never looked back.

There is something indescribable about eating food fresh picked, without hormones, and with the taste of the sun still in it. That tomato was incredible. The berries I purchased are incredible. The more we grow our own, in small quantities, the better we all are. We've sacrificed way too much for simple convenience.

Holiday weekend blues

Not sure what this is all about, but woke up in a real funk today. Started coming on yesterday, no discernable reason behind it. Just feeling blue. Cyclical depression runs in my family, and I've struggled with it off and on my entire life; so history tells me that it will pass but man, when I'm in it, I'm in it.

Solution #1: I got out of bed.
Solution #2: Will go to the farmers market; then I have to meet a new client despite it being a day off.
Solution #3: Will go to a movie -- something light and fluffy -- with friends.

My point is that I have to keep in motion, and not isolated, or I will cave under the weight.

Sometimes, when I read about the world in chaos, it filters into me at such depth. I internalize it -- like I have the power to stop earthquakes in Indonesia. This is absolute insanity, of course, but I entertain a bizarre sense of hyper-responsibility. Not as bad as it used to be, thank god, but that's a bit of what's going on today -- I feel like I should DO something about everything. I can't. It helps to laugh at this kind of thinking. I wonder if anyone else goes to this sort of insanity?

But today's news included an article in the NY Times about Bear Hunting Caught in Global Warming Debate; and then another about the 6.2 quake in Indonesia that has left thousands dead and injured, while Mount Merapi gets more active since the quake. And last night, I watched again Enron-The Smartest Guys In The Room in honor of the conviction of Skilling & Lay.

And a good friend was in a car accident yesterday, seriously injured her back, in hospital in Chattanoga. Small wonder I'm in a funk today.

The power of grassroots organizing

Starting today, the beginning of Memorial Day Weekend, many of us in the blogosphere will begin to deploy toy soldiers as part of a war against war. These soldiers will be tagged with a variety of anti-Iraq war slogans.

This peaceful protest is intimate, and designed to get into people's hearts and minds. Because it isn't strident, angry shouting, because it is muted, it becomes more eloquent. The whimsy of using toy soldiers is poignent at a deep level, because most of the soldiers who are deployed in Iraq, or who will be deployed to Iran if the Bush Administration plows forward, are children who have barely begun their lives. Too many are coming home with limbs missing; too many have come home in body bags.

Like Viet Nam, the soldiers are not the enemy. The administration run amok is the enemy. Many of our Viet Nam veterans continue to suffer from severe mental anguish. I hear stories from men I know who served; my son-in-law never knew his father who was MIA in Nam, and whose name is on the Wall in Washington.

Please join us. Deploy troops. Bring our young soldiers home.

more container gardening

I cut some of my baby lettuces for a salad tonight -- oh, it was tasty. They're small, and great fresh flavor, not from a grocery store, just yummy. With some pignola, dried cranberries, goat cheese, and rasberry vinagrette -- just as simple a salad as it gets, and it made me so happy. Simple things, really. Also noticed my container tomaters have buds! I'm just stoked!

What's the best thing in your garden?

The Imperial Presidency

The right wing zealots who make up the Bush Administration capitalize on the most effective weapon there is: fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of a vague, shapeless concept that has put good people into a walking comatose condition. The press, Congress, and good American citizens has surrendered piece-by-piece our civil liberties to a point where it might be too late. Jim Hightower writes about this Orwellian nightmare saying "Since the founding of America, a central tenet of our liberty has been that the military is not to be turned on our own people. Violations of this guiding rule have occurred in the past, but rarely and only temporarily, and when it's been violated, public outcry has forced the reinstatement of the rule.

Bush & Co., however, has not only turned loose the military to spy extensively on the American people, but has also asserted the right to do so in perpetuity. Its claim is that 9/11 turned the homeland into a foreign battlefield, so the nation's historic prohibition against military surveillance of Americans is null and void. And since this war on terrorists has no end ("the long war," Rumsfeld calls it), the Bushites maintain that the Pentagon can engage in domestic spying ad infinitum."

Those of us opposed to the administration's illegal activities are branded "pacifists" and, by extension, traitors. We are spied upon. Our phone calls are monitored. We are silenced. But as American citizens, we have an obligation to stop this insanity. Wake up, America. Stand up, be counted, take back our country!

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth is opening over the next few weeks. This film (and Gore) are being attacked by Fox News (now that's an oxymoron).
Sterling Burnett, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, compares Al Gore to Nazi Propoganda Director Joseph Goebbels, and the film to Nazi propoganda films. Of course, The National Center for Policy Analysis has received $390,000 from ExxonMobil since 1989, but hey, what's a few hundred thousand dollars among friends? I'm just sayin.

In August 2000, I was part of a 1500 person fundraising bicycle ride from Fairbanks to Anchorage -- the Alaska Aids Vaccine Ride. There were 1500 riders, and a lot of support people -- the people who fed us and provided the shower trucks do this for major events, and disaster relief. They set up temporary camps after Hurricane Andrew, in Florida, years ago. Anyway, it was a complex event, in ALASKA, and so off I went, me, my bicycle, and 1500 of my best friends.

One night we camped on boulders. There wasn't a patch of dirt anywhere.

Gulkana Glacier was nearby -- looked to be about a football field away (more on that in a minute) and what we were camping on is the debris left when glaciers retreat. Now, at our campsites, we had local Native Alaskans who would set up sweat lodges, and would smudge us as we'd ride out. I was speaking to this one man, who told me that the glacier I thought was so close was actually two miles away from us. It had retreated two miles in less than 20 years. He said that it takes 200 years of constant snow to compress to create one inch of glacier, but less than 20 years to cause that much melt.

On day five, a lot of the conversations with local people was about the glaciers. The word is that within 50 years, all the Alaska glaciers will be gone. Global warming is causing them to retreat, to melt, at an alarming rate.


Mr. Gore's film is essential viewing, but action is more essential. A friend said to me she thought we needed to drill in the Artic Wildlife Refuge so we could end our dependence on foreign oil. I said not at all -- we need to end our dependence on any fossil fuel, and develop sustainable sources of energy -- wind, water, ethanol, for example. But we may have passed the tipping point.

I recently purchased a Civic Hybrid -- it is fuel efficient, and it's cute. It's not perfect but it beats the pants off those obnoxious 2 MPG Hummers I see. Tell me this: why did I have to pay OVER sticker for something that's fuel efficient?

Your secret other life?

There's a new cooking school in Brisbane, Queensland Australia -- intensive hands on classes in a really great small city. Focus coming up is all on winter foods, since seasons are reversed from us -- and it just has an appeal to me right now that defies description.

Have had a running joke with several women I know in the travel business -- we're all long-timers, with a focus on the South Pacific -- anyway, when business gets so intense we feel like our hair is on fire, I suggest we need to open our own bakery and call it A Bunch of Burnt Out Broads. Focus on all things chocolate. It has been one of those weeks, as we've upgraded some of our systems, and that wrecks havoc for a while. But my secret other life is to open my bakery.

I wonder what your way out is -- when things become too intense in your working life, what is your secret other life?

A Republican has converted parties

A friend of mine has been a Republican all her life: her parents were Republican; her brothers were Republican; she just always did what her family did. And she has preferred to not "get involved" -- her choice has been to remain in a secluded bubble. Over the last five years she's listened to me, and watched my responses to issues, and asked a lot of questions. A lot of questions.

We meet for dinner on Tuesdays and tonight she said "I think I'm switching parties to be a Democrat. Have you heard about Al Gore's documentary?" I was so happy to hear this, so I told her about the

Army Men Project

-- she got so excited, she started to suggest locations, and ideas for slogans ("I want to see my family again" was particularly good). Then she said she'd like to put some of her own soldiers around. From asleep Republican to quiet activism. What a good day!

Marcy Winograd for Congress -- Volunteers needed

Went last night to a meeting in San Pedro. This is an area with a fledgling Democratic Party Club, and the organization in San Pedro is at its weakest. Other parts of the district have a good supply of workers, but this part of the district needs help, particularly with phone banking.

People are excited about Marcy, because she presents a true choice: she's a real Democrat, in the tradition of Bobby Kennedy. She's against the war; she's opposed to the violations of civil liberties that have been sanctioned by the Patriot Act (a misnomer if there ever was one.) The money that's being spent on the war needs to go to education, healthcare, job training and the environment; Marcy Winograd will work to those goals.

Jane Harman is outspending Marcy Winograd. And some of what she's doing is incredibly dispicable. Jane Harman voted for the Iraq War & Occupation; her current ads on Cable say she opposed it. Jane Harman voted FOR the Patriot Act THREE TIMES; her current ads say she opposed it. She voted to militarize space with nuclear weapons; she voted to lock people up indefinitely without charging them of a crime, nor allowing them to talk with a lawyer; she willingly kept Bush's secret about illegal wiretaps, then denounced those who told us the truth -- and again, her ads on television say she's always been an opponent of illegal wiretapping.

Every letter I've sent Jane Harman against the war, against the Patriot Act, any of these topics, has been responded to with a paternalistic (yes, paternalistic) justification of why she's voting with the Republicans. She's got to be held accountable and Marcy Winograd is the right person to do that. She needs your help. If you are interested in doing some phone banking, or even walking a precinct, or are available election day, email me and I'll get you the details.

Kommandos project

The woman who is behind this movement, Sallie Gratch, is a resident of a Chicago suburb, and someone I knew years ago. One more time I am reminded of how truly connected we all are, and out of that connection, we have an obligation to work for peace.

Put your soldiers in as many places you can think of!

more on the fired clients

They feel like a bad penny that just won't go away. ANOTHER call from the accounting firm, seems they insist they've got tickets for reissue. They told the accounting assistant that they could re-use several tickets that they already used; others that I refunded; this is the fourth time this woman and I have had the same conversation.

It annoys me, I'm glad I'm done with them, but this is starting to make me physically ill again. Constant barrages of the same question over and over; answered, and documented. These people accused me of putting them in a hotel they hated BEFORE THEY WERE MY CLIENTS. They're fundamentally dishonest, and what I observe with dishonest people is that they keep accusing other people of ripping them off, or of somehow doing the very wrong doing they do themselves.

Sounds like the Decider and his crew.

Sunday morning

My container tomatoes are doing nicely; my container lettuces are growing well; my Spanish Lavender is wild and crazy. But my yellow mini-roses have shriveled and died. The red mini-roses are not doing so well either. I think I might have to go to native California plants for those two containers -- Jade plant, another succulent -- because roses are too hard. I don't think peonies would do well in containers, too bad. The Fat Lady Sings had an amazing post about her peonies a few days ago which reminded me of the ones I grew up with.

My father loved to garden. He was so proud of his garden, and we had some amazing things in our yard in Chicago. We had a peach tree that bore the hardest, most un-ripened peaches you could ever imagine. I mean those suckers never got sweet. We had an apple tree that produced green apples that made the best applesauce and the best apple pie, but god forbid you should eat them off the tree lest your mouth invert from how sour they were. We had a wild plum tree that grew wee little plums that were so sweet and tasty, but drew all kinds of birds who got most of them.

And we had peonies. Those were amazing. They were so fragrent, and gorgeous. He grew white ones, red ones, pink ones. There were about a dozen in our front yard, more along the sides of the house and more in the back yard. They were his pride and joy. My mother would cut them, leave bunches on the porch until the ants crawled away and then bring the open blooms into the house.

We had lilacs. Bushes of lilacs. I miss lilacs and peonies intensely. We had gorgeous yellow forsythia -- gorgeous.

But we never had a vegetable garden growing up. My mother thought that wasn't very modern. She was big into canned and frozen veggies. It's a wonder we survived her cooking, to tell the truth. She used to make this thing that I called "grey meat" which was really brisket. Oh, my god. Not quite as bad as Aunt Della's second day spagetti, but I digress.

We also had a paperbark birch tree in our front yard which grew from a small thing to a towering tree. These are midwest memories, but in California, in a condo with a balcony, I do my best to have my own little garden and it makes me happy.

Happy even if the roses fail. I can still get my hands in the dirt, and I can still make my attempts. It's all about the effort, sometimes.

Kommandos Project

Memorial day is getting closer, and the growing groundswell that is the Kommandos Project is attracting attention. Everyone I tell about it thinks it is a great project because of the intimacy of it. This is not a strident, "in your face" protest. This is a serious plea to integrity: bring our soldiers home from this immoral, illegal war.

Brolga Dreaming

This is the camping trip I went on with Bill Harney. I'm on the far right, hat on for protection from intense sun, marked with sacred ochre on my arm because we are at Moon Lady Dreaming, a womans business site.

So many Dreamtime stories, but Suzanne from Au fil du temps-As time goes by sent me a link to

Brolga Dreaming

and here's information about

the Brolga today

I only wish you could hear Bill Harney tell this story. He's a short, compact man, about 73 years old, and he has a funny little voice. He speaks several languages (5 different Aboriginal languages, Italian, English, and I believe some German and French), he's an author, he's an award winning artist, but mostly he's Yidumduma Bill Harney (or Bi'larney) and I adore him.

He talks about the Dreamtime, and Still. Dreamtime is when the earth was fluid, and Still is when everything stopped and became solid. Now is still.

He says that the Dreamtime is not when we lay our heads down to go to sleep -- that's dreamtime. The Dreamtime is an active wide awake time when everything was liquid, fluid. Everything, everyone, was in human form and they sang the world into existance.

At one time, there were over 1000 Aboriginal language groups in Australia -- now, less than 300 survive. Bill says that the Aboriginies are the keepers of the land, and when they are gone, the earth will die. He points to global warming, he points to the Tsunami, or Katrina, and says that Rainbow (rainbow serpent) is getting mad.

Rainbow Serpent is the creative life force, and his dreaming is all water courses -- oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, and he gave birth to people, animals, birds, fish, reptiles, all living things. He has a terrible temper, and must not be disturbed. When Rainbow gets mad (when we harm our host, our land) he retaliates by great slapping of his tail.

Raping wetlands by overbuilding; poisoning the air with dangerous chemical emmissions; needless wars; destroying natural resources -- all this makes Rainbow angry.

Bill Harney

Bill Harney is the senior elder of the Wardaman People in the Victoria River Gorge region of The Northern Territory of Australia. He's an artist, master didgeridoo player, story teller, author, cattleman, entrepreneur, and keeper of the laws for his people. My camping trip with Bill was an extraordinary experience.

We all bought paintings from him -- I asked for Brolga Dreaming because the story about Brolga spoke to me deeply on our trip. Brolga is about a young girl who goes to a sacred ground and transforms from human to Brolga. It's the original Swan Lake. It's about transformation, about restoration, about spirit.

This image is not the one Bill made for me, but it is similar in style. I put it here for me to remember, and I think I may just put it on a sidebar too.

Kvatch's Kommandos

The growing list of Kommandos for the Memorial Day Weekend action warms my heart. I like this inventive form of protest -- it is simple, it is intriguing, and it is designed to get people to look. Since it is a small scale, people have to get up close to the soldiers to see what the banners say. It is designed to bring people in on an intimate, thoughtful level without being "in their face."

The choices for the banners are all direct messages. I'm happy to be a Kommando.

Friday

One of the reasons I love working in the travel industry is that I meet so many incredible people. Yesterday's conference is a case in point. All these New Zealand suppliers come to Los Angeles for two conferences -- yesterday's was for travel agents; the weekend's is for travel wholesalers.

Among the travel agents, there's a group of five women who became fast, close friends on a camping trip in a remote area of the Northern Territory of Australia two years ago. We all were acquainted with each other, cordial, but it was exclusively a professional relationship. Four of us served on an advisory board.

We got wind of this camping trip into the NT with an Aboriginal Elder who was working with a filmmaker in order to document the rock art sites in his land -- he wants to preserve the stories and law for the younger generation. Complex story, but the short one is that there is no middle generation to teach the law to the young people in his language group. The middle generation didn't grow up on the land, had no access to ceremony; now they have their land, and the old people are dying out -- so it's urgent.

So the deal is that the five of us, all middle-aged women, unused to camping, decided this was a once in a lifetime experience and I said "I could really get my heart around this one" -- so we signed up. (We are women who think that camping is anything below a Holiday Inn. Another agent, not joining us, started calling us the Divas Downunder -- hence, Diva Jood)

It was incredible -- and out of this grew a close knit group of friends. Not just the five of us, but my friends in Australia -- and New Zealand -- all good people, all smart, with integrity and ethics. Kind people.

Yes, I love to travel. Yes, I love to create vacations for other people. But there is an expression in Maori that translates: What are the most important things in life? The People, the people, the people.

It can happen here

Steven D has a strong commentery at My Left Wing: Forever War and The New American Police State is a chilling observation of what's happening here.

I'm off to Kiwi Link today, an all-day conference for New Zealand Travel Specialists. I'd consider moving there in a heartbeat.

Where's my tin foil hat?

My email was down for the last two days. It was very strange -- and yesterday I was beginning to think that it was a systematic government action to spy on us. The outage covered much of California and Arizona, which is why I began to think in terms of government spying; had it just been limited to me, I would be cranky rather than suspicious. But it's back up and running today.

But this lead me to consider all the ways we're overly connected:

Video games; game boys -- great training for future fighter pilots for our armed forces. Not only do they make young children adept with their thumbs, they desensitize kids to the act of killing by oversaturation. Besides, in the games, they just re-set and kill again. Isn't that just like life?

Cell phones keep us connected 24/7. I regularly see couples at restaurants seated together, both on cell phones, neither one with the other. Something better is always going on somewhere else -- otherwise, they'd be talking to each other. Teenage girls, walking down the street, three abreast, each chattering away on their cell phone. Nobody has the capacity to be with anybody else, it seems. Small wonder we feel isolated.

Email. Well. I can't remember what a real letter feels like -- and I'm one of the email addicts of the world. It's instant. Sometimes I email rather than use the phone.

iPods and MP3 players -- we never have to listen to the world around us; we never have to listen to our own thoughts.

We have an oversaturation of information; twenty-four hour a day television; we sacrifice imagination for technology, for entertainment. I read an article about how children should not watch television before the age of two, because they can't process the quick cuts, the fast influx of images. The article said television is a major contributor to ADD and hyperactivity -- that it is short-circuiting the wiring in kids' brains.

I'm connected again, and I wonder about it. There are days when I would like to sell my condo, move to a big old patch of land, and live off it. But not today. Today I'm reconnected.

Blognonymous: Kvatch's Kommandos - A Big Day of Protest

Blognonymous: Kvatch's Kommandos - A Big Day of Protest

It's a peaceful way to ask to bring our soldiers home.

Yoga Korunta: Tuesday's Word: betray

Yoga Korunta: Tuesday's Word: betray

The grand tragedy is that Bush was never elected. He staged a bloodless coup in 2000.

email is down

It's the strangest thing. How did we ever live without email and cell phones? My email has been down since yesterday, and they have no idea when it will be fixed. Outage is in California and Arizona. I feel isolated, and in reality that's far from the truth.

But it begs the question: are we too connected? Cell phones; instant messageing; email; text messaging -- we're never out of touch. We have very little down time, very little time to listen to the silence between thoughts.

Wander lust

We owe to our first journeys the discovery that place is nothing. At home I dream that at Naples, at Rome, I can be intoxicated with beauty and lose my sadness. I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there beside me is the stern Fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical fact that I fled from.Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is essential to be in the moment when I travel; otherwise I lose the journey, I lose the immediacy of whatever is unfolding in front of me. Yesterday I ordered a new camera so that I can know how to use it before I go to Bhutan in the fall. But I can hide behind a camera too -- and lose the moment. I love to travel; my bags can be backed in ten minutes, my passport is always ready; but wherever I go, there I am. I have no expectations; I know very little about Bhutan other than its location. It is a small kingdom that has strict limitations on tourism, but it is building a new tourism infrastructure including luxury hotels. My guide is a lovely, cheerful Bhuddist who is a bird expert. I'll be there for a festival, a religious festival. My guide says that every week there are festivals, and then he laughs.

But I have forms to fill out, and that has to be done this week, so I'm thinking about the baggage I take with me that will keep me out of the moment.

Two years ago I was in South Africa with another person, who could only talk about the upcoming November election. We were both voting for Kerry, it was October, we were in South Africa, and all she could talk about was the election. We were so out of the moment, it was making me crazy. At one hotel, we were walking along a path, surrounded by zebra and monkeys, but she was talking about Bush. There was NOTHING we could do about the election at that moment. NOTHING. There were zebra so close I could have touched one (and risked being kicked, mind you. As gorgeous as they are, they have nasty dispositions. These were not tame, not pets, they were walking through the hotel grounds because the hotel was in their territory.) I haven't spoken to this person in two years, just exhausted by her inability to be where we were.

But I have to remember this when I travel to Bhutan. I can find other ways to take me out of the moment. Fear of the unknown is a big one. Of course, if I chew on this trip now, I can miss what's in front of me today. So the goal: To be in today.

There's no place like home (and nobody's spared)

The Wizard of Oz, revised

The Beltway Wizard by Walt Handelsman

Happy Mothers Day

Sunday is yougurt making day for me. Both kids live out of state, so I won't see them. Spoke to my daughter several times yesterday: my gorgeous genius granddaughter spoke her first word in English in context -- mama -- yesterday. The rest of the day was her wonderful made up language in her sweet voice. But mama has been added to her vocabulary, and she uses it well.

So the day for me is puttering, nothing major, but will make my yougurt which is really good.

Saw nothing in the NY Times or LA Times about Rove today, but the LA Times has a wonderful editorial about Why Karl Rove needs Nancy Pelosi which talks about the misdirection and obfuscation this madministration practices to keep away from the truth.

Happy mothers day.

Rove NOT indicted just in time for Mothers Day

according to truthout's Jason Leopold, Karl Rove is going down down down. I do believe in God.

But as of today, May 19th, Marc Ash of Truthout has issued a partial apology because no indictment has come down. WTF?

Saturday Container Gardening

My lettuce is doing so well, I'm excited to know I will have home grown salad. Tomato plants are liking their containers, and will be mildly scented by basil in the same pot. My Spanish Lavender is as happy as a plant can be, it's just wild, huge and gorgeous. My mini-roses are a challenge. The yellow one seems half dead, the other half is sprouting buds. The red one is just, well, there. I'm unsure what to do next.

After a six day work week, I have a full weekend of nothing -- well, not nothing, but nothing but leisure activities ahead. Okay, so I will do laundry and clean my house, but I will not be answering phones at work. I will putter in my container garden, take a hike, be outside. I love a good weekend!

And over at Blanton's & Ashton's there's a post about Karl Rove's probable indictment next week. One can always hope.

Mother's day gift from my daughter

My daughter & son-in-law, and the gorgeous genius grandbaby Miss Ellie Bean, live in Chicago. It's good news/bad news -- bad news is distance, good news is weather (yes, I'm serious. California winters are not Chicago winters.) Anyway, she sent the funniest, silliest little gift to me for Mothers Day: pyjamas! The pattern is Queen Mother -- but the really funny part is that enclosed was a "do not disturb" sign -- and I live alone.

When I get home during the week, I love to get out of my work clothes, put on my jammies, and chill out. I mean, it's just one of my favorite ways to unwind. Is that strange? Whatever. I love this little gift, it's just so enjoyable.

Last year, she sent me a gift card for a day spa in Los Angeles -- which was incredible, but once it's over, it's over. These jammies will let me connect with her all the time.

Beautiful paintings

I have no idea what she's saying as I don't speak or read French well enough; but I do know what these paintings Échange transatlantique II are saying. The bottom one in particular shows an exquisite use of light.

The top painting, Mont Vesuve vu de Torre dell'Annunziata près de Naples, has an almost Japanese feel to it. There's a softness to the image (at least as displayed by my computer) that probably indicates very thin use of of paint -- I don't see any evidence of scumbling, but I could be wrong. It's oil on paper, probably thin washes. It's gorgeous.

The middle painting, Schroon Mountain, Adirondacks, is by Thomas Cole and it has a boldness to it that makes my heart sing. He's painted this with authority, it's a wonderful image.

But the bottom one, Le temps est à l'orage, lac Memphrémagog, just makes me gasp in awe. Just an incredible use of light.

Years ago I was at The Vermont Studio Center, on a month long fellowship. I was the lone figure/portrait painter among landscape artists. One day toward the end of the month, a couple of them dragged me out to do some Pleine Air painting. My god, it's hard work -- so many choices! SO many choices. Clearly the above artists knew how to make those choices.

Bush, the NSA and our lovely Phone companies

Yesterday we found out that the three biggies, Verizon, AT&T and BellSouth are helping the government compile call information on millions of American citizens, both consumers and businesses.

President Bush told reporters “we’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans,” but that’s simply not true. Although the Bush administration claims they're only directing this illegal spying at terror suspects or international calls, that's simply not true. The government is tracking the calls and communications of millions of ordinary Americans with the help of the phone companies. Another fine example of this administration's blatant disregard for our Constitution and our civil liberties. Take action now!

From an editorial in today's New York Times: "What we have here is a clandestine surveillance program of enormous size, which is being operated by members of the administration who are subject to no limits or scrutiny beyond what they deem to impose on one another. If the White House had gotten its way, the program would have run secretly until the war on terror ended — that is, forever."

One more time we're seeing an example of how we've become like George Orwell's book "1984." In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."

Work -- do you love what you do?

Went to a function last night after work with one of our Luxury Cruise partners -- it was for top producing travel agencies, with over $1M in sales for the line. Very swank, very lovely. Four of us from the office: the owner of the agency, and the three top agents. Now, I love what I do: creating vacations for people, which is a fine balance between fulfilling dreams and sales, is actually creative and fun. I'm lucky that I don't do a lot of the "sun destination" packages; I do all complex kinds of things, and I focus on adventure, exotic destinations, South Pacific, Africa, South America, and luxury and adventure cruises. My job is to make people happy, to give people their dream. It's sometimes a form of psycho-therapy; sometimes it's drudgery; sometimes we get assholes like the clients I fired after five years. But then we get the honeymooners who are all starry-eyed, or this brother/sister -- he's been off fighting terrorists, and she's here in the states, and they're meeting for a two week holiday in a lovely destination.

And the lovely part of my work is that I've been able to live one of my passions! I love to travel. And I've been able to do so, I've been able to go to some extraordinary places, do incredible things, all because of my job. Now, I admit to having a fantasy job: in my dreams I am an anthropologist, (skipping all the hard school part) and I am documenting exotic cultures, making an award winning film about some lost culture. In a way, I think I'm living that dream.

So I wonder: how many of us really love what they do? What are your jobs, and do you love your work? Would you change? Do you have a fantasy job? Are you living your dream? (Alicia, I know you are!)

With friends like these...

What is wrong with these Democrats? Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: Helpful Democrats run to Bush's rescue

The language of the Right Wing

There's a fantastic diary by thereisnospoon over at My Left Wing that addresses why we continue to lose elections -- it's all about focus and language. You can read Why the Right-Wing Gets It--and Why Dems Don't here. It does come back to focus and language. If we don't get a handle on how to reach the heart of our base, we're going to fail.

I'm thinking again about something Blue Gal posted -- that we are the intellectuals and our country has a history of dismissing intellectuals. We do. The language of the Liberals, Progressives, and Left Wing is always at a higher level. ALWAYS. But when we take our language to an impovershed worker, barely earning minimum wage, no education, our $5.00 words are perceived as arrogant and distant. We may have the program that's going to get this person out of the hole, but we have evoked fear.

The Right Wing approaches this same worker with a paternalistic attitude -- using simple language, treating him as a child -- and appeals to his fears that someone OTHER is getting his fair share; his kids can't go to public school because those Liberal Pinkos are taking up needed tax dollars to send their kids to Private School. Fear.

Health Care, same kind of deal. Familys. You name it, we've got the solutions, but they've got the focus and language.

We need to change this now, or even with a 31% approval rating, the Radical Right will continue to hold power.

S.1955 jeopardizes health care for workers 50+

This bill, if passed, will undermine necessary coverage for diabetes education and supplies, and coverage for cancer screening as a routine part of health maintenance. It will also make it difficult for seniors to get health coverage, or to even get jobs.

AARP, The American Cancer Society, and The American Diabetes Association oppose this bill. It comes up for a vote this week. Please contact your Senators and urge them to vote no.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez7may07,0,6821511.column?page=1

Knock Knock: Be vewwwwy quiet

Knock Knock: Be vewwwwy quiet

Thanks to Peacechick Mary! Had no idea these guys were related.

Blue Gal's post "Can't a Blogger Get a Little Respect Around Here?"

Blue Gal has a post about the evolving Left Wing Blogosphere worth reading, and commenting on. She's cross posted it on Daily Kos in the Diaries, as well. It's an incredible post, and I would link it if I knew how.

The Hebrew words Tikkun Olam mean to heal the world. That's our job. The blogosphere connects like minded people who otherwise would never have met. NEVER.

I'm relatively new to blogging. I don't know how to link a post back to my blog. I don't know how to create a hyper-link within a post -- still, my own experience is this: I moved to Los Angeles five years ago from Chicago. In Chicago, I was a left-winger among liberals, I had a voice, I had a community of friends who thought, who read, who were the artists, intellectuals, the teachers, the activists. Los Angeles has been something of a desert for me -- the people who embraced me, while lovely people, are very shallow and, sadly, right of center. Not fascists, mind you, but we just can't talk about much other than who will be voted off American Idol.

And then I got an email from Alicia about her session on the Living With War CD -- and suddenly, there's a huge world of left wing bloggers. People who are activists, who give their heart and soul to healing the world. In the blink of an eye, I've made connection with like-minded people.

Still, I'm fairly intimidated by many blogs, and bloggers. I'm older (close to 60), and oddly shy. But I will keep posting, I will be active in my own attempts to change the minds of my Republican friends, I will do what I can to heal the world.

May 15th and the Senior Tax

This obscene deadline is fast approaching -- any seniors who've not signed up for the unfathomable Medicare plan will be penalized for life under the Bush Administration's guidelines. Every real Democrat in House and Senate opposes the plan, but fat lot of good that will do.

There is something truly obscene about the thinking of this administration. They have an arrogant and casual disregard for human dignity. They have an arrogant and casual disregard to the delicate balance of nature and contribute actively to the destruction of this balance. They have an arrogant and casual disregard for human life in their blind pursuit of control of foreign oil and their own personal greed.

We really stand at a tipping point, and most Americans are asking how we got here. We got here because we tend to abdicate responsibility in favor of watching "reality" television. Our addiction to being entertained at all times means we don't have to read, we don't have to think, we become numb and asleep and one day we wake up at the brink of real disaster and say WTF?

Still, I retain hope that those of us who oppose this administration are making our voices heard. Dinner on Saturday with dear friends -- a gay couple who live in a hotbed of Republicanism, Orange County -- and one of them is a lawyer and Republican (I tease him that being Gay and Republican is an oxymoron) -- anyway, he's no longer a Bush supporter, and is quite concerned about what's going on.

Another friend, a woman who is Republican only because her parents were (she's 65 years old!) said to me on Sept. 11, 2001 "We've got the right man for the job, don't you think?" -- I was horrified, having just lost a good friend on AA11; I said "absolutely not". Anyway, now she's so frustrated by Medicare; she's so appalled by the Iraq war, the lies, and the probability we'll invade Iran as well that she no longer supports Bush.

Two small examples of change. I retain hope.

Monday

I had to work Sunday because we had an ad with one of the cruise lines -- and I'm one of the cruise specialists. It's good news/bad news but it eats into the weekend and it makes for a long week. Even though its a short day, it just keeps me inside, at the phone, at the desk. It was productive in terms of work -- some decent bookings, some nice clients -- one guy started to complain about the high price of gasoline in his area, and blaming the Republicans -- but while at work, I can't get into it.

When I closed up, I went to Whole Foods, picked up some things, drove the 30 miles home, and just turned into a vegetable.

C-Span is running streaming video of Colbert's roast on its website, and will be selling a DVD for $25-ish. And on Friday, Google Video will have Colbert's roast on streaming video.

All over the map right now. Have to get ready for work, the new week, and next week, I will settle in on what digital SLR to purchase.

Project for a New American Century

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm'

This June 3, 1997, statement of principles from the Project for a New American Century is the shaky foundation of the Bush Administration. If you haven't seen it, it is important to read. If you've seen it before, it's worth the reminder, because this is what the Bush Administration believes. Note the signers of this statement.

We need to get these people out of office now.

The answer for Katrina

Weekend

My mini roses are doing just fine, which is to say they are lovely. The yellow rose bush has new buds opening. The red one just looks great. My Spanish Lavender is amazing in its pot, I'm actually glad I don't have a full yard because it is so hardy that it tends to take over. My lettuces have all popped up, little seedlings, and I will have a lot of tasty salads.

It's the tomatoes, though, that have not shown their bloom. I know I did them hastily, and the truth is I probably should have done seedlings instead of seeds. There is nothing like a tomato picked fresh off the vine; second choice is tomatoes from the farmers market. I can't tolerate supermarket tomatoes at all. So I will wait a little longer, but I think I'm going to have to purchase seedlings from the garden store and start over.

The week was great after firing the crazy clients. All of a sudden, I'm getting an absolute slew of calls from honeymooners. I've always been busy, I'm a top producer at our agency, but getting rid of the crazies has suddenly put me into a higher phase. Julia Cameron talks about the Crazy Makers in The Artist's Way -- she says they rob us of energy and time. Once I got rid of them, I had that energy again.

Farmer's Market, laundry, some house cleaning, baking today before dinner with friends. Sunday, I'm at work because we have a cruise ad, and I'm one of the luxury cruise experts. We're open 7 days a week, weekends are voluntary, but it's good business. Yesterday was 3 years with this company, and I'm happy there. It's a good fit for me. Owner of the agency is decent, kind, and fair, and a keeps us healthy. I have good friends in the company. We're an oddity in that many small businesses that are owner/operated tend to be Republican; we're so NOT Republican it borders on hilarious. I love where I work. This makes me very lucky indeed.

So, off to start the day.

++++++++++++++++++++++
11:00 AM
Marcy Winograd table at Farmers Market. I got my bumper sticker, it's now on my car. Got there in time to get Gaviota Strawberries, my favorite. And I caved, bought Brandywine Tomato seedlings, and basil seedlings, will replant my non-growing seeded tomatoes now.

Foggy morning, June gloom. I suspect a hot hot summer (thank you, Mr. President, for adding to global warming. Putz.)

The Wall

A female CNN journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Western Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time.

So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was walking slowly up to the holy site. She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane in a very slow fashion , she approached him for an interview. "I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"

"For about 60 years."

"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"

"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship."

"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"

"Like I'm talking to a fuckin' wall."

The Politics of Meaning

Several years ago there was a movement called the Politics of Meaning. The general message was/is that the Right has co-opted the language of the Liberals and the Left. The Right has taken our language and presented it from what Jungians would call a "shadow" side, the dark side of the language of compassion twisted by fear.

The premise: the Liberals and Left have all the correct action based on compassion and common welfare, but the language is all about statistics. We put in programs that work, that are helpful and good, but have not mastered the language of kindness.

On the other hand, the Right wing and Conservatives base their language in "family values" and "Moral behavior" and twist it with fear: the fear that someone else who is NOT YOU is getting your fair share of the pie and you are going to do without. "You" have worked hard, you're a real American supporting a family (who cares if your grandparents came off a boat possibly escaping religious persecution) and THEY WHO ARE NOT YOU (Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Left-wing Pacifists who are clearly not real Patriots) are taking away what is rightfully yours. The Right Wing stokes this fear with a constant referral that anyone who doesn't agree with them is not a patriot. They quash discourse.

The result is we become frustrated, and we begin to scream. Or go to sleep. Exhausted, burnt out, worn out. We can't do that. We cannot afford to close our eyes in the hope or expectation that someone else will correct the wrongs or speak our voice.

We need to take back our language and calmly, steadfastly, take back our Nation. Restore our Constitution. Care for our sick, our poor, our workers. We need to reclaim our dignity by stopping unnecessary wars that are based on greed. Peace.

Remember Kent State

32 years ago today, National Guardsmen opened fire on college students at Kent State who were protesting the Viet Nam War. Four dead in Ohio.

We need to honor their memory, and the memory of our Viet Nam dead and MIA by bringing our soldiers home from Iraq.

HUGE NEWS: My grandbaby finally walked

I have this gorgeous 1 year old grandbaby who is the love of my life. She lives far away, so I don't see her all the time, but Ms. Bean (this is one of my names for her) is still my greatest joy. My daughter called me a little while ago: Ellie has begun to walk without holding on to things. She looks like a little drunken wobble bunny, and I am just floating. They promised me video of it.

Sigh.

Guest workers my ass

I found this on The Fat Lady Sing's alternate blog: The Refugees. If Bush's guest worker program goes through, those "guests" won't get minimum wage; they won't get health care; they won't be very welcome. Oh, yes, and it would be so easy for a truckload of nuclear materials to enter.

So, to TFLS, I'm glad Typepad was down, because it led me to the other site, which led me to this image, which led me to pinch and post.

What a pal

R.J. Matson

St. Louis Dispatch

Huh?

"Political anxiety in an election year is to blame for a lot of the bad bills Congress passes. "REPRESENTATIVE JEFF FLAKE, Republican of Arizona, on a proposed $100 rebate to taxpayers to compensate for higher gas prices.

And here I thought bad bills were passed because of cronyism and greed.

H Res 635

I just sent a letter to Congresswoman Jane Harman urging her to support HR 635, calling for an investigation into Grounds for Impeachment. Last time I made this kind of request was after Watergate. I hope everyone sends a letter to their Congressman or Congresswoman.

Fired a client today

I had this client who followed me from another travel agency. Not at all a nice person; he's a Hollywood screenwriter quite full of himself (successful) and his wife is borderline insane. They have an overarching sense of priviledge and arrogance that makes me cringe every time they'd call or email. He'd start his calls with "Just for fun let's look at" traveling last minute over some impossible holiday to some A-list destination.

Anyway, I've been working on a trip for them for high-season, impossible destination, and every day at about 4 PM she sends one line emails (and since she's on AOL, she doesn't reference anything) -- about ten of these emails in a row, all contradictory. I've lost sleep, I get sick, and I can't service my other clients -- and worse, they never trust any of my suggestions, they have to check with their A-list friends to find out if it's worth going to.

On Friday at 4:30, I got one of these emails which began "change of plans" -- followed by three more contradictory emails. And, this morning, I came in to four more of these sort of emails. Nothing was confirmed at this point, and frankly, we lose money on them because of all the insanity. So, with the blessing of the owner of our agency, I sent a very polite email saying that I was completely confused, and that I didn't feel I could provide the level of service they require, that I am probably no longer the right agent, nor are we the right agency for them.

Within ten minutes of sending the email, an old client I'd not heard from in three years called me out of the blue.

I wish it were as simple with the Bush administration: Dear George, after the chaos of the last six years, I feel we are not the right country for you...

Balcony gardening

Planted tomatoes and lettuce in containers on my balcony. I mean, I put seeds, not seedlings, into my containers. I've always started with seedlings before, I really hope this works. Also put mini-roses and this gorgeous Spanish Lavender plant out there. It felt so productive to put my hands in dirt, even if it is a balcony garden.

Spoke to Ellie bean -- rather, she babbled in her lovely little strange baby language, then tried to eat the phone. I miss her. She has the sweetest voice. Wish they would move to Los Angeles.

Peace takes courage

Ava Lowrey is a 15 year old artist and peace activist. She put an animation on the web, WWJD, which made her the target of some extraordinary hate mail. It is a powerful animation, which you can see here: http://peacetakescourage.cf.huffingtonpost.com/animations/wwjd.html

She has a new animation, http://peacetakescourage.cf.huffingtonpost.com/animations/32.html
which answers the hate mail -- this comes with a warning: adult language and poor spelling ahead, because she quotes from those attacks. This young woman is a true patriot. Check it out.

Diety of the Day

This is a wonderful site. Tell the world! Support the Gods! Every time you mention Godchecker you earn Godly bonus points. And it's travel related: Win a luxury holiday in Heaven with the deity of your choice!

Scooter Libby

Does anyone else remember when NPR's Libby Lewis interviewed Libby Lewis about the leaks? Classic. Should have been a bit on SCTV back in the day.

Technical success

Thank you Alicia. I appreciate the help.

more techno-challenged stuff

Argh. I can't figure out how to post two logos on my sidebar. Big Brass Alliance and After Downing Street. It's simple, but every time I do it, the image doesn't display properly. I need Geek Squad, I think.

My daughter and granddaughter just called me. My daughter is great, and she put the baby on the phone, who chatters away in some language all her own. Sweet voice, I miss her to pieces. She has so much to say, none of it English, and she thinks everyone around her is sort of thick because they don't speak her language. It's adorable.

Off to work for an hour to do a honeymoon -- then tonight, a friend is singing in a huge Vivaldi spring ensemble.

Saw "Paradise Now" on DVD last night. Two young Palestinians living in the West Bank, recruited to be suicide bombers. The choice for one is clear -- for the other young man, not so much. But it was stunning, because ultimately the one who was so certain that there was no choice realizes that acts of terrorism are not the solution -- that the only solution for Israelis and Palestinians must come at the negotiating table, without killings. It was a powerful film, gorgeous.

How Bush & Company got away with it

This is a quote from Nazi leader Herman Goering: "Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to do the bidding of the leaders. All you have to do is tell them that they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

I believe that this administration allowed the attacks of September 11, 2001, to happen because it would be all they needed to put their war agenda in place. September 11, 2001, put America to sleep, made most of us unwilling to take a stand in oposition to an immoral war fueled only by our addiction to oil, greed, and insanity.

We have to wake up, we have to wake up, we have to wake up. More and more of us are finding our voice. Let's honor those killed on September 11, and since, by standing up and saying NO to Bush & Company.

Morning thoughts

Joined Grandmothers for Peace. It's strange only because I feel too young to be a grandmother. But I have this gorgeous 1 year old granddaughter, and I want her to grow up in a world of peace. I want her to be alert, awake, and aware of what she can do to contribute to a greater good. She is the love of my life, and I want the world for her.

On the other hand, I joined Big Brass Alliance and can't quite figure out how to put the logo onto my sidebar, so I feel like an old fogey. I know I'm missing something simple, but can't quite figure out what I'm doing incorrectly. Sigh. So I emailed for technical support. When in doubt, ask for help.

Found out yesterday that I'm not going to go to Australia in June for ATE -- I'm okay with this, as I went last year. And I'm going in September. Bhutan in November. Maybe The Baltics in July, probably not. My passport is at the ready though, and I can pack in a hurry. Nothing like a good adventure to make me happy!

World's tallest ice sculpture at Ski Dubai By Aftab H. Kola

History was made recently when Dubai was inducted into the Guinness World Records for the world's tallest ice sculpture. Standing at 40 feet, the sculpture is a replica of the Burj Al Alam, the world’s tallest commercial tower by Dubai-based developer Fortune Group.

In conjunction with the launch of their latest and greatest development, the Fortune Group was set to break more than one world record. The Burj Al Alam, Arabic for The World Tower measures 482 metres and upon its completion in 2009, will be one of the world’s tallest commercial towers, beating current number one, Taiwan’s Taipei 101. To celebrate their crowning achievement, the Fortune Group along with Whisper Events and MAC Advertising decided to fly in France’s Michel Amann, two-time world Ice Carving champion to create the Burj Al Alam in ice.

“The Burj Al Alam is the culmination of a dream and everyone at Fortune Group is standing proud today as we break one existing world record, the tallest commercial tower and create a new record in the Guinness World Records with the world’s tallest ice sculpture,” proudly states Ahmed Khoory, Chairman, Fortune Group, adding “When this idea was just an idea and so far from becoming a reality, I never imagined the Fortune Group would be the name behind such an amazing and historical accomplishment. We are honored and overjoyed to be a part of cementing Dubai’s global recognition.”

The biggest obstacle lay in the logistics behind such a creation. With current temperatures ushering in the advent of an early Dubai summer, this was no simple feat and could not have been realized without the support of Ski Dubai and the Mall of the Emirates. To create the groundbreaking 25 ton edifice, a specialized team of 10 carvers clocked a total of 1440 man-hours and used 45 tons of ice to create an iconic and unforgettable ice sculpture that has forever immortalized Fortune Group’s Burj Al Alam and the emirate of Dubai.

Currently showcased in Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates, the Burj Al Alam ice sculpture is available for public viewing all of this week and gives Dubai's residents and visitors the exclusive opportunity to see what the rest of the world will only read about.

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See what a few oil wells will do for ya?

Questions I've been asked when traveling

Questions have all been since Bush's first term in office: "how do you live with this administration?" from a friend who is from New Zealand. A stranger in South Africa asked me, just prior to the November 2004 election, "Can't you people do something?" (Apparently not.) We are viewed as children by a lot of cultures -- fueled by greed, and focused on self. Just read that this Rodriguez woman who stars in "Lost" would rather do jail time than community service for her guilty DUI verdict. Sometimes I feel like I can't breathe.

Why Gas Prices Won't Go Down, from today's LA Times

With an administration that lives by greed, we are becoming a third world nation.


Why Gas Prices Won't Go Down
By Elizabeth Douglass, Times Staff WriterApril 26, 2006
The steps proposed by President Bush on Tuesday to rein in soaring gasoline prices would do little to cut fuel costs for outraged motorists before the summer driving season, industry experts said.That's because the factors driving today's record gasoline prices are varied and complex — and beyond the reach of presidential dictate. They include a shortage of refining capacity, rampant speculation in oil markets, oil company choices about fuel additives, unrelenting gasoline demand and high industry profits.

Even so, U.S. commodities traders seemed to give the president credit for the effort.Prices on oil and gasoline markets fell after Bush halted government oil purchases for the strategic petroleum reserve and urged the Environmental Protection Agency to consider relaxing clean-fuel rules if gasoline supply problems emerge. The moves were aimed at keeping more oil on the open market and making it easier for refiners to deliver fuel where it is most needed."It took oil prices down, it took oil stocks down and it calmed the market," said Fadel Gheit, an oil industry analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. But the proposals, he added, "aren't really going to do anything. It's good TV and gives the appearance of being in touch."That appearance, already important in an election year, will be more so this week, as oil companies including giant Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. announce first-quarter profits that are expected to top previous records that generated anger at the pump and in Congress."They are going to be record, blockbuster, huge, given the fact of where these commodity prices are going," said John Kilduff, a senior vice president at commodities firm Fimat USA Inc. in New York.Exxon Mobil took in about $1 billion a day in revenue in the last six months of 2005, which translated into profit of about $10 billion for each quarter.The president's actions will do little to damp the oil prices that are behind the profits.Industry experts point out, for example, that Bush's pledge to stop taking oil off the market to help fill the oil reserve is a move that would ease prices if there were a short-term supply crunch. Right now, however, the United States has plenty of oil."Crude oil supplies are at an almost eight-year high," Kilduff said. "The price is obviously not reflecting that. It's reflecting the worries about the future."Oil passed the $75-a-barrel mark last week, largely because of concerns that geopolitical tensions over Iran's nuclear program could interrupt shipments from that country, the world's No. 2 exporter. Traders operating in a continuous state of what they call "petronoia" are worried as well about political turmoil affecting key suppliers such as Nigeria, Chad and Venezuela.On Tuesday, oil for June delivery fell 45 cents to $72.88 a barrel in New York. After dipping as low as $2.07 a gallon after Bush's remarks, gasoline rebounded to finish the day down 4.48 cents to $2.129 on wholesale markets.The high cost of oil, often passed quickly from the futures markets to daily crude purchases, is responsible for about half the price at the pump, experts say. But other factors also are pushing up current retail prices, which in California on Monday hit a record average of $3.068 for a gallon of self-serve regular, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.Adjusted for inflation, the price of gasoline is just below its all-time high set in the early 1980s.U.S. gasoline stockpiles have been drained in recent months because of lower output at domestic refineries — some still suffering from hurricane damage along the Gulf Coast and others undergoing longer-than-normal spring maintenance.Gasoline traders also fretted that there could be supply glitches as some refiners switched to adding ethanol to summertime fuel instead of MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether — an additive known to contaminate groundwater. A government agency recently warned that such disruptions could increase price volatility and cause brief gasoline shortages.Prompted by those worries, Bush ordered the EPA to be ready to grant clean-fuel waivers to counter any ill effects of the switch-over. That move also was viewed Tuesday as providing only limited relief, because many refiners are unlikely to change course by seeking a waiver just as the ethanol transition is nearing completion.The nation's refiners "are pretty much committed regardless," said John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group in Washington. "The switch pretty much is going to be done by May 1, and that's Monday."Analysts also said U.S. gasoline supplies should soon swell because more refineries have returned to full fuel production and tanker loads of imports are on the way. Barring new troubles, they said, retail prices should start falling on their own before Memorial Day.Looking ahead, though, experts see a continuing struggle to keep up with steadily growing demand for oil as well as for gasoline, diesel and other fuels.Rising fuel demand in the U.S., boosted largely by economic growth, has for years outpaced production from domestic refineries — making the market more susceptible to the availability and price of imported supplies. The same is true for oil.The situation is made worse by the meteoric growth in oil and fuel consumption in the hot economies of India and China. Soaring demand there is straining the ever-precarious worldwide oil balance as well as creating stiff competition for imports.Such deeply rooted problems are not easily or quickly solved, said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, an industry research firm in Massachusetts."Every president who has problems with energy learns that there is not a lot you can do in the short term," said Yergin, author of "The Prize," a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the oil industry. "The system is overstressed … and the truth is most of the [solutions] are medium-term or long-term."What counts in the short term is demand, he said, noting that prices retreated when consumption dropped amid the price surge that followed last year's hurricanes. For immediate effects, Yergin said, "it's really not what the administration does — what really matters is what consumers do."

Shrub, take two

My one year old granddaughter doesn't have trouble putting these shapes into her Tupperware ball. Is it 2008 yet?

Travel woes

So it has come to this: guy calls the office today to find out if it is cheaper to FLY to his destination than to drive. He said gas will cost him around $400 for the round trip if he drives; but the flight turned out to be $650 for the round trip. We told him "Get a good road map and some munchies for the road."

I'm still new to blogging

It's a new form of keeping a journal. I'm very new to this. Been reading a bunch of blogs, and I started this one ages ago but couldn't figure out how to get back to it. But here I am.

two blogs I like:

http://lastleftb4hooterville.blogspot.com/ politics, music, more

http://faroutadventures.blogspot.com/ my favorite guide in Australia

Floods, Cyclones, Hurricanes, Tsunamis

My Aboriginal elder friend says that Rainbow is mad at us, so he slaps his tail and causes floods. Reasons to be mad: complete disregard for the earth, global warming -- man-made disaster. Have you seen the glacial melt? Kilimanjaro was once covered with snow at the top -- almost completely gone. Glaciers in Alaska will be gone within 50 years. If you're looking for beachfront property, maybe you should move to Nevada...