Genetically modifying monkeys to GIVE them human diseases ...

Monkey Model of Huntington's Disease

Homo 'sapiens' are a mass of contradictions (to put it kindly), are they not? Stem cell research. NO. Give crippling and painful human disease to animals? YES.

Flagstaff quacks ... ?

'Pears Flagstaff, Arizona's only hospital has (quackishly?) decided that women who have had a Cesarean Section will NOT BE ALLOWED to have a vaginal birth every again, not in THEIR hospital!

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... Posing, posturing, pretend progressives prevent progress...

... This is simply the way the American elite have always functioned. Ideology, morality, patriotism, law – all must give way to the relentless and ruthless pursuit of wealth, and the power and privilege and dominance wealth brings. Prescott Bush traded with the Nazis, even when they were killing Americans, because there was money in it. For the same reason, his son, Prescott Jr., has long been a leading figure in trading with the repressive communist regime in China (as have Dubya's brother Neil -- and Don Rumsfeld too, for that matter.). For the same reason, Prescott Senior's other son, George Herbert Walker Bush, and his son, George Walker Bush, have long had extensive and intimate business ties with the violent religious extremists in Saudi Arabia, and with a number of other tyrants throughout the Middle East and around the world.

... you told them that American Democrats are Nazi sympathizers and in an act of sheer indecency, the right wing Likud party orchestrated the greatest applause you ever got. For shame!

What this blind adoration finally proves to me is that the right-wing regime that has overtaken Israel cares nothing for its people, its heritage, and the tragic history that they now honor by applauding a man whose family-fortune was built on the bodies of their loved ones. Like their Republican (and Lieberman) counterparts in the United States, Likud does not represent its people, rather, it represents its owners. Likud has traded Israel, its Jews, their heritage and history for the same golden calf purchased and sold by the far-right wing in the United States.

I am ashamed of you Mr. Bush. I am ashamed of those who applauded your political porn played out against the hallowed backdrop of the Holocaust. I am ashamed of those reporters with you, who between them could not muster the moral courage to call you out on your ugly rhetoric and ask you about your own family Nazi ties. You are, sir, the most abhorrent human being of my lifetime. I dare say, in the lifetime of this nation.

Working together with the State, the U.S.-bound media will distort the reality themselves. The American government will tell them the fight has happened because the smugglers are growing frustrated with the outstanding control of the U.S.’s border with Mexico. The correspondents of the American papers working in Mexico will know better but their shouts will go unheeded for the faster, easier story. Some truths are more comfortable than others.

A very brave man ...

Taking a stand against a corrupt administration, that has turned the US justice system into a political arm of the Federal government and instituted untold authoritarian, thugish and pre-FLDS like refinements to both American civilian and military life, is very brave indeed.

Sgt. Matthis Chiroux, who served in the Army until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Phillipines, today publicly announced his intention to refuse orders to deploy to Iraq. (via C&L)

There obviously are many brave and honorable US citizens around the country. If a sufficient number of them had been in Congress (or even the press) we might not have been in the situation we find ourselves in now.

We, the American People, have done a very poor job of keeping tabs on, and control of, OUR government.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Is this a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face? ... Sen. Barack Obama's top fundraisers have asked his campaign donors to refrain from contributing to liberal independent political organizations in hopes of controlling the tone and message of the general-election campaign. [ ... ] The McCain campaign has been less organized than Obama's in its efforts to counter the groups, but the senator from Arizona has made clear his antipathy toward them -- without much effect. ... anyone think McCain seriously cares about the swift-boating of Obama? Does Obama actually believe McCain cares or would do anything substantive to stop it? Will Democratic politicians really ignore the last eight years and get snookered again?

... As I have pleaded with you to understand, they are dishonest and cruel, they are crafty and deceptive, they aren’t stupid. Like all successful con men, they will deceive those they are robbing and destroying quite successfully. They are far from stupid.

I'd just like to say this to Clinton supporters. The spate of endorsements of Sen. Obama will continue. Every victory of Sen. Clinton's will be followed immediately by high profile endorsements to blunt the impact of that victory - it's called politics. ... Politics it may be, but I find it very disappointing that Edwards chose to endorse the least progressive candidate, the one with no real national health plan.

... The oppressor may inflict unimaginable cruelties on innocent victims -- but the victims may only protest in ways which the oppressor deems "acceptable." The profound injustice is obvious, but not in itself remarkable or unexpected: this is how oppression operates. ...

The media deserves a large share of the blame ... All this might be quite funny if one doesn’t consider the consequences for the Republic. When historians try to figure out how the most powerful nation on earth managed to end up under the control of someone as unfit as George W. Bush for eight years, they will have to take note of this media phenomenon. ... and their destructive role has not been accidental.

It’s an example of how American law enforcement tends to marginalize black discontent by attributing it to more organized external forces. This is a tendency rooted in U.S. tradition: black radicals and civil rights activists of past eras were often linked to communists and other “outside agitators” — as if the progeny of enslaved Africans needed Karl Marx to detail their gripes about life in America. Now, apparently, the government claims the link is with Osama bin Laden.

... now that it's clear Hillary's presidential campaign is all but over, the right is proceeding apace with its attempt to Hillary-ize Michelle Obama. ... [...] ... We know what the right did to Hillary, and we can expect them to do a lot of the same things to Michelle. How do we combat this?

Moyers: “ ... We’re not going to have a discourse in this campaign over the fact that the great American wealth machine is benefiting only those at the top. We’re not going to get to the fact that 10% of the people own 60% of the wealth and 70% of the people have no net worth. We’re not going to get to the issues of how do we rebuild the infrastructure, the sewer, the water, the highways, all that. We’re just going to be constantly in this battle of bumper stickers.”

It's so easy to be a commenter ...

To be a media commenter is just so easy. All one has to do is put words in someone's mouth or thought's in someone's head and then comment. Who cares about facts anyway. Glib is the way to go ...

Michael Tomasky shows us how it's done in Power cable.

Maybe that's why digby is so refreshing. She almost never writes this way (I say almost never because I have this long-ago lesson roaming around in my head that instructs me to never say never).

It's too bad anyway, because, every now and then, Tomasky is quite readable. And he has the added benefit, I assume, that some editor reviews his punctuation. Wish I had one ...

They think you 'toddle' ...

Reading the Spring/Summer 2008 catalog for Footwise (footwise.com; also birkenstockexpress.com) I ran across the this description for the Granada model:

You'll enjoy the casual look of these slip-on sandals. Featuring two straps, with cute cutouts, the Granada is perfect for toddling around town. Suede insert. Contoured cork/latex footbed. EVA sole. Resoleable. For Women.

Well, wouldn't you just know it -- of course, women must just luv to toddle on those cute sandles.

Toddle, verb
1 the child toddled toward him totter, teeter, wobble, falter, waddle, stumble.
2 informal : I toddled down to the quay amble, wander, meander, stroll, saunter; informal mosey, toodle, tootle, putter.

The first definition is the one that comes to mind when I hear the word toddle. But definition two is not much better. Stroll would have been a better choice. Can you imagine the writer suggesting that men should toddle around town on their cute sandals?

This is what footwise.com says about the Granada:

A lacy cutout pattern on the double straps gives this style a dressier look. Two adjustable buckles give you a custom fit and the contoured cork footbed provides great arch support for all-day comfort. Lightweight and flexible EVA soles provide a cushioned walk. Resoleable.

Been camping ...

I've been camping in the White Mountains -- north and west [CORRECTION: what am I thinking, the White Mountains are north and EAST] of Tucson. Sometimes one just finds the right spot at the right time and that was the case. I stayed until the holding tank indicated 'no more.'

Some photos, of course -- click on image for larger view.


This picture is at the top of the page (for today). It was taken from my campsite. If only I could move my house there. Sigh.


Just having some fun manipulation the image. I call it Lucy's Ghost.


This is the original image of Lucy's Ghost ... well almost. With digital cameras there's really no such thing as original. The only real question is how accurate the image, and even that is much in the eye of the beholder.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

... quite a few yesterdays as I have been camping in the White Mountains.

... scientists now predict that, at least among insects, global warming will take its biggest toll in the tropics--home to more than half the world's species.

... 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression

... As I often note these days, we are drowning in lies. Yet it is still no small wonder that this entire conversation about Wright, King, et al. proceeds in the almost complete absence of a discussion of what Wright has actually said, just as no one seems to remember what King actually said.

... [the chieftains of the Terror War] do not and have never cared a single instant about the freedom and well-being of the Iraqi or the Iranian people. (Or the American people, for that matter.) They are engaged on a long-range project of perpetual war toward an eventual goal of iron-clad military domination of a strategic portion of the world's energy supplies and distribution, and the establishment of America's "unipolar domination" over geopolitical affairs.

crAZy Person: Jon Kyl


In fact, the only way McCain's bankrupt domestic policies will not cause one misstep after another is if he confines himself to whistle-stop tours of gated communities and medieval castles.

A lot of noise going on Or where's the camera when you need it ...

My yard is raucous with the sound of baby and adolescent birds.

The cardinal's young is already following him around the yard as he shows her/him what to eat and where to find it.

Today, beautiful sunny and warm (84°F, 10% humidity), seems to be bath day. I was sitting outside in the shade not 3 feet from the birds' water basin when first one, then two, then three young birds came down to lurch around in the water spraying themselves and everything else. One of those chubby feathered balls was just a baby yesterday, hiding on the ground behind a flower pot. Today it's an adolescent ignoring the calls of frantic parent(s) trying to warn them that there was a scary human sitting in a chair almost within arms reach. In fact an adult bird dive bombed them twice, I assume in some effort to strike some fear into the little wayward things. Perhaps they're more akin to teenagers than adolescents. They appeared to ignore all parental input.

Here's a picture (probably, unless there's more that one couple in my yard) of mamma or poppa:
Click on image for larger version.

Global warming? What global warming ...

... New research shows that oxygen is vanishing from ever-larger swaths of the oceans. If the trend continues, it could disrupt marine ecosystems.

And why wouldn't the trend continue? We are no longer what we were when we put a man on the moon, are we? It's not like we value education, science and logic, is it? After all look at what we put in the White House.

The human race may have a long time to consider their folly as the earth dies under their feet. I doubt that anyone really knows when the point of no return will be reached. There are just too many variables. But some think we've already passed it.

Do you realize that George W. Bush and his cabal ...

... and the GOP in general, have made us the laughingstock of the world? They are incapable of anything other than murder, mayhem and theft.

The latest absurdity:

... several flights have gone out without the promised Federal Air Marshalls because these same FAMs have found their names (along with everyone who goes by Mohammed or Ali) on the list and have been refused entry onto the planes they’ve been charged to protect.

Steny Hoyer & Jay Rockefeller, your corruption is showing ...

Isn't there some way to get 'our representatives' to, you know, actually represent us? Whoever votes for ANYTHING that includes telecomm immunity should be socially ostracized forever and never ever allowed in political or public office again.

According to the ACLU, there is rumor of a backroom deal being brokered by Jay Rockefeller on FISA that will include retroactive immunity. I've heard from several sources that Steny Hoyer is doing the dirty work on the House side, and some say it will be attached to the new supplemental.

Yesterday's QUOTES ...

Among the things, evidently, that we're not supposed to bring up because it interrupts Peggy Noonan's fantasy vision of an American history populated mostly by noble 49ers and industrious Henry Fords, are the following:

-- The genocide committed against Native Americans.
-- Slavery.
-- The "lynching era" and Jim Crow.
-- Sundown towns.
-- The forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
Knowing who we are, what we have done would seem to be the key to doing better in the future, but that's just me, I guess. Don't most religions teach this concept? I thought so at one time ...

The Illinois senator [Obama] said that when folks feel economically shafted, they get “bitter.” Matthews-ism spun the truism into a scandal. [...] By downplaying inequality and couching royalism in middle-class arguments, the Beltway elite pretend there are not two Americas but only one: theirs.

That nurses, the incarnation of care in the eyes of Americans, should now be a bone of contention among unions is a clue to their paramount value as our nation’s conscience. Unlike priests, they do not bear the stigma of exploiting vulnerability. And unlike faith-based institutions, which in general have been complicit in the 50-year decline in union membership by turning away from issues of morality and justice involving workers and workplaces, nurses are tackling them head-on.

How many have actually read Jeremiah Wright's speech AND the questions and answers following it? ... Obama won't vote to impeach the president for his high crimes; he won't even denounce them for what they are. But he has sure enough impeached his preacher for all the world to see. Which, as Silber says, is "much more significant -- and much more revealing -- than any of Wright's comments themselves."

... the South should really be defined as the corporatism or Plantationsim. It is the same forces that led us to the Civil War to begin with and to imperialism, which is now sinking this entire nation.

After all, look at the talking heads themselves. They are in the job of generating controversy and tut-tutting anyone they want to denigrate, without intelligence, thought, analysis, or facts. ... Not just worthless, the media is very dangerous to our freedom, our security, our Constitutional way of government, our very lives.

... I will never understand why the people who attack Islam as oppressive to women have nothing to say about the FLDS. ...

... This election season, we've seen a cavalcade of white, middle-age men express their deep, personal contempt for the first serious female contender for the White House. Contempt, of course, that has nothing to do with Sen. Hillary Clinton's policies or her beliefs. Instead, it's been an oddly personal disdain dressed up as political analysis.