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October 31, 2006
Back On Our Feet
We're back on our feet. Jamison went back to work today, Alexis no longer has a fever and things are looking up! Alexis and I spent the afternoon with Katherine and Nelson, who actually took two steps this afternoon and I got to see it! I have a lot of things to blog about and hope to catch up a little this evening after we get Alexis to bed. She hasn't had a nap, or even laid down at all so it's going to be an early night for her.
Jamison has figured out how to get the blog back to normal, but it's going to take a little finagling to get it done. Most likely it won't be completely back to normal until after election day, so stay tuned on that front!
Hope you all are having a most wonderful day! That is all for now.
Posted by Dianne at 3:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Happy Halloween!
Here's wishing you lots of Treats! <;o)
Posted by Dianne at 8:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 30, 2006
Under The Weather
We're under the weather here at Daffodil Lane. Last week I was sick, then Alexis got a little sick, then she got better, then I got better, then Jamison got sick late last week and then Alexis and I became sick again on Saturday. Whew! That's a lot of sick going around! I'm feeling better today and even ventured out to the grocery store, though I still feel like I'm in slow motion. Jamison and Alexis are still under the weather. Posting will be light until we're back up and running.
Posted by Dianne at 1:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 29, 2006
The Rules Of Daffodil Lane Updated
On October 13, 2005 we add "The Rules" due to various incidents over time from people who did not know how to conduct themselves. Over time the rules have grown and new incidents have occurred and as people have illustrated that there was a need for new rules to be added, they were or for old rules to be ammended, those were too. Nothing has changed with the overall message, but it's worth looking at The Rules again since we've had several new incidents as of late.
Below is the updated list:
Ok all you people out there in cyberland we've been having major issues with this for a while so here it is...The Rules of Daffodil Lane. I shouldn't even have to actually write out these rules because they should be common knowledge as an aspect of common decency, but apparently there are a lot of people out there who lack that virtue so here they are. If you don't like them that's fine...you can leave, but while you are here you will abide by them or you will be banned.
First let's define what a weblog is because apparently a lot of people out there have no idea and don't understand the medium. A weblog is in essence an online journal that one or more persons who pay for the site contribute to and Dictionary.com defines a journal as:
jour•nal ( P ) Pronunciation Key (jûrnl) n. : A personal record of occurrences, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis; a diary.
The key word there being PERSONAL. A weblog is OUR personal thoughts and feelings about what is going on in the world, our personal lives, the news, etc. Our views might not agree with yours and that is fine...everyone is entitled to their opinion. We even encourage comments and debate as long as it is done in a adult, mature manner. We will have no third grade name calling.
With that in mind here are the rules:
1. Feel free to comment on our site. In fact we’d like to hear what you have to say even if you disagree with us, however we will not tolerate you abusing us personally.
For instance you are free to post something such as this:
“I do not agree with your assumption on XYZ and this is why I don’t. I feel that 123...”
However we will NOT tolerate this type of comment:
“You’re a stupid idiot! You should rot! Blah! Blah! Blah!”
2. WE pay for this site, you don’t. If you don’t like what we have to say and you can’t abide by rule one THEN LEAVE!! No one is holding a gun to your head and making you come to this site.
3. If you don’t have anything nice to say then KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!! I go to weblogs each and every day that post things I think are completely insane, but they are entitled to their opinion, just as we are entitled to ours, so I practice what I preach and refrain from comment.
4. We do not say “Bob you are a Neo-Con” or “Sally you are a Neo-Christian”. If you have a guilty conscience about how you live your life and things that might be said here are a little too realistic for you then that is your issue, NOT ours...stop over reacting as if we are personally berating you!!
5. Daffodil Lane is our home on the web. We would never dream of coming into your home and belittling how you think or feel...please be respectful of our cyber home and show us the same courtesy.
6. Childish and petty name calling will not be tolerated, nor will judgment about us. God will take care of that one day and we don’t need your help in that area. You should worry about how he is going to judge you and leave us alone!
7. If you can’t muster common courtesy and decency then refer to rule two and move along!
8. Those that do not abide by the rules will have your comments deleted and you will be banned. Those that are “smart” enough to spoof IP addresses and continue to post will have their comments deleted as well so save yourself the time and our effort of having to clean up after you!
9. Do not post an entire comment in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS! A few words here and there for emphasis is one thing, but an ENTIRE entry in all caps conveys anger and yelling and we won't put up with that!
10. Do not tell us what to do or say on our OWN blog. Please see rule #2.
11. Racism and hate speech will not be tolerated.
12. Don't take a harsh tone with us...we will not tolerate nonsense. You may think you are being funny, but rest assured you aren't!
13. We reserve the right to edit comments with typos. We will not change the gist of your comment. Rude comments will not be edited, they will be flat out deleted. (See rule #8.)
14. We reserve the right to delete comments we don't approve of without warning or explanation.
15. There will be no degrading comments posted about soldiers or veterans on this website. You are entitled to your feelings about the subject, but I won't tolerate that being posted here. The soldiers and veterans of this country have/had a job to do and the majority of those brave people did a superb job! Belittling that makes me see red! It's one thing to disagree with the war in Iraq, it's another thing all together to belittle a solider! They take an oath to protect this country and follow orders. You may not like the orders they are given, many of us don't, but they are doing their job! The atmosphere might not be ideal, but as I mentioned above they are doing their job and I won't tolerate comments posted suggesting otherwise.
16. Have the courtesy to at least leave a screen name identifying yourself and a valid email address, which will not be posted with your comment on the actual blog, but will be visible to Jamison and myself. If you just wish to be anonymous, then just don't post!
17. Aggressive comments will not be tolerated.
18. Photographs of Alexis are not to be copied, placed elsewhere or even saved for personal use. They are here for the enjoyment of family and friends. They are NOT here for use by complete strangers!!!
19. And leave Alexis out of your comments. There is no need to bash a child! Nor is there any reason to bring her into your discussion when the topic has nothing to do with her.
20. If you've been asked to leave then do so like a mature adult. I should not have to ban someone who has been asked to leave.
And finally THIS IS NOT UP FOR DISCUSSION!!
Posted by Dianne at 6:39 PM
October 28, 2006
I Want To Be Here...
Now! :O)
Posted by Dianne at 7:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Happy Saturday! ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 10:32 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 27, 2006
Shut Up And Sing
A must see. The trailer alone gives me chills.
Update: Apparently NBC is refusing the air the ad for the documentary because it bashes Bush. Oh my God! How stupid! Harvey Weinstein had this to say:
It’s a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America. The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is profoundly un-American.
Very well said Mr. Weinstein!
Found via ThinkProgress.
Posted by Dianne at 2:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sometimes Mortality Just Smacks You In The Face
Sometimes, some days, mortality just reaches up and smacks you in the face. Darlene sent me an email and one of our friends from high school died last night of what appears to have been a brain aneurysm. She was only 33 years old and leaves behind a husband and two small boys (4 and 6). My heart and prayers go out to her family. I know they're hearts must be breaking in two.
Posted by Dianne at 1:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 26, 2006
I Thought She'd At Least Be A Teenager Before She Locked Me Out Of The House
Yesterday afternoon I went outside to plant my aster and Alexis wanted to come too. She didn't however want to put on shoes, so I told her with no shoes on she could stay on the deck for the 2 minutes or so it would take me to put the plant in the ground, but she couldn't go any further because it was cold. So she told me she'd take her socks off and I told her with no socks on she couldn't come out side at all and would have to remain inside. She said no shoes, but she said she would stay on the deck, so we came outside.
I opened the shed to get my shovel and while I had my back turned on her she took her socks off, made her way down the stairs and was standing on the grass by the time I turned back around. I told her to go back inside immediately, because I told her not to take her socks off. She went back in the French door and slammed it, that in and of itself would have landed her in trouble, but then the fun came. I planted my aster, took a few pictures and then when I went to open the door it was locked. 3 freaking minutes and she had locked the door!
Sometimes when you close the deck doors they stick a little bit. I don't know if that's what happened and she couldn't open it, so she assumed it was locked and started turning the locks, or she decided to lock me out because she was mad about the sock and shoe incident, but she somehow managed to turn the lock and we're not talking just the normal doorknob lock, we're talking the deadbolt! And let me tell you, that deadlock is a witch to lock! And of course she couldn't get it unlocked, because well it's a witch to unlock too.
So there I stood with a door between me and Alexis trying to get her to unlock the door and her not understanding what I was trying to get her to do, but she was getting upset because she realized I was locked out and she was locked in and that wasn't to her liking. I didn't have my keys, I didn't have my phone, I had no way of getting in and I had no way of letting Jamison know that I needed him to come home and let me in and in my mind I started to panic a little bit too, though I played it cool for Alexis' sake, because well that's what moms do.
I started thinking of things I could do. Had she just locked the doorknob lock I could have probably picked the lock, because Jamison's dad showed me how easy that is to do a few years back much to my horror as I realized how easy that truly is to do. Then my next thought was going across the street and calling Jamison at work, but I realized the kids weren't home from school yet, though they would have been in 10 minutes.
Then it dawned on me...When we returned from Annapolis yesterday morning I had not locked the front door, or at least I hoped I hadn't. You see I'm notoriously dependable OCD about locking the door behind me, to the point that sometimes I have it locked back before we even have entered the house! I'm all about door locks people! But as I made my way around to the front of the house I just hoped and prayed that having no memory of locking it back that morning meant that it was in fact unlocked and thank God it was! It's one of the few times in my life I haven't freaked out about the door being unlocked!
When I came back inside Alexis and I had a nice long talk about how you don't lock the door when Mommy is outside and how if the front door hadn't been unlocked there would have been no way to get inside to her because I didn't have my keys for the lock, nor did I have my phone to call Jamison and slamming the door was a big no no too. She got a nice little time out to think about the error of her ways.
Have I mentioned I don't get paid enough money for what I do? ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 4:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 25, 2006
Crabby Pictures
Triton:
Pretty much the only time Triton ventures out of his shell when people are present is when a) he doesn't realize you're around or b) right after his "bath". Aren't his purple claws gorgeous?
Vesta:
Vesta is a little bit more social, or was until it got cooler outside and she began to hibernate. She's a lot smaller than Triton, but their shells match almost perfectly even though Triton was purchased in North Carolina and Vesta was purchased here in Maryland.
Posted by Dianne at 7:18 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Celebrity Face Match
Found via EbonyMommy.
Posted by Dianne at 7:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Where Do You Fall?
Click on the picture above and take CNN's Quiz for yourself.
Posted by Dianne at 12:51 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It's Amazing What A Day Can Do!
Other than a slight lingering headache, I feel soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than yesterday! No aches, no pains, no coughing, no fever, minimal sneezing. It's amazing what 24 hours can do! :o)
Posted by Dianne at 12:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Have You Had Enough?
Posted by Dianne at 12:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 24, 2006
Why Is It That Republicans Can't Talk About The Issues, So They Just Lead Personal Attacks Instead?
Let's looks at three instances of this in the past few days. First up John Spencer's Hillary comments:
"You ever see a picture of her back then? Whew," the Daily News quoted Spencer as saying. "I don't know why Bill married her."Noting she looks different now, he chalked it up to "millions of dollars" of "work," according to the tabloid.
"She looks good now," he is quoted as saying.
Because after all looks are what really matters. And besides Hillary wasn't ugly to start with. I think she's handled this incident very well, though now he claims he never said what has been attritbuted to him, but usually where there is smoke there is fire. I also think it clearly illustrates that someone that resorts to defaming someone's looks clearly isn't mature enough to be a US Senator, but then again there are a lot of those on the Hill who fit that bill!
Next let's look at another GOPers completely out of line comments to a fellow candidate who just happens to be in a wheel chair with a physical disability:
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Thomas Rankin, the Libertarian running for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat, said Rep. Barbara Cubin (news, bio, voting record), R-Wyo., threatened to slap him after a televised debate.During a debate Sunday that also included Democrat Gary Trauner, Cubin and Rankin had a testy exchange over campaign contributions Cubin received from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Rankin, who has multiple sclerosis and uses an electric wheelchair, said Monday night in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that the confrontation occurred immediately after the debate.
"My aide and I were packing up to leave the debate, and Barbara walked over to me and said, 'If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face.'
Wow! That's moral values for you right there! I mean I can just feel the love! He brings up the fact she took money from DeLay and she gets mad and says she'd smack him silly if he wasn't in a wheelchair! I think it speaks volumes about the GOP on the whole! They talk about moral values, but they truly have none!
And next up old Rush Limbaugh, who has taken it upon himself to belittle Michael J. Fox:
In the commercial, Fox throws his support behind Democratic Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, who supports stem cell research, against Republican James M. Talent. Fox also taped similar ads for other Democratic candidates, including Benjamin L. Cardin in his Senate race against Republican Michael S. Steele in Maryland and Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D), who is seeking reelection [against Republican Congressman Mark Green].The Post has more:
"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told listeners today, encouraging them to go online to watch Fox's commercial, which first aired Oct. 21 in St. Louis during a World Series game. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act."
Limbaugh is nothing but a huge bully, just like O'Reilly. Neither of them has anything of substance to add to any debate, they simply huff and puff and make a lot of noise, hoping the world will be scared of them and doesn't notice that their "arguments" are based on complete tripe and their hot air is laced liberally with imaginative, downright lies and indoctrination to the cult of Bush. CNN has a good comeback to this whole asinine line of comment from Mr. Limbaugh, who last time I checked wasn't a doctor, nor a pharmacist either.
And last but not least good old Joe "I lost, but I'm running anyway and will jump to the GOP if I win" Lieberman cussing out Ned Lamont after last night's debate because Ned keeps brining up the truth:
Evidently after the debate Lieberman walked up to Ned and said "You goddamn sonovabitch," and something to the effect of "how dare you run those direct mail pieces accusing me of voting for the energy bill in 2005 because of campaign contributions from the oil companies." Joe's losing it.
So do you see the trend? They can't stand toe to toe on the issues, because they have none that aren't completely corrupt, so they resort to personal attacks that have absolutely nothing to do with the issues at hand, hoping to throw people off. Are these really the people we want running our country? No...we don't! It's more than time for a change. Our country depends upon it.
Posted by Dianne at 7:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Around And Around And Around And Around And Around...
The mini motorcycle is going around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around the Redneck's house.
Can you see how that might get annoying? Ugh!!
Posted by Dianne at 6:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tomatoes the color of blueberries
SALEM, Oregon (AP) -- Oregon State University researchers are fine-tuning a purple tomato -- a new blend of colors and nutrients. The skin is as dark as an eggplant. But it doesn't just look cool -- it could be better for you.The novel pigment contains the same phytochemical found in blueberries that is thought to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Six years in the making, the purple hybrid could hit salad plates in two years.
Genetic origins are not at issue. The purple tomato traces its roots to a wild species in South America, not a petri dish.
Now that's cool! I would love to grow some of these little gems! And the most important part of that is that they are from a wild species in South America, not genetically modified from a petri dish! Purple tomatoes...Yum!
Found via CNN. Hat tip to Jamison for tipping me off. :O)
Posted by Dianne at 4:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
And So It Begins
U.S. Senate candidate James Webb's last name has been cut off on part of the electronic ballot used by voters in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville because of a computer glitch that also affects other candidates with long names, city officials said yesterday.Although the problem creates some voter confusion, it will not cause votes to be cast incorrectly, election officials emphasized. The error shows up only on the summary page, where voters are asked to review their selections before hitting the button to cast their votes. Webb's full name appears on the page where voters choose for whom to vote.
Election officials attribute the mistake to an increase in the type size on the ballot. Although the larger type is easier to read, it also unintentionally shortens the longer names on the summary page of the ballot.
Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and nickname only -- or "James H. 'Jim' " -- on summary pages in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.
"We're not happy about it," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. "I don't think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that's a concern."
Every candidate on Alexandria's summary page has been affected in some way by the glitch. Even if candidates' full names appear, as is the case with Webb's Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. George F. Allen, their party affiliations have been cut off.
Jean Jensen, secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections, who said yesterday she only recently became aware of the problem, pledged to have it fixed by the 2007 statewide elections.
"You better believe it," Jensen said. "If I have to personally get on a plane and bring Hart InterCivic people here myself, it'll be corrected."
Absentee voters casting ballots in advance of the Nov. 7 election first noticed the problem. Election officials have been forced to post signs in voting booths and instruct poll workers to explain why some longer names appear cut-off.
Election officials in Alexandria said they have been vexed by the problem since they purchased the voting machines in 2003. Although the problem has raised eyebrows among confused voters, elections officials said they are confident that the trouble has not led voters to cast ballots incorrectly.
And so the 2006 corruption begins! I'm sorry but all of these "bugs" with electronic voting machines across the country are just a load of crap to cover up the fact that someone is trying to commit fraud on a grand scale the likes of which will make Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 look like child's play! If you still have time in your state to request a paper absentee ballot, then do! There has to be a paper trail or these a$$hats are going to get away with this AGAIN and if anyone questions the outcome they will just be "sore losers"!
Found via the Washington Post.
Posted by Dianne at 2:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
If Baltimoreans notice a new spring in their step, it might just be the sidewalks.
In a pilot program that officials hope benefits the city's bottom line almost as much as the environment, Baltimore is joining dozens of cities across the country in testing rubber sidewalks - made from used tires - that are less prone to damage from tree roots and ice. Rubber walkways, which were installed yesterday in one-block test sites at the Inner Harbor and in Charles Village, make use of otherwise worthless tires and also allows more rain to seep into the ground - providing extra water for trees and reducing the runoff that can overload the city's antiquated storm water system.And, yes, they do bounce - a little.
"All you see is tires that are being thrown in the dump," said Alfred H. Foxx, director of the city's Department of Transportation. "This is one way to take those used tires and recycle them and use them for something that's beneficial for the public."
Martin O'Malley is going to make a fantastic governor! This little experiment just goes to show he's got his head in the right place! The environmental impact of old tires is staggering. By finding a way to implement them into sidewalks, which I've read a lot about the past few years, it kills two birds with one stone. You have longer lasting, safer sidewalks that allow water to soak through, thus preventing as much urban run off into our waterways, specifically the Chesapeake Bay and you also find something to do with all the leftover tires the US produces every year! Another thing that it helps eliminate is mosquitoes since discarded tires are the primary breeding ground for the little buggers! And everyone knows less is better with those nasty little beasts!
I think we may just have to take a little field trip over to the Inner Harbor to check out this new sidewalk!
Found via the Baltimore Sun!
Posted by Dianne at 10:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Manatee finds way To Memphis, As In Tennessee, As In 725 Miles Inland!
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) -- An adventurous manatee strayed far from its usual coastal habitat to make an appearance on a Mississippi River tributary near downtown Memphis on Monday.The distance on the curvy river from near its delta in Louisiana to Memphis is more than 725 miles, according to Army Corps of Engineers charts.
"I got a call about 3 p.m. about either a hippo or a manatee in the water," said Andy Tweed, an officer with the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency. Officers from the agency and zoologists from the Memphis Zoo confirmed the sighting and observed the animal from boats.
The endangered species generally prefers warm coastal waters ranging from Alabama to South Carolina, although there were sightings this August along the East Coast up to Rhode Island.
In winter months, they usually stay in coastal waters off Florida, often congregating near the warm-water discharges of power plants.
"If he did swim from Florida, he's doing really well," Tweed said, estimating its size between eight and 10 feet, and its weight up to 1,000 pounds.
Well he's a little lost! I hope he makes it through this ok and they figure out a way to get him (or her) back to their native waters and not locked up in some aquarium somewhere!
Found via CNN News.
Posted by Dianne at 9:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
And This Is Why You Don't Let The GOP Control Anything, Especially Not The EPA!!
Under existing rules, ethanol plants are considered major sources of air pollution if they emit more than 100 tons of toxic chemicals per year. It this is the case, they are subject to an intensive permit process as well as being forced to install pollution equipment that would eliminate up to 95 percent of their emissions. After the proposed changes take effect, new ethanol plants will not be subject to the stringent federal requirements unless they emit more than 250 tons of pollution per year. Michael Hawthorne, the author's article, adds that most new refineries are expected to emit just below the 250 ton limit. As a result, a plant that emits 200 tons of pollution per year could currently be required to reduce its emissions to 10 tons, while the proposed rule changes would require little or nothing be done by the polluting plant.
You take a good idea (alternative fuels) and you put the GOP laced EPA (which shouldn't be under either party's control, but that's a rant for another time) and you end up with disaster! They just don't get it and unfortunately they never will. This kind of thing is asinine at worst and completely ignorant at best. The simple fact of the matter is this: IF YOU DESTROY THE ENVIRONMENT, WHICH YOU SEEM HELL BENT TO DO, THERE WILL BE NO ECONOMY!! The two are NOT mutually exclusive of one another. The economy depends on a healthy environment. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. Do these idiots have to completely destroy the environment to figure that out? Apparently so. It's very disheartening.
Found via AutoBlogGreen.
Posted by Dianne at 9:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Colbert Comments On Santorum and Lord of the Rings
Posted by Dianne at 9:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Special Comment:GOP Fearmongering
Yet again Olbermann takes on the GOP headfirst and it's a must see for everyone. He eloquently points out how Bush Co. on one hand rattles the terrorism flag to scare the American public, yet denies they are the ones spreading terror. In essence they use propaganda to fear us into voting for them, when it is so obvious to anyone with half a brain that we are not safer under their own reign of terror. Sadly the people who need to listen to this won't, but it doesn't change the fact that Olbermann speaks truth once again in a way only he can.
Click on the picture above to watch Mr. Olbermann's special comment.
Found via Crooks and Liars.
The transcript is below:
And lastly, tonight, a Special Comment on the advertising of terrorism.The commercial, you have already seen, it is a distillation of everything this administration and the party in power have tried to do these last five years and six weeks.
It is from the Republican National Committee, it shows images of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. It offers quotes from them, all as a clock ticks ominously in the background. It concludes with what Zawahiri may or may not have said to a Pakistani journalist as long ago as 2001, his dubious claim that he had purchased suitcase bombs. The quotation is followed by sheer coincidence, no doubt, by an image of a massive explosion. "These are the stakes" appears on the screen, quoting exactly from Lyndon Johnson's infamous nuclear scare commercial from 1964, "Vote November 7th".
There is a cheap Texas Chainsaw Massacre quality to the whole thing. It also serves to immediately call to mind the occasions when President Bush dismissed Osama bin Laden as somebody he didn't think about, except, obviously, when elections were near. Frankly, a lot of people seeing that commercial for the first time have laughed out loud, but not everyone. And therein lies the true threat to this country.
The dictionary definition of the word ‘terrorize' is simple and not open to misinterpretation: "To fill or overpower with terror; terrify; coerce by intimidation or fear." Note please that the words ‘violence' and ‘death' are missing from that definition. For the key to terrorism is not the act-but the fear of the act. That is why bin Laden and his deputies and his imitators are forever putting together videotape statements and releasing virtual infomercials with dire threats and heart-stopping warnings.
But why is the Republican Party imitating them? Bin Laden puts out what amounts to a commercial of fear; the Republicans put out what is unmistakable as a commercial of fear.
The Republicans are paying to have the messages of bin Laden and the others broadcast into your home! Only the Republicans have a bigger bankroll.
When last week, the CNN network ran video of an insurgent in Iraq evidently stalking and killing an American soldier, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mr. Hunter, Republican of California, branded that channel quote "the publicist for an enemy propaganda film," and added that CNN used it to sell commercials. Another California Republican, Representative Brian Bilbray, called the video quote "nothing short of a terrorist snuff film."
If so, Mr. Bilbray, then what in the hell is your party's new advertisement? And Mr. Hunter? CNN using the film to sell commercials? Commercials? You have adopted bin Laden and Zawahiri as spokesmen for the Republican National Committee.
‘To fill or overpower with terror; terrify. To coerce by intimidation or fear'
By this definition, the people who put these videos together: first, the terrorists and then, the administration, whose shared goal is to scare you into panicking instead of thinking, they are the ones terrorizing you.
By this definition, the leading terrorist group in this world right now is al Qaeda, but the leading terrorist group in this country right now is the Republican Party.
Eleven presidents ago, the chief executive reassured us that ‘we have nothing to fear, but fear itself.' His distant successor has wasted his administration, insisting there is nothing we can have but fear itself.
The Vice President, as recently as this month, was caught campaigning again with the phrase "mass death in the United States". Four years ago, it was the now Secretary of State, Dr. Rice, rationalizing Iraq with quote, "we don't want to be…the smoking gun to be the mushroom cloud." Days later, Mr. Bush himself told an audience that quote "we cannot wait the final proof, the smoking gun, that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."
And now we have this cheesy commercial, complete with images of a faked mushroom cloud and implications of mass death in America.
This administration has derived benefit and power from terrorizing the very people it claims to be protecting from terror. It may be the oldest trick in the political book: scare people into believing they are in danger and only you can save them. Lyndon Johnson used it to bury Barry Goldwater. Joe McCarthy leaped from obscurity on its back. And now the legacy has come to President George W. Bush.
Of course, the gruel of fear is getting thinner and thinner, is it not, Mr. President? And thus, more and more of it needs to be made out of less and less actual terror. After last week's embarrassing internet hoax about dirty bombs in footballs stadiums, the one your Department of Homeland Security immediately disseminated to the public, a self-described former CIA operative named Wayne Simmons cited the fiasco as quote "The, and I mean, the perfect example of the President's Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the NSA Terrorist Eavesdropping Program-how vital they are."
Frank Gaffney, once a respected Assistant Secretary of Defense and now the president of something called The Center for Security Policy added "one of the things that I hope Americans take away from this is not only that they're gunning for us. Not just in a place like Iraq, but truly worldwide."
Of course, the "they" to which Mr. Gaffney referred, turned out to be a lone 20-year-old grocery bagger from Wisconsin named Jake. A kid trying to one-up some loser in an internet game of ‘chicken.' His threat referenced seven football stadiums, at which dirty bombs were to be exploded yesterday. It began with the one in New York City, even though there isn't one in New York City and though the attacks were supposed to be simultaneous, four of the games were scheduled to start at 1:00 pm Eastern time and the others at 4:00 pm Eastern time. Moreover, the kid said that he had posted the identical message on forty websites since September. We caught him in merely about six weeks, even though the only way he could be less subtle, less stealthy and less of a threat was if he bought an advertisement on the Superbowl telecast.
Mr. Bush, this is the what–100th plot your people have revealed that turned out to be some nonsensical misunderstanding or the fabrications of somebody hoping to talk his way off a waterboard in Eastern Europe? If, Mr. President, this is the kind of crack work your new ad implies that only you, and not the Democrats, can do, you, sir, need to pull over and ask for directions. The real question, of course, Mr. Bush, is why did your Department of Homeland Security even release that information in the first place? It was never a serious threat. Even the first news accounts quoted a Homeland spokesman as admitting strong skepticism. The kind of strong skepticism which most government agencies address before telling the public, not afterwards.
So that leaves two options, Mr. President: the first option, you and your Department of Homeland Security don't have the slightest idea what you're doing here. Thus, contrary to your flip-flopping between saying, "we're safe" and saying, "but we're not safe enough", and contrary to the Vice President's swaggering pronouncements about the lack of another attack since 9/11, the last five years HAS been just an accident.
Or there's the second option: your political operatives leaked this nonsense for the same reason your political operatives put out that commercial. To scare the gullible.
Obviously, the correct answer, Mr. Bush, is: all of the above.
There are some of us who could forgive you, for trying to run your candidates on the coattails of the Grim Reaper, for reducing your party's existence to "Death and the Tax Us." It's cynical and barbaric, but after all, it may be merely the extension of the gutter politics to which you have subscribed since you sidled over from baseball and the business world of other people's money.
But to forgive you for terrorizing us, we would have to believe that you somehow competent in keeping others from terrorizing us. Yet last week, construction workers repairing a subway line in New York City were cleaning out an abandoned manhole on the edge of the WTC site, when they stumbled on the horrific and impossible: human remains from 9/11. Bones and fragments, eighty of them. Some as much as a foot long. The victims had been lying literally in the gutter for five years and five weeks. The families and friends of each of the 2,749 dead, who had been grimly told in May 2002, that there were no more remains to be found, were struck anew as if the terrorism of that day had just happened all over again.
And over this weekend, they have found still more remains. And now this week will be spent looking in places that should have already been looked at a thousand times, five years ago.
For all the victims in New York, Mr. Bush, the living and the dead, it is a touch of 9/11 all over again. And the mayor of this city, who called off this search four and a half years ago is a Republican. The governor, with whom he conferred, is a Republican. The House of Representatives, Republican. The Senate, Republican. The President, Republican. And yet you can claim that you and you alone can protect us from terrorism?
You can't even recover our dead from the battlefield. The battlefield in an American city. When we've given you five years and unlimited funds to do so.
While citing a Military Commissions Act so monstrous that it has now been criticized by even the John Birch Society, you told us, Mr. Bush, quote, "there is nothing we can do to bring back the men and women lost on September 11th, 2001, yet we'll always honor their memory and we will never forget the way they were taken from us." Except of course, for the ones that have been lying under a manhole cover for five years.
Setting aside the fact that your government has done nothing else for those five years but pat itself on the back about terror, while waging pointless war on the wrong enemy in Iraq and waging war on the cherished freedoms in America, just on this subject of counter-terrorism, sir, yours is the least competent government in time of crisis in this country's history.
These are the stakes indeed, Mr. President. You do not know what you are doing. And the commercial, the one about which Zawahiri might say, "hey, pretty good, we love your choice of font style," all that further needs to be said about that is to add three words to Shakespeare. Mr. President, you and that advertisement of terror are full of sound and fury, signifying–and competent at–nothing.
Posted by Dianne at 9:17 AM
The Words Have Come Right Out Of His Mouth, Again and Again and Again and Again and Well You Get The Picture
Also check out ThinkProgress for more on the "Stay the Course" reality.
It amazes me that they think they can just say whatever they want and we'll forget what they've said before. It's on tape a$$hats! You said it and we've seen you say it a million times! That's the reality of the situation and nothing you can say or do can change that, except for your brain dead cult followers, but they are becoming few and far between!
Posted by Dianne at 9:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
It's Official...
I'm pretty sure I have the flu. I'm a hot/cold/achy/coughy/sneezy/jumbled mess!
Posted by Dianne at 9:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 23, 2006
Last Rose of "Summer"
Posted by Dianne at 4:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
OK, So They Are Stupider Than I Thought And They Are Making My Head Hurt Worse Than It Already Does
Apparently the Rednecks next door have purchased a small motorcycle for their kids, who by the way are both under the age of 10!! One of them is just a couple of years older (at most) than Alexis. At first they were just riding it around the yard incessantly (Keep in mind that we live on approximately. 0.1 acre lots!) stirring up the dogs and each other. Now they are riding the stupid thing in the street! 1) It's loud! 2) What kind of parent buys their child a motorcycle? And 3) What kind of parent let's their child take said mini-cycle out on the ROAD?? I'm telling you it's just a recipe for disaster!
My head hurts!
Posted by Dianne at 4:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Finally!
They finally took my concerns seriously and they shut down the person's FotoLog that had Alexis' pictures copied over! So now we're back to password protection, which I just reactivated, until Jamison and I can sort through what actually needs to be done! But you should still be able to read the front page and there shouldn't be any password boxes unless you try to click on one of the categories or you try to comment. Jamison has a good idea of what needs to be done to get us back to normal, but we just have to find the time to implement his plan. We'll keep you posted!
That is all!
Posted by Dianne at 9:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 21, 2006
The Ride Begins...Again
I FINALLY got someone over at FotoLog to take me seriously, but I have to PROVE that my pictures were stolen, so I'm going to have to let the archives come out of seclusion for a few days. Hopefully this won't come back to bite, me in the butt, but I'm sure it will. This is just temporary, until we can put Jamison's measures into place and we can get Alexis' photographs off the other site after they ascertain that the photographs of my daughter are actually mine. I understand in a way, but then again in another this is just unbelievable!
Stay tuned.
Update: 11:16 am: After I went to all the trouble to provide links from the FotoLog where my pictures have been copied, and then the links to this blog where the pictures came from and sent the email they requested that I send, I got an error message that came back and said that the email refused because they suspected it was spam! Dear God!! I can't even begin to tell you how old this whole situation has gotten to me! So I sent them an email telling them that I had done what they requested, but their spam filter wouldn't let it through and requested that they give me another option to send them the information they requested in the first place. I'm giving them 48 hours, which is 43 hours too long and if they haven't rectified the situation (which I doubt they will) I may just start looking at legal avenues.
The more I think about the situation the more angry I become. My daughter is not public domain. Just because I put pictures on my personal blog to share with friends and family, and thereby the world, does not make it anyone's right to copy and paste her pictures elsewhere. The pictures are intended for enjoyment here, not there. Alexis is not a movie star. Alexis is not a famous singer. Alexis is a child, my child and I really just am heartbroken to the point of frustration about this whole mess!
Posted by Dianne at 10:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 20, 2006
"Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is"
A very well written editorial by someone who has been on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan, who also just happens to be the brother of Pat Tillman. Everyone should have to read this heartfelt letter before they go vote, because Mr. Tillman very eloquently spells out the issues in a way that can not be ignore.
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.
Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.
Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.
Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.
Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.
Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.
Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.
Somehow torture is tolerated.
Somehow lying is tolerated.
Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.
Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.
Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.
Somehow America has become a country that projects everything that it is not and condemns everything that it is.
Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.
Somehow this is tolerated.
Somehow nobody is accountable for this.
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.
Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,
Kevin Tillman
Found via Truthdig.
Posted by Dianne at 3:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Chocolate Beer? Now That Might Just Get Me To Drink The Nasty Stuff!
The beer won a gold medal at the 2005 Great American Beer Festival and is made up of a blend of cacao nibs and six different malts, which supposedly give it a more complex flavor than regular beer.
Chocolate beer? I wonder if the chocolate could mask the totally disgusting taste of the beer? Too bad it's only going to be sold in the Mid-West or I'd find out! ;o)
I've heard rumors of pumpkin beer too, though I've never seen it, but then again I wasn't looking for it either. Yum! Pumpkin, but again I wonder if the pumpkin would make up for beer not tasting good to begin with?
Found via Slashfood.
Posted by Dianne at 3:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blog Update
Jamison has a path that we think we fix the issues on the blog, yet keep Alexis' photographs from the public eye. In between political events this weekend, we hope to implement the plan. Until then if you are reading this you've figured out that if you just keep hitting cancel you can see the main page.
To alleviate the issues in the future I will be posting pictures on the blog through Flickr, which automatically copyrights them, and of course pictures of Alexis will remain on Flickr where I can say who can and who can't look at those photographs.
That is all for now.
Posted by Dianne at 12:34 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 19, 2006
And The Hosing Continues
We're still hosed. Quite simply we just haven't had the time we need to sit down and fix the issues caused. This weekend we're hoping to have time to sit down and knock out the problem. We'll keep you posted.
On a related note we've gotten several emails from people who were having the password box for Daffodil Lane pop up on their MySpace page. Apparently we've had some "borrowing" of objects over there too. I had heard of that happening to some of the bigger name bloggers, but apparently someone is "borrowing" our content as well. The mind reels.
That is all for now.
Posted by Dianne at 8:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Triton and Vesta
First let's give you a little background and then we'll get to the good stuff.
When we got back from the beach and I was reading up on hermit crabs I learned that they actually aren't hermits at all and need little crabby friends, so we purchased a couple more crabs to keep Triton company and dubbed them Neptune and Vesta. I know...I know, Vesta isn't a Water goddess, but I didn't like the Water Goddess names so I named her after the Goddess of Home and Hearth instead.
Not too long ago Neptune went to the big crabby heaven in the sky and we have yet to replace him, so now we just have Triton and Vesta. Vesta is the outgoing crab, whom Alexis adores! She usually skittles about all day, eating and playing and she doesn't fold up into her shell when Alexis approaches. She just does her little crabby thing as if Alexis isn't standing there large and noisily. Today however she's hiding.
Triton on the other hand has always been a hider, he was from the day we got him at Ocracoke. Where as Vesta will sit on your hand and look at you, Triton won't come out of his shell unless you're bathing him!
And now on to her conversation:
"'Trigon' where's 'Besta'?"
Triton of course just sits there under the edge of the shell that holds the sponges wishing she'd go away and stop making noise.
"Oh she's hiding" Alexis tells him, as if he had answered her question.
Again he draws his feet up tighter in his shell to get away from the noisy little one.
"Let's sing 'Trigon' and den 'Besta' will come out too!"
I swear he blinked his crabby eyes at her as she started to sing the ABC song. She finished her song and I heard her tell Triton:
"Oh well. Dat's just disgusting! You need to sing too 'Trigon'!" (Disgusting is her new favorite word that she picked up from me the other day when we were discussing things that varous animals ate during one of her lessons.)
Triton obviously didn't lift up his crabby lungs in song with my daughter so she called in to me:
"Mama! 'Trigon' won't sing with me!"
"Crabs don't sing Alexis!" I called back.
"Sebastian sings!" she told me indignantly.
"Sebastian is a cartoon sweetheart. Real crabs don't sing."
"Den I need a cat Mama! Cat's can sing!"
Well she's half right anyway! ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 3:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Death of Habeas Corpus: “Your words are lies, Sir.”
Click on the picture below to see Mr. Olbermann once more, eloquently tell Bush the truth. Truth...Something Bush desperately needs to hear and something his minions do not give him.
Well done again Mr. Olbermann, well done!
Found via Crooks and Liars.
See transcript below:
Olbermann: And lastly, as promised, a Special Comment tonight on the signing of the Military Commissions Act and the loss of Habeas Corpus.We have lived as if in a trance. We have lived… as people in fear.
And now — our rights and our freedoms in peril — we slowly awake to learn that we have been afraid… of the wrong thing.
Therefore, tonight, have we truly become, the inheritors of our American legacy. For, on this first full day that the Military Commissions Act is in force, we now face what our ancestors faced, at other times of exaggerated crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering:
And lastly, as promised, a Special Comment tonight on the signing of the Military Commissions Act and the loss of Habeas Corpus.
We have lived as if in a trance.
We have lived… as people in fear.
And now — our rights and our freedoms in peril — we slowly awake to learn that we have been afraid… of the wrong thing.
Therefore, tonight, have we truly become, the inheritors of our American legacy.
For, on this first full day that the Military Commissions Act is in force, we now face what our ancestors faced, at other times of exaggerated crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering:
A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from.
We have been here before — and we have been here before led here — by men better and wiser and nobler than George W. Bush.
We have been here when President John Adams insisted that the Alien and Sedition Acts were necessary to save American lives — only to watch him use those Acts to jail newspaper editors.
American newspaper editors, in American jails, for things they wrote, about America.
We have been here, when President Woodrow Wilson insisted that the Espionage Act was necessary to save American lives — only to watch him use that Act to prosecute 2,000 Americans, especially those he disparaged as "Hyphenated Americans," most of whom were guilty only of advocating peace in a time of war.
American public speakers, in American jails, for things they said, about America.
And we have been here when President Franklin D. Roosevelt insisted that Executive Order 9-0-6-6 was necessary to save American lives — only to watch him use that Order to imprison and pauperize 110-thousand Americans…
While his man-in-charge…
General DeWitt, told Congress: "It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen — he is still a Japanese."
American citizens, in American camps, for something they neither wrote nor said nor did — but for the choices they or their ancestors had made, about coming to America.
Each of these actions was undertaken for the most vital, the most urgent, the most inescapable of reasons.
And each, was a betrayal of that for which the President who advocated them, claimed to be fighting.
Adams and his party were swept from office, and the Alien and Sedition Acts erased.
Many of the very people Wilson silenced, survived him, and…
…one of them even ran to succeed him, and got 900-thousand votes… though his Presidential campaign was conducted entirely… from his jail cell.
And Roosevelt's internment of the Japanese was not merely the worst blight on his record, but it would necessitate a formal apology from the government of the United States, to the citizens of the United States, whose lives it ruined.
The most vital… the most urgent… the most inescapable of reasons.
In times of fright, we have been, only human.
We have let Roosevelt's "fear of fear itself" overtake us.
We have listened to the little voice inside that has said "the wolf is at the door; this will be temporary; this will be precise; this too shall pass."
We have accepted, that the only way to stop the terrorists, is to let the government become just a little bit like the terrorists.
Just the way we once accepted that the only way to stop the Soviets, was to let the government become just a little bit like the Soviets.
Or substitute… the Japanese.
Or the Germans.
Or the Socialists.
Or the Anarchists.
Or the Immigrants.
Or the British.
Or the Aliens.
The most vital, the most urgent, the most inescapable of reasons.
And, always, always… wrong.
"With the distance of history, the questions will be narrowed and few: Did this generation of Americans take the threat seriously, and did we do what it takes to defeat that threat?"
Wise words.
And ironic ones, Mr. Bush.
Your own, of course, yesterday, in signing the Military Commissions Act.
You spoke so much more than you know, Sir.
Sadly — of course — the distance of history will recognize that the threat this generation of Americans needed to take seriously… was you.
We have a long and painful history of ignoring the prophecy attributed to Benjamin Franklin that "those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
But even within this history, we have not before codified, the poisoning of Habeas Corpus, that wellspring of protection from which all essential liberties flow.
You, sir, have now befouled that spring.
You, sir, have now given us chaos and called it order.
You, sir, have now imposed subjugation and called it freedom.
For the most vital… the most urgent… the most inescapable of reasons.
And — again, Mr. Bush — all of them, wrong.
We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who has said it is unacceptable to compare anything this country has ever done, to anything the terrorists have ever done.
We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who has insisted again that "the United States does not torture. It's against our laws and it's against our values" and who has said it with a straight face while the pictures from Abu Ghraib Prison and the stories of Waterboarding figuratively fade in and out, around him.
We have handed a blank check drawn against our freedom to a man who may now, if he so decides, declare not merely any non-American citizens "Unlawful Enemy Combatants" and ship them somewhere — anywhere — but may now, if he so decides, declare you an "Unlawful Enemy Combatant" and ship you somewhere - anywhere.
And if you think this, hyperbole or hysteria… ask the newspaper editors when John Adams was President, or the pacifists when Woodrow Wilson was President, or the Japanese at Manzanar when Franklin Roosevelt was President.
And if you somehow think Habeas Corpus has not been suspended for American citizens but only for everybody else, ask yourself this: If you are pulled off the street tomorrow, and they call you an alien or an undocumented immigrant or an "unlawful enemy combatant" — exactly how are you going to convince them to give you a court hearing to prove you are not? Do you think this Attorney General is going to help you?
This President now has his blank check.
He lied to get it.
He lied as he received it.
Is there any reason to even hope, he has not lied about how he intends to use it, nor who he intends to use it against?
"These military commissions will provide a fair trial," you told us yesterday, Mr. Bush. "In which the accused are presumed innocent, have access to an attorney, and can hear all the evidence against them."
'Presumed innocent,' Mr. Bush?
The very piece of paper you signed as you said that, allows for the detainees to be abused up to the point just before they sustain "serious mental and physical trauma" in the hope of getting them to incriminate themselves, and may no longer even invoke The Geneva Conventions in their own defense.
'Access to an attorney,' Mr. Bush?
Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift said on this program, Sir, and to the Supreme Court, that he was only granted access to his detainee defendant, on the promise that the detainee would plead guilty.
'Hearing all the evidence,' Mr. Bush?
The Military Commissions act specifically permits the introduction of classified evidence not made available to the defense.
Your words are lies, Sir.
They are lies, that imperil us all.
"One of the terrorists believed to have planned the 9/11 attacks," …you told us yesterday… "said he hoped the attacks would be the beginning of the end of America."
That terrorist, sir, could only hope.
Not his actions, nor the actions of a ceaseless line of terrorists (real or imagined), could measure up to what you have wrought.
Habeas Corpus? Gone.
The Geneva Conventions? Optional.
The Moral Force we shined outwards to the world as an eternal beacon, and inwards at ourselves as an eternal protection? Snuffed out.
These things you have done, Mr. Bush… they would be "the beginning of the end of America."
And did it even occur to you once sir — somewhere in amidst those eight separate, gruesome, intentional, terroristic invocations of the horrors of 9/11 — that with only a little further shift in this world we now know — just a touch more repudiation of all of that for which our patriots died —
Did it ever occur to you once, that in just 27 months and two days from now when you leave office, some irresponsible future President and a "competent tribunal" of lackeys would be entitled, by the actions of your own hand, to declare the status of "Unlawful Enemy Combatant" for… and convene a Military Commission to try… not John Walker Lindh, but George Walker Bush?
For the most vital, the most urgent, the most inescapable of reasons.
And doubtless, sir, all of them — as always — wrong.
Posted by Dianne at 9:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 18, 2006
Still Hosed And A Big Thank You
Bear with us, we know things are still hosed. Comments aren't working and pretty much the only thing you can do is look at the main page, if you can get that far. It's going to be another day or so. We've got so much going on right now that it's hard to find time to sit down and fix the problem. We'll keep you posted. :o)
Also I wanted to thank all of you who have emailed me over the past 24 hours with messages of support! Your emails have meant the world to me!
That is all for now.
Posted by Dianne at 7:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Death of Habeas Corpus
Olbermann did an excellent piece on Habeas Corpus last week:
And last night he did another after Bush signed his idiotic bill, that simply gives him the "right" to silence his critics. Jonathan Turley, a law professor in DC, spoke on yesterday's event. Mr. Turley's whole interview was profound, but one of the things that stuck out most in my head was this:
"People have no idea how significant this is. Really a time of shame this is for the American system.—The strange thing is that we have become sort of constitutional couch potatoes. The Congress just gave the President despotic powers and you could hear the yawn across the country as people turned to Dancing With the Stars. It's otherworldly..People clearly don't realize what a fundamental change it is about who we are as a country. What happened today changed us. And I'm not too sure we're gonna change back anytime soon."
Watch the video from last night here.
Found via Crooks and Liars
America truly is dead.
Posted by Dianne at 11:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 17, 2006
This Cat Reminds Me Of My Father ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 9:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Alexis Archives
Due to the blatant continued copying of Alexis' photographs (2 in the past 2 days to bring us to a total of 38) though I've asked them both here and on their own site to stop and even tried in rough Spanish to get the point across, I have had to password protect the pages that contain Alexis' photographs, along with the archives so as to keep the copying of photographs from happening even through an image search, but for the moment that also means that if you click on any of the categories on the left it will ask for a password and various graphics and banners will not show up either. Comments are also not working at this moment. I'm working on these problems now as we speak and hope to have everything ironed out in the next day or so. Bear with me.
I'm not sure if this will stop the problem, or if they have copied multiple pictures and have them stored somewhere, but I had to do something. I wanted to tell all the regular readers it had happened so if you click on something and it asks for a password you will know why. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes and if there was something you were looking for please feel free to email me at daffodil at daffodillane dot com and I'll see if I can't find it, but since this person insists on posting pictures of Alexis anyway in direct defiance and blatant disregard of my request for them to stop then this is how it has to be. Alexis is MY daughter and I have to do what is right for MY child! Quite frankly their obsession with a child they've never met many countries away is disturbing and it's infuriating that it has had to come to this! I have also password protected Nelson's category as well.
Once I have everything ironed out I will give various family members and friends a username and password to access both the archives for Alexis and Nelson, but for now they are off limits. Alexis' main page will remain unlocked, but it will no longer contain pictures of her, though it isn't working right now either. We'll stick to Flickr for that where I have more control over who and who can not see the images.
That is all!
Posted by Dianne at 7:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
He Always Was A Wise One
DES MOINES, Iowa - Former President Bill Clinton said Saturday that voters "know something is wrong" in Washington and urged Democrats to create change in the November elections. "I have never seen the American people so serious," said Clinton. "I think I know why. People know things are out of whack. The rhythm of our public life and our common life in America has been disturbed."
President Clinton always exuded wisdom. I know the right wingers out there are having a coronary over that statement, but suck it up because as they say the truth hurts! Real Americans do know something is wrong with the country and what's wrong with the country is the GOP! The drones of the cult of Bush will never wake up to reality, but those of us who understand how it works know that we are in serious jeopardy. It's time for a change. Make sure you vote for reality on November 7th. We have to put the nonsense that is the GOP and their two faced ways to an end for the sake of the survival of our country and ourselves. It's time to bring us back to the light.
Found via Yahoo! News.
Posted by Dianne at 2:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Really, I'm Over It!
I'm so effing over junk mail! Junk e-mail and junk paper mail! Really what a waste of electricity and trees! I guess the practice must work or they wouldn't be sending the crap out, but come on! I've gotten 500 emails today and only about 10 of them were legit! And this is a daily occurrence! And then I venture out in the rain to get the mail only to find much of it is junk mail! Ugh!! I guess lowlifes are everywhere!
Posted by Dianne at 1:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
On The Wrong Foot
Alexis and I started out on the wrong foot this morning. She was in super grump mode, I was tired and she pulled the knitting needles out of my work in progress to use them as drums sticks. It went downhill from there.
Why is is so hard to get back on track when things go bad? We're off to work on the letter "D" and try to do just that. Wish us luck! ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 9:00 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
October 16, 2006
A la persona que copia mis fotografías (To The Person Copying My Photographs)
A la persona que copia mis fotografías:
Hola,
Puesto que le he preguntado en inglés, quizás usted no entiende y debo preguntarle en español. Tenga presente que no hablo español bien. Realmente apreciaría si usted pararía el poner de cuadros de Alexis en su FotoLog. Los cuadros de m