Franken Race: Minnesota Court Deals Coleman New Blow

Well, it appears that the guy who would be Senator on the night of the election and belly ached that Franken should accept the initial counts as accurate and "throw in the towel" for the benefit of Minnesota politics, obviously has no intention of taking his advised high road now that the tables have turned. If that isn't par for the course... And now there's the likelihood that he (Coleman) will be filing for suit, which will tie up the courts and the Senatorial appointment for several more weeks. In order to declare so much as a tie at this point, he (Coleman) would need to win the decision on 225 of those 630 ballots in question and pose the assumption that Franken would win none of them or any of the remainder. The original recount was not a matter of Franken's insistance. It was a legal mandate based on the election outcome in Minnesota. Any suit brought about by Coleman is an exercise of choice based solely on wishful thinking. Perhaps he should be publicly reminded of his earlier concerns for Minnesota politics and follow his own suggestion made to Franken in November to accept the results and "throw in the towel".
About Al Franken
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Israeli ground forces enter Gaza in escalation

Gaza...12 miles by 12 miles. A mandatory gated community. In common terms a refugee camp since the uprising inspired by the West qnd Israel's disregard for the Palestinian's democratically held election results. No one in and no one out except the Israeli military. The propaganda promoted by the western press can say what it likes to have believed. These facts above still also remain true. Along with the mystical death tolls of 400 Israeli kills to the Palestinian single digit damage from what we are led to be barrages of rocket attacks for months which, in spite of the compact living conditions in Israel, rarely if ever find a target. Hardly a cause for calling in the reserves for the purpose of self defense. This is merely an exercise in troop mobilization and deployment. Fishing in a barrel. The Israelis could have walked back in and re-occupied Gaza at any time with just their weekend team. There's a vast gulf between logic and the propaganda.
About Israel
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Bushisms Over The Years

It's only fitting at the start of this new year 2009 and a new administration to look back and pay homage to the wit and wisdom of a two term president and his ability to think on his feet as well as the Idiocracy that voted for him and allowed him to serve to the detriment of what was once a great nation.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Sarah And Bristol Palin Release Statement: "Obviously Discourage" Teen Pregnancy, Situation "Isn't Ideal"

"...putting aside their own interests" would have perhaps been something best done in a more timely fashion, say during the unprotected coitus that gave way to conception.
About Sarah Palin
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Bush Pardons 19 More After Questioning

Wouldn't it be rather stupid to pardon someone who hasn't been charged with anything as yet?

What will George do, create a pardon for any future charges against Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, etc.? Were the framers of our constitution possibly that misdirected?

On the other hand, if Dubbya can't pardon because there are no charges to date, perhaps someone will grow a pair and begin indicting some of these criminal minds after the inauguration.

One can only hope. Otherwise, all this talk of change is pure rhetoric.
About George Bush
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Muntadhar al-Zeidi: Who Is The Bush Shoe-Thrower?

Well, you order an invasion/occupation and a regime change in a foreign country for unfounded purposes and reasons that (allegedly) cause over 600,000 civilian deaths and obliterates that nation's infrastructure and people are likely to get a little testy when you say you're giving them a "gift".

But a 15 year sentence? Well, so much for the "liberation", free speech and democracy.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Youthfulness: An American Obsession, At Any Cost

Human growth hormone and testosterone injections...to mention but a few things Dr. Life can prescribe for himself and you or I can not. Given these opportunities and the availablility to the right drugs, how many of the rest of us could and would extend our lives with a youthful appearance? Hell, for that matter, how many people could be cured of a shopping list of things and extend their lives to puberty in impoverished and starving third world villages?

Dr. Life happens to be a part of the elite few. People who are first in line for organ transplants and the most advanced surgical techniques while the unwashed masses are limited to HMOs and health care programs that won't provide any allowances for basic preventative medicines in an effort to spare the cost and increase their profit margins. But again...that's just the you and I kinda' people. And we're much, much luckier than so many others.

Well, good for Dr. Life.

While billions go without food or medicine on the planet he can somehow with good conscience remain to look like a phreak of nature and PhotoShop.

A great accomplishment for medical science. Ask any Liberian or Ugandan.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Pay Raise For Judges Tucked Into Auto Bailout Plan

It's official. There is no shame on Capitol Hill.

Read from the Huffpo article:

"The raise _ an annual cost of living adjustment, or COLA _ would bring U.S. District court judges up to par with members of Congress, who will receive an almost $5,000 boost on Jan. 1. District judges and lawmakers now earn $169,300 a year but are expected to be awarded a 2.8 percent raise next year..."

And mean while, American workers making the minimum wage (or approx. $17,000.00 per year) are lucky to get bupkiss and their taxes for generations to come will be used to pay down the more than $1 trillion in "bailouts for corporate America and COLAs for high level civil servants. Ah, the land of opportunity.
About Auto Bailout
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Now "they" want to take another $700 billion "swipe" at the economic crisis.

Real swell of these guys to "take another swipe" at the economic crisis. If they were in a batting cage at these prices they couldn't afford to swing and miss. What makes them think they can do it when the future of the country is hanging in the balance? They got it wrong in the first place with the misuse of deregulation. That's why we're in this mess. Then they missed on the first $700 billion "swipe" that was the best educated solution the economic wizards could come up with. Now they want to take another shot at it. And there's not a single check or balance to represent the American tax payer and stop them.

Listen folks. The government does not have any money but that which they get from you and I the tax payer. It's bad enough that the first $700 billion is going to take generations to put back in the treasury. (Ever try to pay off a credit card with the minimum due monthly? You could die of old age before you pay back that lousy $2000.00!!) Now, if another $700 billion bail out is approved, we're looking at society in America that exists strictly on and for the purpose of wage slavery long into the future just to pay our government back our own money and there's no guarantee that the economy will remain strong for the 100 plus years for you and I and our kids and their kids (and so on) to pick up that tab.

Consioder too, what happens if, as is likely, in another 50, 60, years or sooner the economy tanks again? Who do we talk to about defaulting on this loan? At that point with increased unemployment and prices for basics through the roof how are we the people going to keep the payments up and the interest flowing in on the debt that our leadership has decided to "take another swipe at"? Don't look at Washington for help. Remember? The government doesn't create revenue for these sort of bailouts to industry or for anything else. The government only spends our money. Hey, these guys want to bail out the same folks who charge us for using their credit cards, force us to incurr $30 bucks per check for insufficient funds on a $5 dollar check, all the while paying them late payment fees and balloon mortgages on our houses.

Why are we giving them our hard earned tax money in the first place? So they can simply keep charging us 18% interest on money we get from them? Turn about is fair play. Give them the money, but make them use any and all resultant profits to pay off the American tax payer with a market equitable interest rate just as they demand from us.

Other wise...we may as all be working again for the Pharaohs!!!

Hey, youse guys! Get me another stone block up here will ya? I gotta get this level of the pyramid done so my unborn great-great grand kids can reach the level they need to be working on.

There's a real vision of opportunity and self fulfillment for ya, isn't it??

Fun Facts From Zach's Almanac: Oh, ABC you've done it again!

Having Bush surrounded by a bunch of exceedingly happy guys in choir robes who have nothing to do with those involved in the business end of the A.P.E.C. conference and having it accompany a headline espousing that "Leaders' Predict Economic Crisis Can Be Fixed in 18 Months" is about one of the best pieces of subliminal journalism (intended or otherwise) I have seen in quite some time.
Oh, in the course of the Bush Administration, 9/11 and the Iraq Invasion and occupation, I've seen some real doozies...but this was Uber-entertaining.
Adding to the illusory photo was the caption:
"APEC leaders: "We have already taken urgent and extraordinary steps to stabilize our financial... (sectors and strengthen economic growth.")"
Stop it ABC! I'm dyin' over here!
Now, take me to the river and wash me in the water!

Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State?

Kissinger's record as SOS, especially behind the scenes and often unreported and his endorsement of Hillary for that same position is exactly why, I believe we should consider someone else for the position. The sort of change the people who voted for Obama had in mind will not be served by appointing Hillary as Secretary of State where her well known political allies and foreign interests will be served perhaps to a greater degree than America would be served by someone less entangled in already ongoing, personally motivated, international relationships.
About Hillary Clinton
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

How to Meditate...The Easy Way (VIDEO)

Gee, a non-pharmacological means of lowering blood pressure, increasing focus, instilling a sense of peace, tranquility and opening the mind to altered stes of perception. May we all be spared the day when the drug companies find a means to lobby against it and find a way to limit/prohibit this practice through the use of the A.T.F. in much the same way other substances and practices already are. And if it's not the drug companies that fear the loss of market and profit, then it could very well be government itself enforcing the restrictions. Because, thinking outside of the box and independently has historically ben looked down upon and persecuted. If you choose to doubt this, look at the current practice of persecution against the practioners of Falun Gong in China. Articles like this on meditation and how people can kick the anxiety of modern living without either Big Brother or the uppers and downers massively distributed by the FDA and drug companies should be front page stuff. If you wonder why it isn't, you needn't look much further than the Congress and the lobbyists they have as bed fellows.
About Video On HuffPost
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Bam! Just like that!!

So Palin and the GOP would like to limit the press from covering her UN trip:
Someone please tell this person that she is not the president. She is a candidate for VP.
Did I miss the memo that states that a candidate for VP who could very well ultimately be called upon to lead this entire country gets to pick and choose exactly what the public and the press get to learn of her character, decision making abilities and qualifications for that position?? If she doesn't want to run for the office, wonderful. If she's going to run, she had better pull them together and let the public see who she is and what she's made of politically!
Does America really need a continuation of the secrecy that has surrounded the Bush White House for nearly 8 years a la Cheney and Rove??

Then there's the happy news from the world of science:
We now have an organism, a bacteria recently developed that will thrive on all those plastic water bottles that are clogging up the world's water ways. I'd like to be happy about a story like this, even when the rest of the world is smelling like a septic tank that needs pumping, but I can't. It scares me.
This is the beginning plot line for countless Sci-Fi B movies. Microbes or bacteria gets invented or discovered well intentionally to be an aid to mankind's ills brought about by his/her rampant consumerism...entity gets out of control, eats everything and then some things it shouldn't. Boy meets girl while running from the inevitable destruction of the human race and life as we know it...ultimately when the world population is dwindled down to a small fraction of itself some kid just reaching puberty stumbles on a means to rid the earth of the menace by pouring table salt on it or something. The antagonist microbes melt away like slugs on a pavement, the boy and girl adopt the little kid and then start the world anew. Long shot on three silhouettes against the sun rising on a deserted city scape. Fade to black. The end. Roll the credits. Everyone lets out a sigh of relief and leaves the theater. Hey! Got any popcorn left? No. The damned microbes ate em'!

George Michael's apology:
I suppose some of us who already know all there is to know about what's really critical to the state of our union, the current corporate bailouts and the upcoming elections have decided to move on to more urgent matters, George Michael has internationally apologized to his fans for being found in possession of some pot and some crack. The boards across the web are filled with indignant people who view this as the second coming of Lucifer. Well, George does seem to have the worst luck in public restrooms. George! Can't I suggest that you go before you leave the house and hold it?
But no problem, Michael. It doesn't detract from how you make your living. It isn't as though you're going to leave any clamps or sponges in a patient after surgery or drive a semi into a burger palace. The damned drugs should be legal anyway!
What makes anyone writing a blog or a comment on a news site believe that their self appointed opinion or indignation over George's drug possession or use is in any closer proximity to being morally accurate than his own or anyone else for that matter? Because that's what we've been told about drugs by your government??? It's a result of being brainwashed and most don't even see it! Why don't cha' sit back with a power, energy drink to wash down your alcohol, speedy little diet pills and fire up a cigarette. Our government(s) must think that's all really fine for us because that stuff is all quite legal. But really, what's the difference? A drug is a drug, a toxin is a toxin and a dependency is a dependency. Don't question the sanity of your government(s). Question George Michael instead. And it's such an easier target when you can actually pressure an apology out of someone. Maybe drugs would actually do some of us good. Get us off of our high horses.

And it appears foreign firms are going to be included in the $700 billion bail out:
I see...don't let foreigners come across the border at night because it would be too expensive for American tax payers and cost Americans jobs which no one living here wants. But hey! Lets dump hundreds of billions into foreign businesses in a corporate bail out Ponzi scheme! Someone has their head up their...well, I don't have to paint a picture here do I? And congrats to Dubbya. It's a trifecta!! He's scored a W for everyone of the powers that put him in office. Oil's happy. We now have the means to pipeline through the middle east. The international banking industry is joyous! They're getting all that free money from the tax payers and the tax payers still have to keep up their payments each month. And the industrial military complex at the tune now of $12 billion per week in Iraq and Afghanistan for 5 or 6 years is deleriously euphoric.

I could go on...but really...how much time do we all really have?
Later.

Fun Facts from Zachs Almanac: You heard it here first.

If there was ever any doubt about it, after watching Michael Phelps tonight take the gold and hardly have to catch his breath I think it can safely be said that, yes Michael Phelps is Aquaman!
Way to go, Michael!!

Fun Facts From Zachs Almanac: If The Hippies Had Won The War.

Perhaps the most ignored and disrespected group of people who happened along in the course of American human events are the "flower children" of the 60s and early 70s. And as a result 30 to 40 years later, we as a nation might be inconveniently worse off for that oversight.
Sure, there were those who over indulged in the "turn on and tune in" mentality and the easily accessible recreational drug culture. But we never did get away from people with that mind set. They're still around. Many are doing time. But they're still around with us. We still got em' by the droves. And maybe too, many from that long gone era got caught up in the pleasures of the flesh as they lay down together under the picket signs and posters that advocated "free love". Some people take things so literally. But we still have our share of people who live that way. Only now they leave behind a wake of marriages, children and divorces and there's precious little that could be considered free about their fickle promiscuity and the litigation over who will be the victor over the spoils of once common property. The court costs alone eliminate any idea that love is free by any stretch of the imagination. So life goes on in hypocritical fashion. But all in all the excesses of the hippie culture are still with us despite the bad press it was given by the establishment and the stalwarts of integrity such as the likes of the Richard Nixon White House.
Let's see what we might have missed in the exchange through closer examination of the ills America and the world are suffering in the 21st century.
War would not be the order of the day had the hippie movement won footing. Hippies were opposed to war and the extreme hippies leaned as far as preaching and practicing pacifism.
Global warming? Well, acknowledging that some people still deny that there is such a thing, as a nation we would have had a 40 year head start on "saving the planet" possibly making the question itself moot by 2008. Alternative energies such as wind, solar and methane would have been pursued by now by the folks who had already unplugged from the grid, used wood for heat and candles for light when it was needed beyond and between twilight and dawn. It was being done then. Why would anyone assume it wouldn't have continued and grown? I would have said "aggressively" pursued…but we're talking about hippies here. Aggression was an unspoken cardinal sin.
And while some will staunchly attest that we would be living in anarchy after 30 years of a hippie social paradigm, let me remind you that there will always be the adult equivalents of those who aspired to be both hippies and still run for class and school leadership. Control freaks will never become an endangered species. But had a few of the people running the show for us for three decades had been allowed socially to remain of the flower generation, we could in many ways be living in a truly gentler and kinder society in America.
Let me cut some of these things short by simply listing the current problem and the contribution that the "peace freaks" may have made to the contrary.
Obesity - macrobiotic/organic diets. Medical complications and the need for expensive health insurance - wholesome life styles and stress management through meditation, living in the moment and a little pot now and then. Credit problems, today's housing bust and the economy might have been prevented or lessened with the expansion of a barter system, communal living and self sufficiency.
I think, at this point you can sit back and come up with a few of these social improvements on your own if you really wanted to take the time for it. You don't need me to spell the whole thing out for you. I'm no Tim Leary, Abbie Hoffman or Baba Ram Daas.
The point is, today, in most every election or opportunity that we as Americans get to vote in, the question arises, "are we better off now than we were then"? And the nagging doubt that whomever we voted for in the last election really didn't contribute shit towards improving our lot, going back multiple elections is like something hiding in our collective anxiety closet.
Maybe we missed our shot. Maybe we would have missed Utopia any way. But maybe we could have gotten closer than we are now.
In 1969 we put a man on the moon. It wouldn't have happened if that possibility had been treated as the hippies had been. It would have been an impossibility that never got off the ground. But it came to pass. People believed in it as improbable as it was and it happened.
Who's to say that had we believed a little more at the time in what the hippie movement had offered, a more left brained social order, that we couldn't have come that much closer to putting ourselves in… or at least in closer proximity to that Utopia that everyone since the hippies thinks is and was so impossible?
The incredible irony is that as a hive we did and can find it easier to believe that we could put a man on the moon than for us to conceive that we could equally succeed at "doing our own thing", "loving one another" and realizing that we are all a part of the sum of the whole.
And all we had to do was simply "give peace a chance".
Why do you suppose it is more difficult for us to reach a little genuine, lasting peace on earth than it is to reach the moon??
Peace.

Fun Facts From Zach's Almanac: "I think I am, therefore I am. I think."

Never actually knowing a father figure, I have always enjoyed the extreme luxury of imagining anyone at all to fill that position for me. Today the guy who has always been a very strong candidate, if not the best, for that position checked out of this hotel, bought the farm, shuffled off this mortal coil, settled in for the ol' dirt nap or as the timid say, "passed away".
I've never like that term. It's just too vaporous and nondescript. It's kind of like a fart in the crowd at Woodstock orBonoroo...You know it's there. But you can't put your finger on exactly where it came from, who did it, what the hell it's made of or how the good God damned long, it's going to linger. And then, just as it's losing it's potency and you think there may be a shot for you at sucking in some oxygen, someone freshens the damned thing.
The following excerpts are entirely George and what I like to believe are the things I would have learned earlier on as a lad at his knee.
"...in the bullshit department a business man can't hold a candle to a clergyman."
"Spirituality: the last refuge of a failed human being. Just another way of distracting yourself from who you really are."
"I've never been quarantined. But the more I look around the more I think it might not be a bad idea."
"Road rage, air rage. Why should I be forced to divide my rage into separate categories? To me, it's just one big, all around, everyday rage. I don't have time for fine distinctions. I'm busy screaming at people."
"Can anyone explain to me the concept for one-hour photo finishing? How can you possibly be nostalgic about "a little while ago"?"
"...jazz musicians are the only workers I can think of who are willing to put in a full shift for pay and then go somewhere else and continue to work for free."
"When you think about it, 12:15 pm is actually 11:75 am."
In fact, there's no end to the things I actually did learn from this guy. And thinking outside of the box was always at the heart of it all.
Thanks, "Dad".

Bam! Just like that.: Beggers and thieves.

You can hear it on the conservative radio stations and news outlets. You can hear it on the right hand side of the aisles of Congress. Both in plain English and in so many coded words the message is repeated again and again until far too many people begin to believe it. "The American people are soft and lazy, and they just want a hand out."
From the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in N.O.L.A. to the collapsed bridges of a decaying highway infrastructure, to the farmers and home owners surviving the latest flooding in the Midwest, Americans are waiting on rooftops and under the debris of freeway bridges as they watch their government spend years of our future and trillions of our dollars on the betterment and well being of people halfway around the globe that (aside from the few wealthy political entrepreneurs who were hand selected by the invaders to lead these people) don't even wish to be occupied by the U.S. or anyone else, any more than we would want to be.
I can't state this any more plainly.
The American people are not looking for give-aways from the government. We are looking for intelligent and reasonable yields and returns on our mandated tax dollars contributions.
And after the last two terms of the mismanagement and ineptitude of our current administration, the GOP and a string of natural disasters, many of the American people could use a little help from those taxes.
Pundits and politicians need to stop portraying reasonable tax payer expectations for funding and legislative spending as appearing as though the American people are asking for a hand out. And the American people need to stop being made to feel as though we are the beggars at the door with hats in hand trolling for alms.
This government doesn't create the revenue. This government does not produce the revenue to run and operate this country although it uses yours and mine to run and operate others. Revenue is generated by the American tax payers and the American tax payers alone.
Some people have begun to see things in such a twisted fashion and have done so for so long that they no longer know the way things are supposed to work in a democracy such is ours.
That in itself is a major contributing factor to why after less than 300 years it is appearing to be falling apart at it's seams.

Bam! Just like that! "Sticks and Stones..."

An interesting article appeared in the national news today. An expose, if you will, after a week filled with various warnings about "terrorist activities" the world around...(we have had a very busy week of this sort of information in much of the press!) and the danger that we are in and reportedly have been in despite the western alliance's brink of victory in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some of the latest reports offer us that "white Europeans" from "Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Romania and Estonia" have been actively training for service to al-Qaeda as would-be terrorists. A major accomplishment if it's true, with the goal of recruiting western non-Muslims to the cause of doing the bidding of al-Qaeda. So much for the battle to win the hearts and minds of the invaded people of the middle east, huh? So stop the rhetoric on it and the s(pl)urge, already.
But back to the purpose of my writing about this today:
Considering that what was once called simple assault according to the laws in the United States is now being called "an act of terrorism" thanks to the Patriot Act and Homeland Security initiatives... (I direct your attention to the not so distant case of the "hockey Dads" who get physical with their kids coaches and pepper the national news every so often)...I would be very careful in choosing what one may choose to believe about the latest "terrorist encounter" they read of, based upon who originally made the claims, what kind of spin was used by the press in the article published about it and just what standards were used in attaching the new "terror-anything" label to those activities being reported about.
Until water boarding, sleep deprivation, extreme exposure to temperature change and electric shock can be openly called what it is, "torture", and the use of that torture can finally be recognized as a genuine act of terrorism even by those empires that use it to meet their own strategic objectives, all bets should be off on who the actual terrorists are in any given case. There are obviously more than we can even imagine. And many of them who hide behind being a world power or being part of an alliance with one are controlling the story, the spin, the language and the writing of daily events and resultant history for their own purposes and to their own advantage.

BAM! Just like that! "Smilin' faces, they tell lies, sometimes."

Thanks to those good folks who have been riding rough shod over every law and article of the constitution that the attention span of the American people could allow for during the last 7 years, we again find them hard at work in the field of creative language arts and double speak or as Orwell penned in his novel 1984, "newspeak".
Yes, the same people who brought us phrases like "it's not civilian casualties, it's collateral damage" and, "it's not troop expansion, it's a "surge"", have now somehow smuggled into the American lexicon, the American consciousness and into the reporting of the main stream media their newest code word for what has been up until now, after years of congressional investigation into the military use and practice of torture...well, "torture".
While up until now these acts that have been questioned by even the international community and collectively and historically called "torture", is now being bandied about as, merely the practice of "harsh interrogation practices".
There. Isn't that so much nicer on the ear and easier on the national conscience than, ugh, "torture"?
Ah, the cleverness of these people in Washington is not to be underestimated. And their ability to infuse even the most stalwart broadcasting entities such as NPR to help reshape the message sent out to the American listener is indeed stunning in it's effectiveness.
At the same time, try and keep in mind (if for nothing else but perspective) that the sign posted high and prominently above the entrance to the camp called Auschwitz still reads "Work is freedom." But that neither, necessarily makes it so to this very day.
Maybe when it comes to that part of human nature to do one thing while striving to convince others that by changing what it is commonly called it can appear to be acceptable... some things never do really change.

Fun Facts From Zach's Almanac: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

About 18 months ago, we as a species survived the contaminated lettuce scare. Prior to this we managed to fend off the dreaded spinach invasion and yes, mad cow disease.
Now, in the last few weeks we've been living through the horrors of the very real attack of the killer tomatoes. The renegade Romas and the unrelenting Round varieties would all have it, (if we were to believe the national news each day) that we throw ourselves down and all kneel before the porcelain alter to howl our petition to the powers that we are told these sardonic side entrees are... and the death grip they have on us.
Run for your very lives! (I really don't know what "run for your very lives" translates to literally since we all only seem have one life, but that happens to be one of my all time favorite sci-fi B movies lines of script...and I suggest we do just that whenever the threat is present or the opportunity presents itself.) "Run for your very lives!"
Truth be known, this most recent garden variety threat was pretty much just a bad B movie plot and only that. Approximately 125 people became sick over the Salmonella that coursed through the capillaries of these berries with an identity crisis, ("Am I a vegetable or a fruit??") out of a nation with a population of 300 million. Let's 'see...125 is what percentage of 300 million? You do the math, ok? The number is so minuscule we might as well be nearing a non-event here.
Considering that anyone who expects total and absolute security from any branch of the government, whether it be the FDA, CDC or (dare I suggest it?) FEMA or for that matter an absolute of any kind from anything or anyone in this life is asking way, way too much... the number of people affected by this outbreak, this red menace is about as absolute as you can get. To my knowledge, very few people have so much as been hospitalized and no one, not one tomato eating fool, has died as a result of this new red plague going around. Yet still it is being heralded on the level of one of the ten plagues or one of the many pathogens that will mark "the end of days". And it's just my guess, but I imagine that some where some of the more extreme religious groups are secretly in their glory over this.
But it's not a pandemic. It's nothing more than a relatively small number of people being made somewhat sick over some poop on or in a small number of tomatoes and in no time, or through washing our produce, the danger will subside.
So tell me then. Why are they refusing to throw any tomatoes on my Papa Murphy's Gourmet Chicken pizza?
Evidently, that's just one more absolute that can't be counted on.
So by all means, "run for your very lives!"

Fun Facts From Zach's Almanac

Greetings all, from the "fly over" states in the great Midwest where even the summer doesn't care to spend the season!
Le'see, here...

FDA says, "Trust us!"
The FDA today approved the use of baby bottles that are manufactured using a substance that goes by the name of bisphenol A. You know. The very same FDA that approves the big question mark pharmaceuticals such as Aspartame, and Rofecoxib…(AKA Vioxx) which stayed on the market for almost five years until the manufacturer, the Merck Company voluntarily called it back. They did this because it was not only relieving pain…as it was meant to, but it was also allegedly responsible for relieving some people of life itself. In all, 80 million people were prescribed this drug before it was pulled in by Merck…and the FDA never took a stand on it one way or the other until the millions were made and the issue was eliminated by someone else. Sometime I really have to tell ya about the anti-depressants that have been the "coincidental" prescription of choice for so many of the people who have gone postal for no known reason from Virginia Tech to Columbine. Hey…I didn't break these stories! But then neither did the main stream media at the time.

The Big Guys: (another) 1, The little Guys:0
The Right Side of the political aisle defeated the Left Side today on the almost corporate tax on Big Oil. So while Big Oil keeps racking up 41 Billion dollar profits per quarter, the American taxpayer can continue to provide 17 million of it in the form of breaks and cuts for the people who have their hand in keeping us at the 30 MPH combustible ceiling. Mean while Europe averages 45 MPH and that's as of today as a gallon of gas goes beyond $4 per gallon. It's hard to get excited about the prospect of having a national standard of 35 MPH by 2012 when you look at the larger, Euro picture. This is somehow supposed to make sense. But it doesn't.
More importantly to the average Joe and Jane, I heard last week that the cost of hops…one of the essential ingredients used in the fermentation and production of beer has gone up in price from approximately $4 per pound to nearly $45 per pound. Perhaps the gas crisis and the prices won’t get anyone off the couch to demand representation from the politicians, but you let a case of beer become as dear as $40 or $50 bucks and you'll have a revolution reminiscent of 1776 against the King!

Forty years on...
One of RFK's assassins showed up in the news today…Interesting how 40 years changes the way people look. I wonder what Eugene Thane Caesar looks like after all this time? (Pssst. If you have to ask…you haven't been paying attention!)

"I can call you Betty." Betty, you can call him, Al!
Kudos to Al Franken for sewing up the DFL nomination in Minnesota over the weekend in spite of the opposition he has had to face from the press and his own sour grape party. It appears the best campaign against him thus far is coming from the U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who was instrumental in the campaign of another DFL hopeful, who didn't fare so well as Franken in the primaries, Mike Ciresi. It appears people have had their sensibilities shaken over something Franken wrote 8 years ago and appeared in a Playboy magazine. Of course none of these people bothered to explain why, if that sort of thing offended them, they were reading and referencing Playboy in the first place…but hey. It was something to hang on to in hopes of changing the primaries rather than accepting the given outcome. Has there been a lot of this going on this year across the Democratic party, or what? Don't blame Hillary. You have free will.

Who is this "chick" and who cares??
Can anyone tell me what the hell Elizabeth Hasselbeck has ever accomplished that makes her worthy of pontificating on everything from soup to nuts on The View each day that compels ABC to fairly much, exclusively feature her vapid opinions in video and print on anything ABC/Disney on the internet day in and day out?? What the hell are her credentials that make her the Wizardess of OZ, anyway? Oh, she's pretty, you bet! But she is as irritating as a mound of fire ants. C'mon, how authentically worldly can she possibly be at, what(?) less than 30?? Fer chrissake, I have jeans that have seen more of life than she has, ear hair that's older and there are over 90 million Americans who have spent as much time sleeping at night as she has sucking in oxygen all together in this life time. Humble it up, Lizzie. You too can be wrong some times. From my View...it's more often than you can even fathom.

ABC online, it's like I hardly knew ya!
And finally, while I'm on the subject of ABC…particularly ABCnews online…let me get this off my chest. Why? Because I wrote them more than one email over the course of time and told them I would. So here it is.
I have spent hours and days and nights enjoying posting to ABC's comment boards and discussing things with other readers at that site for literally years. I have with no exception, respected the terms of use and have in spite of all temptation avoided using obscenities, profanity, spamming, trolling or hate speech of any kind. Still, and also without exception, the censors have seen it eventually appropriate to delete whatever account I had registered under, prohibit my involvement and banish me to the vast internet lands beyond ABCnews, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Internet Group.
Should anyone with whom I may have held intercourse with (not HAD intercourse with!) on ABCnews' comment boards stumble across this blog and read this, allow me to me re-introduce myself under the assortment of handles I have used for as long as I was allowed to maintain them. I have been, "Zenandnow", "Yasgarsfarm", "25or6to4" and "Kiddcharlemagne" to just name a few of my more current favorites.
I would not want to imply that I and I alone have faced the wrath of the gatekeepers at ABCnews exclusively. Many people who were invited by ABC to participate have been quite arbitrarily removed under less than the good faith invitation made ("Welcome to the ABCNEWS.com message boards. This is the forum where we're harnessing the power of our user community. We encourage you to talk back, discuss and debate, and make your voice heard. And, of course, we welcome your feedback both on our newly redesigned web site -- and on our reporting.") Bullshit, all!
There is and appears to have always been a policy in place at ABCnews that is based on readers and writers being accepted or rejected based solely on political ideology and involves nothing any more complicated than that and the whim of whomever is monitoring public input at any given time.
If you can add something inciting and reactionary that propels the particular story you are commenting on further into a mindless, knee jerk, vigilantism that expresses the view or opinion that appear to be followed or supported by corporate America (as seen by ABC and WDIG) then you are left relatively unfettered and unimpaired even to the point of declaring verbal warfare on other people submitting posts and comments.
If on the other hand you pose questions that counter the promoted political policies or the group propagated assumptions of ABC and the Walt Disney Internet Group, you will surely be posting on borrowed time, for at some point without so much as a howdy-do you will find that your posts have been deleted and you can no longer log in to so much as post a ditto.
Don't take my word for it. Ask around. Google the phenomena. See what others are saying. Register and attempt to promote a conversation that is not usable for the corporate cause/main stream media that is ABC, as a bludgeon to an opposing line of reasoning or other than the mass accepted hive minded rationale.
You may find as I and others have that they are a total waste of time for anyone that might choose to follow an online discourse or debate to its logical conclusion or mutual understanding.
Then…if you actually are interested in freedom of speech and a place to voice and share your outlook…avoid these guys and other sites like them as you would any brain-flesh eating plague.
I know I certainly will.
Even I catch on, eventually.

Fun Facts From Zachs Almanac:

Just because he did that, doesn't mean he can do this!
To say that Presidential Candidate McCain knows about how to handle the war in Iraq because he spent 5, 6, or 7 years as a POW in Viet Nam; is like saying the idiot kid down the street, who ended up stuck inside the refrigerator for three days after the neighbors put it out for pick up is qualified to be a Maytag repair man. Start making sense!



James Carville Comes Out: Admits he is Bat Boy!!

Realizing an end to his glory days as a king maker and accepting his impotence in making political silk out of the pig's ear that is Hillary Clinton's campaign; James Carville "came out" during an interview on national television this week and announced that he is, in fact the famed Bat Boy.
Finding a look of incredulity in the reaction of host, George Stephanopoulos, James struck the pose which graced the front cover of the Morning Star and other tabloids at the time of his being originally discovered in the cave where he spent his childhood.


And finally...
Why do you suppose the very word "innuendo" sounds so much like one??

Fun Facts from Zach's Almanac: Got any spare change for a smoke?

The Primaries:
We have so many candidates in the primaries talking about change I feel like I'm standing in a Laundromat where the coin machine is broken. In this, as in so many other primaries and elections over the last 60 years everyone runs on the promise of "change". Then why is it the mismanagement of government in America never changes? It still takes takes two to three generations to get things that the American people desperately needed like, yesterday addressed, voted on and passed on Capitol Hill?

The Tobacco "Act":
Can anyone explain to me why our government insists on making and keeping natural, non-lethal, mind altering drugs illegal, while the drugs that are known to kill people by the tens and hundreds of thousands each year, like tobacco and alcohol remain legal, available and generate revenue through the taxes levied on them??
Bet you can't.
And yet, we still somehow think that our government has the best interests for the health and longevity of the American people in mind?
Actually these are rhetorical questions.
I already know the answer and so do most of you. It's right there in the way government conducts it's business.
Our government obviously holds mind control and profit in higher regard and at a higher level of of priority than it does actively promoting the longevity and good health of the American people. Why? Well, because it's good for the medical and pharmaceutical industrial complex and the lobbyists that provide our "representatives" the funding to run for and stay in office.
(I hope you weren't waiting for the memo to come to that conclusion.)

And finally...
What does it mean when someone says that something is an "unqualified success"?
If it's a success, shouldn't someone be able to qualify that as such?

Bam! Just like that! "1984 Knocking at your door..."

Bhutto: Nine times in the line of fire and on the tenth, it turned out to be one too many. A strong person and a populist leader that ranked right up there with some of the best of them, only to be one more credible stat to the adage that "only the good die young". And the comment boards internationally are all over the place with people who have a theory on whodunit. Happy hunting folks. It takes a person of mass delusion and an overwhelming sense of self aggrandizement to think for a minute that an internationally manipulated media is going to offer up much in the way of a clear picture on any of the evidence available. Sure Al Quaeda claimed credit for it. They would claim credit for someone having a flat on the Pennsylvania Turn Pike if they thought it would further their cause and lend their rag-tag paupers rebellion some notoriety. And this is hardly the first time in political history someone sent conveniently interceptable congratulations to the homeys whether or not they in fact had anything to do with the particular incident. Stranger still, is the wording of said congratulatory email that specifically labeled the incident a "cowardly act".
Now the US would like to get involved with the investigation. Splendid!
This same leadershit are the same folks that would have us believe by way of the the 9/11 commission that Al Quaeda was solely responsible for the tragedy in New York in spite of the fact that omitted video tape, photographs and testimony from first responders points out that this little factoid was and remains, at best a scientific impossibility.
Let's face it. At this point Bhutto is dead and that's about all we really know about whodunit. (Or is she?) The real knowledge remains at the top of the power pyramid where it does for oh, so many things in the nature of toppled governments, funded insurrections and assassinations both failed or successful. And if you think the new world leadershit is going to be completely straight up and transparent on whatever they know or what role they played regarding these items or how they spin their webs and the lies that follow which allows them collectively to control the masses like cattle in this "new world order"...heh-heh, dream on my sonambulistic ones. Ignorance truly is bliss. Is it not?
...and here I thought this might be the posting where I could do light and happy music. Not yet. Later.
Be good on yerselves!

Fun Facts From Zachs Almanac.

I read today about how this dog named Rocky sniffed out and led authorities to a huge 1 ton load of marijuana that was coming out of Utah...
And people ask me why I'm a cat person??

BAM!! Just Like That! A Culture in Crisis

What a swell bunch of folks!
Too bad no one told them that you should never point a gun directly at someone unless you aim to shoot them.Which reminds me, in the wake of the Omaha mall killings and suicide this week, I got curious about just how twisted this culture of ours has become.
Let me put it this way:
According to the FBI web site, there were over 17,000 murders in 2006 in America. (This years totals haven't been established yet. Hey! It's still early!) Of those 17,000 murders, 65% of them were committed with one sort of gun or another. So "Guns don't kill people. People kill people."...Yeah, but they do it overwhelmingly with guns! At least 11050 of 'em in 2006 at any rate.
We are a country that is supposedly in a time of peace and yet somehow we have a murder rate higher than other countries that are in a state of war. That would include the wars we've initiated by invasion and occupation like Iraq and Afghanistan.
You might be thinking " Oh, sure, Zach, but look at the size of our population compared to those other countries that are at war!" As if somehow our obsession with procreation justifies the wing nuts of our village to thin out the herd. Why? Because we can use the room?
Nah. Something is very, very wrong here. And whether it's because of guns or not because of guns, when you have 17,000 souls being snuffed out per year there's something very wrong with the culture we live in.
Many think these are acceptable stats for a country in a time of peace.
I happen to see it as a culture going to pieces.

And the Bush administration is now scrambling
to shore up the damage caused by the sub-prime
lending parasites on the defenseless folks who slept through their civics classes and never heard the words "let the buyer beware". This is special! People with jet skis, boats and SUVs in their drive ways, all bought on credit go and get themselves in even deeper debt. And now the rules get changed so that the poor schmucks who sacrificed much and occasionally did without new toys in order to pay off their debts and keep their heads above water financially are penalized for their frugality with the same payments they always had while the financially irresponsible get automatic tax breaks, excused debts and all kinds of extra consideration from the banking industry. What a great lesson to pass along to little Johnny and Mary about accountability, responsibility and the honor of signing a contract. Look for more of this in the future. And wait until even the people with good credit ratings wake up and realize it gets you nowhere in a hurry, fast compared to over spending on credit just to give the feds the opportunity to bail you out. Yes folks! It's the beginning of the age of shopping till you drop, because just like in elementary school these days, everybody gets to play, no matter what your level of effort and everybody gets a do-over until everyone gets a passing grade or someone comes up with a bell curve that makes an F look like a C on the (credit) report card.

I could go on.
Maybe tomorrow.

BAM! Just Like That! A Fine Howdy Do!

So it's been some time since I came by my blog...Damn! There has got to be a better word for this than "blog". Sounds like something that got stuck in the U-joint of a bathroom sink. If any one has any suggestions, let me know.
There's so much going on these days, I thought I'd just blurt out ("Blurt" might be better than "blog", eh?...OK. I'll keep thinking.) some thoughts on a variety of stuff instead of ranting endlessly on one topic.
The Presidential Candidates:
Ok, that being said, next topic! Seriously. If you are anything like me, (1st, Gawd help you!) you've probably listened to your share of the media force feeding of who we should pick for the elections in November. More importantly, who the media thinks we should even consider. In a field of 6 or 8 hopefuls , the press has been very helpful in paring down the choices to pretty much three from each side and one or two alternates. Ya just gotta hedge yer bets. "Know whadda mean Vern?". The Dems have Obama, Clinton and Edwards. Edwards is cool with me. A people kinda guy. Obama is eloquent beyond words and Hillary? Well Bill didn't have half the eel-like slickness that Hill has. Of the three Hillary probably represents "business as usual" in D.C.. Watch how little progress from the stone age we make with her in charge. But remember, the government is so far behind in where we need it to be, it's actually dragging down the country and undermining what was a good idea 250 years ago, at this point. Edwards is well intended but he would be eaten alive by the movers and shakers on the hill. Not that Hill'! Although, one does wonder what exactly Hillary might do for a moments passion now and again. Anyway, Edwards doesn't seem to have the grit to wrestle in the mud with some of those long term Reps and Senators. Obama...also well intended. And could probably be able to stare down some of the big dogs intellectually. But I fear for the guy if he should get close to the brass ring. The country is still full of Neanderthals who still think season is open on people who offer real hope to we lil' folk and Obama being black would get a bunch of good ol' boys all patriotic and full o' supremest righteousness. In any of these cases, I'm afraid either together on a ticket or alone with some kind of Dan Quail clone all that would be preserved of this country would be the status quo. On occassion, Bidden gets a chance to speak at the debates. He's like a color commentator/debater. Lots of good ideas, but the man is so bought, bought, bought he's got special interests written all over him. Besides, he takes credit for every damn law or commitee that has ever been given a headline since God was a boy. More status quo. Then there's Kucinich...The media just lets him outta the box now and again for comic relief. While the other candidates get asked stuff about immigration, Iraq, etc...Dennis gets the questions about whether or not he's seen a UFO. No media manipulation there, right? When did they last ask a press preferred front runner from either party if they ever saw a UFO??? Uh, never!
The Republican candidates (READ: Who the media would have you believe are the only credible possible choices) are a range of theocrats, fear mongers and law and order freaks on the scale of Richard Nixon. (Gulia...Guliahn...ah, the guy with the mafioso sounding name) Gulianni is running strong on his having that rare political opportunity of being in NYC on 9/11. Beyond that, he's about as effective at leadership as Paulie from the Sopranos. Romney gets the nod of industrialized media and has that "vote for me because I'm well manacured" look. But what's with the "I believe in Jesus", bullshit. I don't give a damn who you pray to. My question is, are you gonna prey on me because of it? And Huckabee? Nice guy but Christ, he's handing out tickets for God, too. What we don't need in America is a return to the puritan days. We'll be burning witches by the end of either of these two guys terms. McCain....Nam. Been there. Done that. Thank you. That will be all. Actually I was never there in the 60's/70's. I was fighting the war at home! Someone had to retain the flower culture and dream of being Cat Stevens...sure it was hell, but I gave it all I had. And you know what? Nobody threw me a frikkin' parade for my efforts either! Then there's the republican comic relief and the only guy that would get my ass off the couch on election day this time around. Dr. Ron Paul. Say what you will...the guy looks like a Keebler elf, (not as much as say, Gingrich...but the two of them on the screen at the same time makes me want to go out and get some o' them fudge cookies!) Still, if this country is going to ever get going in the direction it was meant to, Paul would be the one to influence that. He's publicly held his same opinions and voted that way on them in over 10 terms of service to this country, consistently. Kill the IRS. Bring back the constitution. Get governments nose out of everyones bedroom, crotches and stash boxes! What's not for me to like? He's the only obvious alternative to the status quo. Unfortunately the media doesn't agree with me on this so they somehow find a way to play down every accomplishment the guys happens upon. 4.7 million in 24 hours without special interests and industry like the other candidates, all from internet and nothing else and the press takes a wait and see if the figures are correct stance. The Bastids!!! Just remember, we could have it all. Vote Paul! Yeah, like that will ever get a chance to happen. Listen, it seems like I've been voting since the last puddle of primordial goo dried up in the sun and y'know what?... my win record would have been pretty near the same had I never voted at all. No. I didn't vote for Mondale, I was still back in PA for that one. And since he only took MN, I'm in the clear there. But things are definitely getting worse! Now I can't even get the guy I'm for to get past the primaries. Get past them??? They don't even get near them!

Well, I'm never gonna be able to cover all the stuff I wanted to at this writing 'cause I must once again channeling Tolstoy, (but without the talent) so I'm gonna have to pick this up again maybe tomorrow. But I'll be back. And if you give a damn, you come back too. We'll see what shakes out besides dandruff, then.

Politics in America. We get what we deserve

One would think that given two full years before the next presidential election we would be getting down to some real nitty gritty on the issues that plague this country.
The Dems are all fired up (with no place to go and no 'nads to get them where they promised they'd take us) after last November. And The Republicans are stumbling over themselves for positioning, because well, really, you don't have to glow in the dark with charisma to outshine the current resident in the White House in the areas of intelligence or credibility.
So what do we get instead of supporting our troops by bringing them home? Peace in the middle east? A plan for social security and health care? A remedy for global warming. A solution for the decay of the constitutional rights for the American people?
We get bombarded with issues like, is Obama really black enough? Can Hillary sing at all? "Same sex marriages". That Guilianni guy...you know how many times he's been married? What did Bidden mean when he said Obama was "clean"? Did you know that Barack likes to kick back with a burner now and again and he's trying to quit? Or how about that Hillary spoof film clip on YouTube? How dastardly can this Obama be to have any (even remote) association with the guy that put that video together? (Never mind that it was a press secretary of his who roomed with the creative end of that clip over a year before he came to work in Obama's camp!)
The point is fairly clear that the real issues that have a daily impact on you and I are once again (and still) taking a back seat to all of the evasive flares and maneuvers that has become what choosing genuine leadership in this country has become.
Everybody waits for the next media feeding frenzy on the personal trivial minutia of the candidates to cloud over what the real national concerns are and/or should be and we get to watch the magic show that is our culture lure us into watching the pretty little, scantily clad assistant who has nothing to do with the actual prestidigitation, instead of getting to the meat of the illusion.
The horror is we keep coming away totally surprised, caught unaware and mesmerized at the caliber of characters (or lack of it) that we so often end up with in the seats of power and representation, again and again and again.
If repetition is any indicator, we deserve what we get.

Conspiracy charges. One size fits all (but the mighty)

A mother in Wilmington, Delaware and her companion were arrested this past Wednesday and later released on bail pending trial for forcing her ten year old son to strip naked and stand outside in the cold "because they wanted him to see how cold it really was out there''.
Now in no way would I so much as attempt to excuse or justify this act of cruelty or pretend to understand the state of mind (or inebriation) that these two people were in when they drew this conclusion and embarked on such a twisted life lesson for the child.
Simultaneously, I'm having a hard time getting my mind around the charges that these people were brought up on and charged with...Well, one of them anyway.
Both women were charged with conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.
Fair enough on the latter...but the former? Conspiracy?
What am I missing?
Were there clandestine meetings between the two prior to and leading up to this stupidly impulsive act? Am I or are we expected to believe that a plot was born from whispers and nurtured, swaddled in Fagan-esque calculation beforehand then carried out according to a predefined plan based on devious concealment and subterfuge leading later to attempts to cover up the deed and the do-ers in order that any trails would be torturously convoluted so as not to be exposed and impossible for anyone to prove?
According to the short version of law, "conpiracy" is "an agreement by two or more persons to commit a crime, fraud, or other wrongful act."
Such a generic, broad based definition is hardly ever the first thing that comes to mind in the case of "black helicopters", or provocative practices and events ranging from the Bay of Tonkin to the assassination of Lincoln, Kennedy, Kennedy, Martin Luther King or more currently the war in Iraq.
Obviously there's a massive abyss between what the common man and a judge or attorney might prosecute or defend as an act of conspiracy.
And if language between us itself is this skewed and disjointed, perhaps we as Americans should find someone else to represent us in our own courts of law besides someone from the American Bar Association or the local/state/federal judicial departments. Obviously, we're talking apples and oranges, any more.
In spite of the obvious and evident misrepresentations and deliberate falsehoods that can be presented as circumstantial evidence (if nothing more) in the current administrations lead up to the war in Iraq, not one charge of conspiracy has been leveled much less officially uttered in accusation in spite of the hisorically contradictory sound bites of the last 4 years.
Yet somehow we are led to believe that "conspiracy" in the case of these folks (ok misguided cretins, if you like) in Delaware; as well as the growing number of people being apprehended for random acts of stupidity and cruelty in this country each day is somehow a charge that is justifiable and right on the money?
There's a huge gap here folks that requires a suspension of belief that up until now was only required for Saturday afternoon viewing of full-length feature cartoons and Disney fantasies on the big screen, while whipping Milk Duds at the cute girl with pigtails two rows ahead of you.
The problem is, while the common citizen, though (in the Delaware case) appearing most likely guilty of uncommon actions and unlikable deeds and decisions are falling well within the legal definition of "conspiracy" the larger than life, wealthy and/or powerful, true conspirators of our time are able to avoid that Scarlet Letter and branding which is rapidly becoming a catch all (every bit of pun intended) for the control and containment of Americas general citizenry.
In time, along with that traffic ticket you may get pulled over for, or the D.U.I. or the unbuckled seat belt, we may actually be charged with conspiracy. Technically, according to the laws that the common person is subject to, it would be an applicable charge even today. Especially if you happen to be car pooling or transporting a passenger.
Because according to the law, it only takes two people for a conspiracy charge…unless of course you happen to be a lobbyist, Captain of Industry, politician or a president and his staff…then regardless of what you may do, you will never need worry about being charged under any circumstance with conspiracy.
Hell, no one of any influence or authority will even mention it let alone charge you with it.

Bam! Just Like That! : Cosmo Kramer

By now everyone has seen or heard about Michael Richards losing it and spouting the "N word" while on stage at a comedy club in California. Not only did he come out with it, but he repeated it so many times I thought it was part of his routine. God bless the media for blowing it up larger than life itself and letting me know otherwise.
I mean, what would I have done or become if I had never known?
The truth be known, my life probably wouldn't have changed an iota without the education. And now with it, not so much, either.
Sure it was offensive. He intended it to be. But that doesn't make it lethal or truly injurous beyond someone's ego, regardless.
If those of us who can do so, were to call on the memory of the late Lenny Bruce we would see that he was a champion of trying to bring the "N word" and just about every other ethnic label and stereo type to their knees by pointing out that they were all, after all, simply words and in fact meaningless. And more to the point, these words were benign in their own right. It was Bruce's contention that it was our own sensitivity that was the malignancy. That and the nasty habit of human nature that creates these nicknames and euphemisms to further drive wedges between all cultures on a global scale. His repetition of the N word, the K word, the W word, the S word...you name the "word" he used them all over and over again in an attempt to desensitize us to them.
If the same words "Kramer" used had come from say, Eddie Murphy or Redd Foxx and was equally inclusive of the wrath that Richards felt he was somehow justified in publicly delivering, it would have never made YouTube, let alone the national news for 72 hours.
Certainly not when there's a whole lot more going on at this minute that hangs like the sword of Damocles over billions of people suffering the uncertainties and injustices of the human condition on this planet.
Forget the label folks and our differences will fade away, as well they should have by now.
The real offense of this whole "racist" incident...(I personally consider it a linguistics incident myself and little more) was the comment made by fellow comedian Paul Rodriguez who opined that "Even freedom of speech has its limitations..."
This is the only genuinely offensive and, yes, frightening thing I heard uttered with regard to the incident in the last three days!
Because when we start to believe that "freedom" of speech has any limitations what so ever, we're not only buying in to a whole 'nuther package than the one laid out by our constitution and the dreams of our founding fathers, but we're pretty much making a conscious choice between limitations AND freedom.
To accept the two concepts spoken in tandem and forget that they are mutually exclusive, is to accept an oxymoron of the highest order.
You either live with freedom or you live with limitations.
And so...while a few patrons of the Laugh Factory may have felt offended by what was said from the stage, I think the real problem, the real erosion of the fabric of our society and culture was ultimately dealt by the interviews afterwards.
By the way...have you ever heard Paul Rodriguez' routine especially in his younger days? I thought his depictions of street Latinos and blacks were often irreverent and could have been regarded by many as offensive. But I simply found him to be a funny guy, just like Michael Richards, actually. Rant or no rant. The words are the same, whether the passion was or not.
But Oh, I stand (somehow) corrected. He was, after all speaking of "his own". So that was perfectly acceptable.
Until that is, you realize that the worst ethnic slur and divisive remark that has been spoken for decades in this country and others is this whole attitude that, "I can talk about my own and call them anything I like but you can't talk the same way about my own! Because they happen to be MY own"...It's just an elitist wedge that keeps us from recognizing and accepting the fact that we're all really all from the same damned family after all.
And there really is no "(insert letter here)-word that can change any of that...unless you choose to buy in to it because you find it satisfying to have some illusionary badge of honor that sets you apart from that which you can never subtract yourself from in the first place. Well, that's the way it would seem until you're offended by mere words spoken to you from the stage of a small comedy club somewhere.
It's just a word, an outdated and tired label.
Stop using it to distance yourself and perhaps others will use it less.
Doing anything less to put an end to constantly being offended when other people (not of "your own") use it and then claiming you've been offended is pure bullshit!
Oops. Now I've offended the bovines!

Bam! Just Like That! Peace in Iraq: Toppling the scales of Justice

The one guy successful for keeping a lid on Sunni/Shia civil war and daily car bombings and law and order, keeping the hospitals/schools open, the roads repaired and the electricity and plumbing running for 2 decades at least at a 200% better rate than the last 3+ years has been convicted and sentenced for his policies being responsible for crimes against humanity in the 1982 killings of 148 people. A trial and verdict for another 100,000 people is pending.

(Double that if you like and it still stands diminished by at least 50% compared to even the the lowest marginal estimate which has been reported as the number of direct resultant deaths caused by the US invasion of Iraq, even if you were to cut the figures of that report by 200,000 fatal casualties. Applying the same margin of error to the other side of those figures however, the US gets the credit for 800,000 deaths rather than 400,000. The reported average is 600,000 souls. Any way you slice it...we're talking close to a half million souls on one end of the possibility spectrum or close to a million on the other! Hands down in either case a much bigger act of inhumanity than what Sadamm is to be hanged for.)

Meanwhile, in the space of 3+ years, US policy has been directly accountable for the deaths of a reported 600,000 civilians in Iraq (see above) and nearly 3000 Americans, has destroyed a large % of that country's infrastructure, caused the escalation of not only religious infighting but political as well, through out the region, and has been proven just as capable, culpable and deft as Saddam has been for the implementation of "imprisonment and torture" of the Iraqi people.

Given that during Iraq's US supported war against Iran in the 80's Saddam was the President of Iraq and acted against Iranian backed insurgencies and uprisings in his soveriegn nation with no more or less compassion than any world leader in the past historically has offered (see American Civil war)... the US invasion/occupation was a matter of choice on proved questionable cause against a soveriegn nation.
Who would appear to be the more successful peace keeper and the less inhumane of these two defendants?
For far less death and destruction, in his favor, Saddam was at least competent and efficient in securing Iraq and creating order out of chaos for the Iraqis.
We on the other hand, took that order and the involuntary and tragic sacrifices made leading up to it and returned Iraq to a chaos greater than existed prior to the strong handed policies of their last President.
So, tell me. Who's keeping the peace now?
Skip the hype and the character assasination that was generated to justify our invasion, packaged and sold on falsehoods.
Just do the math and more, view the aftermath.
According to findings of the kangaroo court put in place to aid my country in it's mercenary causes and the conquest of a regime, it would certainly seem that in the eyes of justice, having found a way to establish and maintain at least a moderate level of peace in Iraq is a far more henious crime to humanity than destroying it completely on a whim.
As I said, skip the spin. Do the math.
If afterwards you still think we're any less guilty than Saddam for what's been happening in Iraq...you will probably never "get it".

Fun Facts From Zach's Almanac: Please don't feed the animals!

I'm suffering from "electile" dysfunction and there's not a blue pill in the world that can possibly make me excited over running to the polls to throw my support behind what my 30 plus years of voting have proved to me to be every American's right to wallow in futility and the further entropy of our system of government.
To quote Robert Anton Wilson:
"If voting could change the system, it would be illegal.
If not voting could change the system it would be illegal."

Yet the time to vote has come upon us once more. Strike up the band. Bring out your babies to be kissed. Hang the bunting. Bend over. Grab your ankles. And wake me when it's over so I can once more wonder why it hurts when I sit down ever since my nap.
Across this great land of ours the race is on for many to vie for that dream job that but a couple hundred people can ever nab, out of a population of (now) 300 million.
A bucket o' perks including lobbyist favors and contributions, a great salary, a lifetime pension, medical coverage that the vast majority of people in this country literally die for each and every day and a status quo that has been milked by the same two interchangeable parties for so long that you can almost hear the mooing on Capitol Hill from New Jersey to San Francisco. But for the American people, the ones who actually feed this Matrix, hardly anything changes regardless of who gets an office in the Dome or a reserved seat on the floor.
Worse than stagnation, as a result of the last few elections, this country has somehow managed to back slide by 20 years, legislatively which by my observations will take at least 40 years of the rusty wheels of government screechingly turning to even deliver us to what forward momentum we had politically 10 years ago.
"Fuhgedabout" moving forward and/or addressing the real issues that face this country and it's policy that have been back burnered to pork barrel bill add-ons and party affiliations since even I was a lad.
While the hot button issues debated and moved upon remain to be centered around and never beyond moral directives, government interference into people's personal choices and social engineering in general, the same issues that matter to the people but not the politicians, evidently, keep getting the bums rush and an end run around any hope of definitive legislation. Social Security, medical care for the elderly and the truly infirmed at a fair price, a genuine move towards alternative energies and loosening the resource gluttony that has the world itself hacking up phlegm every morning, improving/providing some honest to God education to the young of this country instead of putting them in educational warehouses for 12 to 16 years simply for the purpose of controlling the flow of employable people into an already over loaded employment based economy. These are the same sorts of problems that have haunted the American people for decades and continue to remain un-addressed by the promise pimps with any real sincerity.
So me? I'll be a little more difficult to become aroused this election around. And 2008 looks like less of an attraction.
I'm going to do my part and I hope you will too.
Please, don't feed the animals.
You know, either the elephant or the jackass… becauseit's costing us really way too much to even think that we can afford pets like this anymore.
For all the good they seem to do, they just trash up the house...and the Senate too!

Bam! Just like that! Lebanon...

...or
Uh, this ain't your father's terrorism, Baby!

ter·ror·ism ( P ) Pronunciation Key (tr-rzm)n.

The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

War is terrorism too...just with a bigger budget.

Fun Facts from Zach's Almanac: Ah, summer.

The summer months are probably the hardest for sitting down to espouse in writing, moments of personal illumination.
Equally inhibiting is the knowing that many of ones min-epiphanies are often glaringly self evident to pretty much anyone that might happen by the site here and read them.
It's hard out here for a pseudo-philosopher!
But I've been back to this site now several times over the course of summer and to be honest with all of you…yeah, the picture of the dead guy is a downer and has got to go!
With this in mind and still coming up short on having any great observations or revelations to cover these walls with, I thought I'd share a small koan here with you.
If you're not familiar with the term, a "koan" is generally a short question or riddle, illustrating a ponderence in the shape of a "catch 22" that one can use to "step out of the box" every now and again whenever your immediate situation calls for you to change your perspective.
And then, guess what. You find it sticking to the inside of your head, repeating itself when you least expect it, like a tacky little pop song from the days of AM radio.
Probably the most well known koan is "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
This one in particular slays me.

The quotes above are a bit different and not quite as brief. But a favorite koan of mine and not an all too terrible piece of advice on how we go about processing our observations on the world around ourselves.
I fell upon the first half of it in an early chapter of a book by a madman I've been re-reading this summer. I'm re-reading it specifically because I suspected there was more to it than just the story line and more than I was capable of understanding ten or 12 years ago. I was right.
The second half of this koan comes from a conversation in a chapter much further on in the book. But it occurred to me that bringing them together was a possibility and perhaps just what was intended all along by the author.
I'll be back later. Hope you make it back here sometime too.
(And should you be one of those people who actually miss the picture of the dead guy, you can still find him below.)