Seismic monitoring

Dragon Mood? -- ???

Rayne Today, a blog that I enjoy reading, has a great graphic from the IRIS Seismic Monitor website regarding the tsunami.

Check it out.

As the year slows to a close

Dragon Mood? -- warm dragon thoughts

Those I'm thinking about:

• people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and all the coastal areas impacted by the tsunami. Also, the many travellers visiting those areas who are simply gone
• Sarah the Elder, more widely known as Sally, who turns 69 today. Happy Birthday, Sally!
• Sarah the Younger, known as Sarah, who hopefully will finalize her choice today and purchase a wedding gown. Congratulations and my very best wishes to you, Sarah!
• My children, Lina and Yosh, who returned from Arizona Monday, are currently catching their respective breaths, and who I hopefully will see late Thursday night or Friday morning. I am gathering guardian angels with my thoughts, and prayerfully asking for their fierce protection as my chicklets travel through hazardous winter roads to get here. Be safe!
• My dear partner, S, as she sleeps right now, resting and repairing from the cumulative bumps and bruises of daily life. Soon, I will make a pot of coffee, pour her a cup and wake her with the invitation, "I have a nice hot cup of coffee for you, honey."

I am holding all of you in my heart and hoping for your well-being.

A thought from my dad . . .

Dragon Mood? -- hmmm

Happy moments, praise God.

Difficult moments, seek God.

Quiet moments, worship God.

Painful moments, trust God.

Every moment, thank God.

Tsunami

Dragon Mood? -- troubled

I wanted to post some light-hearted words in this 'tween-time after Christmas and before the New Year's celebrations. But with news of this horrific tsunami that has hit so many coastal areas on the Indian Ocean, it just doesn't feel quite right to do so.

CNN is reporting over 33,000 dead this morning. That is ten times the number of people who died on 9/11.

I am embarrassed to say that I had to look at a map to understand how a tsunami could affect so many different places. I wasn't sure exactly where Indonesia is located. I had never heard of Myanmur (it used to be Burma).

Here's a graphic from a Chinese newspaper:

(The clarity on the image isn't great, but it will have to do.)

I am holding all those grieving survivors in my heart. What a tragedy!


[Update as of 12:15 p.m. EST: the news wires are now updating the death toll from the tsunami:

• Indonesia: 27,174

• Sri Lanka: 17,640

• India: 8,523

• Thailand: 1,516

• Myanmar: 90

• Malaysia: 65

• Maldives: 55

• Bangladesh: 2

• Somalia 100

• Tanzania 10

----------------------------

• Total: 55,175
  

Again, this tsunami has caused incredible destruction, devastation and loss of life.]

Winter Solstice

The sun, nearing winter solstice, travels low across the sky, from sunrise, at left, to sunset, in this multiple-exposure made at the Marshall Point Light, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2002, in St. George, Maine. The sun's position is recorded at 50-minute intervals during the short nine-hour day.
(Photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

Which gives lie to the ancients' description of solstice as "sun-standing-still."

Thanks to this site.

Winter Solstice and a Birthday Approaches

Dragon Mood? -- revelling in the season

I've got Christmas music on this morning. I grew up on Mantovani and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir playing in my parents' six-foot long, 60's-style stereo cabinet. For me, however, it's Cocktail Lounge and Tejano Country music this frigid morning.

And I'm preparing for the Winter Solstice and the celebration of the baby Jesus' birth.

This year, the winter solstice will occur at 12:42 UT (Universal Time -- more commonly known as Greenwich Mean Time) on December 21st. If my calculations are correct, that is 7:42 am EST for us folks here in the Mitten State. (See this site.) I just learned this morning that solstice means "standing-still-sun." Cool, huh?



At the Candlegrove site, the author says, "Many, many cultures the world over perform solstice ceremonies. At their root: an ancient fear that the failing light would never return unless humans intervened with anxious vigil or antic celebration."

Whch is deplorable to say the least. Even before Christianity, people were gripped by fear. Fear of a disappearing sun. Fear of the cold. Fear for their survival. My take: the early shapers of Christianity jumped on the fear bandwagon, because that was what people were used to, and looky there, it worked.

And then we have the baby Jesus' birthday celebration. My earliest memories of December, of winter, are focused entirely around Christmas (the Christ-Mass, the worship of the Messiah, the Anointed One). I just read somewhere here recently how powerful the symbols of Christmas are. Where was that? Ah, yes, here.

...the Nativity narratives are the subject of ongoing scholarly debate over their historical accuracy, their theological meaning and whether some of the central images and words of the Christian religion owe as much to the pagan culture of the Roman Empire as they do to apostolic revelation.

...The power of the Nativity message—that a helpless child is in fact a heavenly king—lies in its consistent pattern of reversal, of making the weak strong, the humble mighty. The stable, the manger and the swaddling of Jesus are such theological touches.

Yes, these are powerful images in the story of Jesus' birth: the shocking appearance of angels, guiding stars in the sky, humble people exalted, the manger scene replete with donkeys and cows, the lowly shepherds, the Wise Men seeking out a baby, a frightening getaway to Egypt. The cynical part of me thinks that Hollywood screenwriters could never sell such an outlandish story.

And yet, these are part and parcel of me and my childhood memories.

Here's a cool quote regarding Christmas:

"Shall we liken Christmas to the web in a loom? There are many weavers, who work into the pattern the experience of their lives. When one generation goes, another comes to take up the weft where it has been dropped. The pattern changes as the mind changes, yet never begins quite anew. At first, we are not sure that we discern the pattern, but at last we see that, unknown to the weavers themselves, something has taken shape before our eyes, and that they have made something very beautiful, something which compels our understanding."
--Earl W. Count, "4,000 Years of Christmas"

[The picture above was taken the morning of the 2000 Winter Solstice near Ames, Iowa. The halo is made by sunlight shining through millions of ice crystals.]

Snuggly-warm dragon

Dragon Mood? -- wrapped up warmly in my red dragon robe

It's Sunday morning, the thermometer registers an amazing "ZERO" outside, and I'm happily sitting here at the computer -- warm, drinking my coffee and blogging.

Totally content.

Well, almost. The sun is actually shining in this part of cloudy Michigan. Imagine that, sunshine! The sun is shining on the tassels of the ornamental grasses out in the front yard. I would LOVE to capture a photo of them . . . or three. But, sadly, my camera batteries are dead. And Santa has a "Do Not Open" sign on the Amazon box with the new digital camera inside. Damn! I'm not even sure if we have batteries for the new camera. Arrgh!

But let's return to the idea of content. Yes, content-ment.

I am content this morning. Which is a very good thing. Life is good.

Thank you, Divine One, for all these many moments of living, breathing and being.

Calling all red-wine drinkers

Flash: This week, Meijer's is selling Crane Lake Cabernet Sauvignon for $2 a bottle!

Actually, the advertised price is 5 bottles for $10. I bought 15 bottles. And I plan to buy some more! What a buy!

Thank you for this Happy Day!

I parked the car, made sure I had the keys to S's car in my hand, locked the door and started to walk through the parking lot. The weak winter sun was inching up over the horizon, filling the sky with a warm glow. There were two birds sitting on the edge of the building, right over the door, watching what ever it is that birds watch. And they started to sing!

Hearing their birdy music reminded me to take a moment and be thankful, thankful, thankful. A partner who loves me and lets me borrow her little car (when mine is in the shop) , God who gives me a sun that rises every day and warms my skin, and birds that sing to me, even in the shortest days of winter.

(whew!)...the day after my birthday

To cut to the chase . . . I am pooped from celebrating my birthday! It wasn't a Polish-wedding sort of affair, lasting for three days, but it was an extremely FULL and HAPPY day, with numerous calls from far-flung family wishing me excited birthday wishes, many emails from friends here, there and beyond "there," warm hugs, and many words of congratulations. I was in a "general" state of high anticipation, excitement and overall well-being for the entire day! I wish all people could experience such a profound sense of love, care and excitement at one's very existence! It is something to most definitely embrace, store for uncertain and insecure moments, and treasure above all. I am very blessed and feel most thankful for such wonderful people surrounding me.

Purple people-eater walls

Caroline suggested eggplant-colored walls when she and Yosh were visiting our pied-a-terre. Here's my quick, crude Photoshop take on her suggestions.

Two days before my birthday

Dragon Mood? -- excited!!!

Yup, it's two days before my birthday. And I'm getting excited!!

I was meeting with a health professional yesterday. I told her that Monday is my birthday and she said, "I feel sorry for all December children. They get kind of gypped."

And I replied, "You know, I never felt that way. I always felt like it was me and Jesus --fingers entwined together-- having our birthdays and the world was getting ready for them."

There's a little child's chutzpah, huh?

To that end, for my seasonal image (at least for this week), I have posted a portion of my natal astrology chart.

Scouring through the archives

Isn't this is a lovely graphic?

Poking, poking and more poking through the endless archives of Allposters.com, I found this lovely image. I just had to stick it in my blog for all (*derisive laughter*) to see.

. . . HIV is an issue for everyone . . .

Dragon Mood? -- remembering

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. Check out this site.

Transforming Force

A very cool quote:

"The connections between and among women are ... the most potentially transforming force on the planet."
--Adrienne Rich

Numbers, drugs and paths not taken

Dragon Mood? -- can you hear me now?

I need to take some time and post about numbers. Numbers that include too-high insulin, too-high cholesterol, too-high CRP (chemical reactive protein) and too-high some-thyroid-gobbledy-gook antibody.

And then I need to take some time and post about drugs. Drugs like good ol' Lipitor (hey, I've seen a zillion ads on TV for you!), Avandia (they must have a $0 budget for TV ads, cuz I've never heard of you) and S's long-time favorite, Synthroid.

And then, there's the conversation about the path to diabetes, the path we will not take, and the dietitian and the diabetes classes and the thyroid that is acting like an old-time light bulb (Zzzt -- it's on! Zzzt -- it's off!) which somehow makes me think of the movie, Erin Brockovitch, and sepia-toned images of industrial sites that are polluting our world.

(Oh yes, and did you hear about the nodule on your lung? A nodule on my lung? Yes, a nodule on your lung.)

But, amidst all this expectant posting of the discombobulated sort, there is anticipation of the real and sweet kind: seeing my kids Friday evening, wrapping my arms around them, smelling her hair, feeling his five-o'clock shadow on my cheek, all of us cracking open a beer at one in the morning to celebrate our reunion. Then -- maybe then -- I will tell them about all of this stuff.

Anti-gay hysteria

Dragon Mood? -- calm

[I found this link right after the election. I was so distraught at the prospect of four more years of this cretin and his crooked cronies (sorry for the excessive alliteration), that I just couldn't bear to post it right away. As if posting it made the reality even more harsh!]

I found this link on a website called MsGeek

Homo Hate
Kerry loses to Rove’s anti-gay hysteria
by Doug Ireland


The Republicans’ moralizing anti-gay crusade played a crucial role in George W. Bush’s re-election. The Rove-Bush decision to surf on the anti-gay backlash came about in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision, in the spring of 2003, to overturn the so-called sodomy laws.

After that decision, there was a precipitous 20-point Gallup poll drop in numbers of those who thought gay sex should be legal, and support for civil unions also slalomed downward.

Under the guidance of Commissar Karl Rove, the Republicans crafted a strategy to make political hay out of the anti-gay backlash and to fuel its intensity, just as soon as the Massachusetts Supreme Court decided that denying marriage equality to gay people was a violation of fundamental civil rights. The tools to make gays a political scapegoat that would mobilize the 4 million evangelicals who failed to vote in 2000 — and at the same time appeal to Catholic adepts of anti-gay papal precepts — were the Federal Marriage Amendment and the 11 anti-gay state referenda on the marriage issue. These measures were seen as wedge issues to divide the traditional Democratic coalition by prejudiced appeals to blacks and Latinos. Last year, among blacks, the drop on legalizing gay marriage was, at 23 points, even sharper than the national average. A New York Times poll from August last year confirmed the backlash Gallup found, especially among blacks and Latinos, with strong majorities opposing gay marriage — 65 to 28 for blacks, 54 to 40 for Latinos. Out of numbers like these came the Bush-Rove anti-gay strategy.

This is, after all, a country drowning in censorious, politicized religiosity. And race is no longer the great political dividing line in this country — region and religion have replaced it. The exit polls on Tuesday night showed that Bush won a whopping 42 percent of the Latino vote, in large part thanks to the power of anti-gay propaganda in a community — already marinated in macho cultural traditions — that gets a lot of its cohesiveness and sense of identity from homophobic Pentecostal churches.

Moreover, 21 percent of voters said that “moral values” — more than either Iraq or the economy — were what determined their vote. In many states the GOP used TV ads featuring two men kissing to fan the anti-gay marriage flames. Nowhere did the strategy work better than in Ohio, where the southern tier of counties is the cultural equivalent of a Deep South state, steeped in religiously inculcated homo-hate. Ohio is also a state where traditionally Democratic working-class Catholic voters — whom Kerry failed to bind to him with an economic program that could arouse their passions — were peeled off in sufficient numbers to reduce Kerry’s margins in the larger cities. And the sweeping anti-gay referendum in Ohio — which outlaws civil unions or any lesser legal recognition of same-sex couples, as well as gay marriage — passed by 2 to 1. Huge anti-gay majorities were rolled up as well in all the other 10 states with referenda, with the smallest margin of victory for the anti-gay measure in Oregon (a supposedly tolerant state where it won by a resounding 14 points).

The anti-gay crusade was also crucial in mobilizing the religious in support of Republican Senatorial candidates in crucial races around the country. The Democrats’ Senate leader, Tom Daschle, was targeted in South Dakota by his victorious GOP opponent, John Thune, on the gay issue — a relentless barrage of TV and radio ads portrayed Daschle as a supporter of gay marriage (for opposing the FMA) and helped Thune squeak through.

Similarly, in Kentucky — where the anti-gay referendum passed by 75 percent to 25 percent — a nasty gay-baiting campaign by mad Republican incumbent Jim Bunning helped defeat his Democratic opponent, whom Bunning implied (falsely) was gay. Bunning was so gaga, his staff had to hide him for the final weeks of the campaign for fear of what lunatic things he might say — yet by surfing the anti-gay backlash, he, too, squeaked through.

On Election Day, there were widespread reports, from Nevada to Florida, of guys in very bad drag shouting “Gay marriage!” holding pro-gay-marriage signs, and accosting voters outside polling stations. (Democrats took photos of these costumed GOP operatives for later identification as Bushniks). More dirty tricks: Phony robocalls in Wisconsin and a number of other states, purporting to be from the Kerry campaign, told swing voters, “A vote for Kerry is a vote for gay marriage — it’s our time.”

Scurrilous gay-baiting literature abounded. And, of course, the Bushniks could count on the fervent homophobia of Bush’s shock troops from the Christian right (heavily subsidized by taxpayer dollars through patronage disguised as “faith-based initiatives”) to hammer home the Sunday-go-to-meetin’ anti-gay message — and the sweeping Republican victory.

The Democrats were bereft of any strategy to fight this politicization of the anti-gay backlash. Across the country, the Democrats’ lawyers engaged in a furious struggle to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot — but didn’t lift a finger to engage in a similar challenge to the petitions for the anti-gay referenda, for fear of being tarred with the lavender brush. So, in referendum states like Ohio, the Reagan Democrats of yesterday — particularly married women and working-class men — became the Bush Democrats of today.

Kerry might have won them back if he’d hammered away at the economy. But his campaign ignored economic issues, and the national exit polls showed voters wound up trusting Bush more than Kerry on the economy by 48 to 46 percent. In Ohio, Kerry’s failure was even starker — while 62 percent of the Buckeye State’s voters said in exit polls they thought the economy was “bad,” they split even at 48 percent on who’d do better to get them out of the mess in a state that had lost 250,000 jobs. It’s well known that bigotry always increases in times of economic insecurity and penury. This year, among the economically hard-pressed, it was therefore easy to vent anger and frustration on those privileged, kissing, homo DINKS (Double Income, No Kids), who are portrayed as enjoying the fruits of luxurious consumerism by TV minstrelsy like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

Our high-fashion gay Stepin Fetchits played right into the GOP-fostered perception of gays as seeking special privileges, and of Democrats as elitists. The reasons for the GOP’s successful strategy have been brilliantly explained in Tom Franks’ latest book, What’s the Matter With Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. Franks has understood that the anti–gay marriage crusade is a particularly insidious form of Republican “class warfare.”

And unless Democrats wake up to Franks’ message, and develop a populist strategy to defang the anti-gay crusaders, electoral gay-bashing will continue to doom the Dems to defeat at the polls in many regions of the country.

Simple quote

Dragon Mood? -- pondering

I found this quote and rather liked its Deepak Chopra-esque qualities:

"Let yourself rule and be ruled by these strings or emanations that connect everything together...."

-- John Ashbery

I didn't know anything about John Ashbery. Here's one site's info on him.

Good-bye Mr. Powell, Mr. Abraham, et al

Dragon Mood? -- ???

More resignations from the Bush Cabinet.

I'm frankly sorry to see Colin Powell leave. He is one of the few (maybe the only) people in the Bush Cabinet that I truly respect as a person of integrity and high moral convictions! I imagine he has felt pretty lonely and isolated these past four years.

Of Spence Abraham, I have nothing good to say. He's a Republican party hack that got tossed a bone even after (then) Governor John Engler couldn't deliver Michigan to the Bush column in 2000. Abraham worked for Dan Quayle, for crying out loud. Doesn't that say enough?

As for the other two, Ann Veneman and Rod Paige, I know nothing about them. What did they do during their tenure on the Cabinet? I don't know. Hopefully, not too much damage.

Like many others, I anticipated Powell's leaving. I'm curious as to why the other three are resigning?

Nuclear tangerine

Dragon Mood? -- dragon proud!

I painted our kitchen in the big-city house Friday evening.

I had a game plan, a paint board all painted up with the colors and the techniques I was going to use.

So much for game plans. After getting the primer on and the first coat, I loved it. I didn't want to paint any more. So . . . what was going to be a squash-blossom yellow "dabbed" over a tangerine base coat, instead became a nuclear tangerine orange.

It glows. It positively glows . . . as in a nuclear reactor rod glows. While the kitchen has only one north-facing window, when the sunlight hits our neighbor's white aluminum siding, the reflected light in our kitchen makes that lovely orange glow.

I love it!!! I can't wait to post a picture showing it off.

Good-bye, Mr. Ashcroft!

Dragon Mood? -- a happy little swish of the ol' dragon tail

From the New York Times:

"We had an attorney general who treated criticism and dissent as treason, ethnic identity as grounds for suspicion and Congressional and judicial oversight as inconvenient obstacles," said David Cole, a law professor at Georgetown University. "He was a disaster from a civil liberties perspective but also from a national security perspective."

Good-bye and good riddance!

Memory, ancient memory

Dragon Mood? -- letting out a "Remember?" roar

On Nov. 10, 1871, journalist-explorer Henry M. Stanley found missing Scottish missionary David Livingstone in central Africa and delivered his famous greeting: ''Dr. Livingstone, I presume?''

And more recently -- today, I heard someone say something about next Tuesday, and some ancient cog in my ancient mind turned to recall this:

Wimpy, said to the character, Bluto: "I'll have two hamburgers, for which I will gladly pay you next Tuesday."

Ahhhh, yes . . . now I remember! Good ol' Popeye and Saturday morning cartoons. All in black-and-white, I might add. That was lonnnnggg before the advent of color television.

Ah yes, the stuff of my childhood!

Red states, Blue states, Maps and Cartograms

Dragon Mood? -- carto-what?

While I never root for the University of Michigan in sports events, I have to give some University of Michigan faculty a thumbs-up for this site. I encourage you to take a look at it. Here's a couple of the verrrrrry interesting things they show . . .

Here's what we're used to looking at:



If you look at the same map based on population and not topographic size, here's what it looks like:



Amazingly, many of the blue states look like one of those gas-aid commercials where the folks, eating at a diner, bloat up! California, Illinois and New York look especially bloated! Suddenly, the whole damn country doesn't look like it's gone to hell-in-a-Republican-handbasket!

Again, check out the site.

Soothe my soul

Here's something that can soothe my savage, ravaged breast: the beauty of Mother Nature, especially as she prepares to wrap herself in the dark, stark beauty of winter cloaking.

[Editorial note: I guess the expression is "savage beast" and "ravaged breast," but I rather like the rhyming mixture of the two, whether it makes traditional sense or not!]

Doh!

Can you tell that I'm still angry, bitter, and despairing after the election?

Please note the caption at the bottom of the page: "U.S. Election Disaster: Pages . . . "

Why can the whole world see what half of our citizens can not? I heard a retired preacher pose the question, "Why is God blinding our country and its leaders right now?"

By that standard, at least one half of the country is currently blind.

more about the American voters' debacle

Dragon Mood? -- so, so sad

Rayne Today is a blog I like to read. Rayne is a woman who lives in Michigan (like me) and she expresses lots of enthusiasm for political expression. Today she has a truly eloquent letter from her friend, Christopher, who also writes a blog called Barbaric Yawp.

Go on over to her site and read his letter, on this day when half the nation mourns our "new" leader.

Day after the Debacle

Dragon Mood? -- I'm so exhausted from the past 24 hours, even my Energizer bunny has died.

I usually try to refrain from out-and-out sarcasm, because in my personal experience, sarcasm can be quite hurtful. But I'm so angry about this election, that I am "giving in" to my baser instincts.

Welcome to four more years...

• Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
• Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Daddy Bush made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
• Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is Communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
• A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multinational corporations can make decisions affecting all humanity without regulation.
• The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
• If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
• A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
• Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing healthcare to all Americans is socialism.
• HMOs and insurance companies have the best interests of the public at heart.
• Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
• A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
• Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
• The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades butGeorge Bush's driving record is none of our business.
• You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have the right to adopt.
• What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s (i.e., smoke pot) is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s (snort coke and abuse alcohol) is irrelevant.
• We must protect fetal and embryonic life. After all, we need those babies to become adults so we can send them off to war or execute them in prison.

Can you tell I'm mad?

Exercise your rights as an American citizen!

Events to record

Dragon Mood? -- dragon scales rising as the dragon falls behind

So much to tell. I am having a hard time keeping up with recording all the events going on in my life right now.

I have yet to tell you about

• S and my trip to Texas

• S and my conversations with people as a result of our ubiquitous Kerry/Edwards buttons and stickers

• my weekend in the hospital

uh . . . that's enough of a list for now.

International survey on our national election

Dragon Mood? -- ???

The London Guardian (Guardian Unlimited), a British newspaper, published a survey of ten international newspapers, headlining it as "What the world thinks of America."

One part of the survey I found quite interesting. In response to the question, "Would you prefer to see the election of George W. Bush or John Kerry on November 2," here were the following responses:

_______________Bush__Kerry__
Canada.............20.........60...
France...............16.........72...
UK....................22.........50...
Spain................13.........58...
Russia...............52.........48...
Japan................30.........51...
Australia.............28.........54...
Mexico...............20.........54...
Israel.................50.........24...
Korea.................18.........68...
Average..............27.........54...

Note that Russia and Israel are the only countries cited as supporting the re-election of George Bush. All the other countries support the election of John Kerry by an overwhelming TWO to ONE margin!.

. . . and HOW to slow down

Dragon Mood? -- snorting towards transition

From the same ABC News article:

"To transition to a slower life, Honoré has several suggestions:

• don't schedule something in every free moment of your day;
  
• prioritize activities and cut from the bottom of the list;
  
• limit television watching;
  
• and keep an eye on your "personal speedometer" so you can gauge when you are rushing for speed's sake rather than necessity."

Slow down!

Dragon Mood? -- Her rushed Dragoness slows down and perks up!

This sounds like something I might be interested in. I think our whole country is moving too fast for the quality of life that we desire and deserve.

The article also references an organization, Slow Foods USA. Their website says this:

Recognizing that the enjoyment of wholesome food is essential to the pursuit of happiness, Slow Food U.S.A. is an educational organization dedicated to stewardship of the land and ecologically sound food production; to the revival of the kitchen and the table as centers of pleasure, culture, and community; to the invigoration and proliferation of regional, seasonal culinary traditions; and to living a slower and more harmonious rhythm of life.

Their first three guiding principles are Sustainability, Cultural Diversity and Pleasure and Quality in Everyday Life. Wow!

Check it out!

A welcome defeat!

Dragon Mood? -- hopeful???

John Kerry supporters have a welcome omen for their candidate: The Green Bay Packers defeated the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

If history holds, the 28-14 result portends a victory for Kerry on Tuesday because the result of the Redskins' final home game before the presidential election has always accurately predicted the White House winner. If the Redskins win, the incumbent party wins. If they lose, the incumbent party is ousted.

"Oh, yeah, he's going to win. It's guaranteed," said Packers' safety Darren Sharper, a Kerry supporter. . .

The streak began in 1933, when the Boston Braves were renamed the Redskins. Since then, beginning with Franklin Roosevelt's re-election in 1936, the trend has held, including a 2000 Redskins loss to the Tennessee Titans that predicted George W. Bush's win over Al Gore.

From ESPN via ABC News.

Read this before you vote!

Dragon Mood? -- appalled . . . and then mystified that anyone could support this president and his administration

An article from The Nation, brought to my attention by Lina:

100 Facts and 1 Opinion

The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration

by Judd Legum

Click here to download, circulate and distribute a PDF version of this article.

IRAQ

1. The Bush Administration has spent more than $140 billion on a war of choice in Iraq.

Source: American Progress

2. The Bush Administration sent troops into battle without adequate body armor or armored Humvees.

Sources: Fox News, The Boston Globe

3. The Bush Administration ignored estimates from Gen. Eric Shinseki that several hundred thousand troops would be required to secure Iraq.

Source: PBS

4. Vice President Cheney said Americans "will, in fact, be greeted as liberators" in Iraq.

Source: The Washington Post

5. During the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured.

Source: globalsecurity.org

6. In May 2003, President Bush landed on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit, stood under a banner proclaiming "Mission Accomplished," and triumphantly announced that major combat operations were over in Iraq. Asked if he had any regrets about the stunt, Bush said he would do it all over again.

Source: Yahoo News

7. Vice President Cheney said that Iraq was "the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault for many years, but most especially on 9/11." The bipartisan 9/11 Commission found that Iraq had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks and no collaborative operational relationship with Al Qaeda.

Source: MSNBC , 9-11 Commission

8. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that high-strength aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were "only really suited for nuclear weapons programs," warning "we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." The government's top nuclear scientists had told the Administration the tubes were "too narrow, too heavy, too long" to be of use in developing nuclear weapons and could be used for other purposes.

Source: New York Times

9. The Bush Administration has spent just $1.1 billion of the $18.4 billion Congress approved for Iraqi reconstruction.

Source: USA Today

10. According to the Administration's handpicked weapon's inspector, Charles Duelfer, there is "no evidence that Hussein had passed illicit weapons material to al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations, or had any intent to do so." After the release of the report, Bush continued to insist, "There was a risk--a real risk--that Saddam Hussein would pass weapons, or materials, or information to terrorist networks."

Sources: New York Times, White House news release

11. According to Duelfer, the UN inspections regime put an "economic strangle hold" on Hussein that prevented him from developing a WMD program for more than twelve years.

Source: Los Angeles Times

TERRORISM

12. After receiving a memo from the CIA in August 2001 titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack America," President Bush continued his monthlong vacation.

Source: CNN.com

13. The Bush Administration failed to commit enough troops to capture Osama bin Laden when US forces had him cornered in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in November 2001. Instead, they relied on local warlords.

Source: csmonitor.com

14. The Bush Administration secured less nuclear material from sites around the world vulnerable to terrorists in the two years after 9/11 than were secured in the two years before 9/11.

Source: nti.org

15. The Bush Administration underfunded Nunn-Lugar--the program intended to keep the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy out of the hands of terrorists and rogue states--by $45.5 million.

Source: armscontrol.org

16. The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's and Saddam Hussein's money.

Source: Associated Press

17. According to Congressional Research Service data, the Bush Administration has underfunded security at the nation's ports by more than $1 billion for fiscal year 2005.

Source: American Progress

18. The Bush Administration did not devote the resources necessary to prevent a resurgence in the production of poppies, the raw material used to create heroin, in Afghanistan--creating a potent new source of financing for terrorists.

Source: Pakistan Tribune

19. Vice President Cheney told voters that unless they elect George Bush in November, "we'll get hit again" by terrorists.

Source: Washington Post

20. Even though an Al Qaeda training manual suggests terrorists come to the United States and buy assault weapons, the Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the expiration of the ban.

Source: sfgate.com

21. Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are fewer experienced CIA agents assigned to the unit dealing with Osama bin Laden now than there were before 9/11.

Source: New York Times

22. Before 9/11, John Ashcroft proposed slashing counterterrorism funding by 23 percent.

Source: americanprogress.org

23. Between January 20, 2001, and September 10, 2001, the Bush Administration publicly mentioned Al Qaeda one time.

Source: commondreams.org

24. The Bush Administration granted the 9/11 Commission $3 million to investigate the September 11 attacks and $50 million to the commission that investigated the Columbia space shuttle crash.

Source: commondreams.org

25. More than three years after 9/11, just 5 percent of all cargo--including cargo transported on passenger planes--is screened.

Source: commondreams.org

NATIONAL SECURITY

26. During the Bush Administration, North Korea quadrupled its suspected nuclear arsenal from two to eight weapons.

Source: New York Times

27. The Bush Administration has openly opposed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, undermining nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

Source: commondreams.org

28. The Bush Administration has spent $7 billion this year--and plans to spend $10 billion next year--for a missile defense system that has never worked in a test that wasn't rigged.

Sources: www.gao.gov/new.items/d04409.pdf, Los Angeles Times

29. The Bush Administration underfunded the needs of the nation's first responders by $98 billion, according to a Council on Foreign Relations study.

Source: nationaldefensemagazine.org

CRONYISM AND CORRUPTION

30. The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton--a company that still pays Vice President Cheney hundreds of thousands of dollars in deferred compensation each year (Cheney also has Halliburton stock options). The company then repeatedly overcharged the military for services, accepted kickbacks from subcontractors and served troops dirty food.

Sources: The Washington Post, The Tapei Times, BBC News

31. The Bush Administration told Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about plans to go to war with Iraq before telling Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Source: detnews.com

32. The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill containing $23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of which would have benefited major campaign contributors.

taxpayer.net, Washington Post

33. The Bush Administration paid Iraqi-exile and neocon darling Ahmad Chalabi $400,000 a month for intelligence, including fabricated claims about Iraqi WMD. It continued to pay him for months after discovering that he was providing inaccurate information.

Source: MSNBC

34. The Bush Administration installed as top officials more than 100 former lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.

Source: Source: commondreams.org

35. The Bush Administration let disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay--a close friend of President Bush--help write its energy policy.

Source: MSNBC

36. Top Bush Administration officials accepted $127,600 in jewelry and other presents from the Saudi royal family in 2003, including diamond-and-sapphire jewelry valued at $95,500 for First Lady Laura Bush.

Source: Seattle Times

37. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge awarded lucrative contracts to several companies in which he is an investor, including Microsoft, GE, Sprint, Pfizer and Oracle.

Source: cq.com

38. President Bush used images of firefighters carrying flag-draped coffins through the rubble of the World Trade Center to score political points in a campaign advertisement.

Source: The Washington Post

THE ECONOMY

39. President Bush's top economic adviser, Greg Mankiw, said the outsourcing of American jobs abroad was "a plus for the economy in the long run."

Source: CBS News

40. The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus into a $422 billion deficit.

Sources: Fortune, dfw.com

41. The Bush Administration implemented regulations that made millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay.

Source: epinet.org

42. The Bush Administration has crippled state budgets by underfunding federal mandates by $175 billion.

Source: cbpp.org

43. President Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs--around 800,000--over a four-year term.

Source: The Guardian

44. The Bush Administration gave Accenture a multibillion-dollar border control contract even though the company moved its operations to Bermuda to avoid paying taxes.

Sources: The New York Times, cantonrep.com

45. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush said "the vast majority of my tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum." He passed the tax cuts, but the top 20 percent of earners received 68 percent of the benefits.

Sources: cbpp.org, vote-smart.org

46. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to pay down the national debt to a historically low level. As of September 30, the national debt stood at $7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high.

Sources: www.georgewbush.com , Bureau of the Public Debt

47. As major corporate scandals rocked the nation's economy, the Bush Administration reduced the enforcement of corporate tax law--conducting fewer audits, imposing fewer penalties, pursuing fewer prosecutions and making virtually no effort to prosecute corporate tax crimes.

Source: iht.com

48. The Bush Administration increased tax audits for the working poor.

Source: theolympian.com

49. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to protect the Social Security surplus. As President, he spent all of it.

Sources: georgewbush.com, Congressional Budget Office

50. The Bush Administration proposed slashing funding for the largest federal public housing program, putting 2 million families in danger of losing their housing.

Source: San Francisco Examiner

51. The Bush Administration did nothing to prevent the minimum wage from falling to an inflation-adjusted fifty-year low.

Source: Los Angeles Times

EDUCATION

52. The Bush Administration underfunded the No Child Left Behind Act by $9.4 billion.

Source: nwitimes.com

53. In 2000, candidate George W. Bush promised to increase the maximum federal scholarship, or Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead, each year he has been in office he has frozen or cut the maximum scholarship amount.

Source: Source: edworkforce.house.gov x

54. The Bush Administration's Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, called the National Education Association--a union of teachers--a "terrorist organization."

Sources: CNN.com

HEALTHCARE

55. The Bush Administration, in violation of the law, refused to allow Medicare actuary Richard Foster to tell members of Congress the actual cost of their Medicare bill. Instead, they repeated a figure they knew was $100 billion too low.

Source: Washington Post, realcities.com

56. The nonpartisan GAO concluded the Bush Administration created illegal, covert propaganda--in the form of fake news reports--to promote its industry-backed Medicare bill.

Source: General Accounting Office

57. The Bush Administration stunted research that could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, spinal injuries, heart disease and muscular dystrophy by placing severe restrictions on the use of federal dollars for embryonic stem-cell research.

Source: CBS News

58. The Bush Administration reinstated the "global gag rule," which requires foreign NGOs to withhold information about legal abortion services or lose US funds for family planning.

Source: healthsciences.columbia.edu

59. The Bush Administration authorized twenty companies that have been charged with fraud at the federal or state level to offer Medicare prescription drug cards to seniors.

Source: American Progress

60. The Bush Administration created a prescription drug card for Medicare that locks seniors into one card for up to a year but allows the corporations offering the cards to change their prices once a week.

Source: Washington Post

61. The Bush Administration blocked efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices for seniors.

Source: American Progress

62. At the behest of the french fry industry, the Bush Administration USDA changed their definition of fresh vegetables to include frozen french fries.

Source: commondreams.org

63. In a case before the Supreme Court, the Bush Administrations sided with HMOs--arguing that patients shouldn't be allowed to sue HMOs when they are improperly denied treatment. With the Administration's help, the HMOs won.

Source: ABC News

64. The Bush Administration went to court to block lawsuits by patients who were injured by defective prescription drugs and medical devices.

Source: Washington Post

65. President Bush signed a Medicare law that allows companies that reduce healthcare benefits for retirees to receive substantial subsidies from the government.

Source: Bloomberg News

66. Since President Bush took office, more than 5 million people have lost their health insurance.

Source: CNN.com

67. The Bush Administration blocked a proposal to ban the use of arsenic-treated lumber in playground equipment, even though it conceded it posed a danger to children.

Source: Miami Herald

68. One day after President Bush bragged about his efforts to help seniors afford healthcare, the Administration announced the largest dollar increase of Medicare premiums in history.

Source: iht.com

69. The Bush Administration--at the behest of the tobacco industry--tried to water down a global treaty that aimed to help curb smoking.

Source: tobaccofreekids.org

70. The Bush Administration has spent $270 million on abstinence-only education programs even though there is no scientific evidence demonstrating that they are effective in dissuading teenagers from having sex or reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases.

Source: salon.com

71. The Bush Administration slashed funding for programs that suggested ways, other than abstinence, to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

Source: LA Weekly

ENVIRONMENT

72. The Bush Administration gutted clean-air standards for aging power plants, resulting in at least 20,000 premature deaths each year.

Source: cta.policy.net

73. The Bush Administration eliminated protections on more than 200 million acres of public lands.

Source: calwild.org

74. President Bush broke his promise to place limits on carbon dioxide emissions, an essential step in combating global warming.

Source: Washington Post

75. Days after 9/11, the Bush Administration told people living near Ground Zero that the air was safe--even though they knew it wasn't--subjecting hundreds of people to unnecessary, debilitating ailments.

Sierra Club , EPA

76. The Bush Administration created a massive tax loophole for SUVs--allowing, for example, the write-off of the entire cost of a new Hummer.

Source: Washington Post

77. The Bush Administration put former coal-industry big shots in the government and let them roll back safety regulations, putting miners at greater risk of black lung disease.

Source: New York Times

78. The Bush Administration said that even though the weed killer atrazine was seeping into water supplies--creating, among other bizarre creatures, hermaphroditic frogs--there was no reason to regulate it.

Source: Washington Post

79. The Bush Administration has proposed cutting the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by $600 million next year.

Source: ems.org

80. President Bush broke his campaign promise to end the maintenance backlog at national parks. He has provided just 7 percent of the funds needed, according to National Park Service estimates.

Source: bushgreenwatch.org

RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES

81. Since 9/11, Attorney General John Ashcroft has detained 5,000 foreign nationals in antiterrorism sweeps; none have been convicted of a terrorist crime.

Source: hrwatch.org

82. The Bush Administration ignored pleas from the International Committee of the Red Cross to stop the abuse of prisoners in US custody.

Source: Wall Street Journal

83. In violation of international law, the Bush Administration hid prisoners from the Red Cross so the organization couldn't monitor their treatment.

Source: hrwatch.org

84. The Bush Administration, without ever charging him with a crime, arrested US citizen José Padilla at an airport in Chicago, held him on a naval brig in South Carolina for two years, denied him access to a lawyer and prohibited any contact with his friends and family.

Source: news.findlaw.com

85. President Bush's top legal adviser wrote a memo to the President advising him that he can legally authorize torture.

Source: news.findlaw.com

86. At the direction of Bush Administration officials, the FBI went door to door questioning people planning on protesting at the 2004 political conventions.

Source: New York Times

87. The Bush Administration refuses to support the creation of an independent commission to investigate the abuse of foreign prisoners in American custody. Instead, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld selected the members of a commission to review the conduct of his own department.

Source: humanrightsfirst.org

FLIP FLOPS

88. President Bush opposed the creation of the 9/11 Commission before he supported it, delaying an essential inquiry into one of the greatest intelligence failure in American history.

Source: americanprogressaction.org

89. President Bush said gay marriage was a state issue before he supported a constitutional amendment banning it.

Sources: CNN.com, White House

90. President Bush said he was committed to capturing Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" before he said, "I truly am not that concerned about him."

Source: americanprogressaction.org

91. President Bush said we had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, before he admitted we hadn't found them.

Sources: White House, americanprogress.org

92. President Bush said, "You can't distinguish between Al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror," before he admitted Saddam had no role in 9/11.

Sources: White House, Washington Post

BIOGRAPHY

93. George Bush didn't come close to meeting his commitments to the National Guard. Records show he performed no service in a six-month period in 1972 and a three-month period in 1973.

Source: boston.com

94. In June 1990 George Bush violated federal securities law when he failed to inform the SEC that he had sold 200,000 shares of his company, Harken Energy. Two months later the company reported significant losses and by the end of that year the stock had dropped from $3 to $1.

Source: The Guardian

95. When asked at an April 2004 press conference to name a mistake he made during his presidency, Bush couldn't think of one.

Source: White House

SECRECY

96. The Bush Administration refuses to release twenty-seven pages of a Congressional report that reportedly detail the Saudi Arabian government's connections to the 9/11 hijackers.

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

97. Last year the Bush Administration spent $6.5 billion creating 14 million new classified documents and securing old secrets--the highest level of spending in ten years.

Source: openthegovernment.org

98. The Bush Administration spent $120 classifying documents for every $1 it spent declassifying documents.

Source: openthegovernment.org

99. The Bush Administration has spent millions of dollars and defied numerous court orders to conceal from the public who participated in Vice President Cheney's 2001 energy task force.

Source: Washington Post

100. The Bush Administration--reversing years of bipartisan tradition--refuses to answer requests from Democratic members of Congress about how the White House is spending taxpayer money.

Source: Washington Post

OPINION

If the past informs the future, four more years of the Bush Administration will be a tragic period in the history of the United States and the world.

... and how about S?

Dragon Mood? -- snorting love-of-my-life dragon fires

And while I was whiling away a weekend in Cheeseland, my dear partner, S, was busy.

Over the past three weeks, she has done this:

• completed our new 100-yard-long crescent berm, complete with 30 yards of soil and 90 (?) bags of mulch
• planted over 150 bulbs in aforesaid berm
• hauled and planted by hand two six-foot white pines
• planted a multitude of plants, including three foxglove, a wild-looking walking stick plant, one lone Japanese blood grass and three cotoneasters that are begging her to snuggle down in the ground before the snow flies
• planted, fertilized, immunized and basically sweet-talked back to health four rather sickly tea rose plants that the nursery *gave* her
• met with, interviewed and reviewed four contractors' bids to install a top-of-the-line furnace and air conditioning unit in the country house
• "supervised" the installation of the aforesaid furnace and air conditioning unit (which I neglected to mention ALSO included a top-of-the-line humidifer and air filtering unit)
  
• negotiated with Pottery Barn on purchasing the very last cherry red leather Sullivan ottoman in the entire nation (and sadly, that fish got away)
• hired a local survey company to survey the west and south lot lines of the country estate
• talked with the asshole neighbor and the cheapskate neighbor that share the aforesaid west and south lot lines
• convinced the asshole neighbor NOT to pull up the survey stakes that she (S) just paid the survey company to put in
• respectfully declined the cheapskate neighbor's offer to *split* the cost of removing eight dead pine trees when six of them clearly lie on HIS property
• arranged for her sons, Matt and Tim, to help her remove the two dead pine trees on our property and MAYBE help the cheapskate neighbor take down his six dead ones . . . maybe

I'd say S has been a pretty busy camper, wouldn't you? Besides working full time and taking a class? Sheesh!

So, on this Hallmark holiday -- Sweetest Day -- I take my hat off to you, honey. Not only are you the sweetest partner this side of the Mississippi, you definitely win the prize for hardest working woman and partner I could ever hope to love for the rest of my life. You are the best, baby! I love you!

... about my kids

Dragon Mood? -- yearning to breathe fire on my children, roast and nibble on their necks and then eat them! (with thanks to dooce for making it okay to lovingly devour your children)

Once upon a time . . . actually, last weekend . . . I went to Mad City in faraway Cheeseland to see my kids. It was so wonderful and relaxed and full of can-I-sit-in-your-lap happiness for me, that I have been savoring it (like a good red wine, Caroline) all week!

My kids are the apples of my eye, the cream in my coffee, the joy in my heart . . . and they're really cool people to hang out with, too!

Lina is my older child, with her warm dragon-y outlook on life and people. She loves her dog, good food, "value" wine and that sushi-delivering motorcyle guy. The cup is almost always way more than half-full for her and Lina always looks for the good in people. I love the way she writes, her embracing of wildness and piratical "wenchiness," and most especially, I appreciate her good "eye."

Josh is my younger child, a curious combination of compassion and wicked smartness. His smartness is magnified by incredible tenacity and persistence. He'll bulldoggedly rip your illogical arguments to shreds as well as sit tenderly by, handing you tissues as you cry. He loves the company of women, especially strong women and he isn't afraid to tell Lina and me how much he loves us. He also has a passion for music, which at times, pours out of his being like a localized Niagara Falls. I love watching him at those moments.

My children, like John Kerry's daughters, cut me no slack. They don't allow me to whine, to feel sorry for myself or to label myself as "I"m too old," "I'm too tired" or "I'll never be able to ..." For all those growing-up years that I pushed them, they are now returning the favor of holding me up, nudging me along, and encouraging me. They are two of my very best cheerleaders.

When I am with them, I feel an ease that I feel nowhere else. It's something that I marvel at!*

Last weekend, we visited the ever-amazing Dane County Farmer's Market that rings the capitol building. It's a true re-enactment of an ancient forum and the primeval marketplace. Everywhere, you see people. They meet and greet others they know, buy food, sell food, haggle over money, tell stories, share a laugh, rub shoulder to shoulder. That morning, women carried happy bouquets of sunflowers and dried herbs. Men carried backpacked babies and sacks of midwestern bounty.

Last week, there were "politicos" there, as well, handing out bumper stickers and buttons, encouraging people to sign petitions or to register to vote. Caroline and I loaded up on Kerry-Edwards stickers, and proudly wore our "Women for Kerry" stickers on my chest and her sassy back-pocket.

It's an incredibly rich experience visiting that market and I relish it every time I'm there. With so many good, earnest people selling the "fruits" of their hard work, I get an almost dizzying sense of healthiness, bounty, and plain old well-being. In this life, walking the four blocks of the market with my beloved kids . . . well, it doesn't get much better than this, does it?



*(Sorry about the end-of-the-sentence preposition there. Horrify Josh!)

Posting to the scaly green dragon blog

Dragon Mood? -- discombobulated

Not to beat a dead horse, but I'm still amazed at how *UNABLE* I have been to post these past three weeks! I am working at a dead run these days (talk about a 180-degree turnabout!), which means I don't have time to post from work, the city house has no computer, much less an internet connection, and I'm sitting here in the country house (with the computer and the internet connection) which happens only two days a week, at best! Arrrgh! I think S and I perhaps need to re-arrange some things! Hmmm.

I do miss posting in my blog, reading others' blogs and generally feeling "connected" with the blogging cosmos. I'm L-O-S-T---I-N---S-P-A-C-E-!-!

a first for me . . .

Dragon Mood? -- a bit sad and disheartened

This is a first for me, not posting for ten days! Suffice to say that I've been busy, I've been in my car a lot and I have not had the quiet in my heart to discern what it is I want to say.

Tonight is the last presidential debate. I have been trying to be a bit more courageous, talking to people about the issues, asking them who they plan to vote more, and then engaging them in conversation about their choices. I certainly don't believe that I've changed any one's mind, but I do hope that these folks have thought about our conversations.

I feel a sadness about our country. It appears that we, as a people, are so polarized that no matter who wins, our leader will have a difficult time leading us as a nation. For George Dubya, it will be four more years of the same -- a deadening, disheartening prospect, at the very least. And if it's John Kerry, I think he will endure the same kind of misleading, hate-full attacks that he's endured throughout this campaign.

What has brought our country to such a low level of tolerance?

Disheartening.

Post-Debate I

Dragon Mood? -- of a graphic nature

For us 60 million-plus who watched Debate I, we all noticed the two candidates scribbling on notepads as they debated.

Don't you wonder what they scribbled? Well, thanks to The Talent Show, he/she/they have uncovered the notes that Bush made during the debate. Take a look!

Shaking things up!

Dragon Mood? -- bemused

Last Thursday night, as we were sitting in our favorite pub, drinking a pitcher of Fosters, S told me about a funny professor she has this semester. The dude is old, white-silvery hair down to his shoulders, with a giant handlebar mustache to boot! He teaches this engineering course at a top-notch engineering school. In his lectures, he encourages people to bust out of their habits, shake up their thinking, break the rules and defy conventions as a means to awakening and releasing the inner creativity within themselves! (I would love to know how this pertains to engineering?)

So, over at frogblog, frog has this posting about tarot. Taking the professor's words to heart, I tried it. Here's the results for me:

I am The Lovers The Lovers often refers to a relationship that is based on deep love - the strongest force of all. The relationship may not be sexual, although it often is or could be. More generally, the Lovers can represent the attractive force that draws any two entities together in a relationship - whether people, ideas, events, movements or groups.

So then, of course, I had to try S's. Here is hers:

I am The World The World represents the moments when we feel fulfilled and blessed and all that goes into them. It is a very positive sign that you are in a position to realize your heart's desire. What that is for you depends on the situation, but it will always feel great. Remember, though, that Card 21 is a symbol of active contribution and service. To hold the World in our hands, we must give of ourselves to it. That is the source of true happiness.

For a full description of your card and other goodies, please visit LearnTarot.com

What tarot card are you? Enter your birthdate. Month: Day: Year:

---

Variations II

Dragon Mood? -- design snorting

(Since she missed the first one), I wonder how long it will take Lina to see this . . .

A grab bag of my thoughts and other mish-mash

Dragon Mood? -- discombobulated

This week was a long week, a short week and a hard week.

I worked 10-hour days (talk about long?), four days this week (short work week), and my days were filled with LOTS OF WORK! After days and weeks of filling time, this week I was setting up images in Unigraphics NX, Photoshopping them and then checking their appearance in the body of text for a training course going to Sweden in a few weeks. The whole forty hours! Whew! I am exhausted but happy to know that I am still capable of working that many hours in a row! And I love working in Photoshop!

Today I am home, away from work, back in the land of the tall pine trees, while my trusty and faithful landboat, the '94 Volvo, gets a few of her internal parts replaced, tinkered with and adjusted. Let's hope the doctor bill is less than $1000.

I had planned to sew today. But I'm sitting here, and I'm just pooped. Tired and without motivation. Not so tired that I can't surf the internet or post a post or three on my blog. But that's about the extent of my energy.

Some mish-mash lolling about in my brain:

• I do think Cisco, our sweet puppy, has been lonely, bored and a bit out of sorts lately. This past week I tried giving her extra attention after work, and she definitely felt like a happier dog. "Hey, Mom, let's go for a WALK!"
• I wrote my intrepid pirate princess daughter, Lina, to chew her out 'cuz we missed the talk-like-a-pirate day. Damn the mizzen mast, we be workin' too hard ta miss our talkin' day! If we don't get our heads outta our arses, there be short planks we be walkin!
• Which led me to re-experience how much I miss seeing my kids on a regular basis. Damn, I wanted you to grow up, . . . but I never wanted you to get jobs and move away and get a life. I would be happy if we could go to Bagel Haul once a week, have breakfast and just talk and laugh with each other. Bagel Haul's gone, you're gone and I miss those times with you! Geez!
  
• On a lighter note, even old dogs can learn new tricks. In preparation for driving home last night, I backed the car into the driveway, left my purse in the car, rolled down the back windows for Cisco who was about-to-be-in-the-car. Then I locked the car (you know, to foil the big, bad city robbers lurking in the bushes). A half an hour later, I carried my bag out of the house, got to the car, realized it was locked, and reached in through the half-opened back windows to unlock the car. Holy shit!-- an alarm went off, the horn started tooting and the lights started flashing. I didn't know my car would do that! This is the car that I've owned for seven years, the car that's paid for, the car I've put 150,000 miles on. Holy shit, I didn't know it would do that! (laughing)

  It took me about thirty seconds to find my keys with the keyfob, although it certainly felt more like five minutes and thirty seconds. Our neighbors, sitting out on their porch, yelled over at me, what the hell I was doing over there? Needless to say, this ol' dog felt just a little stupid. But I did learn a new trick: don't try to out-trick the trusty car's alarm system!

Any more mish-mash? Anything else lolling about up there?? Maybe I'll add more to this later ?

Embracing change

Dragon Mood? -- excited and sad; choosing something new while giving up something familiar

I did something BIG this week. I changed my address.

I / We are giving up our post office box in the little Indian village by the Red Cedar (Warning: mounting soapbox --"which has morphed into another traffic-clogged, where's-the-center-of-town-now?, procession of mini-malls and shopping centers"). It's all very familiar and known. (This is the village where I went to high school, for crying out loud! That's how familiar and known it is to me!) But . . . and you knew there was a "but" coming, it has become more and more inconvenient to pick up our mail at that post office. Plus, it's necessary for me to do this for tax reasons (thanks a lot, IRS!) So, this week, I compiled a list of businesses and contacts that I notified of a change of address. My new address will be at our pied-a-terre, while S will maintain her post office box out here in Sticksville, for tax and employment purposes . . .

. . . which, reflecting upon this change, is pretty significant. It represents cutting my ties (at least, in a formal, legal way) with the area where I've lived, literally, for the past forty years (it will be forty years in '05). And if you knew me like I know me, that's amazing! I love change and I embrace change, but I never could have imagined living in one area, marrying, having kids, divorcing, falling in love with a woman, . . . all these years without leaving. NEVER COULD HAVE IMAGINED IT! Even the astrologer, when she analyzed my horoscope, was amazed that I haven't traveled and lived IN OTHER PLACES! It's right there in my natal chart, for all to see!

So . . . leaving my natal chart for the moment and just being still, I realize that I am grieving. I am grieving a loss. I am realizing that I no longer live here, now I live there. And I now live in a place, literally, formally, legally, that I never wanted to live. And that's big TOO!

Privilege

Dragon Mood? -- humbled and thankful

Driving down a main thoroughfare in the little village of our pied-a-terre, I saw something that made me want to stare. Even though I know it's not polite.

There was a man in a wheelchair, wheeling himself down the sidewalk. Something looked "funny" about the man and his wheelchair. The wheelchair had no backrest. It was more like a little fabric seat suspended between two wheels. The man had no legs. No legs that I could see although he did have pants on and a shirt that he kept pulling down over his backside.

The other thing was that he wasn't sitting up in the wheelchair, but rather was lying face down, craning his neck up to see where he was going. It looked awkward and hard to push his wheelchair with his hands, with his shoulders lifted and his arms pushing behind and away from his body.

What really drew my attention to him was the traffic jam he apparently was causing. I noticed a city bus ahead of me, creeping slowly, with three or four cars behind the bus. I wondered if there had been an accident? I pulled over into the passing lane, and as I passed the bus, I saw the man in the wheelchair on the sidewalk, making his painfully slow and tedious progress up the street.

Exactly what prompted the city bus to slow down alongside this man, I don't know. But I do know that this "differently abled" man had a lot of eyes on him.

Thank you, God, for my legs. And for the ability to stand up. And for the privilege of walking.

Wow!

For all you pissed-off people out there . . .

Dragon Mood? -- why must she post these things???

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." --Buddha

And while Buddha may be smart and Buddha may be wise, Buddha was obviously not pissed-off when he pronounced that nugget of advice.

Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals

Dragon Mood? -- amused

From CNN:

Democrat John Kerry joked Monday on "The Late Show with David Letterman" about changes under President Bush's tax plan.

Kerry's "Top 10 Bush Tax Proposals" are:

10. No estate tax for families with at least two U.S. presidents.

9. W-2 Form is now Dubya-2 Form.

8. Under the simplified tax code, your refund check goes directly to Halliburton.

7. The reduced earned income tax credit is so unfair, it just makes me want to tear out my lustrous, finely groomed hair.

6. Attorney General (John) Ashcroft gets to write off the entire U.S. Constitution.

5. Texas Rangers can take a business loss for trading Sammy Sosa.

4. Eliminate all income taxes; just ask Teresa (Heinz Kerry) to cover the whole damn thing.

3. Cheney can claim Bush as a dependent.

2. Hundred-dollar penalty if you pronounce it "nuclear" instead of "nucular."

1. George W. Bush gets a deduction for mortgaging our entire future.

My mama, she named me right . . .

Dragon Mood? -- dragony head a mite inflated

From frogblog, comes this fun little exercise on the meaning of my name:

Very much an individual with a charismatic personality and keen mind you attract many admirers and much affection. You are extremely sociable and build relationships with honesty, trust and a good sense of humour. You have great potential for material success using your intellectual skills possibly in writing or speaking. Your industry, determination and positive mental attitude always win out.

Coming at this from another angle (slightly left of perpendicular), my ever-encouraging daughter has encouraged me to wonder about the possibility of making money (huh?) with some curious combination of writing and blogs and that elusive ether of "Eureka" that I have yet to capture in a glass jar.

I wonder if there's anything in that description of my names' meaning that talks about grabbing the brass ring like that . . .

Variations

Dragon Mood? -- design snorting

I wonder how long it will take Lina to see this . . .

Dirty tricks, mendacious malarkey, and then, unraveling chaos

Dragon Mood? -- speak up, speak up, Mr. Kerry. We can't hear you!

From Maureen Dowd and the N.Y. Times:

"... it speaks to the jitters of the Democrats that they're consumed with speculation about whether Karl Rove, the master of dirty tricks and surrogate sleaze, could have set up CBS in a diabolical pre-emptive strike to undermine damaging revelations about Bush 43's privileged status and vanishing act in the National Guard, and his odd refusal to take his required physical when ordered.
...
The administration has been so dazzling in misleading the public with audacious, mendacious malarkey that the Democrats fear the Bushies are capable of any level of deceit.

Iraq is a vision of hell, and the Republicans act as if it's a model kitchen. The president and vice president brag about liberating Iraqis and reassure us that they are stopping terrorist violence at its source and inspiring democracy in the region by bringing it to blood-drenched Iraq.

But what they haven't mentioned is that they have known since July that their rosy scenarios are as bogus as their W.M.D. That's when the president received a national intelligence estimate that spelled out "a dark assessment of prospects" for stability and governance in Iraq in the next 18 months, as Douglas Jehl wrote in today's Times. Worst-case estimates include civil war or anarchy.

Unlike the president, the young men and women trying to stay alive in the unraveling chaos of Iraq can't count on their daddies to get them out of the line of fire.