final post?

Since the end of the world is apparently nigh I'm surprised by a couple of things.

First, That I don't see anyone, and I mean anyone, online repenting.  Do these people think they have no "sins" to repent for>  Kinda arrogant don't you think?

Second, why aren't more of them divesting themselves of their worldly possessions?  Wouldn't one think that if you knew sinners you figured could use your shit once you've moved on to your reward, why not let them have it?

Alas,  they're selfish too...figures.

Not a very exciting hgf today, we're saving it up cause Sunday is a big day!

who really wants to create death panels? and religious love.

And the Catholics still aren't getting it:

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.  — WPBF.com
At the Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Osama bin Laden appears on the bulletin for Sunday's service.
A parishioner made the prayer request for the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks on America.
Louis Pizzano Sr., a parishioner at the church, said he's against praying for the Al-Qaida leader, who was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs more than two weeks ago.
"I just don't think it's right, I really don't," Pizzano said. "I think what's happened to the American people, what he's done, what he was planning to do and because we killed him, it doesn't stop there."
The request has created a division between some parishioners.
Vince Stankey said he has no problem praying for the terrorist leader.
"The way he was trying to prove his god to do killing, I can't approve of that," Stankey said. "But I have mercy on his soul and I have to pray for him."
Pizzano said he will not pray for bin Laden on Sunday. He said he has a better idea.
"Let's pray for our soldiers that are over there, not for somebody that caused our soldiers to go over there," Pizzano said.
The prayer service is scheduled for Sunday at noon. 

And another thing:
"We are becoming a country that not only supports perversion, we cheerlead for perversion. A day against homophobia and transphobia -- what they're saying is Judeo-Christian morality is the equivalent of bigotry and irrational fear, and that is a false message. What they're saying essentially is if you are a Christian, a Muslim or a Jew, and you oppose sexual perversion or gender confusion, you are a hater; you are a bigot. This is the liberal message." - Porno Pete LaBarbera, denouncing Hillary Clinton's statement in support of the International Day Against Homophobia.-via Joemygod.


And so it goes:

And in this corner representing the people who want America back...

via huffpost

WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Rick Santorum said Tuesday that Sen. John McCain, who spent 5 1/2 years enduring brutal treatment at the hands of his North Vietnamese captors, doesn't know how effective waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques can be. The Republican presidential contender insisted the tactics led the United States to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a speech last week that waterboarding al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, did not provide information that led to bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

McCain said he asked CIA Director Leon Panetta for the facts, and that the hunt for bin Laden did not begin with fresh information from Mohammed. In fact, the name of bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, came from a detainee held in another country.

"Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading information," McCain said.

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday, Santorum said McCain was wrong.

"Everything I've read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been gotten information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation," Santorum said. "And so this idea that we didn't ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being waterboarded, he (McCain) doesn't understand how enhanced interrogation works.

"I mean, you break somebody, and after they're broken, they become cooperative. And that's when we got this information. And one thing led to another, and led to another, and that's how we ended up with bin Laden," said Santorum.

He added: "Maybe McCain has better information than I do, but from what I've seen, it seems pretty clear that but for these cooperative witnesses who were cooperative as a result of enhanced interrogations, we would not have gotten bin Laden."

McCain, the 2008 Republican president nominee, said his information came from Panetta. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, backed up McCain's assessment that waterboarding of Mohammed did not produce the tip that led to bin Laden.


Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for McCain, said Tuesday she would not dignify Santorum's comments with a response.

In the House, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the Intelligence committee, said the Justice Department should stop investigating CIA interrogators for alleged abuse of detainees under the Bush administration because their work was a "vital part of the chain" that led to the successful raid on bin Laden's hideout.

The Justice Department had no comment.




and so it goes:

why are political "reporters" having these discussions

Because no one else is.




Considering the fact that today would be Buddy Zimmer's 71st birthday I thought it would be nice to acknowledge his greatest accomplishment. Photography. Happy Birthday Buddy, I still miss you.

And so it goes:

It is NOT a business

Everything is not a business. We've been sold a bill of goods by business educators and businessmen these past two decades that has brainwashed all of us into believing that everything should be run like it were a business.


Here's what happens when humanity is abandoned:

By SHARON COHEN AP National Writer
updated 5/15/2011 11:09:55 AM ET


ROBBINS, Ill. — Rocky Clark sometimes dreams he's running track, racing around the oval as he once did, his heart pumping fast and his long legs a blur as he crossed the finish line.

Just thinking about it makes him smile.

Some nights, though, he has another recurring dream, this one pure fantasy. He sees himself in white shorts and track shoes, running again, then stopping, kneeling in prayer before a church door, somehow unable to make it inside.

When he awakens, Rocky Clark inhabits a world largely confined to four walls. Surrounding him are glass-encased autographed footballs and cherished memories of his glory days: Blue-and-gold ribbons. Trophies. And giant varsity letters from Eisenhower High School, his alma mater.

Clark can do little but swivel his head. He can't move his arms or legs. More than a decade ago, he was paralyzed from the neck down after being tackled in a high school football game. After nine months in rehab and a hospital bill approaching $1 million, he went home.

As a quadriplegic, his long-term prospects were slim. And over the years, there have been regular hospital stays and health scares — no surprise, considering Clark's fragile condition. He has just one working lung. His right lung is partially paralyzed; certain infections could kill him.

And yet Clark has endured. His doctor credits top-notch, round-the-clock home health care paid for by the school district's $5 million catastrophic health insurance policy. But that's run out, so the nurses and money are gone, replaced by his mother, growing financial pressures and a new sense of foreboding.


Rasul "Rocky" Clark beat the odds. And now he wonders if he's paying a price for his survival.

A bright future darkens in one tackle
A week before his injury, Rocky Clark vowed to his mother that he'd strike it rich as an athlete one day and buy her a house.

Annette Clark remembers her son as an acrobatic kid who mastered back flips at age 7, ran too fast for a spanking and was always throwing balls and rocks — the inspiration of his nickname, bestowed upon him by an uncle. He took up track, football and baseball and excelled at all three, collecting ribbons, trophies and medals.

"I love awards," he now says. "It's a need thing."



On a warm September night in 2000 just four plays into the game, Clark — a high school junior and running back for Eisenhower's Cardinals — was grabbed by the shoulder and tackled. His head hit the ground. At first, he recalls, there was silence.

"When I started coming around, I heard a bunch of ringing," he says. "My whole body was vibrating, like a spring. I felt cold air. I tried to get up, but I couldn't."

Clark's neck had been broken in two places.

He spent about nine months at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, wondering if his injury was some sort of cruel payback for something he had done in his 16 years.

"I said to myself ... 'Maybe there was something I said I shouldn't have said. Maybe there was something I did that I shouldn't have done,'" he recalls. "I didn't do anybody wrong. I didn't get in trouble. ... I prayed every day. I didn't go to church all the time ... but I was good."

"Then," he says, pausing for a breath, "I realized things happen. Life doesn't always give us what we expect. I've got a spinal-cord injury, but there's nothing wrong with my brain. I've got a strong spirit and courage. You've just got to learn to deal with it."

Clark finished high school, donning cap and gown and having a friend wheel him across the stage so he could accept his diploma. He took some college courses, but a full-time schedule proved too difficult. (He'd like to return, but can't afford it.) He became a volunteer coach at Eisenhower, attending games.

All of it was made possible by the care provided through the district's insurance policy. And Clark says when the $5 million policy ran out several months ago, he assumed it would be renewed.

But it was not.

"A limit on life? That's crazy," Clark says, his pencil-thin frame covered by a white sheet. "I thought I'd be being taken care of the rest of my life."

Rocky Clark, 27, thought his health insurance would pay for his care the rest of his life. The policy ran out this year.

His mother, Annette, who filed for bankruptcy because of financial problems, says they feel abandoned by the school. "They have a moral responsibility to take care of him," she says. "It depresses me and makes me angry. My son deserves better."

But the school district says both its new insurer and the one that held the $5 million policy refused its requests to obtain a new policy for Clark. "No one is going to sell us insurance for Rocky," says John Byrne, the school superintendent. "I feel kind of helpless."

Rocky Clark's injury is unusual, but his predicament is not.

A 2009 study estimated that 20,000 to 25,000 people in the U.S. reached the limits of their catastrophic health insurance. Many find themselves in dire straits — critically ill, facing crushing medical bills, struggling to remain in their homes, according to the state insurance commissioner.

"They're facing unenviable decisions that balance life, death, financial security and poverty — meaning the choice they make is a choice no person ever wants to make,'" says Michael McRaith, director of the Illinois Department of Insurance.

Annual limits are being phased out and lifetime caps ended last September as part of the new health reform law, so the ranks of those exhausting their policies will drop sharply over the coming years, and will totally be eliminated by 2014, McRaith says.

That doesn't help Clark, whose insurance has been so critical, according to Dr. Charles Beck, who has cared for him the past eight years. He wrote a letter to the school and insurance company, claiming "the loss of these benefits eventually is going to lead to his demise."

In recent weeks, Clark's mother, along with an array of supporters — some new, others longtime boosters — have drummed up attention with news stories, fundraisers, a letter-writing campaign to the school and two new websites. Their theory is simple: If they can keep his cause alive, they can keep him alive

Denise King, whose husband is an associate pastor at a church in Chicago's Loop, knew about Clark and when she heard of his latest troubles, she couldn't sleep. "I thought this must be God telling me to do something," she says. The church hosted a small fundraiser in May.

This spotlight has helped: Dozens of people have donated money, supplies, even a water cooler.


They join others, notably the Chicago Bears, who've been generous supporters over the years, donating, among other things, more than $100,000 to make the Clark house in this southern Chicago suburb wheelchair accessible, according to Don Grossnickle, a deacon who heads Gridiron Alliance. The group helps disabled high school football players in the state and tries to draw attention to safety issues.

Clark's chances of surviving a decade or more were only about 10 percent, according to Beck. He credits Annette Clark — who receives government aid as a caregiver — and top-flight nurses with doing "an absolutely remarkable job," of protecting him from potentially fatal infections and illnesses.

He also praises the resilience of mother and son: "They don't fold," Beck says.

But Beck believes that Medicaid and other state support Clark now relies on aren't enough to provide the necessary supplies, medicine, breathing equipment and 24-hour specialized care. And moving him, Beck says, isn't a good option.

"If he had been living in a nursing home, he would have been dead five years ago," Beck says, and if he's sent to one now, "I would say goodbye to him. He would go to God. ... He requires more care than any nursing facility I am familiar with."

Insurance is a business, and Beck says he knows that. But he also believes that defying medical expectations has somehow become almost a punishment.

"It's confusing to me why their responsibility ends when that $5 million is gone ...," he says. "If he happened to outlive the actual projection ... does he suffer now because his care was good enough ... and he was lucky enough? I don't understand it."

From 'muscle to nothing'
At 27, the sculpted biceps that once filled the No. 21 red-and-white jersey have long since withered beneath a husk of skin and bones.

As Clark has grown from teen to a man, he's learned to adjust to a life where someone else has to brush his teeth or scratch an itch.

Before becoming paralyzed, Rocky Clark used to enjoy drawing and sketching, such as this self-portrait, which is displayed in his bedroom.

He misses using his hands: He liked to sketch as a teen — his walls are adorned with pencil drawings of people and dogs that show raw promise. And he wonders how far he could have gone as an athlete. "To have so much talent and never reach my full potential ...," he says, his raspy voice trailing off in a whisper.

But Clark tries to focus on what he has, not what he's lost. An iron will. Drive. And pride. "People tell me how inspirational I am," he says. "I've always been a motivator."

He relies on faith, too: "I leave it in God's hands." And he says it's pointless to be bitter.

"There's always someone who's got it worse than you," he says. And yet, he adds: "There are people who are not in my situation and they take life for granted. They have no determination. They don't know things can take a turn for the worse in the blink of an eye."

Annette Clark is her son's constant companion. She feeds him, washes him and sleeps on a recliner in the living room so she can hear him when he wakes at night. It's a punishing pace.

"Eventually, she'll break down," Beck says. "She has no ability to get a night's sleep. It's just a matter of time."

There's also sadness in her routine.

"It hurts for me to see him go down from muscle to nothing," she says. "It hurts for me when I have to turn him. It really hurts my heart. ... I have moments when I feel like throwing my hands up. I want to ask why. ... I have my moments when I want to run away."

Instead, she soldiers on, always

From mid-April through early May, Rocky Clark was hospitalized with a blood clot in his paralyzed right lung.

The morning after he was admitted, at 1 a.m., Annette Clark says her son looked at her and declared: "'I'm tired of being sick.'"

"What are you telling me?" she asked. Then, sensing he might be giving up, she warned: "Don't say that to me anymore,"

She walked out into the hall and cried.

When she returned, he was asleep, and she wiped a tear running down his face.

And so it goes:

And the GOP wants us all to believe that death panels will be CREATED by Obamacare, as if they don't already exist...assholes.

U.S. Senate I love you

I fall in love every day, but today is special because I fell in love with the United States Senate.

here's a link to the source of my affection:

http://sanders.senate.gov/files/TAM11019_xml.pdf

We know these things, we know that health care costs are rising and wil continue to do so under the current corporate run system. We know that insurance companies are deciding what care we receive without medical degrees. We know that we do not know what effect single-payer will have. All we know about it is what a bunch of people with interests other than ours tell us in effort to scare us into keeping things on the ruinous and disastrous track they're currently on.

we have nothing to lose, because we're headed right off the rails as we are. And everything to gain.

And remember I'm a socialist, so i love this kind of shit.

And so it goes:

OMG

It's amazing how easily and willingly people can distort history to their own ends. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, it's been happening since time began.



Like I said last month posts may be spotty until I'm settled in a new place.

And so it goes:

o happy day

Once in a while Bill Maher just takes it on home-

And so it goes:

hgf (s)

dancing with myself

tough choices to make soon. do i stay or do i go? never an easy decision to leave one's comfort zone and take a risk on the unknown. But it seems more and more likely.

Less and less rewards from this quarter. 
And so it goes:

Mission Accomplished?

Not sure how I feel about Osama Bin Laden's murder.  I realize most Americans thought it necessary, but I'm not sure what it really accomplished.  There will be no shortage of people to take his place.

At any rate he's dead, that much has been ticked off our terrorism to do list.  Now maybe we can learn to stop being mean to each other.


And so it goes:

hgf

You can keep the money...

via AP, 4-2-11

WATERBURY, Conn. — A Roman Catholic priest in Connecticut has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading no contest to stealing more than $1 million in church money and spending it on male escorts and a lavish lifestyle.
The Rev. Kevin Gray, former pastor at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Parish in Waterbury, was also sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation.
The Republican-American reports that a plea of no contest was entered on Gray's behalf, which means he didn't admit guilt, but a conviction for first-degree larceny was entered on his record.
Prosecutors say the 65-year-old Gray won't have to pay back the money because the Diocese of Hartford did not ask for restitution.
Gray's attorney called many of the charges against his client overblown.

I'd try to add something to this, but it's so poetic all by itself...


And so it goes:

the waiting is the hardest part

Just being homeless, and waiting to see what's next.  Will it be the house which I'm becoming increasingly interested in?  Will it be a job I applied for this morning?  Will I just live  in my car?  Who knows?


Very sad about the death of Phoebe Snow.  I took my first out boyfriend to see her at the Lyric theatre in 1978.  We held hands.  The people around us were scandalized.  In fact i think he was scandalized.  Still wonder what happened to Erick. He's probably still in Independence Mo, while I'm headed back to KCK.  You grow where you're planted I guess.

And so it goes:

hgf

Dammit!

"This Easter Sunday in San Francisco's Delores Park, Christianity-spoofing homosexual drag queen 'nuns' calling themselves the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will stage their annual 'Hunky Jesus' contest -- mocking the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ -- as shirtless men in 'crucifixion' costumes parade on stage in an atmosphere of haughty, homoerotic humor.Porno Pete LaBarbera, in a press release distributed today by Christian Newswire and republished on Free Republic.

ok this is happening like two blocks from my old apartment and I'm missing it...dammit!

curioser and curioser

It seems texas,

I have to wonder if there really is something like divine retribution.

Sorry for all those who are innocent victims in this, but still staying in that place they do give tacit approval to the bigoted hateful shit that place promotes. 

In other news, two journalists were lost in Libya.  Tim Hetherington created one of the most incredible collections of images in his book Restrepo.  And Chris Hondros one of the bravest photographers of his generation, both lost in Misrata.  The toll of war never stops mounting and we pay the price in many ways we don't fully understand at the time.

And so it goes:

reilgious tolerance

Not that we didn't know that religious tolerance was a one way street,but now we see that religious tolerance is intolerant.

from joemygod-

After weeks of demonstrations, yesterday Catholic protesters in France destroyed NYC artist Andres Serrano's classic and controversial Piss Christ. The UK Guardian reports:

The work has previously been shown without incident in France, but for the past two weeks Catholic groups have campaigned against it, culminating in hundreds of people marching through Avignon on Saturday in protest. Just after 11am on Sunday, four people in sunglasses entered the gallery where the exhibition was being held. One took a hammer from his sock and threatened security staff. A guard restrained one man but the remaining members of the group managed to smash an acrylic screen and slash the photograph with what police believe was a screwdriver or ice pick. They then destroyed another photograph, of nuns' hands in prayer.

Protests against the photograph had also gained the support of France's far-right National Front party. The gallery's owner says the destroyed artwork will remain on display "so people can see what barbarians can do."

And so it goes:

bear with me

currently homeless, posts may be irregular. not to worry i got me a plan!

Here's the problem

We have nutjobs like this one in the opposing party who will say anything to get what they want, which is of course to turn this country into a holy roller church extraordinaire,  and then lie again when confronted with the first lie.





This heinous-ness is of course multiplied by a sitting President who says:



in 2008, and then in 2011 we read in the morning news that he's will be agreeable to cuts in medicare and social security.

I have to ask,exactly why we're messing with a program that's solvent? Social security has plenty of money, if we leave it alone ad stop raiding the coffers, Medicare, is another matter, but that has more to do with the corporatizing of medicine than anything else. It's amazing to me that hospitals ran just fine thank you for decades, nay centuries, without the intervention of corporations and as soon as they entered the picture everything was not only triple the cost, but the forecasts were dreck and doom. it's the single biggest reason I left medicine in the first place, we no longer took care of the patient we took care of he bottom line. Not why I was there.

So here we go tonight, on the merry road to financial doom, if the GOP has it's way in cutting the deficit with one fell swoop. I'm starting to wonder if they and the democrats actually have the cojones to actually do any of this. We need to let the tax cuts expire and get that money back so we can go back to having enough funds to pay our bills and live normally instead of everyone who makes under 50k going to food pantries.

And so it goes:

what was i thinking?

interviewed this morning for a job with the county. I don't want it. I think I got it...SHIT!

and so it goes:

laugh?!?! I thought I'd die!

there are enough whack jobs out there to keep one entertained for hours at a time.  Today they have come up  with an entirely entertaining theory about Barack Obama:

Mystery scars on Obama's head prompt another question from conspiracy theorists - has the President had brain surgery?

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:32 AM on 6th April 2011

• Comments (54)
• Add to My Stories

He has been plagued with questions and doubts concerning his background throughout his first term as President.
Questions like - is Barack Obama actually American? Is he a Muslim? Is he actually an alien from another planet? - have frequently been asked.
The next question circulating on the internet - has President Obama had brain surgery?

President Obama meeting comedian George Lopez as the First Lady looks on. Some observers believe this image shows a distinctive scar which looks like those left after brain surgery. However, there could simply be another explanation such as a bad haircut or birth mark

This enhanced image purports to show the scar running from the top of the President's head to behind his right ear

Internet blog sites, conspiracy theorists and forums are awash with rumours as to what those mystery scars on the president's head are from.
In pictures, Obama appears to have a long scar which goes up the side of his head and over his crown.
Some conspiracy theorists claim they are scars that you would see on someone who has had brain surgery.
But without medical records (along with his school records and birth certificate) no one seems to be able to provide an answer as to the cause of the mystery scars.
Ben Hart, a blogger for Escape The Tyranny a website which presents itself as a Social Network & Forum For Conservatives, said:  'Obama's almost done with his first term, and we still know almost nothing about the background of the President of the United States.
'Whatever happened to create that scar, it was clearly something serious. Was it a brain operation? Has it affected his thinking?
'No one is allowed to see his birth certificate. He is just one big mystery man, which adds intrigue to what that huge scar is all about.'

The 'scar' seen from another angle. One blogger says the surgery might explain why the President has, on occasion, got lost speaking without a teleprompter

Rumours: The Escape The Tyranny website strongly questions Obama's head scars as well as why no one has seen his birth certificate

He also said that surgery might explain why the President gets lost speaking without a teleprompter, and posted a video of Obama struggling through a speech, repeating his words and getting lost mid-sentence.

More...

• Obama may have to produce birth certificate if he wants to run for President in 2012
• Not born in the USA: Majority of Republican primary voters still think Obama isn't entitled to be President
• Can he do it? Shock surge of support for Donald Trump's presidential bid among New Hampshire Republicans

Speculation about different aspects of Obama's life first gathered momentum when questions over his actual birthplace started to emerge, with many believing he was born in Kenya rather than Hawaii, as he has stated.
Millions of dollars have allegedly been spent trying to ensure that it is not released to the public, not even the Hawaiian governor has access to it.
Added to that are the fact his medical records have also been sealed.
A spokeswoman from the White House said they were not willing to comment on such claims, saying they were 'ridiculous'.
Countless neurosurgeons said it is 'not their place' to comment on whether or not distinctive scars on the President's head are as a result of brain surgery.
Others offered explanations such as a bad haircut or even a birthmark though many did agree that the scars are similar to those a produced after major brain surgery.
Without medical records or an admission from the White House, the public may never know the answer to the question, along with the contents of his birth certificate.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373780/Mystery-scars-Obamas-head-begs-question--President-brain-surgery.html#ixzz1JFfkFMs6\

Funny that no one asked this about obama's predecessor.

And so it goes:

I thought about stopping this daily feature but i just can't.  I mean, well...look at him!

Inspiration strikes

So let's start with the op-ed piece from CNN.com.


Editor's note: John P. Avlon is a CNN contributor and senior political columnist for The Daily Beast. He is the author of "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America.

(CNN) -- It's great that the government shutdown was stopped just before the midnight deadline. But it's pathetic that it got so far. And the damage done during the bitter and contentious debates is a troubling sign for what lies ahead.

After all, if a $5 billion difference in short-term cuts can bring the government to the brink of a shutdown, how is Congress going to deal with the multi-trillion dollar cuts in long-term spending that will be necessary to bring down the deficit and the debt?

Even worse was the stubborn insistence by social conservatives that policy riders defunding Planned Parenthood, NPR and the EPA be included in their list of demands until the 11th hour. These cuts were not about fiscal discipline, they were about social conservative litmus tests imposed to please the activist class.

House Speaker John Boehner is getting squeezed on both sides of his own caucus, trying to please social conservatives and the Tea Party crowd while also avoiding the massive popular backlash that would have accompanied a government shutdown. He is in the thankless position of being the responsible Republican in the room.

The $38 billion in cuts is the largest one-time dollar-for-dollar cut in American history, but still he gets no respect. Immediately after the compromise deal was announced, conservative congressmen and professional partisans were taking to Twitter to announce their disappointment, liberated by the absence of responsibility that comes with leadership.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann pronounced the results "disappointing" while Dick Morris' hot air reached Robespierre proportions, tweeting "The budget deal is a total surrender by a gutless Speaker. Those who vote for it deserve a primary!!!" Off with their heads!

No-drama Obama swooped in late to the negotiations, but was able to ultimately salvage a deal without getting strong-armed on social issues. Still, liberal activists like former Labor Secretary Robert Reich were unhappy as well, Tweeting, "The Prez and Ds caved in, endangering the recovery and strengthening the right-wing bullies. A tactical win for the Prez and a strategic loss."

Ideological inflexibility is not the same thing as political principle. Rooting for a government shutdown --especially over these comparatively small cuts and social issue riders -- is a sign of extremism and irresponsibility.

If the shutdown had occurred, they would have learned that the American people reject ideological extremism. Instead, many will be quick to play the government shutdown card as we head into a more serious round of negotiations about reducing the deficit and the debt.

America's strategic competitors like China must have watched our near self-sabotage with amusement over the past few days. Motivation through mutually assured destruction is no way to run a government. Politics in a democracy depends on the art of compromise, finding a way to reason together as fellow citizens. By viewing each other as ideological enemies we look foolish and weak, unable to muster the courage and unity necessary to deal with long-term challenges.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Avlon.

and so it goes.

Celebrate! I made it! Post #1000!

Well I never thought Id' be able to write this much for this long.  It proves to me that I really can commit to something. That book I've always intended to write perhaps?

I have decided that i would like this to be a turning point for Coyote Tales.  I haven't figured out all the details yet, so the transition will likely be slow coming, but i want this blog to be less diary and more news/activism.  Now lest you groan about me and my gay activism, (first, fuck you) and second, relax. I think there's plenty in this world to be active about and I intend to explore as much of it as possible.

Joe Jervis and Andy Towle make pretty respectable blogs out of reposting material they find elsewhere and with a  mix of their own stuff, so I think I can join the fray as it were and maybe make this blog thing work for me too.  I hate to tie myself to regular features but I might just try it at least for a while.  We'll see.

But enough about me and enough about this blog.

  I've opened the last bottle of Veuve Cliquot at this apt and am partaking as I write. Let's hope I can hold out for the rest of the post.

Yes I stole my tagline from Linda Ellerbee, but back in the 80's she was the shit on NBC Overnight, back when they actually reported news. In fact my favorite overnight story was just as they were being cancelled and they got footage of some guy in New York who was being arrested, as they loaded him into the wagon he shouted, "Save Overnight!" I love him, and her. So my homage to Linda and her work at Overnight will continue, thanks for the inspiration Linda.
 
And so it goes:

ok so I can't hold out for the rest of the post, so here's a couple pictures of two of my most favorite men:

HGF, #999, and other things

As of this post I have had enough to say to last 999 posts.  No one who knows me is the least bit surprised that i could talk that much.  But it does surprise me. I never thought I'd be so public with my opinions and private thoughts.   

The blog has morphed from a diary of sorts to op-ed, and back again, currently it's going through a bit of a diary phase.  In my head it should be more op-ed, and it certainly should be more news-y. I think its popularity would grow if I'd head that direction. It's not an easy task though. 

Still not reading the signs very well. Yesterday they said go, today they say...hold up there, something you put out there some time ago is about to bear fruit, so hang on a second.

Shit.

In any case, the universe appears to be recognizing for the first time in a long time that I'm out there and still viable.  That is nice in itself.

The government appears to be planning for a shut down over some piddling amount of money that represents the ideology of our new zealots and though I say it's foolish I don't really care.  Larry, Moe and Curly will inevitably sort it all out and things will return to their usual mess. Does it sound like I'm a bit fed up with our government?  Ready to completely drop out.

The house I was really interested in, has disappeared from realtor.com.  This is not to say it's not available I just can't see it.    I spoke with my agent and he says it's still on fannie mae's website, and gave me all the info he could find.  In an effort to shut me up about it  I'm sure.  But there's still hope for it.  He's trying to tell me nicely that I need to be more zen about it all, and  I am trying to be more zen about it.  But in a week I'm homeless and that seems to be triggering my Gemini security issues.  The house needs work and I can't imagine that anyone would buy it in it's curent condition, but there are folks more savvy about home issues than me, and they could well swoop in and take it.  But my agent is right there's a house every fifty feet, so why worry.

And so it goes: