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

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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:

Do this don't do that, can't you read the sign?

No, in fact I can't read the signs. One day they say go, then they say stay.  The next they say you live to many lives, then they say get off your ass and get to work.  

WTF?

So now there are several chances to do things I want to do and have wanted to do for some time, and yet, the moment is not right. I am not yet sufficiently prepared.  Meaning I don't have enough cash yet.

But when is that not true.  The temptation is to be impetuous, when I know that is not prudent.  So the waiting game begins.  Me for the right sign, and the universe to see if I'm really serious.

BTW there will be a special Saturday post this week.  Celebrating my 1000th blog post. No idea what I'm doing for it, but now that I am committed I have to think of something.

And so it goes:

 

In the midst of this chaos I need to make something

What's up with that?

My apartment is in complete disarray, boxes everywhere, things are all over the floor, in general it's a disaster and I'm sitting here thinking that before I move I should make some pots.  WTF?

Well, the wheel is just sitting there and I won't have access to it until I get the house, so there's that.  I'll have access to the studio at school until the end of the semester, but that's not very long,  so out to the studio I go I guess.  I'm so self indulgent.

And so it goes:

Whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.

And it's certainly being proven true in our society today.

From the woman who sued Wal-Mart because they dismissed her for screaming that Faggots should die and go to hell because "they're not right in the head." who maintains her right to do so, and thankfully was ruled against. To the latest attempt to repeal "Obamacare" we're becoming increasingly mad as a culture.

The latest attempt by Rep Ryan is to turn Medicare into a cash broker to dispense "vouchers" for insurance directly to the companies themselves.

This of course, would effect me directly since it would take effect one year before I am to turn 65.  I object.

There are many grounds on which to object, and if we'd just recognize the fact that we're amazingly good at separating insurance companies and medical costs, yet incapable of separating church and state, which is of course ridiculous, we'd be halfway to conquering the problem.

Single-payer is the only answer and nutjobs like this guy are pointing us in the exact right direction with their outrageous notions that insurance companies are the proper arbiters of medical care.

And so it goes:

Monday without end...amen

I keep thinking this day will end but somehow it doesn't.  It just develops more and more bizarre characteristics and entanglements. 

At least I'm in now, and I have no plans to leave.  Let's hope nothing happens to change that. 


Decision made on the house, finally got a plan. 

Can't quite get my head around this long day, so let's let it end without further ado.

And so it goes:

and coyote tales ends

Didn't buy it for a second did you?  April Fools!  See you Monday.

what to do what to do

Just sitting here this morning pondering the options.  What to do.  Go back to work full time, (which I don't want to do,) as artistic director(in a place I don't really want to live),  Stay here teach part time, direct occasionally buy the house I like and become a potter.  Move to New Mexico try to be a potter, and start all over again.  Love many aspects of all the above, and I was just teased for wanting to live five lifetimes at once, but all are good ideas.

For now just trying to stay afloat and survive the hour long spring. In truth I'd just like to go sit in a cabana and look at these two.

And so it goes:

We are too soon old and too late smart

William Blake said "The road of excess leads to the Palace of Wisdom."


William Blake was full of shit.

And so it goes:

He does it with better grace, but I do it more natural

What the hell is up with the universe?  Yesterday I had found a house, I was awaiting settlement on Daddy dearest's estate and I was going to the semi-country to live my days in pottery making, part time teaching bliss.

And yet..no.

Yesterday I text a friend.  "Well, I found a house."  The response?  "Don't buy it you may have a job elsewhere."


A few more details might have been nice.

Then I learn that I've been recommended for a job as Producing Artistic Director of a certain Shakespeare Festival. 

What?!?!?!?!

Well, first it's in a state I have no real desire to live in.  Second, I really don't think I have the qualifications for the job.  Third, it sounds like and awful lot of work.  Fourth, I haven't yet set a date to talk with them. 

So, though I'm not committing myself to the house purchase just yet, and besides it'll take months anyway I have to go through the Fannie Mae foreclosure bureaucracy.  I am intending to at least talk to them.

So I ask you again, What the fuck is up with the universe?

And so it goes:

I want to go out and play!

But it's raining and gray yet again.  Yesterday it snowed for hours...yes hours! 

But enough whining. I am looking at my next vacation.  It's a few months off, but it's coming, I can feel it.  i am obligated to go to New Mexico at the end of May, but after that I feel a bit more distant destination in my future, one I've never been to.  It's time to start traveling again. 

I'm really enamored by the house I found last week. I already described it in a previous post, but I went there with my brother and his wife Saturday evening before dinner to show them, and they were excited about it too.

My real estate agent seems to be discouraging me from it, and I think it's mostly because he doesn't really want to go through the bureaucratic mess a Fannie Mae foreclosure entails. I don't care I think it's the house I want.

Besides Fannie Mae won't event talk to me until I actually have the cash in hand which won't happen until mid may at least. (Stepsister called my brother Saturday while we were at dinner to say closing was set on the townhouse so the estate should start to distribute...extremely good news) so I have to wait and see if it's possible.  If it's meant to be it'll wait for me. If not I'll get my answer. 

Today it's back to academia.  Spring Break is over (waaah!) and that leaves 6 more weeks to teach. Frankly i could use the time off. Oops back to whining, sorry.

Well academia is tapping it's toe and I'm still here blogging so off I go.

And so it goes:

 

rarer still

Colin Farrell was a good friend of Elizabeth Taylor?  Maybe he isn't so bad after all.  Actually I've always liked the persona, but it's the choice of acting roles I've hated, they never did him any good and in many cases hurt him. But it seems sobriety agrees with him he was quite good in London Boulevard, in fact he was amazing.

Yesterday was a bit busy.  Looked at two houses, one a total disaster, the other not at all, and very promising actually. It's a bit of a funny story in that my real estate agent says that the house was auctioned a month ago and there were NO bidders.  It does need some work since there was apparently theft of, shall we say, infrastructure before the prior owners departed.

They took the copper plumbing!  I had no idea it had happened but when we were looking at the basement he said "here's where the dryer goes, and there's the vent for it."  and I said "yeah but I don't see anyplace for the washer to hookup."  Then I began looking in the basement ceiling and when I got clear back to the kitchen area I realized there were no pipes at ALL! It was quite an amusing moment. So I told him that if we decide to make an offer on it that we'll REALLY lowball fannie mae on the price since it has to be re-plumbed.  hilarious. I'd put in new HVAC too, but this place sits on top of a hill on a short acre, and the lot next door is for sale CHEAP and with that I'd have over an acre of ground around me with two outbuildings and a brick barbecue. The day was gray and overcast, but the house was light and airy I can only imagine what it'd be like  when it's sunny.  The view out the front leaves a bit o be desired, i.e. the Clampetts live across the street, but the view out the back is great, and it's a bit of a valley, so I think I'd be happy there if I could get it.   I'm not counting on anything until I have keys in my hand, but it's the first real ray of hope in the house search so far.

The other one was a total disaster. The only useful thing there was the roof which appeared to have been replaced about four or five years ago.  The rest was just junk.  Too bad too, it was in a great neighborhood.

Then I returned home and went through the mail, and responded to my eviction by snoring notice.  And then went to a two hour lunch with an old friend from my library days. Had a great lunch, there was much to talk about. Then I went home and got on a website we all know and love and found a piece of merchandise that purports to help snorers and went out and bought it.  It seems that it'll help, but since I'm self-prescribing I'm  thinking it may take me a while to get it right if I even can.  So, looking to beg up a room to sleep in until I get the inheritance and either buy a house or leave here permanently.

And so it goes:
here's HGF

Permanent winter

I'm coming to believe that this winter has come to stay.  It's back down in the 30's after a weekend in the 70's, and guess what old friend is reportedly going to make a comeback this weekend? 

Snow!

I know, right?

It's the end of March in the lower midwest and they're talking snow.  It's a rare thing when I am speechless but what could I possibly say to that?

It appears that I may be evicted because I snore. I was unaware this was possible and legal, but in this world where corporations run everything humanity is non-existent.  I'm not really inclined to fight it, if I can find a quick place to stay for a few months til I get a house I'll be happier I think than trying to hang on here.

I assume being the simpletons they are they think that everyone who snores has sleep apnea and that all I have to do is get a machine and voila the problem is slved, but I do not have sleep apnea, so there's that.

In any case I think I might just pack some boxes the next few days while I'm off. And look for a storage unit.

oh and I have to recommend a new favorite site, tubecrush.net.  Too funny.  I especially like the picture of the guy looking directly at the stealther's camera.  

And so it goes:

I am dying egypt, dying.

And Dame Elizabeth Taylor has left our plane of existence.  Well, good for her.

Talk about someone who has lived an amazing life!  Born in England, of parents who hailed from one of the smallest, most podunk towns in the state of Kansas, Arkansas City, she led a life of privilege and  good fortune from the beginning.

Her many marriages are legend as well as her acting accomplishments.  I think of her as an artist who always did the work.She never seemed to rely on being Liz Taylor, and did whatever was necessary to show us her characters flaws and imperfections. 

Would that our current world of imitations held such talent and promise.

She will be forever missed.  Let us hope that she's with Mike Todd, and those she loved in this life.

And of course, Thank you Elizabeth Taylor for your gifts to us.

And so it goes:
 

why not do both?

I keep thinking I have choices to make, and perhaps I do, but then again perhaps I don't.

I keep thinking I have to decide whether to stay here or go, or to buy a house here or somewhere else. (there r great bargains in Las Vegas and South Florida, not to mention Central California btw) But why do I have to make that choice?

Currently if I stick to my present mindset these r the two choices. this one here in town,

featuring this outdoor kitchen:

and then there's the cabin featuring these:

The one with the kitchen features a detached garage in which I can set up a studio, it does keep me here  but it also keeps me in close access to the galleries and fairs I service here already so I don't have to re-establish my business, and I don't have to do it in a state where one can throw a rock and hit a potter.  

The one with the mountains, well it has everything else. And except for the rare occasion I'd be there during ski season I could rent it out and make money off it during the winter.  

So there's that.

No word on the CA job, but considering the fact that the day after I mailed the packet off I read that Cali laid off 50,000 teachers, I think they'll have plenty of applicants.  No need for me to traipse across the country yet again I'm certain of that. at least not for this job.  

So though it's not quite a quandary, it is a bit thought provoking.  Should I stay or should I go?

Or should I do both?

And so it goes:

Making a true impact

Congratulations to joemygod for receiving Outstanding Blog Award at the GLAAD awards this weekend.

Now that blogs are getting recognition I'd like to see them start to hire reporters and pay them to actually report news instead of linking to items from other outlets. Now THAT would be progress, and making the internet really work for us.

I regularly read Talkingpointsmemo, Huffpost, GoodAsYou, Joemygod, Towleroad, and a host of others, and I spend a couple hours a day trying to crank out a meager paycheck (in addition to working a job and teaching and making pottery) from writing of my own, so I know whereof I speak.

I doubt that Joe and Jeremy and Andy Towle are making millions off their blogs, and I get what overhead can do to the bottom line believe me, but stringers can change everything. Usually they're people not unlike me who are willing to gather and write news and have it published by the respective outlet that paid for it.  Sometimes in addition to being allowed to publish it themselves on their own blog. And they can bring a perspective to not only change but build readership.

So maybe it's our time. With the economy being changed to the advantage of those who will benefit the most and who ultimately control the game perhaps it's time to change the game a bit, change the rules on them and see how they like playing catchup like we always have to.

 I should say right now that I don't pretend that this blog is anything but what it appears to be, an outlet for me to express opinion and the occasional rant. I sometimes aspire to making it more, but then I see the difficulty in making that a reality and think I might not have the stamina for it. Besides my inability to commit has paralyzed me for decades why change now.

But I can dream can't I?

And so it goes:

enough of this week let's just gawk here's hgf