Gary Snyder quote

All of us are apprenticed to the same teacher that the religious institutions originally worked with: reality. Reality-insight says... master the twenty-four hours. Do it well, without self-pity. It is as hard to get the children herded into the car pool and down the road to the bus as it is to chant sutras in the Buddha-hall on a cold morning. One move is not better than the other, each can be quite boring, and they each have the virtuous quality of repetition.

Repetition and ritual and their good results come in many forms. Changing the filter, wiping noses, going to meetings, picking up around the house, washing dishes, checking the dipstick- don't let yourself think these are distracting you from your more serious pursuits. Such a round of chores is not a set of difficulties we hope to escape from so that we may do our "practice" which will put us on a "path" - it is our path.

-Gary Snyder The Practice of the Wild

apocalypto

no not mel gibson's upcoming New World drama about a boy and his amazing 200 ft. robot friend...


i mean the word i've just made up for myself to classify a certain type ephemera i find that is linked to my nervous fascination with the End Times...

so on boingboing there's this story about one apocalypsist's utopia, Thunder Mountain.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Outsider architect photo gallery of Thunder Mountain
Tinselman posted about a bizarre survivalist compound in Imlay, Nevada dubbed Thunder Mountain.

Frank Van Zant's vision was sparked when he heard the prophecy of a medicine woman: "In the final days there shall rise up a place called Thunder Mountain." She also told him that only those who lived at Thunder Mountain would survive the coming apocalypse. Van Zant wasted no time; he changed his name to Chief Rolling Thunder Mountain, moved his family to the desert in Imlay, Nevada, and began to build his monument.

At age 69 Van Zant committed suicide because he had finally completed his masterpiece.

Link



OH- and AM 1150 listeners in Los Angeles: Those anti-drug PSA's they are playing, where one kid asks another kid "wanna get high?" or "wanna light up?" or " wanna spark up a dube?" or "wanna blow a fatty?" or somesuch?

Totally makes me want to. Everytime.

3 day weekends are for branches with friends

Dave on Dick

Letterman chimes in on trigger-finger Dick...

funny atrios re: FuddGate

Atrios learned a few things.

Things I've Learned Recently

Every conservative on the internet is an avid hunter and they've all been shot multiple times.

Shotguns aren't really guns, just toys. You can't really hurt people with them, only animals.

It's standard hunter etiquette to yell and scream at your fellow hunters as they're stalking their prey.

The most dangerous place to be is behind the people with the guns.

And Dick Cheney was not drunk, so stop saying that.

Of course, all of this is about as funny as a heart attack.
















AP Photo: Vice President Dick Cheney walks on the third floor of the Senate side of Capitol...

lame duck hunting

crooks and liars informs us:

"(reader Ces) sent me the "Shooting safety Rules,"

KNOW YOUR SAFE ZONE OF FIRE AND STICK TO IT.
Your safe zone-of-fire is that area or direction in which you can safely fire a shot. It is "down range" at a shooting facility. In the field it is that mental image you draw in your mind with every step you take. BE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR COMPANIONS ARE AT ALL TIMES. Never swing your gun or bow out of your safe zone-of-fire. Know the safe carries when there are persons to your sides, in front of, or behind you. IF IN DOUBT, NEVER TAKE A SHOT. When hunting, wear daylight fluorescent orange so you can be seen from a distance or in heavy cover."

Unless you're Heart-Attack Dick, in which case you can go fuck yourself.

pics from www.overspun.com

crashed

Have you seen Crash ?

Do you live in LA?

Is the LA you live in anything like the LA depicted in Crash?

When you are feeling really really guilty for being a racist, does it make you feel better to hug your maid after you reamed her a new one for not unloading the dishwasher in a timely manner?


Then you'll enjoy :

CONVERSATIONS I'VE HAD DURING A NORMAL DAY IN LOS ANGELES, MODIFIED TO
INCLUDE THE SHOCKING DEPICTION OF RACISM FOUND IN PAUL HAGGIS'S 2004 FILM CRASH.

BY BRENDON LLOYD

I bet it wins a bunch of awards. I bet I don't care.

saturday blog surfing

Huh.

Found this on technovelgy.com, "where science meets fiction":

Toxoplasma Parasite Mind Control

Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma. Parasites in the body - and the brain. Remember that.

Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including the brain. Since cats don't want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a "good" parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they?

(Toxoplasma gondii)

here's the rest, here

here's another find from a dwindling (wasted?) saturday afternoon, from raymi-the-canuck -you'd-like-to-fu...um... meet? :

i likes quakers

The Quaker Peace Testimony

We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fighting with outward weapons for any end or under any pretense whatsoever; this is our testimony to the whole world . . . .
. . . The Spirit of Christ by which we are guided is not changeable, so as once to command us from a thing of evil and again to move us into it; and we certainly know and testify to the world that the Spirit of Christ which leads us into all truth will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the Kingdom of Christ nor for the kingdoms of this world...therefore we cannot learn war anymore.

Excerpts from a Statement by the Quakers to King Charles II (1660)

"I told them I knew from whence all wars arose...and that I lived in the virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all wars; and that I was come into the covenant of peace which was before all wars and strife."

George Fox, founder of Quakerism (1650)

(here)

Quaker Jedi

I think that's what I would aspire to be. A cross between this guy:














And this guy:











So I googled the phrase "Quaker Jedi"

and that's where I found this, here:

i do not believe in anything that is impossible and unlogical.

Now that means ALL religions. ALL!!!!!

All religious people are brain-washed and must be re-educated.

I am now starting a cult... i call it Grounding Of Dietys (GOD)

I will gather all the religion bashers in one place and then we shall all shout to the skys:-

"Oh great lord and ruthless creator.... smite us now or you shall have to go on knowing you didn't stop us"

well if we are still alive i will start a revolution. and trust me you dont wanna be there.

but i am only 13 and this is years off.

Well, whew!

I like the Quakers more and more, especially when I found out they were being spied on- oh, and after that last season of Six Feet Under. And of course, after meeting a Sufi Quaker at the Crawford Peace House

Check 'em out:

wikipedia page

belief.net page

CINDY SHEEHAN ARRESTED BY CAPITOL POLICE INSIDE CAPITOL CHAMBER

Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan (C), whose son was killed serving as a U.S. serviceman in Iraq, is escorted by security personnel into the House of Representatives chamber for the State of the Union address by President Bush on Capitol Hill in Washington January 31, 2006. (Jason Reed/Reuters)


Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan (L, blonde hair), whose son was killed serving as a U.S. serviceman in Iraq, is rushed out of the U.S. House of Representatives chamber by security personnel after arriving for the State of the Union address by U.S. President George W. Bush on Capitol Hill in Washington January 31, 2006. There were unconfirmed reports that Sheehan had been arrested. REUTERS/Jason Reed

here you can see the T-SHIRT george is afraid of, on the woman george hides from
it's not a banner
it's a t-shirt with something true on it
like garlic to a vampire

cassandra found this on brad blog here- follow his coverage of Cindy Sheehan's arrest tonight

Cindy Sheehan was arrested inside the Capitol before the speech- she was an invited guest of Rep. Woolsey.

accounts are trickling in (updated at the bradblog link above) - did she have a banner she attempted to unfurl? (why would she do that before the speech started? seems unlikely) one account says she had a political message on her t-shirt

the message? the number of dead soldiers killed in this war. she had to add a number to it to keep it current

Bush's America.




The dome of the United States Capitol building is illuminated at twilight as the U.S. Congress and the nation await President George W. Bush's State of the Union speech on Capitol Hill in Washington January 31, 2006. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

UPDATE: Arresting Cindy may backfire for the wingnuts. the arrest has become a big part of the State of Union coverage worldwide

Sen. Sheehan (D) CA?


UPDATE: It goes both ways.... kinda...

While Cindy was arrested, Beverly Young, the wife of 18-term Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Young of Florida, was escorted out of the House for wearing a Support The Troops shirt... CNN has it here

Why wasn't she handcuffed?

And lastly (for now?) Cindy herself tells you What Really Happened

Going to California to Get Out of Iraq

Going to California to Get Out of Iraq

Last night Cassandra and I went out to the Manahttan Beach Marriott to attend a meeting with the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party. One of the panelists, David Swanson, writes about it here.



There you will read the Progressive Caucus' Policy to Withdraw US Forces from Iraq and Start Reconstruction (at the end of the column.)

The Progressive Caucus of the CDP website is here.



Other panelist include Ann Wright, Scott Ritter, Harlan Hobgood, Dr. Michael Schwartz, Dr. Stephen Zunes and Moderator Steve Young.





Currently listening to the Young Turks filibuster broadcast. Cassandra is about to call in....

...and she just did- letting the hosts know about the WEEKLY protest outside of Sen. Feinstein's LA office at the corner of Sepulveda and Santa Monica. It's every Friday from 3pm until dark.

Rebel Alliance WWII

Talent... sheer talent

Jesse Dyen has updated his website. Go enjoy his musical talents- like his arrangement of the First Amendment (lyr. T. Jefferson et. al.). I also recommend Sons and Daughters, the Camp Casey theme song, Freedom Isn't Free Tonight, and the wonderful Love One Another, his song for George Harrison.

Jesse is a nice person. He is also an excellent musician. And a SCOFFLAW for peace, as evidenced here:

Performance.com for Blogger, and that guy with the cow.

I've been using Firefox since my IE went looopy, just installed the performance.com blog editor into it- I just hit F8 and I'm blogging... sharing with you miy insights and observatrions.


Like this:


The Carls Jr. milkshake commercial with the scruffy guy molesting the cow... it has to stop.


It's on PBS now.


It's too much. I bet that song was fun once.




TV is killing us all slowly.

Shameful

From the crazy left-wing bleeding-heart moonbat cut-and-runners at the ... Pentagon?

“Better body armor could have prevented or limited about 80 percent of fatal torso wounds suffered by Marines killed in Iraq, a report by U.S. military medical experts obtained on Friday said.”

Flickr toys r cool!

My magazine
Originally uploaded by Dutchman3000.

I liked this self-portrait- wasn't sure what to do with it!

How excellent was Christmas 2005?

Pretty friggin' excellent, thank you Baby J!

Let's see... first of all, I did a damn fine job of avoiding holiday depression.

Got some cool gifts, many of them Star Wars related, like the Puzz 3-D Star Destroyer, Volume 2 of the Clone Wars, my boss gave me her crew patches (9 of them!) from when she worked on Episode I and her crew shirt (unopened) from Episode II... lots of stuff from a galaxy far, far away...

Spent one whole day on the puzzle, went to Arlington West on Christmas Day, went to the Ecstasy exhibit at the MOCA, had dinner with visiting friends at Phillipe's , protested outside of Dianne Feinsten's LA office. (You can too, every Friday afternoon! 11111 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 915 LA, CA 90025 (310) 914-7300)

I made two batches of Wookiee cookies, too.













Call it whatever you want- Christmas, Saturnalia, Solstice. These end-of-year activities are a great way to check in and appreciate the year that's passed and look forward to the year to come.

As long as you don't get caught up in the horrible vicious cycle of expectations, anticipation and disappointment.

That Charlie Brown jazzy Christmas music will break your heart, if you let it.

Happy 2006! Here's to IMPEACHMENT!

Christmas

The War(?) on Christmas

It's been floating around out there like a stinkbomb in my egg nog.

I'm talking about that bullsh*t "War on Christmas" that Fox News made up to distract from the fact that there's an actual, real, people-dying-for-a-lie war going on in the Middle East and Central Asia.

These are the kinds of things that make apoplectic apocalypsists like your truly just kvetch.

But it makes for some great reading! Like this website here, f*ckchristmas.org.

Here's a sample:

"Oh man, f*ck Christmas.

Seriously – are you kidding me with this “There’s a war on Christmas” bullshit? FOX News wasn’t raking in enough cash already from all the Christmas commercials for Kill ‘em All Barbie and Girls Gone Wild Brand Toddler Gear? They had to start publishing books about some bogus attack on Christianity? And who did they pick to lead this particular charge?

John fucking Gibson. This guy has wiener written all over him.
Bill O’Reilly gets all the credit as the biggest nutcase in FOXville, but Gibson really deserves his own special wing in the happy house. This motherfucker’s embedded assignment reads “Up Karl Rove’s ass.”

What makes him such a dick? I mean, besides making a fortune by screaming hysterically about how oppressed Christians are by the other twenty percent? How about advocating bombing countries that don’t vote the way we want in their own elections? Way to encourage democracy, fuckhead. And maybe he was kidding when he wished, on air, that the French had gotten the 2012 Olympics instead of the Brits so the terrorists would “blow up Paris,” but it might have been just a touch over the top to call for it again on the day of the London train bombings. Classy move, asshole. "

Almost better than the Charlie Brown Christmas special, here's a clip of John Gibson LOSING IT when challenged.

Enjoy his sputtering here via Crooks and Liars.

Makes you warm and fuzzy all over, doesn't it? Ah, John Gibson, you've made Christmas such a special time of the year... and when I say special, I mean special like the "special" bus... you moron...

Hey MediaMatters, break it down for us here:

FOX hypes stories to claim "Christmas Under Siege"

Fox? Fair and Balanced Fox? You gotta be kidding me!

I don't know who I feel worse for- the remedial viewers of Fox that buy this SuperheroJesus vision of the world, or ME- who has to live in the world these EndTimers are HELL BENT on creating?

(hell-bent. that's funny...)

I remember hearing this Christian radio play (which are GREAT by the way) on Christmas Eve one year. In it, the father character was explaining to his kid why THEY don't give presents or decorate or put up a tree or anything at Christmastime. It was because all the trappings of the season had NOTHING to do with the birth of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and were in fact sinful. ("God gave you the only present you'll ever need, Timmy. His Only Son, and the gift of eternal life through Christ. You'll have all sorts of bikes once YOU'RE DEAD.")

I felt bad for the kid, because he wanted a friggin' bike- and instead he got a pile o' guilt to further fuel his INEVITABLE drug-and-crime riddled rebellion against his f-ed up killjoy of an old man- BUT I UNDERSTOOD THE POINT.

Man I miss that brand of Krazy Khristian.

Just like W. isn't really a conservative, he's something ELSE, I don't quite get the angle of the three UnWise Men Gibson, O'Reilly, and Hannity... they don't seem very religous (telling people to shut up and sexually harassing their employees and all that, oh, and the WARMONGERING)

Oh wait, yes I do understand their angle.

Ratings.

Happy Holidays Motherf*ckers! Jesus is watching you f*ck up his birthday!

PS- December 25th was a Mithraist holiday first, namely the dies natalis solis invicti (birthday of the invincible sun), a Roman holiday that couldn't be more pagan if Caligula himself showed up with a gaggle of nymphomaniacs, a tub of axle grease, and a portable vomitorium!

Defend that, Foxists!