Nathan

FAST FACTS

MSNBC - Selling a war (honestly): "Tommy Chong's song he wrote while staying nine months in prison and sang at the Aspen Comedy Festival:
'I hear the train a-comin'
It's rolling 'round the bend
I hope it's full of women cause,
I'm tired of fu**ing men.' "

ESPN.com: Page 2 : No will, no way for C-Webb: "For years, I've talked to various NBA GMs, who usually refer to Webber's 'loser's intangibles.' It all started, of course, in that NCAA championship game against North Carolina when Webber called the timeout that Michigan didn't have, down two with 11 seconds left. That technical foul took the Wolverines out of the game. Carolina won 77-71.

Webber's Michigan team lost two NCAA title games the first to Duke.
Corliss Williamson won an NCAA title at Arkansas. His Detroit Pistons won an NBA title last season. Williamson has 'winner's intangibles.' "

MSNBC - Padilla must be released or charged, federal judge rules: "'The court finds that the president has no power, neither express nor implied, neither constitutional nor statutory, to hold petitioner as an enemy combatant,' Floyd wrote in a 23-page opinion that was a stern rebuke to the government. He gave the administration 45 days to take action.

“We think that this is a wonderful decision,” said Padilla’s attorney, Andy Patel, as Padilla waited on another line. “It is one of those moments that all Americans should be proud of.” "

MSNBC - U.S. employees more dissatisfied with jobs: "NEW YORK - U.S. workers, pushed to produce more and uneasy about new technology and other changes, are markedly less satisfied with their jobs than a decade ago, a new survey says.

But the decline in on-the-job happiness, which continued through economic cycles in recent years, has at least temporarily leveled off, according to the survey released Monday by The Conference Board, a New York-based business research group."

MSNBC - Bush says he shares states' Medicaid concerns: "WASHINGTON - President Bush told the nation's governors on Monday that he recognizes their alarm over soaring Medicaid costs and proposed federal cutbacks and vowed to work with them to try to reach common ground."

Classic picture, don't miss.

New home sales slump 9.2 percent; miss analysts estimates. - Feb. 28, 2005: "NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - New home sales tumbled 9.2 percent in January, the government reported Monday, coming in below Wall Street forecasts and raising worries about rising interest rates and the nation's housing market. "

Just started reading Barack Obama's older book, 'Dreams from My Father'. I have high hopes for it. In just the opening it was the first time that I read a public figure address the terrorism problem confronting it much like I see it.

Here is a small excerpt:'...on September 11, 2001, the world fractured.It is beyond my skill as a writer to capture that day, and the days that would follow-- the planes, like specters, vanishing into steel and glass; the slow-motion cascade of the towers crumbling into themselves; ... My powers of empathy, my ability to reach intoanother's heart, cannot penetrate the blank stares of those who would murder innocents with abstract, serene satisfaction.



'...the underlying struggle-- between worlds of plenty and worlds of want; between the modern and the ancient; between those who embrace our teeming, colliding, irksome diversity, while still insisting on a set of values that binds us together, and those who would see, under whatever flag or slogan or sacred text, a certainty and simplification that justifies cruelty toward those not like us-- is the struggle set forth, on a minature scale, in this book.
I know, I have seen, the desperation and disorder of the powerless: how it twists the lives of children on the streets of Jakarta or Nairobi in much the same way as it does the lives of children on Chicago's South Side, how narrow the path is for them between humiliation and untrammeled fury, how easily they slip into violence and despair. I know that the response of the powerful to this disorder-- alternating as it does between a dull complacency and, when the disorder spills out of its proscribed confines, a steady, unthinking application of force, of longer prison sentences and more sophisticated military hardware-- is inadequate to the task. I know that the hardening of the lines, the embrace of fundamentalism and tribe, dooms us all.'

Please take the time to visit:

http://www.sovest.org/gb

On a seperate, but somewhat unrelated point:

Wanted to write about the commentary you sent:

February 2005
The War Against World War IV
Norman Podhoretz

Norman makes some very interesting points and uses convincingrhetorical tools. I especially appreciated his views on Israel andthe issues surrounding that. I spent quite some time marking up his commentary with my thoughts and our similarities and differences. At the end I realized I did not respect Norman or his commentary and intellect due to the huge child like blind sides he displays with his writing. From the end, where he writes that President Bush, 'has the wind at his back' to the beginning where he writes that, 'Bush never yielded an inch' he displays an almost willful ignorance of the reality at hand.

The realities of corruption, no-bid contracts, Paul O'Neill's story, Richard Clarke's story, the Valerie Plame affair, world wide winds blowing against us after a huge outpouring of love after 911, tortures brutal effects on our own psyche let alone those we hope to liberate, democracies pending (if not all ready) failure in Russia ('If we could bring down the Soviet Union by inspiring and supporting a small percentage of the people, surely the chances of successful revolution in Iran are more likely.' I am not sure what he thinks we brought down. He should take a visit to the Soviet Union. From personal experience there the word 'democracy' does not come to mind. From faraway news reports the same impression is left.), Sistani's dictation of policy to Bush (e.g. when to have elections), Iraq's deteriorating situation dictating Bush's policy along with military break downs and loss of even some base democratic ideals here at home get hardly any coverage in his commentary. He writes like a child defending his daddy.

When he does bring something up that is obviously contrary to his ideological child like world view he does so in a fashion that I cannot respect. He does not bring something up to critically analyze it, but to give it short attention and to beat it down like a strawman. This trend gets progressively worse throughout the commentary. For me, his use of long words ('vituperation') and his focus on Israel do redeem him as an educated man who has studied, unfortunately just not one who truly appreciates the reality that is presenting itself and the myraid of useful viewpoints and analysis angles available. Jeff Gannon (Geckert?) might admire and get along well with Norman. Though for one who appreciates open minds, winning and open hearts more than being right I find him child like and amusing in hisparental respect for George Bush and our government.

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Lost in Europe: "President Bush has reached a dead end in his foreign policy, but he has failed to recognise his quandary. His belief that the polite reception he received in Europe is a vindication of his previous adventures is a vestige of fantasy. "

Bush in Germany: With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE: "But on Wednesday, that town hall meeting will be nowhere on the agenda -- it's been cancelled. Neither the White House nor the German Foreign Ministry has offered any official explanation, but Foreign Ministry sources say the town hall meeting has been nixed for scheduling reasons -- a typical development for a visit like this with many ideas but very little time. That, at least, is the diplomats' line. Behind the scenes, there appears to be another explanation: the White House got cold feet. Bush's strategists felt an uncontrolled encounter with the German public would be too unpredictable. "

The Oil We Eat (Harpers.org): "The secret of great wealth with no obvious source is some forgotten crime, forgotten because it was done neatly. --Balzac "

MSNBC - Earth crowded now? Wait 'til 2050: "UNITED NATIONS - The world�s population will increase by 40 percent to 9.1 billion in 2050 but virtually all the growth will be in the developing world, especially in the 50 poorest countries, the U.N. Population Division said."

MSNBC - Health warning issued for global warming: "If Earth's climate warms steadily in coming decades, as many scientists predict, heavy smog and extreme weather events could increase health risks in the United States and around the world, scientists said this weekend."

Yahoo! News - Rocket-Fuel Chemical Found in Breast Milk: "Scientists on Tuesday reported that perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel, was contaminating virtually all samples of women's breast milk and its levels were found to be, on average, five times greater than in cow's milk. "

TomPaine.com - Blogs: "As we come to the end of cheap oil and run up against evidence that carbon is changing our planet more suddenly than most would have thought, we're realizing that the pattern of suburban sprawl which for the last forty years has dominated North American cities (and influenced cities around the world) was a really dumb idea. Whatsmore, those suburbs themselves face real challenges, and may in their current incarnations be doomed ."

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray: "HST: 'I've called you for some consulting advice on how to launch it. We've actually already launched it. Last spring, the Sheriff and I played a game outside in the yard here. He had my Ping Beryllium 9-iron, and I had his shotgun, and about 100 yards away, we had a linoleum green and a flag set up. He was pitching toward the green. And I was standing about 10 feet away from him, with the alley-sweeper. And my objective was to blow his ball off course, like a clay pigeon.'
BILL: (Laughs.)
HST: 'It didn't work at first. The birdshot I was using was too small. But double-aught buck finally worked for sure. And it was fun.'"

MSNBC - Southern California in wettest year in a century: "LOS ANGELES - Still more rain soaked Southern California on Wednesday, giving Los Angeles its wettest year in more than a century, after collapsing hillsides crushed homes, oozing mud blocked highways and a surging river carried away part of an airport."

MSNBC - Shaq injures knee in OT loss to Bulls: "'I take a lot of pride in it,' Gordon said. 'It is not really something I say to myself, I'm going to hit every big shot, it sort of happens that way,' Gordon said."

You are my brother; we have so much in common.

You come to me with a bowl of rice and in return I come back to you with a leg of lamb, a drink and some corn.

You come to me with a drink of water. I give you a glass of wine and a piece of bread.

You come to me to help with my hut and improve the roof. I dig a water well for you.

Then, we had a problem. You said something about the water well.

I took that poorly and did not visit.

You started talking bad about me to family and friends.

I took a lamb from you.

You stole rice from my fields.

One of us died from mysterious circumstances. The other died at the hand of a son. Cousins now foment.

It could have been different could it not? I could have done something different… instead of just not visiting. I could have turned around within myself or together. You could have done something different- we are brothers. Sadly, we both lie now.

TIME - Tony Karon - : Why Europe Ignores Bush: "New evidence of this trend, which has developed in the wake of the war in Iraq, emerges every week: Last Friday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin pooh-poohed the U.S. claim that Iran seeks nuclear weapons, and Moscow agreed to move ahead with delivering the nuclear fuel for Tehran's reactors despite Washington's opposition. And in case you missed the message, Russia has also agreed to supply advanced surface-to-air missiles to Syria, the latest focus of U.S. ire in the Middle East � again in defiance of Washington's stated wishes. "

MSNBC - Reserve concerns send U.S. dollar sliding: "NEW YORK - The value of the U.S. dollar dropped sharply against other major world currencies Tuesday after South Korea's national bank said it plans to diversify its foreign exchange reserves away from dollars, sparking fears that other nations may follow suit."

But perhaps at its base, Guckert/Gannon’s litigious threat is most important because it again underscores how we have become— as I’ve mentioned here before—the nation of the persecuted.

It may be an old thing by now. It may even not be worth talking or writing about by now, but you realize some interesting things when you away from your home country. This time, I really realized how sad and alone and unhappy our people are. Are you one of these?

From Auckland to Sydney I did not meet one sad, alone, unhappy person- as they displayed it to me. Not one. Sure there are people that could be nicer or could present themselves better or have their own personality problems, but overall everyone leaves you with the impression that things are going to be all right and no worries mate.

Man, not here. Not from the first elevator ride. I won’t go into the whole situation- in retrospect to spend any more time on it is ridiculous, but suffice it to say I have not often been more unimpressed with the USA and with us and our happiness than I was just yesterday. I feel sorry that the situation is this way and I hope that things can start to change towards a true pursuit of life, liberty and most of all, happiness.

ABC News: Calif. Storms Spur Tornadoes; Six Dead: "A deadly series of storms across California spawned everything from tornadoes to avalanches, flooding freeways with steady rain and sending rivers of mud crashing through homes. "

MSNBC - Prose laureate of the Age of Paranoia: "In 1971, at the beginning of his big-time fame, he'd already written the obit for the '60s, a time when 'you could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.' But by then, 'with the right kind of eyes, you can almost see the high-water mark -- that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.' "

I'm out. NZ baby.

Maybe will get a chance to write in, but don't count on it.
Peace out.

CNN.com - Kay, Carter urge caution on Iran - Feb 9, 2005: "Former U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay urged the United States on Wednesday not to make the same mistakes with Iran that he said it made with Iraq ahead of the second Persian Gulf War.
Former President Jimmy Carter, meanwhile, said that even a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities 'would not be successful,' but he agreed with U.S. officials who have demanded more transparency from the Islamic republic."

MSNBC - Wal-Mart to close store over union threat: "NEW YORK - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday it will close a Canadian store whose workers are on the verge of becoming the first ever to win a union contract from the worlds biggest retailer."

Goddamn. To laugh or to cry? Workers trying to stand up for themselves: oh fuck you- we'll just close it. Interesting business model.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: February 06, 2005 - February 12, 2005 Archives: "President Bush lays the groundwork for defaulting on almost two trillion dollars worth of US Treasury bonds, from today at the Commerce Department ..."

MediaCitizen: Gannon Quits After Blogger Inquiry: "The Talon News correspondent at the center of a scandal over his White House press credentials quit last night amid a growing online investigation into his history, including allegations of involvement with several websites appearing to support gay pornography and promote male prostitution."

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: February 06, 2005 - February 12, 2005 Archives: "We are facing a galvanizing moment in America as we decide if we are to be a country that understands and lives the humanistic concept of being one's brother's keeper, or if we decide instead to adopt a ruthless, me first, sink or swim approach to dealing with our citizenry."

MSNBC - U.K. reality TV to test 'Guantanamo' techniques: "'The U.S. administration has defined torture very narrowly and avoided the other key phrase, which is 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,' he said.
'Without having seen it, my understanding of the Channel Four program is that it shows clearly that even a very small amount of these treatments can be seriously damaging.'"

The New Yorker

Outsourcing torture.

ESPN.com: Page 2 - The new Rodney Dangerfields: "Perfected by Patriots fans during New England's Super Bowl run, the cry of 'disrespect' has become the most ridiculous cliche in sports.
'We're disrespected' is even more knee-jerk (emphasis: 'jerk') and disingenuous than 'One game at a time,' 'Happy to be here,' and 'Thanking my hands' -- combined! "

Amen.

TIME.com: The Abu Ghraib Scandal You Don't Know -- Feb. 14, 2005: "Now, it emerges, there may be another dimension to Gus' story and certainly to the horrors of Abu Ghraib. In what amounted to a perversion of the traditional doctor's creed of 'first, do no harm,' the medical system at the prison became an instrument of abuse, by design and by neglect. As uncovered by legal scholars M. Gregg Bloche and Jonathan Marks, who conducted an inquiry published by the New England Journal of Medicine, not only were some military doctors at Abu Ghraib enlisted to help inflict distress on the prisoners, but also the scarcity of basic medical care was at times so severe that it created another kind of torture. "

CNN.com - The once and future 'Karate Kid' - Feb 8, 2005: "The actor, now 43, also screened it recently over sushi and sake with director John Avildsen, writer Robert Mark Kamen, and Morita when they did commentary for the DVD."

43!? I am getting old.

MSNBC - Bush seeks 6 percent cut for environment: "WASHINGTON - The Bush administration proposed cutting the Environmental Protection Agencys budget by nearly 6 percent Monday by targeting a program that helps cities replace aging sewerage systems."

MSNBC - Revocation of medals adds insult to injuries: "'Slap in the face'
For a branch of the service that considers itself the most rigorous in the awarding of medals, such revocations are exceptionally rare, according to military historians and veterans. And for the 11 Marines, this was a final indignity added to the shattered bones, crushed intestines and broken teeth they suffered in a war zone."

WASHINGTONIAN: Washington BUZZ: "'No one said goodbye,' she said. 'I got icy stares. It was like being among Moonies.'"

Alterman, good short and long of it.

MSNBC - Guide to the wildest life on Earth: "Some of the microbes McGenity�s group found were completely unknown, including a new group of Archaea they have named MSBL-1. McGenity speculates that these microbes are methanogens because they are related to methane-producing Archaea, and no other methane-producing microbes were found in the basins, which are abundant with methane."

Students to rally over lack of notices / Procedures not posted on how to complain of school conditions: "Four years earlier, a San Francisco middle-school student named Eliezer Williams became the lead plaintiff on behalf of low-income students who said they suffered substandard conditions compared to their middle-income counterparts in suburban schools. "

The Right's Attack on Public Pensions: "Why this proposal then? Because for the right-wing ideologues behind his plan, the issue is not saving money. It is about draining public pension funds of their clout. "

G-Unit Wallpapers, Email, AIM Buddy Icons: "homie if i could make it 94 today
i'd tell easy and dre to bring back N.W.A.
i would have told Pac not to stomp Orlando
told puffy and B.I.G about the Rampart scandal"

MSNBC - Deficit worries threaten Bush agenda: "In the decade since the GOP took power on Capitol Hill, including four years in which there has also been a Republican president, Castle said, 'I can't tell you that pork-barrel spending has changed one bit from Republicans to Democrats.'"

The Emperor's New Hump: "In fact, several sources, including a journalist at the Times, have told Extra! that the paper put a good deal of effort into this important story about presidential competence and integrity; they claim that a story was written, edited and scheduled to run on several different days, before senior editors finally axed it at the last minute on Wednesday evening, October 27. A Times journalist, who said that Times staffers were 'pretty upset' about the killing of the story, claims the senior editors felt Thursday was 'too close' to the election to run such a piece. Emails from the Times to the NASA scientist corroborate these sources accounts."

MercuryNews.com | 01/18/2005 | Sobering forecast of change in the balance of world power: "If the 1900s were the American Century, the authors say, ``the 21st century may be seen as the time when Asia, led by China and India, comes into its own.''
This is not news for those of us who live in Silicon Valley. But the rest of the country is still catching up to this reality. The report, ``Mapping the Global Future,'' reflects not only the views of the intelligence community but also academics, business people, government officials and other experts around the world. The map is worth studying."

Yahoo! News - Central Bankers Warn U.S. Over Deficits: "LONDON - Some of the world's major central bankers warned the United States on Friday that the international community could be running out of patience with the massive U.S. budget and trade deficits that have pushed the dollar lower and increased the cost of their exports in America. "

"Shell suffers fifth cut in reserves/ Earnings record masks losing battle to replace resources
THE GUARDIAN via NewsEdge Corporation : Shell wound up the most turbulent trading year in its history yesterday by announcing a fifth cut in oil and gas reserves at the same time as record pounds 9.4bn annual profits.
The oil and gas group described 2004 as a year of extremes as it admitted it had also replaced as little as 15% of its reserves if the impact of divestments and other factors were taken into account.
Exploration boss Malcolm Brinded admitted that in 2005 it would not hit the 100% reserves replacement ratio it was aiming for, and might not do so in 2006. "

Bush criticized over Social Security plan - Feb. 4, 2005: "NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, is criticizing President Bush's plan to privatize part of Social Security.
Gross, managing director at Pimco, called the argument about the solvency of Social Security 'silly' and said it was an example of the president not focusing on more important issues, such as the budget deficit. "

The Iraq Election: First Impressions: "The Iraqis did not know the names of the candidates for whom they were supposedly voting. What kind of an election is anonymous?! There were even some angry politicians late last week who found out they had been included on lists without their permission. Al-Zaman compared the election process to buying fruit wholesale and sight unseen. (This is the part of the process that I called a 'joke,' and I stand by that.)"

MSNBC - Audit: EPA minimized mercury risks: "WASHINGTON - The Bush administration overlooked health effects and sided with the electric industry in developing rules for cutting toxic mercury pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general said Thursday."

CNN.com - Documents: U.S. condoned Iraq oil smuggling - Feb 2, 2005: "'How is it that you stand on a moral footing to go after the U.N. when they're responsible for 15 percent maybe of the ill-gotten gains, and we were part and complicit of him getting 85 percent of the money?' Menendez asked."

"We are the universe trying to understand itself" - Carl Sagan

The Darwinian Interlude: "Woese is postulating a golden age of pre-Darwinian life, during which horizontal gene transfer was universal and separate species did not exist. Life was then a community of cells of various kinds, sharing their genetic information so that clever chemical tricks and catalytic processes invented by one creature could be inherited by all of them. Evolution was a communal affair, the whole community advancing in metabolic and reproductive efficiency as the genes of the most efficient cells were shared. But then, one evil day, a cell resembling a primitive bacterium happened to find itself one jump ahead of its neighbors in efficiency. That cell separated itself from the community and refused to share. Its offspring became the first species. With its superior efficiency, it continued to prosper and to evolve separately. Some millions of years later, another cell separated itself from the community and became another species. And so it went on, until all life was divided into species."

CNN.com - Documents: U.S. condoned Iraq oil smuggling - Feb 2, 2005: "Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein's regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq's neighbors."

MSNBC - Greenhouse effect could make Mars livable: "Some think earthlings have no right to mess with the climate of another planet. Others see Mars as a refuge for people who might need to flee this world as conditions deteriorate. Another argument holds that Mars was likely warmer and wetter in its distant past, and it might have harbored life, so bringing it back to a previous state makes sense."

Start saving your pennies, kiddies!

good email just now:


Last night, President Bush said a lot of nice things, but one phrase that struck us as among the most true and important was this: he said that America should not let poor nations become "recruiting grounds for terror." We must act, he said, to address the poverty and political corruption that breed terrorism.
We could not agree more... If only his actions backed up his words.
For example, if Bush were serious about fighting the conditions that spawn terrorism, he would present a budget to actually do something about it. But Bush's budget, which he will submit to Congress on Monday, is expected to allocate about $15 billion to humanitarian foreign aid—versus over $400 billion earmarked for the Pentagon, which won't even cover the $80 billion or more he'll need this year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By making an additional $15 billion available to help poor nations—which could easily be secured by eliminating idiot weapons systems such as Star Wars—our nation could save the lives of millions of kids who die of starvation each year. Then the president could begin to say, without lying, that our nation is trying to wipe out the desperation that provides such fertile soil for terrorist recruiters.
Bush's mixed-up budget priorities really show the gap between his professed moral values and his actions.
So, one of our goals for the coming year is to spotlight how our country's values translate—or don't translate—into our national budget and the debate about issues in Congress. When Bush talks about how much he cares about kids, we will point out that millions of kids in America lack health insurance, Head Start, and other basics. And we will fight for more funding for those programs.
When Bush talks about the Social Security "crisis," we will join others in pointing out that there is no crisis. Any potential problems can be addressed quickly and easily by Congress and a president whose real agenda is to improve the lives of our nation's seniors, not to dismantle the federal government and line the pockets of Wall Street executives.
And we will stand up for freedom—not just by asserting that we support it—but by, among other things, pressing forward with our campaign for honest elections at home and our efforts to end the war in Iraq.
This is our plan for the coming year.

Chicago Tribune | Mild weather has downside: 1st winter dirty-air alert: "Soot pollution trapped over much of the urban Midwest led Illinois officials Wednesday to issue their first-ever wintertime alert for dirty air, and they cautioned the health warnings could last through the weekend."

washingtonpost.com - Live Online: "St. Louis, Mo.: How does Bush plan to help teenagers raise their grades and education? Or is he just saying this?
Robert G. Kaiser: He wants to extend the accountability provisions of the 'No Child Left Behind' law from elementary school to high school. This would mean that local school systems would face specific penalties if they fail to show steady improvement in test results of their students, among other things.

Washington, D.C.: Anything he said strike you as objectively untrue?

Robert G. Kaiser: Yes. Bush often describes a world whose features are all highly debatable, if not simply invented. He proposes “a comprehensive health care agenda” that will leave perhaps 50 million Americans without health insurance. Is that comprehensive in any meaningful sense? He promises big economic benefits from legal changes, “tort reform,” that independent economists say cannot have more than a small economic effect even if enacted, which is not likely. He promises to increase the size of Pell Grants, not noting that they have shrunk far below the level he promised when he came into the White House. He proposes to reduce American dependency on foreign supplies of energy, when independent specialists say that as long as we need oil, we will be heavily, and increasingly, dependent on foreign suppliers. Bush spoke of a free and sovereign Iraq as though all was well there, but Iraq is a country in terrible straits, with most uncertain prospects. Bush didn't invent the rosy scenario approach to politics, of course. There's a lot of tradition behind this kind of wishful rhetoric."

MSNBC - The missing media: "On this planet, nothing the man says can be taken at face value and hence, listening to him talk is a waste of time."

Couldn't agree more.

It is hard to see an angel cry.

They don’t just weep like some far off statue, but get inside you and bring the sadness home. One might love to be able to shape their face like a clay figurine, to bring that smile back and allude to an even greater happiness within, but sometimes it is not to be.

I think back during these times to Kill Bill Volume 2 and the line, ‘was… inconsolable.’ Is there the right question to ask? The right arrangement of words to say? Is there a song I could play?

Or is my beautiful angel meant for this? Am I just supposed to admire from afar?

SI.com - NCAA Basketball - Player hits 90-foot overtime shot for the win - Tuesday February 1, 2005 8:43PM: "'It was hard to control your emotions on a play like that.'"

TomPaine.com - Blogs: "The following 1967 New York Times article was forwarded to me by a wry but incisive observer of U.S. misadventures in Iraq, Pat Lang. It is eerily familiar:
U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote
Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror
by Peter Grose, Special to The New York Times
September 4, 1967, p.2
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting."

MSNBC - Calif. sues U.S. over Sierra logging plan: "'With no basis in science and no new facts, the Bush administration has jettisoned the product of more than 10 years of study, public participation and consensus building,' Attorney General Bill Lockyer said in a statement."

MSNBC - Nine new environmental 'hot spots' listed: "Nine new hot spots have been identified, including one that traverses the U.S.-Mexico border, one in southern Africa, and one that encompasses the entire nation of Japan, said Conservation International, which helped organize the analysis in a book 'Hotspots Revisited' that was released Monday."

The total now stands at 34.

[Chorus]
You should stop for awhile you will find me standing there (Don't you trust me?)
Over here at the side of your life (Not that I don't trust you)
You spend all your hours just rushing around
Do you have a little time to have a little time for me?
As soon as I leave the house you wanna page me
See you got me trapped I'm going crazy this is slavery
You act like it's outrageous give me space it won't get better
And maybe we will argue and be through with all these sorry letters
Soon as I come home it's like I get the third degree
Where ya been and who you with I get no room to breathe
It makes me wanna leave
I'm sick of these tricks up your sleeve
Your suspicious I decieve give me grief without belief but to me
If you really trust me then it's pitiful
Question me about my whereabouts that's so trivial
Let me live my life and you can live yours
Just be there to help me and support that's what your here for
Not to give me stress and add to pressure
Home is where I go the rest I go to pass the test
I'm sorry if I left you all alone
But I couldn't make it home so we argue on the phone

Don't you trust me?
[Chorus]

Callin' up my house to hang it up
You think that makes sense
Tell me what it takes for us to shake so we can be friends
It's time for us to take our seperate paths
We had a lot of laughs but the good things come to pass
Let's think of the evil break don't make it scandoulous
Try to be mature til your sure that we can handle this
Your sayin I'm too busy I ignore you
I guess you didn't hear me when I said that I cared for you
But now it seems the arguments are nightly
I wanna hold you tightly but instead you wanna fight me
So why let it stress and aggravate me
Instead I'd rather break hope you don't hate me
You tell me that you love me but your lyin'
Fightin back the urge to start cryin'
I wipe away your tears come and hug me
I love you like you love me Girl...don't you trust me?

[Chorus]

I hangup the phone (click)
I can't barely hear you yellin' at me
Maybe we should end it neither one of us are happy
You know that I'm emotional you milk me
Comin' over crying just to get me feelin' guilty
You and me were meant to be it yet
You always wanna sweat and how much closer can we get (don't fret)
Just set me back my things and I'll be outie
This time I'm breakin out you let your mouth overcrowd me
I can't take the beefin' and the griefin'
I get no room to sleep I hope it ceases cause I'm leavin'
Maybe next time you'll be a little more sure
When I can give you more when you unsure
But baby until then I gotta leave ya
It's not that I don't need ya but see ya
And I hope that you understand why I bust it
Not becuase we rushed it (hell no)
But girl don't you trust me? [Chorus]

Not that I don't trust you
Don't you trust me?
Not that I don't trust you
Don't you trust me?
Not that I don't trust you

2/2/2005 4:04:18 AM -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Inflation gets grip on St. Louis area
St. Louis Post-Dispatch via NewsEdge Corporation : Feb. 1--The gas pump wasn't the only place St. Louisans faced higher prices last year. They also shelled out more for food, housing and clothes, as consumer prices here rose at their fastest rate in more than a decade, according to U.S. Labor Department figures.
Inflation made a comeback nationwide in 2004 after a several-year hiatus. And the St. Louis area saw consumer price increases that beat the U.S. average.
Still, economists yawned Monday when asked to measure this modest inflation by historical standards. By comparison, prices grew more than twice as fast each year in the late 1970s, they noted.
The big problem (in 2004) is that we have gasoline and medical care prices that grew much more than average, said Bryan Bezold, an economist with the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association. St. Louis may be a little bit higher than the U.S., but that isn't too crazy since there's evidence that (our economy) grew more than the nation.
These latest numbers are from the consumer price index, or CPI, which measures the cost of a fixed basket of goods over time. The basket includes items ranging from housing to education to health care.
Prices rose 4 percent in the region between 2003 and 2004, according to the CPI for all urban consumers. That's the largest such increase since 1990, when the CPI for St. Louis shot up 5.2 percent.
The national CPI, meanwhile, increased 2.7 percent in 2004, based on annual averages.
For these price increases, consumers can thank an improving economy that's fattened some workers' wallets while putting others back in jobs over the last year. As the economy grew, demand for goods rose and companies became less hesitant to raise prices, economists said.
Locally, the biggest price hikes came at an obvious place: the gas pump. Gasoline prices rose 19.1 percent in 2004.
Kenneth Matheny, a senior economist at Macroeconomic Advisors LLC in Clayton, said the inflation of 2004 follows a three-year period during which consumer price increases were minuscule, rivaling even the historic lows of the 1960s.
In the years leading up to 2004, The economy was weak and sluggish, and unemployment was above normal levels. Companies held the line on prices, Matheny said. Now, firms have more pricing power.
In the case of rising apparel prices, Bezold, the RCGA economist, said there's evidence that consumers with more income have been shopping at higher-end stores.
Housing prices have risen as low mortgage rates fueled a housing boom that's seen ownership climb higher each year, he said.
The budding inflation last year caught the attention of the Federal Reserve Bank. Anticipating rising prices, the Fed began to hike interest rates to fight inflation and is expected to do so again this week.
Consumers with short memories may gasp at the rise in gas prices last year. In 2000, however, gas prices shot up 31.8 percent in the St. Louis area, according to the CPI.
Consumers also should remember that inflation is not bad for all people, said Joseph Haslag, an economist at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He cited housing prices, which grew at about twice the national average in the St. Louis area in 2004, according to the CPI.
If I own my own house, that's a good thing, Haslag said.
CPI INCREASES
The consumer price index for the St. Louis area rose 4 percent in 2004. Below are the changes for selected items:
Gasoline -- 19.1 percent
Housing -- 5 percent
Apparel -- 4.8 percent
Food -- 3.8 percent
Alcoholic beverages -- 0.8 percent
Household furnishings -- -0.4 percent
Electricity -- -1.5 percent
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MSNBC - Jackson reportedly �mulling� over Lakers scenarios: "LOS ANGELES - Rudy Tomjanovich is considering resigning as Los Angeles Lakers coach because of health reasons, a team spokesman said Tuesday. Is it possible that former coach Phil Jackson would replace his own successor?"

MSNBC - Is God Owens' orthopedist, too? Please: "Is it possible to trivialize God and religion and faith more? Is it possible to have a more absurdly engorged concept of ones own importance?"

The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial: A Spoonful of Sugar: "In tomorrow's State of the Union speech, President Bush will no doubt escalate his campaign to replace Social Security with private retirement accounts. We don't know exactly what he'll say, but we're willing to bet that he won't say 'private accounts,' even though privatization is exactly what he's calling for, and exactly how he and other administration officials have described their scheme hundreds of times before. But the polls and focus groups that Mr. Bush says he ignores show that the public doesn't like to hear the word 'private' when the topic is Social Security. So the administration now scrupulously uses the label 'personal accounts,' and in a 104-page book on selling the plan, it urges Congressional Republicans to do the same. "

Here we are. Sun is going down on another day. Another dollar in the pocket for those luckiest among us.

Is that all there is though? Pretty sad to think about isn't it? That through the years (billions of years) and the mindless multiple choice tests and the relationships and the control and the deception and the time and the uncreative education, our world has been boiled down to that?

Look for more tomorrow is my suggestion. Not necessarily winning, or getting a dollar or anything like that. Look for being and enjoying.

Social Security crisis? Not if wealthy pay their way | csmonitor.com: "For more than two decades, low- and middle-income Americans have kept their part of the bargain, paying more in payroll taxes than Social Security needs and helping to keep income taxes low. In return, beginning in 2018, high earners are expected to start paying a bit more in income taxes in order to help keep payroll taxes low.
That's the bargain that was struck in 1983. It's one we should keep."

He's Still "That Man" - The Bushies' war on Franklin Roosevelt. By Daniel�Gross: "I also suspect that many Republicans are simply unable to forgive Roosevelt for what may have been his greatest and longest-lasting achievement: saving American capitalism through regulation. And since they can't tear down the Triborough Bridge or the Hoover Dam, these guys act out by going after Social Security."

MSNBC - No Principle, Just Interest: "Home foreclosures have become commonplace in recent years as consumers bought houses they could scarcely afford, then took second mortgages on them to pay other bills. Bankruptcy filings were widespread as well. While the very word was once synonymous with disgrace, now it constitutes a kind of automatic absolution: fess up, and the blot is gone. By contrast, the savings rate has plummeted during the last 20 years. One study showed the average American household with nearly triple the amount of credit-card debt it had a decade ago, scarcely surprising when unsolicited offers are sometimes sent to infants, the dead, even the occasional family pet. (If Woofie had opposable thumbs, he'd sign up.) When a family friend told Benjamin Braddock in 'The Graduate' that the future was plastics, he was off by only that last letter."

Thanks again Dr. Marshall.

SPECIES: UNPRECEDENTED EXTINCTION RATE, AND IT'S INCREASING: "The world's species face an unprecedented crisis. The rate at which they are being lost is alarming, even when compared with the extinction episode of 70 million years ago when the dinosaurs disappeared. No-one knows exactly what the current extinction rate is, but recent calculations by leading scientists put it at between 1,000 and 10,000 times greater than it would naturally be. The rate of extinction also appears to be increasing. Species are threatened in every habitat on every continent, though the severity of threat varies from place to place. Evidence suggests that freshwater habitats, particularly rivers, and oceanic islands are very severely affected by species extinction. Tropical Asia and Australia appear to suffer particularly high extinction rates."

Tupac Lyrics - Ghetto Gospel Lyrics - Ghetto Gospel: "Never forget, that God hasn't finished with me yet
I feel his hand on my brain
When I write rhymes, I go blind, and let the lord do his thang
But am I less holy
Cuz I choose to puff a blunt and drink a beer with my homies
Before we find world peace
We gotta find peace in that war on the streets"

MSNBC - China EPA warns Three Gorges operators: "Chinese leaders have acknowledged that the acceleration of economic development has inflicted considerable damage on the environment, but they have kept preservation of a strong economy their main priority."

MSNBC - China EPA warns Three Gorges operators: "BEIJING - China's environmental watchdog, flexing its limited muscles to try to clean up industry, may take the operators of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project, to court, state media said on Tuesday."

MSNBC - House to move on arctic refuge drilling: "WASHINGTON - A House committee is expected to vote next week to revive a broad energy bill that would allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a key part of the Bush administration's national energy plan that faces opposition in the Senate."

MSNBC - New quarter celebrates Muir, conservation: "SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Coin collectors and history buffs lined up to be among the first to get a new quarter commemorating the Golden State's history, featuring the likeness of John Muir, his beloved Yosemite and a California condor"