Saturday, May 05, 2007

Photogenic panthers and disappearing bees

Posted by Mickey Z on 05/05 at 06:34 AM

  1. Just getting caught up from last night’s comments. Keir said, “...sometimes we have an excuse and an obligation to beat the living shit out of clean cut, wealthy, middle-aged men in suits. You will get a sign. It will be obvious. Then: strike!...” Frances also made a supporting comment. I sort of have come to the conclusion that the usa culture is so sick, increasing mental illnesses, fractured families, etc. because we do not get involved. The tendency is to ignore abuse when we see it in public spaces. I agree with Keir and think that silence is sometimes the greatest of all evils. Keir, you were not being a coward. You were just doing what most others would do under the same circumstances. Except that you, because of who you are, understood the situation and felt empathy for the woman.
    The usa has a fatal case of “up the drawbridge syndrome”. The feeling is, I’ve got mine and the hell with everybody else.  Lack of compassion and empathy are symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. For years the usa foreign policy has been based on enriching us, at the expense of the less powerful. What a sick nation! We need more Keirs, franceses, joes, JOSes, more Expendables.....

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/05  at  02:53 PM

  2. hi everyone, a short note to say I expect you’re all doing well. I’m seriously busy of late, it’s the gentle and attentive kind of seriously busy, though I think of you lot from time to time.
    be well all of you
    xo

    Posted by owen from schmarcelona  on  05/05  at  03:49 PM

  3. Hello Expendables. It’s yet another beautiful spring day in Astoria. Great to “see” you, Owen.

    RMJ: Thanks for your comment above. I hadn’t had a chance to reply to Keir and Frances and you effectively summed up my feelings.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/05  at  03:52 PM

  4. Interesting:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6618075.stm

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/05  at  04:06 PM

  5. Hi RMJ, Mickey, and Owen.
    I am liking what Rose has to say.  Hopefully it signals a turn in the tide of political thinking.
    Here is my good news link for the day. Sarkozy’s Montreal office gets plastered with grafitti.
    http://tinyurl.com/3yvjsa
    I have something else I want to share but its too long and I would be a total blog-hog if I posted it here.  So I opened a page and posted it there.  Because it probably violates all kinds of copy right laws I am only leaving it up for the weekend.
    http://tinyurl.com/3bts8d

    Posted by Frances from bc, canada  on  05/05  at  05:16 PM

  6. Thanks, Frances. On a slow day like this, we could use a blog hog or two.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/05  at  08:20 PM

  7. Thanks once again for an excellent post, Mickey.  I’ve been reading all about Huey Newton and the Black Panthers.  Its sad how the fbi and cia have to fuck up everything.
    Now I am listening to Dead Prez Propaganda
    http://tinyurl.com/2zxc9j

    Posted by Frances from bc, canada  on  05/05  at  10:54 PM

  8. Nice point on the alignment thing. What a pity that in British English the convention is to write the date like this <day-month-year>, in ascending order, so we missed out.

    Posted by Andy from Shanghai  on  05/06  at  04:44 AM

  9. Hello again, Expendables. Andy, it’s been a while. Nice to have you back.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/06  at  06:37 AM

  10. I think I finally fell asleep early this morning at 2:34 5/6/07…

    I had a long day of sporting events and degenerate gambling.  In other words, I loved yesterday. Called 5 winners at Churchill Downs and Arlington...including Street Sense.  Watched our beloved Bulls get destroyed...a Yankee pitcher almost throw a perfect game...and a somewhat beautiful display of defensive genius in the much anticipated De La Hoya/Mayweather fight.  Topped the night of with a couple rounds of Texas Hold ‘Em.

    I guess these horses are treated pretty well...at one moment though as I looked at a close up of a lead horse’s eyes I saw wild fear inside the blinders and wished he was running free on the plains.

    Posted by JOS from Oak Park  on  05/06  at  09:23 AM

  11. I’m off to a Cub’s game...catch ou all later.

    Anyone else agree that I have sufficiently distracted myself from reality this weekend?

    Posted by JOS from Oak Park  on  05/06  at  09:25 AM

  12. I’ve give you an “A” in distraction, Big Country JOS.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/06  at  09:55 AM

  13. Hi JOS, Andy, Mickey, Owen, frances, and all others…
    The front page here is nice to look at. I can’t decide who is better looking - Mickey or Huey.
    Also, on 5/6/07, I was thinking that in July it will be 7:07:07 on 7/07/07. That will only happen once.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/06  at  03:15 PM

  14. Hello RMJ. Here’s something that will not only happen once:
    http://tinyurl.com/yvrtt7

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/06  at  03:48 PM

  15. Hi, everyone. I’ve been away from the net ‘cause a certain ISP can’t get it’s act together at my new flat. Monopoly practices here in the US make me think of the former Soviet Union (though they have regressed since breakup).

    Dead honeybees: finally, a cure for American obesity.

    I just watched a brief YouTube from Rage’s show on 4/29. Hope and happy endings are myths, and watching Zack & Co. rip it up may be as good as we’re going to get.

    Chomsky’s Job: I’d be less caustic about the Duke of Lexington if there were a little more to show for the last 30 years of “not cheering people up”; a half-decent boycott of Israel comes to mind, with NC’s cheerless mug cautioning against it. I’ll acknowledge the so-called left for self-education assistance, but by this point it should be clear that for strategy and tactics, the left has given a fine example of what doesn’t produce change. About the kindest thing I can say is that the scale of fascist onslaught this time around is beyond anything h. sapiens has seen, so taking a poke at effete movement types might not be 100% fair. But it’s not my job...thhpppt!

    Unrelated News: the new Rush CD “Snakes and Arrows” is quite good, for a trio of pentagenarians. Neil Peart can’t seem to fit his mind around class, but has a good sense of drama and humanity in his lyrics. They have three (3) instrumentals on this one, and “Malignant Narcissism” deserved much more than two minutes. Maybe they play it longer live - June 26th in MA, dudeski!

    Posted by Zen Prole from Urth  on  05/06  at  03:56 PM

  16. Zen, I was just wondering about you and right on cue, you show up with the line of the day: I’ll acknowledge the so-called left for self-education assistance, but by this point it should be clear that for strategy and tactics, the left has given a fine example of what doesn’t produce change.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/06  at  04:26 PM

  17. MariLee Jones, I think is her name, the former Dean of Admissions at MIT. She was recently fired after having served well for 28 years. She was fired because she misrepresented her academic background on her job application almost 30 years ago. I am not sure of all of the facts, but it seems to me, that if job performance is not a measure of ability, and if the most important requirement is the piece of paper hanging on the wall, then there is something wrong with the system. Many of the most brilliant people I have known were self-educated. If any employer can not separate the degree holders from the self-educated based solely on job performance, then a degree is nothing more than institutionalized discrimination.  I often think about my Father who had to quit school in the second grade because he had to go to work. Later he was often called upon to “train” the engineers who would be his bosses. For years I have debated the irrelevancy of college degrees (as opposed to real education). I have been asked if I would want a doctor to operate on me if he had no medical degree. My answer is that I would prefer a doctor who had a long history of successful surgeries, rather than one who had a piece of paper on the wall.  Thanks for letting me vent. I feel better now.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/06  at  04:39 PM

  18. Mickey #14...I don’t know much about Roger Clemens, but every once in a while I get phone calls from researchers who want information about Bill Jackowski (World Series Umpire). Anybody remember him?

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/06  at  05:41 PM

  19. MZ, with #16 my blog-day is complete. I’ll re-surface when the bloody ISP hooks me up at my new place.

    I see the Yankees have turned it around some. Captcha sez “due.”

    Posted by Zen Prole from Urth  on  05/06  at  05:52 PM

  20. Zen: Does that mean I complete you?

    RMJ: Someone is selling Bill Jackowski’s contract on eBay:
    http://tinyurl.com/2656er

    Posted by Mickey Z. from Astoria  on  05/06  at  05:54 PM

  21. Thanks, Mickey. I would have missed seeing that.

    Posted by RMJ from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts  on  05/06  at  06:11 PM

  22. Wow - very photogenic, Mickey!  Thanks for sharing this with your expendables.
    And this does not cheer me up:
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/paris-violence-mars-sarkozy-victory/2007/05/07/1178390172119.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

    And ‘hi’ from a still quite warm Daylesford to Rosemarie (back with a vengeance), Owen, frances, Andy, JOS and Zen Prole.  I hope the rest of the weekend is good for you.

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  05/06  at  10:21 PM

  23. And here is more proof that Australia is fast becoming the 51st state in the Union:
    http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/06/1178390140855.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

    Captcha:  during
    might even during my lifetime ..

    Posted by Helga Fremlin from Daylesford, Australia  on  05/06  at  10:31 PM

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