Dubya, Dubia, and the SMU Institute of Giving America Away

Dubai government will not guarantee Dubai World's debts, says top finance official!

Remember when George W. Bush wanted to award all of our seaport's management contracts to Dubai Ports?

I'm just saying, you know Dubai Ports a sub subsidiary of Dubai World which is...

"DP World is a company owned by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, via a holding company. This holding company is under the direct control of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the prime minister of the UAE."

This is the same guy that says no the UAE will not back DW's losses because that means he would have to back the losses. I'm just saying ain't we lucky that the the Democratic Congress had balls at least to spare the United States this embarrassment.

Say, I wonder if Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum will cover the losses of his good friends the Bush family who hold a whole bunch of DW's paper. Does SMU hold DPW or DW paper?

If I were an SMU alumni I would be shitting all over the current board and administration for embracing this fool and his corruption, "birds of a feather" you know! I can just invision George W. and Karl Rove getting a coke at the student union at SMU. What a picture that makes.

For These I give Thanks:

For these I give thanks:

...that my father stopped the old Case tractor before it's front wheels got to my head while it was running over me when I was two years old.

...that I had a little brother to play with and torture as I grew up.

... that my Dad got me the best dog in the whole world when I was six, His name was Rocky.

... that both milk cows died before I was old enough to milk them.

... that I was raised on a farm in Southwestern Oklahoma where I could see the horizons and the stars every day and walk as far in any direction as I wanted to.

... that I went to a small school where the first grade teacher knew I was bright and taught me to read even though it was hard for me and on her, because even though she had never heard of someone being dyslexic, she knew I could do it.

...that none of my car wrecks ever killed me.

... that I never actually made it to the mission field for the Southern Baptist Convention.

... that the first woman I asked to marry me married my college room mate instead.

... that the Air Force "annulled" my commission when they discovered that they had made a mistake on how bad my eyesight was.

... That even after being drafted I had the good sense of becoming Regular Army and joining the Army Security Agency.

... that I met the cutest little girl while I was waiting to go into the Army; 42 years and counting with her.

... that I was ignorant of the future and decided to have kids, which is the best thing I ever did.

... that I came home from Vietnam, alive.

... that the PTSD is manageable most of the time.

... that I haven't killed anyone in over 40 years.

... that nine months before my second son was born that my wife told me, but I don't have my diaphragm in, and I said, what the hell...

... that true madness is always temporary.

...that I had meaningful work careers for most of my life, but that work was always just a means to an end.

...that all of my children have turned out to be honest, true, and good people.

...that somewhere I learn the joy of learning, and that I live in the age of the Internet and Google.

...that my last employers were greedy when they constructed their golden parachutes so that when they told me to jump they at least gave me a bronze one.

...that I'm retired.

...that my wife's retired.

...that I have some disposable income left over at the end of each month (so far).

...that my Internist Doctor seems to give a shit about my staying alive.

...that my one and only wife is still my best friend even knowing what we know about each other.

The Sisters Of Mercy, They Are Not departed Or Gone

Miaziar Bahari changed a song for me. I've been a Leonard Cohen fan since 1967 when I bought a book of his poetry and discovered he wrote " Susanne". His song "Sisters of Mercy" I've listened to for years. Starting today, I will never be able to hear it with out thinking of Bahari's story or this image of him and his daughter.




Photo by Tom Stoddart?Getty Images


118 Days, 12 Hours, 54 Minutes
"On June 21, reporter Maziar Bahari was rousted out of bed and taken to Tehran's notorious Evin prison—accused of being a spy for the CIA, MI6, Mossad…and NEWSWEEK. This is the story of his captivity—and of an Iran whose rampant paranoia underpins an ever more fractured regime." ----Newsweek Magazine

"The interrogator sat me in a wooden chair. It had a writing arm, like the chair I'd had in primary school. He ordered me to look down, even though I was already blindfolded: "Never look up, Mr. Bahari. While you are here—and we don't know how long you're going to be here—never look up." All I could see from under the blindfold was the interrogator's black leather slippers. They worried me. He had settled in for a long session. "----Maziar Bahari

Beatings, solitary confinement, threats, isolation, were Maziar's life in prison....

"My true refuge, though, was music. Once, after a particularly brutal beating, I swallowed three migraine pills and passed out. Two women came to me in a dream. They had kind faces; in fact, they reminded me of my sister Maryam, who had died of leukemia in February.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Sisters of mercy," they answered."


Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.

They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on.

And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song.

Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control.

It begins with your family, but soon it comes around to your soul.

Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned:

When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned.

Well they lay down beside me, I made my confession to them.

They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem.

If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn

They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon.

Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon.

And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night:

We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right,

We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.

---Leonard Cohen


No, I won't hear it the same as I did before.

The Vanishing Wilderness

MSNBC showed a documentary named "100 Heartbeats" as part of the series Future Earth.

"Welcome to MSNBC's 'Future Earth'
In "100 Heartbeats," the second premiere in MSNBC's landmark Future Earth series, famed naturalist Jeff Corwin tells the story of the "Sixth Extinction" — caused by people and which can only be stopped by people. Keep checking futureearth.msnbc.com for information about the next premiere, "Future Earth: 2025," which will air on Dec. 20. You can catch "100 Heartbeats" on MSNBC again on Thanksgiving at 11 a.m. ET"

As a Geographer ecological disaster has been part of my focus for half a century. Over time I have found that many concerns are over stated and hyped.

For example in 1970 I was enthralled by a PBS series called "The Vanishing Wilderness".

"OUR VANISHING WILDERNESS
40 years ago, a small crew of filmmakers set out to document some of the more pressing issues involving wildlife in America. They made eight half-hour films around the country–it ended up being the first environmental tv series in the US. Shot in 1969, the issues weren’t new, but hadn’t been handled much yet on television–the medium had yet to embrace the environmental movement. "

"‘Our Vanishing Wilderness’ started as a book. Created by husband and wife team Shelly Grossman, nature photographer, and Mary Louise Grossman, nature writer, it was a kind of hybrid: part environmental report, part natural history, and part nature photography coffee table book. "

Expose', is the word used by Time magazine to describe the series when it aired.
The current MSNBC documentary certainly deserves that label as well.

Normally it is not quite as bad as these things make it out to be.
For example they just found and extra 150,000 or so gorillas in the Congo, adding a bunch of animals to a supposed population of about 50,000 gorillas. That's a 300% increase in the last year.

Another example: "FEDERAL SCIENTISTS reported last fall that the northwest Montana population of grizzlies was more than twice as large as experts had previously thought..."

"Several years ago, Kate Kendall oversaw the fermenting of 2,200 gallons of rotting fish and cow blood for bear lure. “You can imagine the fun we had opening up those barrels a year later,” says the U.S. Geological Survey biologist. That would have been the summer of 2004, when Kendall deployed 230 field workers to construct more than 2,500 bear hair traps across 7.8 million acres of rugged wilderness in northwest Montana. The odor emanating from the lure poured in the center of each trap compelled hundreds of grizzlies, federally listed as threatened, to cross under or over a surrounding strand of barbed wire, usually leaving behind enough hair for DNA fingerprinting. The feat earned Kendall the stump-speech ridicule of presidential candidate John McCain, who cited her DNA study as an example of pork-barrel spending—his laugh line being, “I don’t know if that was a criminal issue or a paternal issue, but it was $3 million of our taxpayers’ money.”


So much for McCain's 25 watt intelligence and insight.

So when you hear the expose' claims that everything is falling apart it is hard sometimes to believe it.

That's part of the problem with Climate Change, it has become a liberal versus conservative football. Trouble is the conservatives are just pissing in their own beer on this question. The liberals however just see it as cause that will help them "green up" the planet.

Neither are even close to correct.

Climate Change?
Think asteroid headed towards the earth!
Think nuclear winter!
Think California falling into the ocean!
Think movie "The Day After"!

Over the top you say?
Here's the deal, the effects of climate change will be as problematic as those doomsday scenarios.
Jeez, Drlobo you done fallen off the wagon again?

No, we have passed a tipping point several years ago.
The only reasonable public policy decisions to be made right now are those to decide what to do as it happens to protect our population, agriculture, and economy.

None of the models are bad enough to predict what will really occur (Academics are always 10 years behind the curve).
None of the scientists involved are willing to stick out their necks and say what they are really thinking (they need to keep their salaries so as to save enough to move to the Rockies).
If you live in an area less than 50 feet above current 2009 sea level, move to higher ground.
If you want a great investment, invest in land around Churchill, Manitoba (fiftey feet above sea level that is).
If you want to see Polar bears in the wild do it next year.
If you like to eat, keep at least a year's worth of food in your pantry.
Want to see Venice without having to use SCUBA gear, go now.
If you are a Climate Change Denier change you name and move inland.

Everybody is telling you that the changes will be slow. Bullshit! Think years instead of decades, think months instead of years, think days instead of months, think, hey what's that outside my window...

Oklahoma Hurricane Erin August 19, 2008 (No Shit!)

The good thing is that we will survive the climate change and will handle most of it pretty well, but for a few.....

The Media Whore of Babble-On

This blog will be just an Amen among thousands, but I feel compelled to put it on the WWW anyway.

First the title: The privilege of authorship goes to Justlen

Second: Although I seldom link to another blog in this case that's the most interesting source for this story. Thank you rumproast!

Check out the facebook page of Ms. Palin.

Where In The World Is This?

I took these last year. Where were they taken do you think?



ONE



TWO



THREE

Biblical Death Threats to Obama Masquerading As Prayer

For Sale:



Psalms 109: 8

8 May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.

But it goes on....

9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.

10 May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.

11 May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.

12 May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.

13 May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.

How is this not a death threat to the President and his family?

I have not yet seen one of the stickers on a car. I hope I don't. I am not sure what I would do about it. I really don't want to find out.

A JTB Post: There's Something Happening Here!

The bears are being sorted and boxed. For what?
Maybe we should look into this!


Editors note: The following song sung by Junior is to the Buffalo Springfield tune, "There's Something Happening Here".



There's something happening here

What it is ain't exactly clear

There's a woman with a box over there
And she is filling it with all teddy bears

I think it's time we stop, bears, look around

Everybody look what's going down

There's bears being sorted all along

What she’s doing has got to be wrong

She’s stuffing bears into boxes and keeping time

As though enjoying the chaos she’s leaving behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's coming round

Everybody look what's going down



What a way for a Teddy’s last defeat
A thousand bears boxed up so neat

The boxes are piled up all out side

No one’s intervening to turn the tide

It's time we stop, hey, look what we’ve found

Boxes of Teddys are being tossed around

Into your life Goodwill trucks do creep

You lose when they come up your street

Look bears you better have your say

Stuffed bears hold on tight or the man comes and takes you away

We better stop, hey, look what I’ve found

Everybody look what's going down

Stop, hey, look what I’ve found

Everybody look what's going down

Stop, now, what's going round
Everybody look what's going down Stop, children,



Teddy’s being hauled off to town

JTB

Thank God for Mississippi (Again)

Check out the study that ranks Oklahoma 49th in healthy states. Yes, Mississippi saves us from being at the bottom. Take note , Oklahoma Congressional delegation, keep up your rhetoric and votes and soon we will be able to displace Mississippi at the bottom.

Check it out HERE

The Non-Bilateral Abraham Lincoln

Following my principle that hardly anything is none of my business....

It was the mannequin of the young Abraham Lincoln at the State Museum in Springfield, Illinois that got me started on this. Looking at his face you could see a close bilateral similarity to the right and left sides.

Where as just a few feet away the most often seen portrait of Abraham Lincoln portrayed a face that was much different. The left side was higher and larger than the right, and the eyes and ears did not line up with each other at all.

Indeed it seems Lincoln understood he had this "imbalance and normally turned his right side to the camera in his photographs. Maybe that is why i like this drawing of him above because it shows his left side more.

So when I came home I experimented with the Brady photograph of Lincoln looking straight at the camera. The above photo shows Lincoln's face composed of only his left side reversed and substituted for his right side as well. As it is known our left side is our "sinister" side and this certainly holds true in this version on Lincoln.

Doing the same for the right side of his face gives a completely different person.

So I went googling to see why the difference was so pronounced in Lincoln and came up with this site:

http://www.physical-lincoln.com/diagnosis.html

Note that the sight used the same picture the way I did.

Did Lincoln really have a rare genetic disease?

Would he have lived much longer or died of cancer?

Lincoln by Dali and Scrabble

Ho Ho, Ha Ha, He He We Pay The Taliban Not to Kill Us Now So They Kill Us Latter

What a crock of shit my fellow Americans, what a crock.

Naw, not the fact that we pay the Taliban not to attack our supply convoys. No not that. That should have been expected as a normal operational procedure in an Insurgent based war.

No my dear friends, not that.

The crock of shit is that you didn't know that. The crock of shit is that the news media is surprised by this. The crock of shit is that we are outraged by it.

I guess those 50,000 dead boys and 125,000 maimed and wounded warriors from Vietnam really did die for nothing. We didn't learn shit from all that.

When I was liaison to the Military Intelligence at Phuoc Vinh, RVN we were paying the Viet Cong (VC) a "Tax" not to attack the base when the Screaming Eagles were there. The deal was we paid the Cong and then we were free to attack the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) farther to the North. When the First Air Cav took over the base they came under fire every day and night cause they wouldn't pay the tax.

We paid Sears U.S. tax payers money for every rubber tree we destroyed in the Min Than and Micheline rubber plantations in the First Infantry's area of operation. Then they used the money to pay the Viet Cong and the NVA not to hide in the plantations or engage in attacks there.

The contractor building bridges on highway 13 from Saigon to Lai Khe, RVN paid the VC to not attack the people building the bridges.

Oh, hell people we even paid Shell Oil Corporation when ever we hit one of their ship or facilities in Hanoi or Haiphong.

These are all things I personally knew first or second hand and used in briefings to the Commanding General of the 1st Infantry or his SSO. Yes, we had a daily rubber tree destroyed report. It was briefed right along with the KIA numbers.

So why should you be "Surprised" that we paid the Taliban $6 million last year not to shoot at our trucks.

Jeez people, did we not learn anything from Nam. Of course not.

I am exceedingly tired of all these dumb shits ignoring our immediate prior war experiences as they screw up again repeating the same things over and over again.

(Say, to my Aussie Vet Nam Vet Friends, why you don't tell that old fart Rupert Murdoch to stop messing with our Wars. Next thing you know he'll have you in another one with his lies.)

A JTB Posting: Cozy Dog

It's about time for me to step in and post something sane again I think.
So let me show you the birth place of the corn dog as we know it.



Fatman and I were in Springfield, Illinois last month where we met up with Dr. Lobo who was on sabatical or some such thing.



Dr.Lobo has this thing about Route 66. Thus he met us at a famous Route 66 landmark, the Cozy Dog, to eat. So I got a lecture on the origin of Route 66 and the corn dog on a stick.



Enlarge this picture by clicking on it if you can't read it otherwise. Notice however that the real home of the corn dog was Muskogee, Oklahoma!!!!



OK, even though it was breakfast, Dr. Lobo insisted we all eat a Cozy Dog.



And so I did.



There was Cozy Dog stuff all over the place. Stain Glass Cozy Dogs.




Look at all of this stuff.



Can you really imagine two corn dogs driving a car.



Fatman even took my picture with the Cozy Dogs.



Of course there was a lot of Route 66 memorabilia as well.



Say weren't these guys from Oklahoma.



The root beer was pretty good, but I got some like it at Pop's in Arcadia this summer.




All these car tags remind me of Dr. Lobo's shack-store-studio or what ever it is.



So why the books?

Well, if you are driving along Route 66 and wake up in Springfield, I recommend eating at the Cozy Dog!