The first shipment of beautiful embroidered caps for the full length feature movie we are producing on indicting Cheney for torture, entitled "The Last War Crime", are in the first class mail, and if you have already requested one it should arrive any day. Call it a fantasy film if you like, but sometimes life imitates art. If you would like to read the first part of the script, or request your own cap to support the production, here is the page for that. The Last War Crime movie caps: http://www.peaceteam.net/last_war_crime.php
And now, tonight's alert. Of all the commentary we have heard in the aftermath of this week's election debacle, we have heard not one pundit yet who actually has a clue about what is really going on. So you will have to hear it from us. Of course, if you have been on our list any length of time you already have, but maybe you did not believe us the first time. We must respectfully remind you that we told you that all this is exactly what would happen unless we took stronger action to demand a REAL health care reform bill in particular, instead of that groaning load of corporate special interest dictated and favoring rubbish we ended up with. And by the way, if we were official prophets you would owe us a new pair of sandals right about now. It was March of earlier this year and the title of our alert was "The Democratic Party's Plan To Throw The Next Couple Elections". Look it up, the text was published on OpEdNews.com and is still there. http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Democratic-Party-s-Pla-by-thepen-100307-583.html
For those with short attention spans (from corporate media conditioning) who think our alerts are too long, we suggest you knuckle down and actually read our words this time and see if they start to make sense to you. And please take particular note we said "The Next Couple Elections" PLURAL. Because this is just round one of the dynamic we foretold. As we predicted then, in round two the Republicans will use their electoral gains to push to repeal the almost universally despised health care bill, despised by the right because it does anything even cosmetically good, and despised by the left because it was fundamentally just a total sell out. If the Republicans fall short on repeal this time, they will campaign in 2012 on the platform that they need to take over the Senate and the White House so that the bill can be repealed, and they will win in ANOTHER landslide of historic proportions.
Alternatively, if the Democrats set a new Guiness world record in the publicly perceived as wet noodles department, they will all lose their seats anyway so the result will be the same. Either way, the Democratic party as a viable political power force is finished for at least the next election cycle. Stick a fork in it, it's done. We see no scenario of possible recovery from this. It's over. The only reason they did not lose back the Senate in round one is because only a third of the seats were in play. The rest they will lose the next time for sure. We are skeptical that primary challenges are even a productive option anymore.
The Democratic party has so totally betrayed the people who voted for them, who had faith in them, who believed in them, we must confront the real possibility that nobody will believe a word coming out of the mouth of anyone running AS a Democrat ever again. And the thing that really aggravates us the most about all this are people still whining that the Democrats need to get a spine. Democrats have plenty of spine when they are arresting people calling for single payer and dragging them out of hearing rooms. They have plenty of spine when they are refusing to allow a vote on even the most feeble of public options. They have plenty of spine when they are calling us bleepity-bleep retards. Rather, Democrats tolerate being PERCEIVED as cowards. Because if people thought for one nanosecond that they were not cowards, then people would have to confront the stark truth that the Democrats are IN ON IT.
They are in on the corporate corruption. They are nothing but enablers, all of them, from top to bottom, front to back, ESPECIALLY the so-called progressives, without exception. They are willingly and knowingly playing the role of Judy in this Punch and Judy show, and NOTHING is going to change about that for them, for ever and ever, end of story, period. We told you after the final health care vote what needed to be done about it. We told you that we needed to build a massive Independent Voters movement, with greater numbers than either the Democratic or Republican parties. We asked you to go to a Facebook page we created for this purpose and just become a fan, that's all, just become a fan. Here is that page. Independent Voters page: http://www.facebook.com/IndependentVoters Something shy of 7,000 of you did then.
Obviously it was not enough. So we ask you again. Go the page above and just become a fan. Talk among yourselves. When we see 100,000 over there we will know there is some chance for real change. Until then, we are fooling nobody but ourselves. And we close with an exact quote from an even earlier alert, from September of 2009, which again you can still reading in its entirety on OpEdNews.com, where we warned you that the whole health care reform debate was a total fraud and that no "public option" of any kind would survive in the final bill. http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Obama-s-New-Improved-Lee-by-thepen-090913-493.htmlHere is the quote from the conclusion of the alert documented on the page above.
"And THAT is Obama's REAL plan, the one he won't talk about in a public speech, to let the weakest possible 'public option' hang around for a little while as an illusory sop for the terminally gullible, only to bleed it to death before it can actually go into effect. Yes, THIS is Obama's new 'improved' leech therapy." Lord, the hate mail we got about that one. People yelling at us telling us we were full of it. Calling us racists. Read the words again. And now ask yourself in all candor, "Ain't it the truth?" Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.
Sunday, November 7
Wednesday, November 3
MIDTERM POST MORTEM
How can a man be so intelligent and educated and yet not get what a mook like me understands?
The sociopaths in the Right Wing regrouped after their 2008 thumping, stuck together (you gotta give them that!) and made their intentions plain. Jim DeMint(R-SC) announced early on that the GOP planned to make health care reform Obama’s “Waterloo.”
Mitch McConnell stated baldly before the election that their number one goal is to make Obama a one term president.
And newly minted Speaker Boehner pronounced their total rejection of any compromise whatsoever. The Republicans will play ball with Obama but only if they can make all the rules and Obama ties his hands behind his back.
Yesterday’s results were really rather predictable given the polls earlier in the year. The public option was wildly popular and many progressives fought very hard for its inclusion in the weak tea that the health reform bill became. When it was clear that the White House had sold reform down the river from the get-go by making a behind-closed-doors deal with the insurance cartel and Big Pharma, many in the base – like me – became very demoralized.
The Democrats had taken all their political capital and squandered it on a weak bill with some good things in it but which also contained the extremely disliked mandate. So the Federal Government was forcing people to buy health insurance from the bastards who were ripping the public off and dropping them from the rolls. A public option would have been the spoonful of sugar to make the mandate go down. But instead, the White House, perhaps in a misguided effort to court Republican support, sacrificed the base.
I was one of the dispirited many who felt very let down, betrayed even. Despite that, I contributed what I could to ActBlue and made phone calls for Harry Reid, Alan Grayson and Joe Sestak. And of course, I voted for Democrats. I would never not vote.
Last night was more than disappointing to me. I felt it was predictable given what a cup of weak tea we’ve been served by the administration. And it’s not just HCR. It’s their support of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the war in Afghanistan, the fact that Guantanamo is still open and Obama’s people are continuing some of the worst offenses of the Bush Regime.
So I guess the whupp-ass the Right Wing delivered yesterday shouldn’t have been shocking. And given how the White House continues to act as if the Republicans are normal people who can be negotiated with instead of the toxic sociopaths they are, I wasn’t surprised when President Obama was conciliatory again today. Which to me just looks like weakness.
I defended this man when Democrats said he was like President Carter – decent, smart but not an effective leader. “But look at his campaign! It’s brilliant!” I said. It was. But the pod people have taken over and turned him into Rodney King. “Can’t we all just get along?”
Well, no, you can’t get along with people whose stated objective is to reduce the Federal Government to a size that can be drowned in a bathtub. They hate the New Deal and are still trying to kill it. They don’t give a flying rat’s ass for the American people, for old people, for poor people, the unemployed. They have no empathy. Let me say it again: THEY ARE SOCIOPATHS. Their sole concern is themselves and their power.
So the President’s behavior, while laudatory in a perfect world, is utterly inadequate to the task. The Republicans have drawn knives and the President is wielding a feather.
If the President is not willing to listen to his base and grow the needed spine, then maybe it’s time to step aside and let us have someone willing to fight for little people like us. Especially in the face of the tsunami of corporate money and the world of hate radio and Fox with their lies and propaganda, drumming their destructive messages 24/7, we need a champion, a leader, someone with guts to stand up for us and against the bullies.
Maybe being a one-term president is the answer. Democrats need someone like Howard Dean or Bernie Sanders or Sherrod Brown or Dennis Kucinich. A fighter. A leader. This isn’t a debate club. We are in the fight of our very lives.
The sociopaths in the Right Wing regrouped after their 2008 thumping, stuck together (you gotta give them that!) and made their intentions plain. Jim DeMint(R-SC) announced early on that the GOP planned to make health care reform Obama’s “Waterloo.”
Mitch McConnell stated baldly before the election that their number one goal is to make Obama a one term president.
And newly minted Speaker Boehner pronounced their total rejection of any compromise whatsoever. The Republicans will play ball with Obama but only if they can make all the rules and Obama ties his hands behind his back.
Yesterday’s results were really rather predictable given the polls earlier in the year. The public option was wildly popular and many progressives fought very hard for its inclusion in the weak tea that the health reform bill became. When it was clear that the White House had sold reform down the river from the get-go by making a behind-closed-doors deal with the insurance cartel and Big Pharma, many in the base – like me – became very demoralized.
The Democrats had taken all their political capital and squandered it on a weak bill with some good things in it but which also contained the extremely disliked mandate. So the Federal Government was forcing people to buy health insurance from the bastards who were ripping the public off and dropping them from the rolls. A public option would have been the spoonful of sugar to make the mandate go down. But instead, the White House, perhaps in a misguided effort to court Republican support, sacrificed the base.
I was one of the dispirited many who felt very let down, betrayed even. Despite that, I contributed what I could to ActBlue and made phone calls for Harry Reid, Alan Grayson and Joe Sestak. And of course, I voted for Democrats. I would never not vote.
Last night was more than disappointing to me. I felt it was predictable given what a cup of weak tea we’ve been served by the administration. And it’s not just HCR. It’s their support of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the war in Afghanistan, the fact that Guantanamo is still open and Obama’s people are continuing some of the worst offenses of the Bush Regime.
So I guess the whupp-ass the Right Wing delivered yesterday shouldn’t have been shocking. And given how the White House continues to act as if the Republicans are normal people who can be negotiated with instead of the toxic sociopaths they are, I wasn’t surprised when President Obama was conciliatory again today. Which to me just looks like weakness.
I defended this man when Democrats said he was like President Carter – decent, smart but not an effective leader. “But look at his campaign! It’s brilliant!” I said. It was. But the pod people have taken over and turned him into Rodney King. “Can’t we all just get along?”
Well, no, you can’t get along with people whose stated objective is to reduce the Federal Government to a size that can be drowned in a bathtub. They hate the New Deal and are still trying to kill it. They don’t give a flying rat’s ass for the American people, for old people, for poor people, the unemployed. They have no empathy. Let me say it again: THEY ARE SOCIOPATHS. Their sole concern is themselves and their power.
So the President’s behavior, while laudatory in a perfect world, is utterly inadequate to the task. The Republicans have drawn knives and the President is wielding a feather.
If the President is not willing to listen to his base and grow the needed spine, then maybe it’s time to step aside and let us have someone willing to fight for little people like us. Especially in the face of the tsunami of corporate money and the world of hate radio and Fox with their lies and propaganda, drumming their destructive messages 24/7, we need a champion, a leader, someone with guts to stand up for us and against the bullies.
Maybe being a one-term president is the answer. Democrats need someone like Howard Dean or Bernie Sanders or Sherrod Brown or Dennis Kucinich. A fighter. A leader. This isn’t a debate club. We are in the fight of our very lives.
Friday, October 29
THE MOUSE FIESTA ROLLS ON
One of the worst things about enduring a mouse infestation is that one continually finds more places they’ve invaded. So it’s a like a long-playing horror movie and I’m stuck in the theater.
Just now I pulled out the big plastic accordion folder in which I keep my recipes only to find that the little buggers have been inside it, turning the edges scalloped! (See the photo.)
I always thought they were looking for food, not paper with pictures of food! Do mice eat paper? Well, I just Googled that question and it turns out, yes, they will chew paper. One site claimed that mice have no bones. What? I know they can get through narrow spaces but no bones? Absurd!
I cleaned out the plastic folder and put several nice big sturdy rubber bands around it to make it at least difficult for them to access.
No more kibble left out for my dog to nibble at will. I had to put away the open cookie jar in which I kept his little treats. Those are now under tight lids, which is not as convenient but necessary. I had been shocked to see that the mice had climbed up onto the microwave perched on top of the fridge to get to the treat jar. That buffet is gone.
Anything that might be something for them to eat has to be sealed behind glass or heavy plastic to keep them out.
I got the super to stuff steel wool into any crack or crevice. And believe me, a building more than a hundred years old has a lot of cracks and crevices! I had a mouse super highway along one whole wall of exposed brick and broken baseboard. Had that taken out and steel wool stuffed down in the enormous –by mouse standards- space, followed by foam to cement it in. But even that wasn’t enough.
And they’re brazen! They have scuttled across the floor right in front of me in broad daylight. My dog is useless in the battle. Perhaps there’s more Chihuahua and a lot less terrier in him. Terriers are tremendous ratters. I never heard that said about a Chihuahua!
Just now I pulled out the big plastic accordion folder in which I keep my recipes only to find that the little buggers have been inside it, turning the edges scalloped! (See the photo.)
I always thought they were looking for food, not paper with pictures of food! Do mice eat paper? Well, I just Googled that question and it turns out, yes, they will chew paper. One site claimed that mice have no bones. What? I know they can get through narrow spaces but no bones? Absurd!
I cleaned out the plastic folder and put several nice big sturdy rubber bands around it to make it at least difficult for them to access.
No more kibble left out for my dog to nibble at will. I had to put away the open cookie jar in which I kept his little treats. Those are now under tight lids, which is not as convenient but necessary. I had been shocked to see that the mice had climbed up onto the microwave perched on top of the fridge to get to the treat jar. That buffet is gone.
Anything that might be something for them to eat has to be sealed behind glass or heavy plastic to keep them out.
I got the super to stuff steel wool into any crack or crevice. And believe me, a building more than a hundred years old has a lot of cracks and crevices! I had a mouse super highway along one whole wall of exposed brick and broken baseboard. Had that taken out and steel wool stuffed down in the enormous –by mouse standards- space, followed by foam to cement it in. But even that wasn’t enough.
And they’re brazen! They have scuttled across the floor right in front of me in broad daylight. My dog is useless in the battle. Perhaps there’s more Chihuahua and a lot less terrier in him. Terriers are tremendous ratters. I never heard that said about a Chihuahua!
Tuesday, October 26
DEMOCRATS AREN'T PERFECT BUT REPUBLICANS ARE EVIL
One week until the Midterm Elections and I am filled with hope that the American public isn’t as stupid as the Republicans think they are. And dread that they will put these sociopaths back in control.
The differences between the parties are stark.
Al Gore won the popular vote and the activists on the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush. The GOP claimed a mandate and Democrats were left with the sour feeling of fraudulence.
So did they filibuster everything? Did they obstruct, obstruct, obstruct? No. Some Dems, to their everlasting shame, voted for the Patriot Act, the Iran War and the Bush tax cuts, the centerpieces of the Bush agenda.
But after Barack Obama was actually elected with a real mandate during a time of greater peril for the nation since the 1930s, all the GOP has done is say no, no, and no. They have turned the Senate into a quagmire and made plain their sole agenda: Obama’s failure. They care NOTHING for the country and its people. Their only interest is self-interest and power.
President Obama tries to work with the Republicans. Republicans refuse to cooperate, even voting against things they previously proposed. Sen. Mitch McConnell has made their aim clear: Obama’s failure. That's all they care about. To hell with the nation.
The Republicans march in lock-step. Democrats squabble with each other. (See Rogers, Will.)
The Democrats elected not to impeach Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et alia for many high crimes and misdemeanors.
The Republicans chose to impeach President Clinton for lying about a blow job. If the loonies are given back the House, do you have a single doubt that they will impeach President Obama for being black and having a Kenyan father?
Democrats use facts and logic to make their arguments. Republicans lie and employ fear while scapegoating blacks, Muslims, Mexicans and gays.
Democrats believe in good government. Republicans believe all government is bad. Elect them and they prove it.
Democrats aren’t perfect. But Republicans are evil.
The differences between the parties are stark.
Al Gore won the popular vote and the activists on the Supreme Court appointed George W. Bush. The GOP claimed a mandate and Democrats were left with the sour feeling of fraudulence.
So did they filibuster everything? Did they obstruct, obstruct, obstruct? No. Some Dems, to their everlasting shame, voted for the Patriot Act, the Iran War and the Bush tax cuts, the centerpieces of the Bush agenda.
But after Barack Obama was actually elected with a real mandate during a time of greater peril for the nation since the 1930s, all the GOP has done is say no, no, and no. They have turned the Senate into a quagmire and made plain their sole agenda: Obama’s failure. They care NOTHING for the country and its people. Their only interest is self-interest and power.
President Obama tries to work with the Republicans. Republicans refuse to cooperate, even voting against things they previously proposed. Sen. Mitch McConnell has made their aim clear: Obama’s failure. That's all they care about. To hell with the nation.
The Republicans march in lock-step. Democrats squabble with each other. (See Rogers, Will.)
The Democrats elected not to impeach Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et alia for many high crimes and misdemeanors.
The Republicans chose to impeach President Clinton for lying about a blow job. If the loonies are given back the House, do you have a single doubt that they will impeach President Obama for being black and having a Kenyan father?
Democrats use facts and logic to make their arguments. Republicans lie and employ fear while scapegoating blacks, Muslims, Mexicans and gays.
Democrats believe in good government. Republicans believe all government is bad. Elect them and they prove it.
Democrats aren’t perfect. But Republicans are evil.
Sunday, October 24
SEMI-TRIUMPH IN TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK AT 20th ANNUAL HALLOWEEN DOG COSTUME PARADE
A bright beautiful fall day was the perfect background for yesterday's Tompkins Square annual dog bash. Hundreds of costumed dogs (some seen here) and thousands of observers with cameras descended on the East Village for the annual merriment.Lynne made an incredible, gorgeous Vegas showgirl get up for Gidget who does indeed love dressing up. And at long last I got to show off Macaroon's butter suit. Some people asked where I found a butter suit. (Answer: "In my sewing machine." Nah. I didn't really say that. But I would say I made it.) But funniest were all the photographers trying to get Macaroon's attention by calling "Butter! Butter!" at him. As if he answers to the word "butter." LOL!
This year's parade was run differently from last year's. The arena was larger and so was the panel of judges. I wasn't optimistic after running the gantlet of those deciding. One judge wrote down Macaroon's name without mentioning the costume. He also didn't want Macaroon's looks of love which were so effective in bringing off the win last year.
This year's parade was run differently from last year's. The arena was larger and so was the panel of judges. I wasn't optimistic after running the gantlet of those deciding. One judge wrote down Macaroon's name without mentioning the costume. He also didn't want Macaroon's looks of love which were so effective in bringing off the win last year.
But to my surprise, when third place (out of ten) was named, "butter" had brought home the bacon (groomings for the two of us, mine being a $100 hair cut in the East Village. Kewl.) We beat Lady Gaga in blue wig and meat dress, and were bested by "Breakfast at Tiffany's" which was a terrier in a Tiffany box topped with breakfast, very clever. But strangely, we were all beaten by "Shorty the Shortstop" which consisted of three women and pooch in pinstripes and handwritten signs, possibly thrown together yesterday morning. Seriously. That beat lots of really clever costumes, including, sad to say, Lynne's fabulous Vegas showgirl. That was the biggest outrage. I think the judges, like many of the bystanders, did not appreciate that Lynne MADE that wonderful, witty costume and so it was unjustly overlooked. The only cloud in a very sunny day. Lynne's a great sport and will survive but I was sorry that yesterday wasn't like the fun of last year when we both won the same prize.
Onward and upward! Yesterday Tompkins Square, today Carl Schurz!!! Maybe Lynne will get her due there with a new set of judges.
Monday, October 4
I AM SO BAD!!!!!!!
I could not resist these gorgeous new black/white and red prints which will refresh my supply of pieces to applique to my fan quilt blocks.
I have also organized the 224 blocks that I need and my goal is to create 112 black one and 112 white ones. I plan to alternate these. Organization is key to efficient quilt-making and not wasting fabric and time.
So now I know how many of the 3 white/2 black ones and 3 black/2 white ones I need. I will be making a second quilt using the same fabrics so I don't care how many little pieces I cut out. However, I am not sure of the foundation fabric I will be using for the second fan quilt. Hence the need to make only the number I need.
By the way, I think I won't be using the fabric in the top photo, second row, second fabric from the right. It's got a black background but the print is silver and I think it's distracting, so right now I don't think I will be using it.
Thursday, September 30
EUREKA!
Today it's an email from fabric.com with one of those seductive coupon offers. You know: 15% and free shipping for orders over $35. No harm in just taking a peek, is there? And son of a gun if I didn't find a whole bunch of black and white prints and some red ones, too! Funny how that goes. But not surprising when you consider how I spent time recently cutting out new black/white fans and red corners to replenish my supply. After all, I'm only half way through the 224 needed blocks! So soon, but not soon enough, a squishy package will be arriving!
And yesterday I had the most amazing (and rare) moment of brilliance. As I waited for my dentist to excavate, I calmly stitched one of my fan blocks. As usual, the thread kept catching on the pins which I have always found so annoying and time consuming. Suddenly it hit me: why not move the pins to the BACK of the fabric? Wow!! Has no one ever thought of this before? Am I the first? The only one? Photo above shows an old-fashioned one on the left, a modern, stream-lined one on the right.
Send my name to Oslo! I smell a Nobel! Isn't there a prize for applique?
Friday, September 24
HE'S A LUMBERJACK AND HE'S OKAY
This was the view from my window when I woke up this morning. Prominent is the ailanthus tree that's been growing higher year by year.
Here's another one. I call them weed trees. They were imported from China and thrive on pollution. No wonder they grow like weeds in New York City.
This is the dead ailanthus next to the one growing by my window. Today I realized that someone was back there with a chainsaw. I wasn't surprised that they were taking down the dead tree. What astonished me was that they were taking down the live tree too!
And here's the lumberjack taking down the tree section by section.
Amazing to watch!
So the two trees were both growing in the same backyard and a branch fell down from the dead one and the decision was made to remove them both.I'm not sorry to see my ailanthus go. I guess I won't see the cardinals so often. But then maybe the squirrels will stay off the fire escape and next year I can have petunias again.
Cutting down trees in such cramped quarters is very different from what lumberjacks do in the woods. And I was very interested to watch it. Will my neighbors on the floors below notice that something's not the way it was this morning? Will they realize the tree is gone?
Thursday, September 23
Wednesday, September 22
OY VEY!!!
If someone says that painting red acrylic onto white organza is easy, I want to smack that person upside the head. It's not!! It's incredibly hard. Even with pencil to guide me. Even with the two new paintbrushes I bought this morning. One is a flat ended one 2 cm wide, same as the letters in BUTTER. The other was the finest tipped brush they had. I used that fine one for the small lettering and the flat one for the BUTTER. As you can see it's a mess! And that's mostly from the bleed through of the paint to the paper towel below then getting back up onto the fabric.I dug a slightly bigger brush out of my supply and was far more successful with another try on the other side. I may wind up actually getting good at this by the end of the words I have to create.
So here's the good news: I have another piece of organza and I could possibly take what I've learned from this trial run and do a polished version. AND I have discovered that I can undo the mistakes with a moistened Qtip.
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