Poem of the Day

Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda


I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Happy Birthday

Pablo Neruda
Poet

In English, his words light up our hearts. In Spanish, they set fire to the page.

DOUBLE SUPER SECRET BACKGROUND

from the always brilliant Heretik:

DOUBLE SUPER SECRET BACKGROUND
Time Reporter MATT COOPER Sounds Like a Pledge at the Stupid White House Fraternity in the latest revelations in the VALERIE PLAME affair. Young Matt Cooper wants to make the grade on his journalism class at the Cool College and he has a real just terrif tale to tell about terror and this hot coed married to some kid named WILSON, but Matt Cooper wants to be part of the White House Fraternity first and foremost so he can still go to all the White House Press Briefings frat parties. What a strange initiation and entry we have into how the Animal White House works. NEWSWEEK has more in its latest issue.

"Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation ..." Cooper proceeded to spell out some guidance on a story that was beginning to roil Washington. He finished, "please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]" . . . . "I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name," Rove told CNN last year . . . . Cooper wrote that Rove offered him a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Rove told Cooper that Wilson's trip had not been authorized by "DCIA"—CIA Director George Tenet—or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rather, "it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip."[NEWSWEEK]

Did the Frat Boy President George Bush know about what the BOY GENIUS Pledge Master Rove was doing? And does he care? Why doesn’t the Frat Boy President care about what happened to that undercover sorority sister Valerie Plame?

SOME MORE NOTES: DOUBLE SUPER SECRET BACKGROUND? Don't source to Rove or even White House? Got a big warning? Matt Miller sounds like he wanted to tell a story, but more than that he did exactly as he was told to do. This is what passes for journalism today. Spoke to Rove for about two minutes? Rove works quite efficiently when he turns someone's life upside down. Rove may have that same feeling himself soon enough. (more)

Poem of the Day

Metric Figure by William Carlos Williams

There is a bird in the poplars!
It is the sun!
The leaves are little yellow fish
swimming in the river.
The bird skims above them,
day is on his wings.
Phoebus!
It is he that is making
the great gleam among the poplars!
It is his singing
outshines the noise
of leaves clashing in the wind.

Happy Birthday

E.B. White

July 11, 1889- October 1, 1985

Creator of my little brother Stuart and of my beloved Charlotte
Poet, editor, humorist, and my favorite essayist
I live for the day that something I write is called a pale imitation of E.B. White. That would be high praise indeed!

"One man's Mede is another man's Persian"

Liberals in Klan robes

comment from --handdrummer--
Chris Clarke, who gets my vote as the most articulate writer in the blogosphere, absolutely nails the underlying absurdity/racism/hypocracy in the prevailing attitude that calls on all Muslims everywhere to grovel in apology after an attack by their religion's versions of Randolph Terry, Tim McVeigh, and Eric Rudolph. Be sure to read the comments as well.


from Chris Clarke at Creek Running North:

The truly heinous thing, of course, is the horrendous loss of life taken by terrorists of any stripe, whether they're backpack-bomb-carrying teenagers or bomber pilots in billion-dollar planes.

But there's a subsidiary annoyance that gnaws at me increasingly: the demand when a bomb goes off - unless it's one of ours - that all Muslims drop whatever they're doing and condemn violence by Islamic extremists.

Are you white? Or male? Raise your hand if you've formally condemned the actions of Eric Rudolph. I know I haven't gotten around to it, and Rudolph's actions disgust me to the point that I'd find it hard to turn down an offer to compact his septum with a coal shovel. I have lived with Becky for 16 years, and she's Asian, and yet I haven't once heard her formally denounce Aum Shinrikyo's 1995 poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway.

We have been granted the courtesy, by society at large, of the assumption that we abhor acts of mass murder.

But mainstream liberals and racist reactionaries alike have no problem demanding ritualistic condemnations and apologies from Muslims when an extremist splinter of that massive, mindbogglingly diverse religion commits mass murder. And I have to say I expect it from the reactionaries. But I'm naive enough to be stunned when people who claim to be liberals trot out arguments that closely parallel demands for black obeisance issued by the likes of the White Citizens Councils.

And when such people - like the truly execrable "Jen," whose rantings are displayed in the first of those links above - are presented with evidence that prominent Muslim clerics have in fact denounced the murders, and floridly, that somehow isn't enough. The Jens of the world want Muslims to fine-tune their public statements painstakingly, carefully watching to see if they are being obsequious enough. "Dance, Muslim monkeys, dance! The purpose of your public life is to satisfy my desires!"(more)

A Favorite Place

The National Aviary, Pittsburgh

Those who know me well might be surprised that I would have anything bird related as a favorite place. I have been intensely phobic of birds ever since an incident at age 4 involving me, a bucket of feed and 30 or so VERY hungry chickens. Let's just say, you shouldn't throw the feed on your feet, OK? Especially when you're not much taller than the hens to begin with. My grandfather heard my cries of terror and rescued me.

So you might expect that my fondness for the Aviary has to do with something other than the fact that much of the exhibit is a free fly zone for the birds kept there. You would be right.

I was quite ill during 8th grade and missed many school days. The authorities, fearing for my education I suppose, determined that I be sent to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh for tests and evaluation. So I was loaded on a bus in Clarion and sent off to my testing at the hospital.

My Father was taking some classes at one of the Pittsburgh universities to qualify for a promotion with the union he worked for. And since the roads in the early 60's left a lot to be desired, he was staying in a rooming house in Pittsburgh rather than making the 3+ hour drive each day. I was not exactly what you would call well travelled at that point in my life and at 8am I arrived in Pittsburgh a total nervous wreck, absolutely convinced my Father didn't know I was coming and that I would be trapped in the bus station.

There I was, far away from home, a semi-hysterical kid, scared out of my mind by the crowds of the city and determined in my belief that the doctors in the hospital were going to find out that I was near death.

Of course my Father was late. By the time he arrived, I was cowering in a corner, barely coherent.

He gently calmed me down and took me to the hospital where I spent the rest of the morning in painful and humiliating testing. After having lunch in the hospital caffeteria, we were rather gruffly told by the doctors that I would live. They gave me a huge bag of meds and sent us off.

My Dad then took me on a tour of Pittsburgh. We went to the Cathedral of Learning. We visited Forbes Field, home of my beloved Pirates. We had dinner in a real diner and then walked across a beautiful bridge to the Northside neighborhood where his rooming house was. He knew I loved science and had purchased tickets for the late show at Buhl Planetarium, just a block or so from where he was staying.

Since we had several hours until the show started and there wasn't really a place for us in the shared room in the rooming house, we walked around a bit. My Dad spotted the Aviary and thought it would be a good place to spend the time. Now I was at that point even more terrified of birds than I am today. I didn't exactly go willingly, but he insisted that I would learn a great deal. And he put a lot of emphasis on learning.

So in we went. The public areas of the aviary were constructed in such a way that you followed a path that ran from the entrance to the exit. It was not a simple matter to reverse your trail. I was mostly ok with the smaller exhibits. The birds were caged and I didn't feel threatened by them. And he was right, the exhibits were interesting and I did learn a great deal. But when we entered the tropical free flight cage, I started to panic. About halfway across the big open space, a parrot flew between my Dad and me and I just froze. I was totally unable to move. I could barely even talk I was so frightened.

It took him a few moments to notice that I was having trouble. When he realized that there was a problem, he told me to close my eyes and that he would see me safely across the room. He then put his hand on my shoulder and led me quietly out of the room, never letting on to anyone else that I was in difficulty. He valued my pride enough to not make me visible.

Once outside the cage, we sat and talked until I calmed down a bit. We then continued on past the smaller cages toward the exit. In one of the last cages, there was a mynah bird named 'Groucho'. We stopped to look at him and I said to my Dad that yes, the feathers above his eyes did look like Groucho's eybrows. And my Father laughed. And the bird laughed back at him in exact mimicry of his laugh. My Dad laughed again. The bird laughed back. My Father started laughing uncontrollably. And the bird joined right in. Neither of them could stop because when they tried, the other would start and they'd be off again.

My Father was not what I would call much of a laughter kind of guy. Oh he smiled a lot and had a gentle sense of humor, but laughing out loud happened seldom for him. He always said that his Dad never laughed and seeing photographs of Granddad Ramsey's dour Scot's countenance, I truly believed it.

So seeing my Dad lost in uncontrolled laughter was a new experience for me. Soon, I was laughing so hard I had to sit down on the bench. The tears started flowing from my eyes and my sides ached at the effort of laughter. A small crowd gathered to watch the show. Soon they were all laughing too. And still my Dad and the bird laughed. After about 10 minutes. my Dad finally was able to stop.

As we were walking away, my Dad said "thanks" to the bird and Groucho said "thanks" back in my Dad's voice. My dad smiled and we left to go to the Planetarium.

Poem of the Day

Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)
Lyrics by Woody Guthrie
Music by Martin Hoffman

The crops are all in and the peaches are rotting
The oranges are piled in their cresote dumps
They're flying you back to the Mexico border
To pay all your money to wade back again

My father's own father, he wanted that river
They took all the money he made in his life
My brothers and sisters come working the fruit trees
And they rode the truck till they took down and died

CHORUS
Good-bye to my Juan, good-bye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maris
You won't have a name when you ride the big air-plane
And all they will call you will be deportees.

Some of us are illega, and others not wanted
Our work contract's out and we have to move on
But it's six hundred miles to that Mexican border
They chase us like outlaws, like rustlers, like theives.

We died in your hills, we died in your deserts
We died in your valleys and died on your plains
We died 'neath your trees and we died in your bushes
Both sides of the river, we died just the same.

CHORUS

A sky plane caught fire over Los Gatos canyon
Like a fireball of lightning, it shook all our hills
Who are all these friends, all scattered like dry leaves?
The radio says they are just deportees.

Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards?
Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit?
To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil
And be called by no name except deportees?

©1961 (renewed) & 1963 Ludlow Music Inc., New York,NY (TRO)

Happy Birthday

Arlo Guthrie (1947- )
Singer, Songwriter, Humorist, Humanitarian
"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant (exceptin' Alice)"

A Favorite Place

Ricketts Glen State Park

Happy Birthday

Nikola Tesla
Scientist, Inventor, Visionary

Poem of the Day

Over the Sea to Skye by Robert Louis Stevenson

Sing me a song of a lad that is gone,
Say, could that lad be I?
Merry of soul, he sailed on a day
Over the sea to Skye

Mull was astern, Rum was on port,
Eigg on the starboard bow.
Glory of youth glowed in his soul,
Where is that glory now?

Give me again all that was there,
Give me the sun that shone.
Give me the eyes, give me the soul,
Give me the lad that's gone.

Billow and breeze, islands and seas,
Mountains of rain and sun;
All that was good, all that was fair,
All that was me is gone.

A Favorite Place

Mallaig, Scotland looking out across the Strait of Sleat to the Isle of Skye

We Have Resolve Too

comment from --handdrummer--

These consecutive posts from one of my favorite blogs make a powerful point. Many thanks to them.

from dharma bums:



Sometimes there are too many things competing for our attention. Should we comment on the London bombings? No. Already there have been many voices--ours would only add to the cacophony. We didn't watch but five minutes of the news last night-- enough to see that it was non-stop human interest -- bloodied bodies emerging from tunnels and buses. Just in case you forgot what horror looks like. In case you forgot that news is not news, but repetitive viewings of carnage and violence. Are you afraid yet? Maybe they could run that video just one more time.
So, we turned on the food channel and watched Emeril make delicious-looking Italian breads. One recipe produced two flat breads: one covered with carmelized onions, baby spinach, gorgonzola, and walnuts; one covered with fresh arugala, thinly sliced bresaola, shaved parmesan, and balsamic vinegar. We could do that. We could plan to make bread and not live in that fear.
What will the cost be for turning our attention from global warming, as the G8 summit is about to do? Why are we not afraid of that, the way we fear terrorists? Why do we not weep when we watch the degradation of our planet, while the world's important men sit somewhere with their chits deciding to whom the advantage belongs? The silent bombs tick away in our water, soil, and air.
The winds are fierce today, strong enough to blow down our lavatera. We staked it up and hope it has the strength to endure the storm that is coming. It does not appear to be afraid.

We have the resolve of renegades, such that we are:
The resolve to not live in fear.
The resolve to question our government.
The resolve to demand truth from the media.
The resolve to defend the environment.
The resolve to bake bread and freeze our garden peas.
The resolve to live our lives with compassion.

The Persistence of Plants

a small poppy

the entire plant is a scant 6 inches tall. elsewhere in our yard, in more favorable locations, there are poppy plants 4 feet tall.


the small, lonesome poppy in the midst of a sea of gravel. the picture shows an area about 6 feet on a side

A Favorite Place

Broadway, the greatest street in the world

Poem of the Day

Moccasin Flowers by Mary Oliver

All my life,
so far,
I have loved
more than one thing,

including the mossy hooves
of dreams, including'
the spongy litter
under the tall trees.

In spring
the moccasin flowers
reach for the crackling
lick of the sun

and burn down. Sometimes,
in the shadows,
I see the hazy eyes,
the lamb-lips

of oblivion,
its deep drowse,
and I can imagine a new nothing
in the universe,

the matted leaves splitting
open, revealing
the black planks
of the stairs.

But all my life--sofar--
I have loved best
how the flowers rise
and open, how

the pink lungs of their bodies
enter the fore of the world
and stand there shining
and willing--the one

thing they can do before
they shuffle forward
into the floor of darkness, they
become the trees.

Checklist

from agitprop:

The following excerpt was taken from the comments section at Today in Iraq. It was left by an anonymous comment-dropper:

VIETNAM 2 PREFLIGHT CHECK

Cabal of oldsters who won’t listen to outside advice? Check.
No understanding of ethnicities of the many locals? Check.
Imposing country boundaries drawn in Europe, not by the locals? Check.
Unshakable faith in our superior technology? Check.
France secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
Russia secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
China secretly hoping we fall on our asses? Check.
SecDef pushing a conflict the JCS never wanted? Check.
Fear we’ll look bad if we back down now? Check.
Corrupt Texan in the WH? Check.
Land war in Asia? Check.
Right unhappy with outcome of previous war? Check.
Enemy easily moves in/out of neighboring countries? Check.
Soldiers about to be dosed with *our own* chemicals? Check.
Friendly fire problem ignored instead of solved? Check.
Anti-Americanism up sharply in Europe? Check.
B-52 bombers? Check.
Helicopters that clog up on the local dust? Check.
In-fighting among the branches of the military? Check.
Locals that cheer us by day, hate us by night? Check.
Local experts ignored? Check.
Local politicians ignored? Check.
Locals used to conflicts lasting longer than the USA has been a country? Check.
Against advice, Prez won’t raise taxes to pay for war? Check.
Blue water navy ships operating in brown water? Check.
Use of nukes hinted at if things don’t go our way? Check.
Unpopular war? Check.

Vietnam 2, you are cleared to taxi.

. . .

I urge you to read the entire post on which this comment was left. It is a brilliant yet gruesome wrap-up of the events in Iraq during the past two years. Excellent work by Yankee Doodle, Friendly Fire and Matt from Today in Iraq.

Comments from --handdrummer --
Ahh, hell, when will I admit the truth that once again we're losing a war because those of us on the left don't ever clap hard enough for Tinkerbell?

Mr. Sensitivity Strikes Again

from Media Matters for America via DED space:

During Fox News' coverage of the July 7 London bombings, Washington managing editor Brit Hume told host Shepard Smith that his "first thought," when he "heard there had been this attack" and saw the low futures market, was "Hmmm, time to buy." Smith had asked Hume to comment on the lack of a negative U.S. stock market reaction to the London attacks.

From Fox News' July 7 breaking news coverage between 1 and 2 p.m. ET:

SMITH: Some of the things you might expect to happen, for instance, a drop in the stock market and some degree of uncertainty across this country -- none of that really seen today, and I wonder if the timing of it -- that it happened in the middle of the night and we were able to get a sense of the grander scheme of things -- wasn't helpful in all this.

HUME: Well, maybe. The other thing is, of course, people have -- you know, the market was down. It was down yesterday, and you know, you may have had some bargain-hunting going on. I mean, my first thought when I heard -- just on a personal basis, when I heard there had been this attack and I saw the futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought, "Hmmm, time to buy." Others may have thought that as well. But you never know about the markets. But obviously, if the markets had behaved badly, that would obviously add to people's sense of alarm about it. But there has been a lot of reassurance coming, particularly in the way that -- partly in the way the Brits handled all this, but also in the way that officials here handled it. There seems to be no great fear that something like that is going to happen here, although there's no indication that we here had any advance warning.

Comment from -- havana gila--
Once an ass always an ass. Unbelievable. And Faux News expects us to trust everything that comes out of his warbling piehole.

London

And so begins the blowback from our stupidity in Iraq.

Commentary from the blogosphere about the latest cowardly attack in London.:

from Billmon:
The cold blooded murder of Londoners is no more horrifying than the murder or New Yorkers or Madrilenos -- or Baghdadis. But today's target still has a special hold over my emotions. If your mother tongue is English, and you loved stories as much as I did as a child, then London is the city of your imagination, of Mary Poppins and David Copperfield, of London-bridge-is-falling-down and the prince and the pauper. And if you've been there, and visited the places you dreamed about as a boy, and ridden the tube to Picadilly Circus, and climbed the stairs of the Tower of London, and strolled through Hyde Park in the morning fog, then what happened today hurts more than maybe it should, logically. (more)
from Agitprop:

A Moment of Silence

For our friends across the pond . . .





from Alterdestiny:

London Thoughts

It's hard to say too much about the London bombings I guess. I have just a few quick thoughts:

1. There is a lot of evil in this world. To talk of these terrorists as anything but horrible horrible people is just offbase. To kill innocent civilians in their home countries is totally unacceptable and just insane. And then of course there's all the innocents that the US and Britain have killed in Iraq. I hear Bush talking this morning about the killing of innocents and I think, are you talking about London or yourself?(more)


from LiveJournal London:

London Incidents July 7, 2005

a rumor control live feed


from CBC News:


Toll rises to 37 dead, 700 injured in London blasts

Last Updated Thu, 07 Jul 2005 14:45:23 EDT

CBC News

London police are now confirming that at least 37 people were killed and 700 injured in a series of explosions that ripped through the city's transit system within minutes Thursday morning.

• INDEPTH: Blasts in London

The remnants of a bus that exploded near Tavistock Square, central London, Thursday, July 7. (AP photo).

Scores of people suffered serious or critical injuries such as burns, severed limbs, chest and head injuries from the three explosions that rocked the subway network.

Police said at least two people died from a fourth explosion on a packed double-decker bus. (more)

from Blogfonte:

An attack on one of us is an attack on us all.

Well, goddamnit. Sorry, London.



from Your Village:

Bush Uses London Bombing As Soapbox

In response to the horrible events in London this morning, Bush decided to wax ideological again:

They have such evil in their heart that they will take the lives of innocent folks. The war on terrorism is on!

I was most impressed with the resolve of all the leaders in the room. Their resolve is as strong as my resolve.

We will find them and bring them to justice. And at the same time we will spread an ideology of hope and compassion that will overwhelm their ideology of hate.

It makes me truly nauseous that US President Bush is using the London bombing as his self-supported soapbox to spew out his own political agenda. His narcissism at comparing the resolve of the world as "strong" as his rather than speaking for himself really underscores the political expediency in filling the swamp with terrorists. Bush is squandering this golden opportunity to unite with the world and is again drawing the line in sand.

From a political standpoint, especially at the G8 summit, this is political ingenuity at its best. From a moral and social standpoint, this is emotional manipulation for political gain at its very worst.



from dadahead:

Lessons

Kos says that the London bombings demonstrate the flaw in the so-called 'flypaper' strategy:

Bush's latest rationale for maintaining the course in Iraq adventure has been the "flypaper strategy" -- it's better to fight the terrorists over there than at home. Nevermind that the Iraqis never asked to have their country turned into a dangerous den of terrorism, insurgency, violence and death. For war supporters looking for an excuse, any excuse, to justify the continued disastrous American presence in Iraq, the flypaper rationale was as good as any.

Except that it's not working. The war isn't making the West any safer. In fact, it's creating a whole new class of terrorists. Today it was London. Next time it could easily be the United States. And waging the war in Iraq, rather than make us safer, is further motivating Islamic terrorists to strike at the West.

...There are consequences to the mess in Iraq. And today, we're seeing one of them. Unfortunately, it won't be the last.

Mike the Mad Biologist makes a similar point:

Last night, I was talking to someone who said, "When people say that Bush is doing a good job against terrorism, I want to hear specifically what he's actually done. What has he done other than give speeches?"

The London bombings make one realize just how morally degenerate the attitude of "fighting them over there, so they're not over here" really is. And if you think I'm being inappropriate by bringing up politics and policy, just wait until the Republicans sink their teeth into this. Turd Blossom will do anything at this point...

Is it inappropriate to bring up 'politics'? Maybe, but it also might be necessary. We are still suffering from the reluctance of Democrats (and the media) to ask hard questions in the wake of 9/11, thus allowing the Right to 'frame' the event - and the response to it - for all time. Basically, Dems foolishly assumed that their goodwill would be matched from the other side of the aisle, that the GOP wouldn't politicize 9/11 if they didn't. Wrong.

Of course, the impact of the London bombings won't be as severe as that of the attack on the WTC. So we don't need to go crazy worrying about the political fallout. But unfortunately, the Right has created an atmosphere where we cannot simply put politics aside.


UPDATE: See what I mean?

A Favorite Place

Cathedral Grove in Cook Forest State Park in western PA is about 10 miles from the farm I grew up on. It is a place of majesty and wonder. A most holy place.