A shrubbery!

Want some shrubbery? We're hoping to find these a new home.

Priceless: John McCain vs John McCain

It's been so long since McCain knew where he stood on the issues, that he's forgotten how. Oh, silly me- he didn't forget; he just never knew.

John McCain loves him some lobbyists!

If this were ancient Rome, we'd be celebrating the New Year.

Frederic Chopin was born on this day in 1810. Glenn Miller followed 96 years later, and Harry Belafonte followed them in 1927.

In 1431, Joan of Arc announced that an angel had told her that within seven years the English would lose 'a bigger prize than Orleans.' Six years and eight months later they lost Paris.

Armbands are next

Not my photo.

18

When the great Tao is forgotten,
goodness and piety appear.

When the body's intelligence declines,
cleverness and knowledge step forth.

When there is no peace in the family,
filial piety begins.

When the country falls into chaos,
patriotism is born.

Plantations

More splashing from sunday's hike.

The logical result of prisons-for-profit. I guarantee you this: Prisons-for-profit have lobbyists in Washington. They lobby Congressmen for harsher sentencing guidelines and laws, which put more people in prison for longer, thus increasing the profitability of their industry.

As a result, the US has the highest incarceration rate, per capita, in the world.

It's encouraging that this is now finally making headlines, but the fact remains that prisons are still run for profit, and that The Industry keeps lobbyists in our legislatures in order to maintain and increase their hold on their plantations (there, I said it).


Gioacchino Rossini was born on this day, in 1792.

Dord

More from Sunday's hike. I think this is the Wahkeena creek, the first leg of the hike. Waterfalls are surprisingly difficult to shoot. The water itself tends to be bright, while the surroundings tend to be dark; capturing the movement requires slow shutter speeds, which let in a lot of light, which can make the water too bright, etc, but a faster shutter won't show the movement. Always an interesting challenge.

In 1939, the word “dord” was discovered in Webster’s New International Dictionary, prompting an investigation which found it to have resulted from a series of misreadings of editors instructions.

Robot news: Scary and not as scary.

International Bright Young Thing

There used to be a bridge here- we saw the remains of it last year, but even those are gone now. This is Phil and Mark making a crossing on Sunday's hike.

Happy International Polar Bear Day!

Did a large procession wave their torches as my head fell in the basket?

Sunday on the trail. This is Fairy Falls, a small-ish one on the Wahkeena creek, and admittedly not a very good shot of it. You should be able to see more rocks in the water- the water cascades down little staircases, it's very pretty, but the shots that captured the details in the water did not capture the scale of the thing, so I posted the one with people in it. I did a painting of this waterfall before, but it refuses to be photographed. I don't make a habit of painting, but it was a little like taking a poop, somehow: I don't feel like I had a choice. It was fun I guess, but not my thing.

Seriously, it flatly refuses to be photographed. I've tried it in all sorts of light, all sorts of camera settings, and I just can not capture the colors. I used a lot of purples and blues, and the result is apparently a combination of "too dark" and "too shiny" for a good picture. Not that I'm comparing myself to Rembrandt (!!), but if you've ever been able to compare his originals to photographs of them, you might get the idea. The subtleties of his darks just don't come through in photos.

Anyway, the trail we hiked on Sunday is probably my favorite Gorge hike. It's about 5 miles, maybe a little more, and the first part is a long climb up lots of switchbacks, but it's so worth the trouble. You climb up the Wahkeena creek basin, hike a little near the top of the Gorge, and then come down along the Multnomah creek basin, stopping if you want at the top of incredibly beautiful and tall Multnomah Falls. It's a great waterfall hike- one around practically every corner. Breathtaking. There is nothing quite like being surprised at finding yourself at the top of a very tall waterfall.

In 1919, Congress established Grand Canyon and Lafayette (now Acadia) National Parks.

Then in 1932, Johnny Cash was born.

In 1935, radar was first demonstrated.

And in 1986 Gwen Wilson, 47-year-old mother of four, went to the bathroom after returning from shopping and doubled up with pain on the floor. Suddenly she gave birth to a 5lb 6oz girl. This was the second time she had not realized she was pregnant. 'I just thought I was overweight both times,' she said. By coincidence, husband Howard was downstairs telling the other children about the unexpected arrival of their sister Helen 11 years previously, when they heard their mother scream upstairs. Then she called down: 'I've done it again!' (thanks to Fortean Times for that bit o' news).

Ralph.

Ralph has every right to run for president, just like any other natural-born citizen who has not been convicted of a felony. Go for it.

I actually have a certain amount of respect for Ralph, for his very helpful work as a consumer advocate. Thanks, Ralph. You should have kept that up.

But here and now, he's a tool. As I see it, he is either running independently, as a spoiler, or is running as a paid spoiler, to dampen Democratic chances of winning in November, or at least to confuse the facts of that election to such a degree that Rove-ian agents and their activities might go undetected.

Mark my words.

He wants to be president about as much as Grampa Thompson did. He's just in it for the payoff.

I have to wonder at his timing, though. Was this an attempt, for some reason, to get Don Siegelman off the front page?

How connected is Ralph to the Rove machine, anyway? I'm just askin.'

you say it's (George's) birthday

Went hiking yesterday in the Gorge.

Fucking Ralph Nader. Running for president, again. No, I'm not linking to his site; I don't want to give him any support. Why should I -or any American, for that matter-- support a guy who only wants to play if he can be in charge? How about paying your dues, Ralph? Weren't you an investigator or something at some point, before you got all caught up in yourself? Ever thought about running for a less-significant public office? Perhaps one for which you might be slightly qualified, like building inspector or something?

You're no politician, Ralph; you're a joke. Get bent.

George Harrison was born on this day in 1943. Happy birthday to you!

Let us focus on the crocus

I would have posted pictures of the crocuses that are blooming in the yard, but between the time when I first saw them yesterday morning, and now, I forgot to get a picture. So instead, you get a sunrise.

Some significant stuff going on in the news these days:

Kosovo had a big week. In terms of American politics, imagine Texas declaring its independence, and then having Mexico be the first nation to officially recognize it. Snap! Serbia has claimed that territory for centuries, and Serbs are not known for their willingness to give up, so I don't expect that conflict to simmer down any time soon. But that's only half the problem: the other half will raise its ugly head in a few years, just like Iraq and Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and Indonesia, and the Philippines...

Maybe you've heard something about ex-Alabama Governor Don Siegelman? He's the Democratic governor who fell afowl of Karl Rove and our utterly corrupt Justice Department when he tried to complain about their stealing his election. This is a twisted tale, difficult to follow, and that, my friends, is by design. You are not meant to follow this story. They want you to become confused by all the blame-passing, to the point at which you no longer care, or can even follow the Bouncing Ball of Blame. The GOP counts on you losing interest and turning the channel back to American Idol. Don't do it. First they came for the Democrats, but I didn't stop them, because I wasn't political...

I will even go so far as to say that I think this is a test case for the upcoming election. Four more years!? You just wait.

Who needs democracy, anyway? Read what some Russians have to say about us, our system, and our proselytizing. Fascinating.

Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us

And finally (and I mean, finally!), could this spell the beginning of the end of the New Gilded Age? Or am I getting my hopes up again? I love the way the article starts: "The wealthy have got away with financial crimes for so long they no longer regard them as crimes." Heh.