Medicare Part D

For those who love war. . . .

OOAK Krypt Kiddies horror gothic goth reborn demon doll US $355.00


End time: 18 hours 15 mins (Apr-17-06 08:25:51 PDT)

place your bid now!

So, Campers, can you guess which picture the SCLM used when they wanted one to go with their "angry blogger" story?

Of *Course* you can, LOL!

Facedancer, shapeshifter
Soft speaker.
How do I touch you?
Where have you gone?

How new Medicare drug plans will provide you with high-quality, low cost drug coverage.*

*From the Medicare website.

Truth is they are about to quadruple my drug costs. Plus every plan I've looked at so far interferes with my doctor's decision about my medication. Can anyone say tier 2? Does anyone care to say Step Therapy?

Yesterday morning, about 4:30 I woke just as a miniature lightening bolt dashed across the front of my bedside radio (don't ask: I don't know how, or what, I just know what I saw). Followed immediately by the biggest thunder boom I've ever heard. The house shook and bucked. I got up, ran downstairs. Too late. The computer was already off. I went back to bed in the midst of a huge, loud and bright show, followed by some rain. Not even that much rain.

In the morning woke to find the computer was fine, but the modem was fried.

Today, I have a new modem, and new power strip with phone line surge protection (should have done it after the first modem got fried three years ago), and a wonderful computer geek/repairman in my virtual rolodex.

Life is good.

"They'd have to be crazy."

Then why this cold feeling in the pit of my stomach? Julian Borger, writing for the UK Guardian, has some added insight. "Vincent Cannistraro," writes Borger, "a former CIA counter-terrorism operations chief, said Mr. Bush had not yet made up his mind about the use of direct military action against Iran. 'There is a battle for Bush's soul over that,' he said, adding that Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser is adamantly opposed to a war. However, Mr. Cannistraro said covert military action, in the form of special forces troops identifying targets and aiding dissident groups, is already under way. 'It's been authorized, and it's going on to the extent that there is some lethality to it. Some people have been killed.'"

A battle for Bush's soul? Some people have been killed? It's a wild day here in Bizarro World when I find myself in total agreement with Karl Rove. It is the uncertainty in all this that makes the situation truly terrifying. No sane person would undertake an action so fraught with peril, but if we have learned anything in the last few years, it is that sanity takes a back seat in this administration's hayride.

I bought a coffee this morning at the excellent café‚ around the corner, which is run by a wonderful Iranian woman. I asked her point-blank what would happen in her home country if we did attack. She dismissed the possibility out of hand. "I read that Krugman article," she said, "but there's no way they would do this. They'd have to be crazy."

Indeed. Too bad that hasn't stopped them yet.

click title for the rest ~~

HERE

This is nice. . . .

And it's not just Mr. Bush's legacy that's at risk. Current polls suggest that the Democrats could take one or both houses of Congress this November, acquiring the ability to launch investigations backed by subpoena power. This could blow the lid off multiple Bush administration scandals. Political analysts openly suggest that an attack on Iran offers Mr. Bush a way to head off this danger, that an appropriately timed military strike could change the domestic political dynamics.

Report on spring's progress

Just back from the store. Am glad to report here that the creeping phlox is in full bloom. The redbud is just beginning to show purple. In my garden, the iris are about 4 inches, and the wild phlox all have full rosettes. The single rose I own is out about four feet, the daylilies are at about three inches, the there are beginnings of yarrow and forget-me-nots. The staghorn fern is up several inches, and the christmas fern is sporting all kinds of little fiddleheads.

And the blackberries need to be dealt with very soon. . . .

Well, I would have said a slow metabolism, but hey. . .

Your sin has been measured. You have committed many sins, but Sloth is the mortal sin that has done you in. Just below, discover your full sinful breakdown and learn what it is about you that codemns you to hell.

Greed:	Very Low
Gluttony:	Very Low
Wrath:	Very Low
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Low
Pride:	Very Low

Discover Your Sins - Click Here

For those worried about leaky borders, I would point out that it has been the responsibility of this administration. which has failed wholly and entirely to do anything at all about those leaky borders.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dragonballyee/sets/72057594103915813/



First, illegal aliens are not currently criminals. They have committed a misdemeanor civil offense under current law by entering or remaining in the United States once their visas expire, but the House-passed immigration bill would automatically make these offenses criminal felonies.

https://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/lindachavez/2006/04/05/192544.html

Those people who are convicted of misdemeanors are often punished with probation, community service or part-time imprisonment, served on the weekends.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misdemeanor

I'm not a lawyer, but isn't it against the rules to make an action illegal, or MORE illegal, after the fact?

I'd be less disturbed by all this if I wasn't seeing/hearing rhetoric directed at those whom the speaker has NO WAY of knowing if that person is "illegal" or not. Directed simply at those who look Hispanic, or sound Hispanic. e.g.: I was with a friend at a department store. We used the restrooms. Another couple of women were washing their hands, speaking Spanish to each other. My friend's rant after leaving? "I wish to hell they'd just go home! We don't need them!"

Hat tip to Maha and Atrios

A word from his mother

I requested yesterday that they test his AFP again. ( The cancer marker that should be from 0-15, but was 688,000 at diagnosis) They had tested it a few weeks ago and it had gone down to 6800. A 99% drop!! Miraculous! They told us then that it probably wouldn't make such a drastic drop again, and not to be dissappointed the next time. We got the results back tonight...and the new AFP is approximately 600. Really amazing!! I am cautiously optimistic. Hopefully they'll do more CT scans within the week. Wouldn't it be amazing if all the lung tumors were gone?

From an elderly Iraqi lady

I sat in amazement, watching this angry, frank debate…
He accused them, and they refused these accusations….
I knew the truth of America here, during this month…
People here are weak, submissive, their will taken from them…
They want the change, but do not know how, or else, they are yielding people, who lost hope in their ability to cause change. The decision in this country is in the hands of the wealthy, who own the money, the banks, and the giant companies, and of course- the Media, that controls the minds of simple people…
Even the election system is controlled by money; the Candidate needs millions of dollars for the election campaign, meaning- who would care for a Candidate of principals, humanity, justice, and peace, who shall take care of him, or finance his campaign?
But that who is ready to market the ideas of the rich class, the class that loves wars and investments, will find someone to spend millions on his campaign, will tell people all the nice promises and glamorous slogans. They will elect him, and when he gets to the chair, and sits in the position of decision- making, he will carry out the instructions of the major companies that financed his campaign, not the poor Americans who elected him…
And so, people would live in one realm, and the decision- maker, having abandoned them, would live in another…
This is the reality of things in America…

When I was one-and-twenty


WHEN I was one-and-twenty
I heard a wise man say,
‘Give crowns and pounds and guineas
But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies
But keep your fancy free.’
But I was one-and-twenty,
No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty
I heard him say again,
‘The heart out of the bosom
Was never given in vain;
’Tis paid with sighs a plenty
And sold for endless rue.’
And I am two-and-twenty,
And oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.

A. E. Housman

With rue my heart is laden


WITH rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
And many a lightfoot lad.

By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid;
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
In fields where roses fade.




A. E. Housman