Cool Saturday sounds.

Steve Goodman (w/Jethro Burns): “The Dutchman.”
This is not my favorite arrangement of this, my all-time favorite Steve Goodman song, but it is the only one left on YouTube, after someone got done scrubbing that site of most of the Steve Goodman material that used to be there.  It does show off [...]

Good news.

Mayor who sent watermelon e-mail says he’ll resign
LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. (AP) February 27 - The mayor of a small Southern California city says he will resign after being criticized for sharing an e-mail picture depicting the White House lawn planted with watermelons under the title, “No Easter egg hunt this year.”
Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose issued [...]

Friday peace blogging.

Liberata and

littlebangtheory.

What we’re up against. Again.

Los Alamitos, CA (AP) February 25 – The mayor of Los Alamitos is coming under fire for an e-mail he sent out that depicts the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.”

Local businesswoman and city volunteer Keyanus Price, who is black, said Tuesday she received the e-mail [...]

The war at home, v. 19.

Mother of pregnant woman killed in W. Pennsylvania says 11-year-old previously threatened to harm her
PITTSBURGH (AP) February 24 – An 11-year-old boy accused of killing his father’s pregnant fiance had been threatening the woman for at least two months, the woman’s mother said Tuesday.
Debbie Houk said Jordan Brown often gave 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk a [...]

Don’t mourn…

ORGANIZE!
Many Employers Are Just Using the Recession To Stick It To Workers
by David Lindorff
(CommonDreams) February 19 – Whatever the truth is about where this economy is heading, one thing is clear: employers are taking every opportunity to slash employment and, if they are unionized, to hammer unions for pay cuts, even when there is no [...]

Yeah, exactly.

(c/o Truthdig)

Book-related meme.

Lisa tagged any blogger whose blogging name ends with an “r” or a silent “e,” so I guess that means me.
The rules:

Grab the nearest book – no matter what it is. Textbook, novel, pop-up book, building code study guide, whatever.
Turn to page 25.
Read the tenth word on that page, or the following if that one [...]

Poem.

Does It Matter?
Does it matter? – losing your legs?
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.
Does it matter? – losing you sight?
There’s such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning [...]

Saturday with Siouxsie (and the Banshees).

Siouxsie & The Banshees: “Kiss Them For Me.”

Friday (Afghan) baby blogging.

(Photos: Reuters, AFP)

Still curious after all these years…

Things about which I am wondering…*
- Why is it fair for J.C. Romero of the Philadelphia Phillies to receive a 50 game suspension  for using a legal nutritional substance (meaning he purchased it over-the-counter, and not in some dark, dingy gym locker room) that was not labeled as containing any substances banned by Major League [...]

Call this what it is:

RACIST.
It’s that simple.
(More here.  And here.)
UPDATED: Sign the petition here.
UPDATE on the Update: They’ve apologized.  Sort of.

Where empires go to die.

So much for the prospects for a scaling back of the so-called “war on terror”…
Officials: Obama OK’s more Afghanistan troops

WASHINGTON (AP) February 17 – Defense and congressional officials say President Barack Obama has approved an increase in U.S. forces for the flagging war in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is expected to announce on Tuesday or [...]

Today’s outrage from Darfur: 2/17/09.

Remember Darfur?  Time to start remembering it here, again.
Darfur war crimes indictment threatens to split international community
(The Guardian) February 16 – Britain, France and the US are up against a united front of African and Muslim countries, backed by China and Russia, over the imminent indictment of Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes and [...]

“Schools Take the Back Seat Again.”

Again.  As per usual.
by Derrick Z. Jackson

(Boston Globe) February 14 – Eight years ago, President Bush entered office with some bipartisan credibility on education, rightfully proclaiming that schoolchildren suffer from the soft bigotry of low expectations. He and the Republicans quickly discredited themselves with low federal funding for reform. So long was Washington anesthetized that [...]

Footprints, v. 2.0.

One night, a man had a dream.  
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with God.
(It might have been a beach in the Virgin Islands or Bermuda, but more than likely, it was at the Jersey shore.   We’ll go with that.)
Across the sky flashed the scenes that made up the man’s life. For [...]

Another f/Friend lost.

Pardon me if I sound like I’ve been punched in the stomach.  Yesterday was a rough day.
After a two-week absence, I went to Meeting yesterday, arriving much earlier than usual to help set up for our monthly covered dish, which was to be accompanied by the annual book sale sponsored by the Meeting’s library committee, [...]

Poem for Valentine’s Day.

I Am Offering This Poem
I am offering this poem to you,
since I have nothing else to give.
Keep it like a warm coat,
when winter comes to cover you,
or like a pair of thick socks
the cold cannot bite through,
I love you,
I have nothing else to give you,
so it is a pot full of yellow corn
to warm your [...]

Valentine song.

For my sweetie.

Peter Gabriel & Friends:  “In Your Eyes.”
Great band, too, huh?