Happy Birthday Grandson
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Publically Funded Elections
http://change-congress.org/ Please give this organization some consideration.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
HAPPY DAY AFTER BIRTHDAY BETH!
Belatedly, Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife and mother of my son -
We love you!
We love you!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Time for your codliver oil
Bernays said in his own book, Propaganda, 1928:
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country . . . we’re dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . it is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country . . . we’re dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . it is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Good things on 911
Happy Birthday Sue!
Australia and England's premier artist and our dear friend.
From the Sea
Sunday, September 6, 2009
from Bill Moyers Journal in case you missed it.
http://www.truthout.org/090609Z?n
So here we are, wallowing in our dysfunction. Governed — if you listen to the rabble rousers — by a black nationalist from Kenya smuggled into the United States to kill Sarah Palin's baby. And yes, I could almost buy their belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, only I think he shipped them to Washington, where they've been recycled as lobbyists and trained in the alchemy of money laundering, which turns an old-fashioned bribe into a First Amendment right.
Only in a fantasy capital like Washington could Sunday morning talk shows become the high church of conventional wisdom, with partisan shills treated as holy men whose gospel of prosperity always seems to boil down to lower taxes for the rich.
Poor Obama. He came to town preaching the religion of nice. But every time he bows politely, the harder the Republicans kick him.
No one's ever conquered Washington politics by constantly saying "pretty please" to the guys trying to cut your throat.
Let's get on with it, Mr. President. We're up the proverbial creek with spaghetti as our paddle. This health care thing could have been the crossing of the Delaware, the turning point in the next American Revolution — the moment we put the mercenaries to rout, as General Washington did the Hessians at Trenton. We could have stamped our victory "Made in the USA." We could have said to the world, "Look what we did!" And we could have turned to each other and said, "Thank you."
As it is, we're about to get health care reform that measures human beings only in corporate terms of a cost-benefit analysis. I mean this is topsy-turvy — we should be treating health as a condition, not a commodity.
As we speak, Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has been fined a record $2.3 billion dollars as a civil and criminal — yes, that's criminal, as in fraud — penalty for promoting prescription drugs with the subtlety of the Russian mafia. It's the fourth time in a decade Pfizer's been called on the carpet. And these are the people into whose tender mercies Congress and the White House would deliver us?
Come on, Mr. President. Show us America is more than a circus or a market. Remind us of our greatness as a democracy. When you speak to Congress next week, just come out and say it. We thought we heard you say during the campaign last year that you want a government run insurance plan alongside private insurance — mostly premium-based, with subsidies for low-and-moderate income people. Open to all individuals and employees who want to join and with everyone free to choose the doctors we want. We thought you said Uncle Sam would sign on as our tough, cost-minded negotiator standing up to the cartel of drug and insurance companies and Wall Street investors whose only interest is a company's share price and profits.
Here's a suggestion, Mr. President: ask Josh Marshall to draft your speech. Josh is the founder of the website talkingpointsmemo.com. He's a journalist and historian, not a politician. He doesn't split things down the middle and call it a victory for the masses. He's offered the simplest and most accurate description yet of a public insurance plan — one that essentially asks people: would you like the option — the voluntary option — of buying into Medicare before you're 65? Check it out, Mr. President.
This health care thing is make or break for your leadership, but for us, it's life and death. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. President. We need a fighter.
So here we are, wallowing in our dysfunction. Governed — if you listen to the rabble rousers — by a black nationalist from Kenya smuggled into the United States to kill Sarah Palin's baby. And yes, I could almost buy their belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, only I think he shipped them to Washington, where they've been recycled as lobbyists and trained in the alchemy of money laundering, which turns an old-fashioned bribe into a First Amendment right.
Only in a fantasy capital like Washington could Sunday morning talk shows become the high church of conventional wisdom, with partisan shills treated as holy men whose gospel of prosperity always seems to boil down to lower taxes for the rich.
Poor Obama. He came to town preaching the religion of nice. But every time he bows politely, the harder the Republicans kick him.
No one's ever conquered Washington politics by constantly saying "pretty please" to the guys trying to cut your throat.
Let's get on with it, Mr. President. We're up the proverbial creek with spaghetti as our paddle. This health care thing could have been the crossing of the Delaware, the turning point in the next American Revolution — the moment we put the mercenaries to rout, as General Washington did the Hessians at Trenton. We could have stamped our victory "Made in the USA." We could have said to the world, "Look what we did!" And we could have turned to each other and said, "Thank you."
As it is, we're about to get health care reform that measures human beings only in corporate terms of a cost-benefit analysis. I mean this is topsy-turvy — we should be treating health as a condition, not a commodity.
As we speak, Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has been fined a record $2.3 billion dollars as a civil and criminal — yes, that's criminal, as in fraud — penalty for promoting prescription drugs with the subtlety of the Russian mafia. It's the fourth time in a decade Pfizer's been called on the carpet. And these are the people into whose tender mercies Congress and the White House would deliver us?
Come on, Mr. President. Show us America is more than a circus or a market. Remind us of our greatness as a democracy. When you speak to Congress next week, just come out and say it. We thought we heard you say during the campaign last year that you want a government run insurance plan alongside private insurance — mostly premium-based, with subsidies for low-and-moderate income people. Open to all individuals and employees who want to join and with everyone free to choose the doctors we want. We thought you said Uncle Sam would sign on as our tough, cost-minded negotiator standing up to the cartel of drug and insurance companies and Wall Street investors whose only interest is a company's share price and profits.
Here's a suggestion, Mr. President: ask Josh Marshall to draft your speech. Josh is the founder of the website talkingpointsmemo.com. He's a journalist and historian, not a politician. He doesn't split things down the middle and call it a victory for the masses. He's offered the simplest and most accurate description yet of a public insurance plan — one that essentially asks people: would you like the option — the voluntary option — of buying into Medicare before you're 65? Check it out, Mr. President.
This health care thing is make or break for your leadership, but for us, it's life and death. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. President. We need a fighter.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Off to the University and Debord
22
The fact that the practical power of modern society has detached itself from that society and established an independent realm in the spectacle can be explained only by the additional fact that that powerful practice continued to lack cohesion and had remained in contradiction with itself.
The fact that the practical power of modern society has detached itself from that society and established an independent realm in the spectacle can be explained only by the additional fact that that powerful practice continued to lack cohesion and had remained in contradiction with itself.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Lorna plays the banjo in Tuscon
Lorna Stowe (Mc Farland) Wells aka Banjo Wells
http://www.banjomafia.com/view-user-profile.html?user=81
http://www.banjomafia.com/view-user-profile.html?user=81
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
sign of the times
The 50 or so Jersey cows on the Ranney Farm are for sale and, after more than 200 years, the family has decided to get out of the dairy business.
The Ranney family has been working the land in Westminster West since 1796 and Philip Ranney is the seventh generation to try to support a family off the farm's high, rocky fields.
The Ranney family has been working the land in Westminster West since 1796 and Philip Ranney is the seventh generation to try to support a family off the farm's high, rocky fields.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Nature pics by Beth
Here are some cute little birds roosting in the weave room, getting ready for their first flight.
At right we see a bee swarm - an amazing sight that could be heard from our house...
Finally, some bountiful peas planted by Peggy - go get 'em folks - we'll get more if they are picked.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Dam it we missed his birthday again!
Gaston Bachelard b. June 27, 1884And Debord by the drop 21
As long as necessity is socially dreamed, dreaming will remain a social necessity. The spectacle is the bad dream of a modern society in chains and ultimately expresses nothing more than its wish for sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of that sleep.
As long as necessity is socially dreamed, dreaming will remain a social necessity. The spectacle is the bad dream of a modern society in chains and ultimately expresses nothing more than its wish for sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of that sleep.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Debord and Ron meets the Potato Gun
20
Philosophy — the power of separate thought and the thought of separate power — was never by itself able to supersede theology. The spectacle is the material reconstruction of the religious illusion. Spectacular technology has not dispersed the religious mists into which human beings had projected their own alienated powers, it has merely brought those mists down to earth, to the point that even the most mundane aspects of life have become impenetrable and unbreathable. The illusory paradise that represented a total denial of earthly life is no longer projected into the heavens, it is embedded in earthly life itself. The spectacle is the technological version of the exiling of human powers into a “world beyond”; the culmination of humanity’s internal separation.
Philosophy — the power of separate thought and the thought of separate power — was never by itself able to supersede theology. The spectacle is the material reconstruction of the religious illusion. Spectacular technology has not dispersed the religious mists into which human beings had projected their own alienated powers, it has merely brought those mists down to earth, to the point that even the most mundane aspects of life have become impenetrable and unbreathable. The illusory paradise that represented a total denial of earthly life is no longer projected into the heavens, it is embedded in earthly life itself. The spectacle is the technological version of the exiling of human powers into a “world beyond”; the culmination of humanity’s internal separation.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Sue is teaching a class at the Sidney Art School!
http://www.sydneyartschool.com.au/adult-art-classes/oil-painting.html
Lucky them, I wish I could take it.
Lucky them, I wish I could take it.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Happy Birthday Snotface!
Ruthy Suzanna Mc Farland Born June 11, 1982 at 7:43 AM inWaterville, Maine.
We Love You
Sydney Orange Harvest
Overcome with greed, Martin strips the trees, only to be overwhemled by by the problem of what to do with 60 lbs of oranges and 60 lbs of tangerines. There is a great thing here, anything you don't want you place near the road, and its fine to help yourself. I got a pair of ski-boots yesterday.I wonder why.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Portland most livable city!
So sayeth Forbes:
Tasty microbrews aren't the only reason to like Portland. Thanks to high marks in five key quality of life metrics, Portland tops this year's list of America's Most Livable Cities.
"It's a very easy place to live," says Leon Perrin, 31, a manager at Gritty's. "It's small, so getting around isn't too much of a hassle. And it's a beautiful place throughout all four seasons."
Perrin, who has lived in Maine for 20 years, is one of 513,000 residents living the good life in the Portland metropolitan area. The region earned high marks for income growth and culture; it also has low levels of crime and unemployment. Residents can afford the relatively high cost of living because of a 6.3% income growth rate over the past five years.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Debord by the drop
19
The spectacle inherits the weakness of the Western philosophical project, which attempted to understand activity by means of the categories of vision, and it is based on the relentless development of the particular technical rationality that grew out of that form of thought. The spectacle does not realize philosophy, it philosophizes reality, reducing everyone’s concrete life to a universe of speculation.
The spectacle inherits the weakness of the Western philosophical project, which attempted to understand activity by means of the categories of vision, and it is based on the relentless development of the particular technical rationality that grew out of that form of thought. The spectacle does not realize philosophy, it philosophizes reality, reducing everyone’s concrete life to a universe of speculation.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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