Code Pink Rocks!

Click here for this anti-war women's group website, and click the image below for the full-size poster of the gorgeous 150-foot woman!

I Oppose U.S. Military Aid to Israel

From the New York Times, August 17, 2007:

JERUSALEM, Aug. 16 — Israel and the United States signed a deal on Thursday to give Israel $30 billion in military aid over the next decade in what officials called a long-term investment in peace.

Well, that's one of the most ludicrous things I've read all year.

The state of Israel has been a damned bad idea from the outset. Our military support for Israel makes the Arab world hate us, and can be seen as the root cause for attacks like 9/11.

The officials insisted that the deal was not dependent on a simultaneous American plan for $20 billion in sales of sophisticated arms to its Arab allies, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. But Israeli officials acknowledged that the aid to Israel would make it easier for the Bush administration to win Congressional approval of the arms sales to Arab countries.

Oooo, that ought to make the cartel that keeps our gas prices shy-high really happy, and our own military-industrial complex too!

The new aid to Israel will average $3 billion a year on a sliding scale, an increase of about 25 percent from current figures, to begin in October 2008.

Oh, isn't that swell. And to a country with secret nuclear weapons that refuses to become a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

That year, American economic aid to Israel, which has a vibrant, growing economy, is scheduled to end.

Yes, and Hell will also freeze over that same year.

Jesus Tree at St. Michael's, Memphis

My SO used to teach at this church/school and heard about this phenomenon. While running an errand weeks later, we scooted by and I snapped a few cellphone pics. Click to enlarge.




Pretty cool. I Googled "Jesus Tree Memphis" and came up with this spoiler, though, from Hoaxipedia:

Faces in Trees

People often see shapes and patterns that they regard as meaningful in the natural world around them. For instance, they might see a face in a cloud, or a religious symbol in the shape of a rock. During the Middle Ages these shapes seen in natural objects were known as Lusus Naturae, or Jokes of Nature. It was the belief of medieval naturalists that Nature actually played jokes on man by purposefully placing shapes such as crosses or faces in objects for men to find.

Nowadays, science attributes such shapes to the power of the human mind to impose meaning on the chaos of the world around it. This psychological phenomenon is known as pareidolia, which refers to the tendency of the mind to discern meaningful patterns in vague or random stimuli.

Trees offer a random natural surface on which the human eye often perceives recognizable shapes—faces, in particular. As a result, stories about people seeing faces in trees are a regular feature in the news. In the western world observers are most likely to describe a male face in a tree as looking like Jesus, and a female figure (particularly a robed one) as being the Virgin Mary.

Cheney in 1994 on Iraq

Some things are so choice that I must echo them:

Memphis Networx Local Investors

Darrell Phillips came up with the names I've been wondering about. He prefaced the list with this:

These are the names that appeared on some Networx letterhead a while back…

Ron Belz
Dr. Phillip and Ritche M. Bowden
Bayard Boyle
Tyrone Burroughs
Bridget Chisholm
William Dunavant Jr.
Charles Ewing
Thomas Garrott
Lovelace and Amanda Gipson
Winston Gipson
Janice Gipson
Herbert Hilliard
Dr. Ben L. Hooks
Pitt Hyde
Lee A. Jackson
George M. Jones
Fred Jones Jr.
Bennie Marshall
Gilbert I. Noble
Elliott Perry
Alvin and Carla Ray
Dr. Sandra Reed
Fred Smith
Robert Sparks
Willard Sparks
Anthony Tate
Darrell K. Thomas
Gloria J. Thomas
Jesse Turner
Archie Willis III

Aren't "public-private partnerships" wonderful? Why did we not hear one peep out of any of these people in recent months?

I advocate a new Tennessee law requiring public disclosure of all investors in any such entity, no matter its legal form -- LLC, corporation, etc. -- and the amount of ownership held by each investor.

Who are some of the lesser-knowns in this list, and how are they connected?

Yearly Kos Pictures

Netroots Candidates party


Markos [on left] diggin' Al Franken


Hillary at Presidential Candidates event


Obama at Presidential Candidates event


Teamsters' party


Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. & Mike Gravel


Passageway from Teamsters' party to main convention center


Rough life for Yearly Kos attendees


The amazing Gina Cooper at the last night's keynote ceremonies


Markos at last night keynote